Bangkok Glass aims for top spot as new plant for float panels kicks off

The facility expansion is line with the company’s business plan to boost sale revenue from Bt500 million this year to approximately Bt4 billion over the period, to be driven by exports .
The company’s goal is to be a leading glass manufacturer and distributor in Asean.
Somporn Temudomsomboon, senior executive vice president for group production, said that BGF is currently the only Thai glass manufacturer. The business started in 2014 with the vision of managing director Pavin Bhirombhakdi who wanted Bangkok Glass to be the total glass solutions provider. Consequently, BGF started distributing import glass from abroad. The business grew fast and the company later decided to become a manufacturer and distributor of glass under the brand called BGF.
BGF recently launched its first glass factory with a production capacity of 219,000 tonnes per year. BGF Float Glass is located in Srimahaphote, Prachinburi, covering an area of 150 rais. 
The factory’s construction |budget of Bt5 billion has taken into accounts an expansion in capacity to meet demand in both domestic and other Asean markets. 
BGF Float Glass is considered a foundation that would strengthen the vision of the parent company, Bangkok Glass, in providing glass products for all lifestyles and to become a leader in the integrated glass business or total glass solutions and to support business growth in the future.
“The highlight of this factory is the cooperation with our global partner, Glas Trosch Holding AG - a major manufacturer of glass products and float glass from Switzerland. A team of experts help develop an advanced technology and modernised the production processes. BGF is the first company in Thailand to use the production technology of hard coated glass,” said Somporn, adding that it also employs glass quality inspection technology to measure thickness and scan for any contamination I order to gain the trust of our customers in terms of quality and product standard.
“We also plan to build another furnace and factory in the next five years at the cost of Bt7.5 billion,” said Somporn. “We have exported our glass products to CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam), Singapore and China. We plan to export to other Asean countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa. Our goal is to be a glass manufacturer and distributor in Asean,” he added.
Somporn said that BGF currently export about 5,000 tonnes of float glass panels a year, of which 40 per cent are destined to Cambodia, and 60 per cent to other markets, including CLMV, China and Singapore.
“Our future plan is to increase total export contribution to about 25,000 tonnes per annum,” he said.
Thailand's glass industry currently enjoys an annual growth of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent with a total market value of Bt12 billion. Imported glass is accounted for 20 per cent or Bt2.4 billion of the total, showing that there is inadequate glass production in the country to meet market demand. 
BGF, a new manufacturer well equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and strong business strategies is well poised to become a major glass manufacturer for Thailand and the Asean.
“Our key advantage is logistics with Thailand being the hub of distributions. Thus, we are focuing on our logistic system to leverage this strength. We try to export to all parts of Thailand and other countries in the most efficient way ,” said Somporn.
Chokchai Srisoonthorn, general manager of BG Float Glass Co Ltd, said that this year, BGF would begin with the production of clear glass panels.
“We will be the first in the country to use innovative technologies, such as Online CVD Hard Coating and Float Scan Plate, a quality control system by camera scanning. There are also other technologies that were co-developed with Glas Trosch, making our factory highly efficient in glass production. The new know-how would also add value and widen the range of our glass products including tempered glass, laminated glass and energy-saving glass or BGF Natural Cool, to meet the needs of the market.” said Chokchai.