, formerly Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.'(旭硝子株式会社), is a Japanese global

glass manufacturing Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container ...

company, headquartered in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. It is the largest glass company in the world and one of the core

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

companies. The company is listed on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...

and is a constituent of the

TOPIX The , commonly known as the TOPIX, is an important stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Japan, along with the Nikkei 225. The TOPIX tracks the entire market of domestic companies and covers most stocks in the Tokyo Stock Exc ...

and

Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is a price-weighted index, operating in the Japanese yen, Japanese Yen (JP¥), and its compone ...

stock indices In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an Index (economics), index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calcul ...

. Asahi Glass was named one of

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...

Top 100 Global Innovators in 2013. On July 1, 2018, it was renamed to AGC Inc.

Overview

Asahi Glass was founded on 8 September 1907 by Toshiya Iwasaki, the second son of the second president of the original Mitsubishi

zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signifi ...

. It was the first Japanese producer of sheet glass. Asahi Glass Co. is one of the largest flat glass producing companies in the world, owning Glaverbel glass plants across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and AFG Industries in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It purchased AFG Industries in 1992.

Products

Its main areas of production are: * Automotive glass and industrial material * Bio-technology and environment * Commodity and performance chemicals **Among performance chemicals, Asahi makes

fluoropolymer A fluoropolymer is a fluorocarbon-based polymer with multiple carbon–fluorine bonds. It is characterized by a high resistance to solvents, acids, and bases. The best known fluoropolymer is polytetrafluoroethylene under the brand name "Teflon, ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s, including Fluon

ETFE Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a fluorine-based plastic. It was designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range. ETFE is a polymer and its source-based name is poly (ethene-co-tetrafluoroethene). It i ...

laminate Simulated flight (using image stack created by μCT scanning) through the length of a knitting needle that consists of laminated wooden layers: the layers can be differentiated by the change of direction of the wood's vessels Shattered windshi ...

, famous for its use as the external surface of the

Allianz Arena Allianz Arena (; known as Munich Football Arena for UEFA competitions) is a Association football, football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely kno ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

, built in 2005, and the world's largest

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

made out of ETFE. * Display glass (including Dragontrail

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

displays) * Electronic materials and products * Flat glass and construction material * Optics and telecommunication

Subsidiaries and affiliates

* AGC Automotive * AGC Biologics * AGC Electronics America * AGC Chemicals Americas * AGC Chemicals Europe * Asahi India Glass Limited (known as AIS) * Asahi Fiber *AGC Techno Glass thailand * Ise Chemical Industries * Optrex Corp. * Asahi Glass Foundation * AGC Glass Europe (formerly known as Glaverbel) * AGC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd * NordGlass Ltd.,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

* AGC-CORP in Viet Nam

Price-fixing scandal in Europe

AGC Flat Glass Europe was one of the four flat-glass manufacturers involved in the 2007, price fixing scandal uncovered by the EU Competition Commission. The European Commission said that the firms had raised or stabilised prices in 2004, and 2005, through illicit contacts. Neelie Kroes, the EU's competition commissioner, said that the EU would "not tolerate companies cheating consumers and business customers by fixing prices and depriving them of the benefits of the single market".

Asahi India Glass Ltd (AIS)

Asahi India Glass Ltd. (AIS) was incorporated in the year 1984. The company was formed by a JV agreement between the Labroo family, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. (AGC), Japan, and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. It is the largest Automotive glass manufacturing company in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and manufactures a wide spectrum of glass products including automotive safety glass, float glass, and architectural processed glass. As of 2017, Asahi India Glass Ltd. has 77.1% market share in the passenger car glass segment in India.

SBUs & products

Asahi India Glass Ltd has 3 Strategic Business Units (SBUs) – Automotive Glass, Architectural Glass, and Consumer Glass. Asahi India Glass Ltd also manufactures uPVC, aluminium and wooden profile windows.

PT Asahimas Flat Glass Tbk

() is one of the largest automobile glass makers in Indonesia. In 1970s, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. went into a joint venture with PT Rodamas, a merchant company turned consumer and industrial product manufacturer. Both established Asahimas Flat Glass in April 1973. It produced simple clear glass using the traditional

Fourcault Process The Fourcault process is a method of manufacturing plate glass. First developed in Belgium by (1862–1919) during the early 1900s, the process was used globally. Fourcault is an example of a "vertical draw" process, in that the glass is drawn a ...

. Ownership (2014): * Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (43.86%) * PT Rodamas (40.84%) * Public (14.96%) * Employee's Cooperative (0.36%)

NordGlass (Poland)

One of the largest Polish manufacturers of windshields for the repair of passenger cars and trucks, working machines, railways, ships, construction and military (armored glass), NordGlass was acquired by AGC in 2015. 2 plants, in

Koszalin Koszalin (; ; , ) is a city in northwestern Poland, in Western Pomerania. It is located south of the Baltic Sea coast, and intersected by the river Dzierżęcinka. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomera ...

and in

Słupsk Słupsk (; ; ) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specifically in its part known in contemporary Poland as Central Pomerania ...

, with annual production exceeding one million panes, NordGlass employs over 1000 employees. NordGlass has a nationwide network of repair and replacement of car windows. The recipients of the main NordGlass product – windshields for motor vehicles, are the companies dealing with professional car glass replacement are all over Europe, as well as in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

(

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

) and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. Among them, a prominent position is held by Belron, the Belgian operator of Europe's largest international glass replacement network. NordGlass is one of the main windscreen suppliers for this customer. In 2014, NordGlass manufactured the set of bulletproof windows for Cadillac 355D Fleetwood Special made in 1934, in the USA on the special order for Marshal

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

. The completion of the vehicle glazing constituted the essential part of the thorough vehicle renovation project. The original windows showed traces of bullets, most probably fired in the post-war period by the Communist Security Service officers who were testing the resistance of glass. It is currently possible to see the renovated vehicle in the

Royal Baths Park Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

(Polish: Łazienki Królewskie) in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

References

External links

* * Wiki collection of bibliographic works on Asahi Glass Co. {{Authority control Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies in the Nikkei 225 Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Japanese brands Mitsubishi companies Glassmaking companies of Japan Manufacturing companies established in 1907 Price fixing convictions Glass trademarks and brands Japanese companies established in 1907 Multinational companies headquartered in Japan