Glaston: growth signs for glass processing business
The market for glass processing is showing signs of growth again after a multi-year slump. This is primarily due to the increased use of safety glass, which is expected to grow by nearly 7 per cent through 2017. Additionally, the rise in energy-savings glass both in renovations and in new constructions, as well as the growing trend to use glass more in the construction sector, is adding momentum.
All of these are very positive drivers for Glaston and its customers who are well positioned to serve the markets as it begins to expand once again. Glaston is ready for this upturn with its latest superior glass processing machines and related services, while customers can be ensured of consistently producing quality glass end products with high productivity and energy efficiency.
“We look forward to 2014 with confidence,” says Arto Metsänen, President and CEO of Glaston. “Our company is on a solid foundation, and our product portfolio is the most up-to-date on the market to meet customer needs.”
Commitment to R&D, latest innovations
Glaston’s goal is to deliver profitable growth through innovation and technology leadership in selected product groups, while ensuring the best customer value and experience in the industry. For Glaston, this has meant a continuous focus on R&D to develop innovations and further expand product series to help glass producers get to the next level in their business. In 2013 alone, Glaston’s R&D investment totalled EUR 4.8 million, representing 3.9 pe...
All of these are very positive drivers for Glaston and its customers who are well positioned to serve the markets as it begins to expand once again. Glaston is ready for this upturn with its latest superior glass processing machines and related services, while customers can be ensured of consistently producing quality glass end products with high productivity and energy efficiency.
“We look forward to 2014 with confidence,” says Arto Metsänen, President and CEO of Glaston. “Our company is on a solid foundation, and our product portfolio is the most up-to-date on the market to meet customer needs.”
Commitment to R&D, latest innovations
Glaston’s goal is to deliver profitable growth through innovation and technology leadership in selected product groups, while ensuring the best customer value and experience in the industry. For Glaston, this has meant a continuous focus on R&D to develop innovations and further expand product series to help glass producers get to the next level in their business. In 2013 alone, Glaston’s R&D investment totalled EUR 4.8 million, representing 3.9 pe...
The market for glass processing is showing signs of growth again after a multi-year slump. This is primarily due to the increased use of safety glass, which is expected to grow by nearly 7 per cent through 2017. Additionally, the rise in energy-savings glass both in renovations and in new constructions, as well as the growing trend to use glass more in the construction sector, is adding momentum.
All of these are very positive drivers for Glaston and its customers who are well positioned to serve the markets as it begins to expand once again. Glaston is ready for this upturn with its latest superior glass processing machines and related services, while customers can be ensured of consistently producing quality glass end products with high productivity and energy efficiency.
“We look forward to 2014 with confidence,” says Arto Metsänen, President and CEO of Glaston. “Our company is on a solid foundation, and our product portfolio is the most up-to-date on the market to meet customer needs.”
Commitment to R&D, latest innovations
Glaston’s goal is to deliver profitable growth through innovation and technology leadership in selected product groups, while ensuring the best customer value and experience in the industry. For Glaston, this has meant a continuous focus on R&D to develop innovations and further expand product series to help glass producers get to the next level in their business. In 2013 alone, Glaston’s R&D investment totalled EUR 4.8 million, representing 3.9 per cent of its annual net sales.
GlastonAir™ was launched at the start of 2013. This advanced technology supports the glass by hot air instead of rollers, allowing glass as thin as 2 millimetres to be tempered without compromising optical quality. Additionally, thicker glass can be tempered with low energy consumption.
Another innovation, IriControL™ technology, enables glass processors to measure and minimize the so-called ansiotropic phenomena in tempered glass.
The new FC500™ and RC350™ double-chamber tempering lines deliver high capacity and high quality, energy-efficient glass production with a smaller carbon footprint. In 2013, over 30 new orders for the advanced FC500™ tempering furnace were placed, a solid sign that the market believes in reaching higher production quality. Also upgrades were made to the automation and process control systems.
The old horizontal tempering furnaces were modernized with RC200™ replacement chamber solution based on new technology.
For Asia, the RC and CCS flat tempering furnace series were expanded with new machine models to better meet the local needs of customers in that region.
Strong investment in new products will also continue in the area of pre-processing machinery, where Glaston sees increasing demand for highly efficient and reliable lines. For pre-processing needs, new automatic UC cutting lines, which combine high performance with a competitive price, were launched to the market, along with the Omnia double edging machine, which is ideal for both the solar energy and appliance industries. The global expansion of Glaston’s Services continued throughout 2013. These include iControL™, the popular and easy-to-use automation system upgrade, Glaston RHC™ automatic roller heat control technology, the RC200-zone™ replacement chamber solution as well as the RC200-2-zone™ additional chamber.
Expanding services and support
Furthermore, the Glaston Genuine Care concept has been developed further to respond to the challenges of the evolving glass industry. The main goal of this portfolio of service products is to help customers continue to improve their energy efficiency and end product quality.
Glaston Genuine Care concept is the most extensive in the industry. It offers customers continuous service throughout the entire lifecycle of a machine. The service covers maintenance support, spare parts and tools for all lines and equipment, as well as upgrades and modernization projects.
The Glaston teams work with each customer to provide tailored solutions to increase their production capacity, boost overall glass processing performance and gain more efficiency from their existing machines and equipment. Glaston’s service network is the industry’s largest available in the world. The company has representatives and sales support offices located close to customers to provide rapid turnaround on requests or to keep production running smoothly.
Participating in environmental sustainability
Glaston strives to be as environmentally friendly as possible in its operations. The energy efficiency of glass processing machines, along with the energy efficiency of the end products they produce, is highly significant from an environmental perspective. All of its glass processing machines and components have been designed to withstand intense use without causing air pollution or emissions. The lifecycle of the machines and equipment are easily measured in decades. Upgrades, modernization and even relocation projects have been designed specifically to enable the machinery to stay in reliable, productive use for very long time.
Enhancing customer benefit
Thanks to an extensive number of measures that Glaston carried out over the past few years, the company’s financial situation is solid. Now, the company is in a position to focus on developing and growing the business according to new and evolving needs in the glass processing industry.
The company’s mission will continue to be the thought leader in the glass processing industry. This means that Glaston will focus on setting ever-higher standards with regard to glass quality, high throughput and energy efficiency. “In all, Glaston focuses on enhancing the customer benefit with all machines and related services. We take responsibility for our products over their entire lifecycle, offering a complete range of upgrades to enable our customers to get the most from their machinery. We aim to support our customers by raising their overall productivity and lowering energy consumption with our machinery as new technology becomes available thanks to our ongoing efforts in R&D,” says Arto Metsänen.
GLASTON: CLOSES DEAL IN CHINA
Glaston has closed a EUR 1.8 million deal with CSG Group for a double chamber furnace FC500™+ RC350™ 2460-380 equipped with advanced Vortex Pro™ convection control system representing Glaston’s latest technology and highest configuration. Two sets of jumbo size UC1000 automatic cutting lines are also included in the deal. The line will be installed in CSG’s Chengdu plant, the company being the leading glass processor in South-West China. This is the first FC500™ double chamber furnace sold in China. The machines will be reported in Glaston’s Q1/2014 order book and will be delivered to the customer during the first and second quarter of 2014. CSG Holding Ltd. was established in 1984. The company is the leading supplier of energy saving glass in China. In line with latest market trends, CSG Group is focusing on high-end architecture glass products and invests to produce highest quality low-E glass for commercial buildings. During the past years CSG has ordered a total of 22 Glaston tempering lines and several Pre-processing machines. “The main driver for CSG’s new project is processing jumbo size soft coated low-E glass, with best flatness, optical quality and minimum roller wave. Glaston’s FC500™ is designed especially for double and triple low-E glass processing, and meets the customer’s demand for excellent performance and high quality of the end products” comments Frank Zhang, General Manager for Glaston Asia.
Glaston: 2013 FINANCIAL STATEMENT RESULT POSITIVE - FINANCIAL POSITION GOOD
Glaston’s financial statement for 2013 reported positive results, with orders received in January-December totalling EUR 123.3 (118.1) million. Orders received in the fourth quarter totalled EUR 33.3 (33.3) million, and the order book on 31 December 2013 was EUR 39.1 (34.2) million. Consolidated net sales in January-December totalled EUR 122.2 (115.6) million, while final quarter net sales were EUR 35.9 (32.3) million. EBITDA was EUR 10.5 (-0.4) million, i.e. 8.6 (-0.3) per cent of net sales.
The operating result, excluding non-recurring items, was a profit of EUR 2.1 (3.4 loss) million, i.e. 1.7 (-2.9) per cent of net sales. The final quarter operating profit, excluding non-recurring items, was EUR 1.9 (0.5) million. Continuing Operations’ operating result was a profit of EUR 5.9 (8.8 loss) million, i.e. 4.8 (-7.6) per cent of net sales.
The final quarter operating result was a profit of EUR 1.9 (1.9 loss) million. Continuing Operations’ return on capital employed (ROCE) was 9.8 (-9.4) per cent. Continuing Operations’ earnings per share were EUR 0.01 (-0.16) and for the fourth quarter EUR -0.01 (-0.06).
Continuing and Discontinued Operations’ earnings per share were EUR 0.01 (-0.20) and in the fourth quarter EUR -0.01 (-0.05). The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that no dividend be distributed. President & CEO Arto Metsänen: “We can be relatively satisfied with 2013. The company’s operational result returned to positive and we restored our financial position.
During the first quarter, we implemented an extensive number of measures aimed at strengthening our financial position. Full-year cash flow from operating activities, after the change in working capital, was positive at EUR 7.1 million. As a result of the measures undertaken, our net debt decreased by nearly EUR 50 million from the end of the previous year to stand at less than EUR 10 million. With respect to the improvement in earnings, the most significant factor was full implementation of a savings programme amounting to around EUR 5 million. Due to this and good sales of heat treatment machines, we managed to restore our operating result to profit after a number of loss-making years. The operating result, excluding non-recurring items, was clearly positive, namely a profit of EUR 2.1 million.
The global market was relatively subdued and provided very limited support. A positive note was perceptible in North America throughout the year and also in Europe, particularly in the final quarter. Despite the low market activity, our net sales grew by 5.7 per cent to EUR 122.2 million. Sales of heat treatment machines developed positively throughout the year, with the final quarter being particularly strong.
Our flagship products, the FC and RC product lines, further strengthened their position among customers. The pre-processing machines market continued to be challenging. We look forward to 2014 with confidence. Our company is on a solid foundation and our product portfolio is the most up-to-date on the market and meeting customers’ needs. We believe that our markets will develop positively but cautiously, giving us a good possibility of profitable growth.”
CHANGE IN GLASTON’S EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT GROUP
Roberto Quintero, Senior Vice President, Pre-processing Product Line of Glaston Corporation’s Machines Business Area and Member of the Executive Management Group, left Glaston on 28 February 2014 by joint agreement. Glaston announced in December 2013 that Juha Liettyä, Member of the Executive Management Group of Glaston Corporation, had been appointed Senior Vice President, Machines Business Area as of 1 January 2014. He is responsible for both the heat treatment and pre-processing product lines. Glaston’s Executive Management Group consists of the following members as of 17.2.2014:
• Arto Metsänen, CEO&President
• Sasu Koivumäki, CFO
• Juha Liettyä, Senior Vice President, Machines Business Area
• Pekka Huuhka, Senior Vice President, Services Business Area
• Taina Tirkkonen, General Counsel
• Frank Chengdong Zhang, General Manager, Asi
All of these are very positive drivers for Glaston and its customers who are well positioned to serve the markets as it begins to expand once again. Glaston is ready for this upturn with its latest superior glass processing machines and related services, while customers can be ensured of consistently producing quality glass end products with high productivity and energy efficiency.
“We look forward to 2014 with confidence,” says Arto Metsänen, President and CEO of Glaston. “Our company is on a solid foundation, and our product portfolio is the most up-to-date on the market to meet customer needs.”
Commitment to R&D, latest innovations
Glaston’s goal is to deliver profitable growth through innovation and technology leadership in selected product groups, while ensuring the best customer value and experience in the industry. For Glaston, this has meant a continuous focus on R&D to develop innovations and further expand product series to help glass producers get to the next level in their business. In 2013 alone, Glaston’s R&D investment totalled EUR 4.8 million, representing 3.9 per cent of its annual net sales.
GlastonAir™ was launched at the start of 2013. This advanced technology supports the glass by hot air instead of rollers, allowing glass as thin as 2 millimetres to be tempered without compromising optical quality. Additionally, thicker glass can be tempered with low energy consumption.
Another innovation, IriControL™ technology, enables glass processors to measure and minimize the so-called ansiotropic phenomena in tempered glass.
The new FC500™ and RC350™ double-chamber tempering lines deliver high capacity and high quality, energy-efficient glass production with a smaller carbon footprint. In 2013, over 30 new orders for the advanced FC500™ tempering furnace were placed, a solid sign that the market believes in reaching higher production quality. Also upgrades were made to the automation and process control systems.
The old horizontal tempering furnaces were modernized with RC200™ replacement chamber solution based on new technology.
For Asia, the RC and CCS flat tempering furnace series were expanded with new machine models to better meet the local needs of customers in that region.
Strong investment in new products will also continue in the area of pre-processing machinery, where Glaston sees increasing demand for highly efficient and reliable lines. For pre-processing needs, new automatic UC cutting lines, which combine high performance with a competitive price, were launched to the market, along with the Omnia double edging machine, which is ideal for both the solar energy and appliance industries. The global expansion of Glaston’s Services continued throughout 2013. These include iControL™, the popular and easy-to-use automation system upgrade, Glaston RHC™ automatic roller heat control technology, the RC200-zone™ replacement chamber solution as well as the RC200-2-zone™ additional chamber.
Expanding services and support
Furthermore, the Glaston Genuine Care concept has been developed further to respond to the challenges of the evolving glass industry. The main goal of this portfolio of service products is to help customers continue to improve their energy efficiency and end product quality.
Glaston Genuine Care concept is the most extensive in the industry. It offers customers continuous service throughout the entire lifecycle of a machine. The service covers maintenance support, spare parts and tools for all lines and equipment, as well as upgrades and modernization projects.
The Glaston teams work with each customer to provide tailored solutions to increase their production capacity, boost overall glass processing performance and gain more efficiency from their existing machines and equipment. Glaston’s service network is the industry’s largest available in the world. The company has representatives and sales support offices located close to customers to provide rapid turnaround on requests or to keep production running smoothly.
Participating in environmental sustainability
Glaston strives to be as environmentally friendly as possible in its operations. The energy efficiency of glass processing machines, along with the energy efficiency of the end products they produce, is highly significant from an environmental perspective. All of its glass processing machines and components have been designed to withstand intense use without causing air pollution or emissions. The lifecycle of the machines and equipment are easily measured in decades. Upgrades, modernization and even relocation projects have been designed specifically to enable the machinery to stay in reliable, productive use for very long time.
Enhancing customer benefit
Thanks to an extensive number of measures that Glaston carried out over the past few years, the company’s financial situation is solid. Now, the company is in a position to focus on developing and growing the business according to new and evolving needs in the glass processing industry.
The company’s mission will continue to be the thought leader in the glass processing industry. This means that Glaston will focus on setting ever-higher standards with regard to glass quality, high throughput and energy efficiency. “In all, Glaston focuses on enhancing the customer benefit with all machines and related services. We take responsibility for our products over their entire lifecycle, offering a complete range of upgrades to enable our customers to get the most from their machinery. We aim to support our customers by raising their overall productivity and lowering energy consumption with our machinery as new technology becomes available thanks to our ongoing efforts in R&D,” says Arto Metsänen.
GLASTON: CLOSES DEAL IN CHINA
Glaston has closed a EUR 1.8 million deal with CSG Group for a double chamber furnace FC500™+ RC350™ 2460-380 equipped with advanced Vortex Pro™ convection control system representing Glaston’s latest technology and highest configuration. Two sets of jumbo size UC1000 automatic cutting lines are also included in the deal. The line will be installed in CSG’s Chengdu plant, the company being the leading glass processor in South-West China. This is the first FC500™ double chamber furnace sold in China. The machines will be reported in Glaston’s Q1/2014 order book and will be delivered to the customer during the first and second quarter of 2014. CSG Holding Ltd. was established in 1984. The company is the leading supplier of energy saving glass in China. In line with latest market trends, CSG Group is focusing on high-end architecture glass products and invests to produce highest quality low-E glass for commercial buildings. During the past years CSG has ordered a total of 22 Glaston tempering lines and several Pre-processing machines. “The main driver for CSG’s new project is processing jumbo size soft coated low-E glass, with best flatness, optical quality and minimum roller wave. Glaston’s FC500™ is designed especially for double and triple low-E glass processing, and meets the customer’s demand for excellent performance and high quality of the end products” comments Frank Zhang, General Manager for Glaston Asia.
Glaston: 2013 FINANCIAL STATEMENT RESULT POSITIVE - FINANCIAL POSITION GOOD
Glaston’s financial statement for 2013 reported positive results, with orders received in January-December totalling EUR 123.3 (118.1) million. Orders received in the fourth quarter totalled EUR 33.3 (33.3) million, and the order book on 31 December 2013 was EUR 39.1 (34.2) million. Consolidated net sales in January-December totalled EUR 122.2 (115.6) million, while final quarter net sales were EUR 35.9 (32.3) million. EBITDA was EUR 10.5 (-0.4) million, i.e. 8.6 (-0.3) per cent of net sales.
The operating result, excluding non-recurring items, was a profit of EUR 2.1 (3.4 loss) million, i.e. 1.7 (-2.9) per cent of net sales. The final quarter operating profit, excluding non-recurring items, was EUR 1.9 (0.5) million. Continuing Operations’ operating result was a profit of EUR 5.9 (8.8 loss) million, i.e. 4.8 (-7.6) per cent of net sales.
The final quarter operating result was a profit of EUR 1.9 (1.9 loss) million. Continuing Operations’ return on capital employed (ROCE) was 9.8 (-9.4) per cent. Continuing Operations’ earnings per share were EUR 0.01 (-0.16) and for the fourth quarter EUR -0.01 (-0.06).
Continuing and Discontinued Operations’ earnings per share were EUR 0.01 (-0.20) and in the fourth quarter EUR -0.01 (-0.05). The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that no dividend be distributed. President & CEO Arto Metsänen: “We can be relatively satisfied with 2013. The company’s operational result returned to positive and we restored our financial position.
During the first quarter, we implemented an extensive number of measures aimed at strengthening our financial position. Full-year cash flow from operating activities, after the change in working capital, was positive at EUR 7.1 million. As a result of the measures undertaken, our net debt decreased by nearly EUR 50 million from the end of the previous year to stand at less than EUR 10 million. With respect to the improvement in earnings, the most significant factor was full implementation of a savings programme amounting to around EUR 5 million. Due to this and good sales of heat treatment machines, we managed to restore our operating result to profit after a number of loss-making years. The operating result, excluding non-recurring items, was clearly positive, namely a profit of EUR 2.1 million.
The global market was relatively subdued and provided very limited support. A positive note was perceptible in North America throughout the year and also in Europe, particularly in the final quarter. Despite the low market activity, our net sales grew by 5.7 per cent to EUR 122.2 million. Sales of heat treatment machines developed positively throughout the year, with the final quarter being particularly strong.
Our flagship products, the FC and RC product lines, further strengthened their position among customers. The pre-processing machines market continued to be challenging. We look forward to 2014 with confidence. Our company is on a solid foundation and our product portfolio is the most up-to-date on the market and meeting customers’ needs. We believe that our markets will develop positively but cautiously, giving us a good possibility of profitable growth.”
CHANGE IN GLASTON’S EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT GROUP
Roberto Quintero, Senior Vice President, Pre-processing Product Line of Glaston Corporation’s Machines Business Area and Member of the Executive Management Group, left Glaston on 28 February 2014 by joint agreement. Glaston announced in December 2013 that Juha Liettyä, Member of the Executive Management Group of Glaston Corporation, had been appointed Senior Vice President, Machines Business Area as of 1 January 2014. He is responsible for both the heat treatment and pre-processing product lines. Glaston’s Executive Management Group consists of the following members as of 17.2.2014:
• Arto Metsänen, CEO&President
• Sasu Koivumäki, CFO
• Juha Liettyä, Senior Vice President, Machines Business Area
• Pekka Huuhka, Senior Vice President, Services Business Area
• Taina Tirkkonen, General Counsel
• Frank Chengdong Zhang, General Manager, Asi
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