GE mulls second ceramics plant to meet jet engine demand
GE is facing such demand for its newest commercial jet engines that it’s planning a second factory for making ceramics matrix composite components—and the first one hasn’t even opened yet. The company’s GE Aviation unit is scouting potential manufacturing sites to keep up with a record order backlog.
AGC to enhance float glass production in Indonesia
AGC announced it plans to invest approximately 16 billion Japanese yen (approximately $152.6 million USD) to PT Asahimas Flat Glass Tbk, one of AGC’s consolidated subsidiaries in Indonesia, and will set up a new float glass furnace there to replace a float furnace at the Jakarta Plant.
Saint-Gobain and Central Glass set up joint automotive glass venture in Indonesia
Saint-Gobain and Central Glass Co. Ltd. signed an agreement to create a joint venture in Indonesia that will specialize in automotive glass. Each group will have a 50% stake in the new company. The new facility will be built east of Jakarta and is scheduled to come on stream in 2016 with an annual production capacity of 500,000 windshields.
Rare Element Resources joins the Critical Materials Institute
Rare Element Resources Ltd., a mineral resource company advancing development of the Bear Lodge Critical Rare Earth Project located in northeast Wyoming, has joined the Critical Materials Institute as an affiliate member. CMI is a major initiative of the U.S. DOE that is recognized as the nation’s premier research, development and deployment institute for critical elements, their alloys and compounds.
US Silica announces two new oil and gas capacity expansions
U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. plans to add approximately 3.8 million tons of new capacity in response to the surging demand for northern white frac sand. The company is planning an 800 thousand ton-per-year expansion at its Pacific, Mo. plant. The $33 million project also includes a new flagship transload to support the additional volume.
GE boosts focus on growing industrial core with Appliances sale
GE will sell its Appliances business to Sweden’s Electrolux in a move that boosts the focus on the company’s core industrial units. The $3.3 billion, all-cash deal follows GE’s recent bid to acquire the power and grid businesses of the French industrial giant Alstom. GE’s long-term strategy has focused on building up the company’s industrial units, shrinking its financial services and growing investment in new technologies.
Multi-dimensional optical inspection for the future of superior glass quality
At glasstec, October 21–24, 2014, in Düsseldorf, Germany, ISRA VISION will present selected technologies from the world’s most complete portfolio of optical glass inspection solutions. The systems are used along the entire process chain, from the hot-end to the cold-end, from inline coating to finished processes.