The most longstanding Bystronic glass customer in China reports - Efficient processing of automotive and architectural glass

At the beginning of the 1980s, Shanghai Yaohua Pilkington Glass Co., Ltd. (SYP) was the first Bystronic glass customer in China. The multinational relationship between the largest British-Chinese joint venture at that time and the Swiss-German producer of glass processing machines began with the installation of a cutting table for float glass. This business relationship has continued to the present day: at the end of 2010, the auto glass division at SYP put the tenth Bystronic glass line for the preprocessing of automotive glass into operation and the architectural glass division is currently working with nine insulating glass lines and multiple cutting machines from Bystronic glass.

Recommendations are as important amongst friends as they are in professional life. As a result, the positive evaluations from the glass sector were also the trigger for the first discussions between SYP and Bystronic glass back then. Yang Yueliang, equipment manager Architectural Glass at SYP reports: "Due to the fact that we had exclusively heard good things about Bystronic glass and the high quality machines, we obtained further information about the company group and their products." SYP subsequently decided to purchase a cutting table for float glass. The company then acquired the first Bystronic glass insulating glass line together with two cutting tables in the mid-1990s. Further production lines for the manufacture of insulating glass and units for glass cutting then followed over the course of the subsequent years. "We work with the machines seven days a week, 24 hours a day throughout the year and we therefore require extremely reliable material that is designed for this level of use," says Yang Yueliang and goes on to explain: "We made the correct choice with the Bystronic glass machines." He is convinced of the quality of the Swiss-German machines which work in an extremely efficient manner and with which he can manufacture premium products. He is particularly impressed by the insulating glass press: "The press is easy to operate and even processes thick insulating glass units without any problems. Any maintenance that needs to be carried out is dealt with quickly."

Bystronic glass sets standards in the preprocessing of automotive glass

When SYP started to process automotive glass in 2000, Bystronic glass was already a well-known and proven machine supplier to the company. "In order to guarantee the standard of our end products, we only use machines of the highest quality for the processing of automotive glass", reports Yifan Fang, Project Manager at SYP Automotive Glass. "Due to the fact that there are simply no better machines for the cutting, breaking, grinding and drilling of high-quality automotive glass than those from Bystronic glass in my experience, we have decided to purchase the champ’compact for the preprocessing of automotive glass on ten occasions," he explains and goes on to say: "The most recent line was only put into operation in November 2010." Because of its modularity, the champ'compact production line can be used as a stand-alone system or – in combination with other cells – in an integrated high-performance production plant.

"We are completely and utterly satisfied with both the high-performance components and the user-friendly software," emphasises Yifan Fang, who explains that he has also intermittently tested machines from other manufacturers but quickly returned to the quality on offer from Bystronic glass. In addition to the precision of the cutting, grinding and drilling, he is also particularly impressed with the reliability of the machines. "We hardly have any need for servicing and maintenance. Even if small problems should occur, we are so familiar with the machines that we can usually quickly carry out any maintenance work or repairs by ourselves", reports Yifan Fang. For around eleven years now SYP has been offering its customers – including internationally renowned manufacturers such as Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford or Peugeot – premium-quality automotive lites. The company processes approximately 1.2 million automotive lites annually on Bystronic glass machines. Therefore, it is extremely probable that visitors who take the route by car from the centre of Shanghai to the SYP production halls located in one of the outer city districts, will see many automotive lites manufactured by SYP on Bystronic glass machines within the heavy traffic.

Bystronic glass in China

Bystronic glass became active within China after the country began establishing so-called special economic zones at the start of the 1980s in order to gradually open up international trade routes: the group has been represented with their own sales and service branch in Shanghai's Pudong economic zone since 2005. A second branch located in the South-Chinese boom region of Guangzhou followed two years later, until the first Bystronic glass production plant outside of Europe was put into operation in 2008 – the Bystronic glass Machinery Center in Shanghai.