It is hard to imagine the kitchens of the world without them. With more than 150 million units sold, SCHOTT glass-ceramic cooktop panels are writing a success story that stands for tradition, quality and innovation. For this, SCHOTT CERAN® has once again been honoured as Brand of the Century by the ZEIT publishing group and publisher Florian Langenscheidt. “With CERAN® glass-ceramic, SCHOTT not only invented the black glass-ceramic cooktop panel but also ushered in a new era of modern cooking,” says Jörg Wingefeld, Vice President of Marketing & Sales for the Cooking division at SCHOTT. “The glass-ceramic material has not only been produced in Germany for almost 50 years, but is also constantly being further developed.” For instance, a CERAN® glass-ceramic cooktop panel no longer has to be black, but also comes in other colours and can be printed in colour. Around 5,000 different colour combinations are possible.
The latest innovation CERAN EXCITE® puts glass-ceramics in a new light: special materials and coatings allow LED light sources mounted under the cooktop to shine through particularly clearly and brightly, so that coloured lighting of the control panels and cooking zones is also possible – even in hot areas. The special feature is that the light is particularly bright and shines through the glass-ceramic with sharp contours – technically speaking, this is not very easy to achieve. However, the new solution enables white light in particular to appear four times brighter than with conventional cooktops. Monochrome or HD-TFT displays can also be placed under the cooktop panel and only appear when the stove is switched on. Otherwise, the cooktop panel appears as black as usual, reliably hiding the technology underneath from every angle.
“We are delighted to have been awarded the Brand of the Century again after 2013 and 2016,” says Kathrin Becker, Marketing Director for SCHOTT CERAN®. “After all, we have joined the league of other German premium brands such as Miele, Mercedes-Benz and Montblanc, which have managed to become the global standard for an entire industry. For us, the award is both praise and an incentive to work on the next innovation – true to our mission to ‘Never stop inventing.’”
SCHOTT is a leading international technology group in the areas of specialty glass and glass-ceramics. The company has more than 130 years of outstanding development, materials and technology expertise and offers a broad portfolio of high-quality products and intelligent solutions. SCHOTT is an innovative enabler for many industries, including the home appliance, pharma, electronics, optics, life sciences, automotive and aviation industries. SCHOTT strives to play an important part of everyone’s life and is committed to innovation and sustainable success. With more than 15,500 employees at production sites and sales offices in 33 countries, the group has a global presence. In the 2016/2017 fiscal year, SCHOTT generated sales of EUR 2.05 billion. The parent company, SCHOTT AG, has its headquarters in Mainz (Germany) and is solely owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. As a foundation company, SCHOTT assumes special responsibility for its employees, society and the environment.