A special report by People’s Daily details how NorthGlass is driving high-precision innovation and green transformation in China’s glass industry, which now accounts for over 60% of global production.

A major milestone came in 1994, when NorthGlass developed China’s first horizontal roller-type tempering furnace, breaking reliance on imported technology. Today, its latest high-precision tempering furnace can process ultra-large glass panels up to 24 meters in length and operates fully unmanned. The system integrates global adaptive heating and real-time temperature monitoring, ensuring consistent stress distribution while reducing energy consumption and operator dependency.

In Tianjin, NorthGlass’s intelligent production workshop demonstrates advanced automation. A robotic arm feeds glass into a fully automated cutting table, where cutting speeds reach nearly 100 meters per minute, with diagonal precision controlled within 0.25 mm. The entire production chain – cutting, edge grinding, tempering, lamination, and insulating – is digitally integrated, increasing efficiency by approximately 30%.

The company also excels in complex geometries. A 3 m × 6 m multi-curved glass panel can be formed and tempered within 10 minutes, with final tolerance kept below 2 mm after full-field scanning. These capabilities are supported by proprietary technologies, including ultra-wide tempering furnaces and intelligent multi-curve forming systems.

On the sustainability side, NorthGlass generates around 6.5 million kWh of photovoltaic electricity annually. It has replaced conventional motors with permanent magnet synchronous motors to reduce energy loss and upgraded all lighting to LED systems.