AGP Group, a US-based glazing company, has opened eGlass 2.0 in Belgium to manufacture high-tech glazing that the Group claims is tailored for electric and autonomous vehicles.
As a part of their global expansion strategy and less than one year after starting construction, the new plant comes with a fully automated production line capable of producing panoramic roofs with switchable glazing technologies and HUD windshields with lightweight compositions. The start of this plant’s operations is followed by the recent investment from Goldman Sachs and the acquisition of the European glazing manufacturer Soliver NV in 2018. The first such eGlass facility from AGP is already operational in Peru.
AGP is looking to produce up to 3,000,000 sq.m. of glass per year at this 40,000 sq.m. facility. eGlass 2.0 has the capacity to produce large and complex shapes of glass, switchable glass technologies, lightweight compositions incorporating aluminosilicate glass, coated products, among others.
Arturo Mannheim, AGP Group CEO said, “This scale of production and level of automation, with no human interaction with the product along the line, will allow us to bring more affordable switchable exterior glazing to the market, with the goal of accelerating the penetration of this technology within the automotive industry. eGlass 2.0 is also capable of manufacturing lightweight coated glazing to increase the driving range of electric vehicles.”
AGP Group currently has 6 manufacturing plants, commercial offices in 20 countries and a 'Tech Innovation Center' in Germany.