The first edge grinding and polishing machine developed by systron is located in Plattling, close to the Bavarian Forest near Deggendorf. It was built for Interpane in 2016 and is still working in 3 shifts, even after almost 8 years, it is still one of the top machines at AGC Interpane Architectural Glass.
AGC Interpane Architectural Glass GmbH operates worldwide and continually sets new standards in the architectural sector with a highly functional product range in the areas of sun and heat protection. Existing buildings such as the Vista Tower in Chicago, or current projects such as the Elbtower in Hamburg, the skyscraper 270 Park Avenue in New York or Sherwin Williams in Cleveland are just a few of the prestige objects that have installed coated insulating glass from Interpane. Decades of experience in this very demanding business field have made AGC Interpane an extremely competent and reliable partner.
With around 290 employees, the highest quality high-performance insulating glass and coated basic glass, including the required ESG and VSG, are manufactured in Plattling on an area of 65,000 m². Since 2012, glass up to a size of 3,210 x 19,000 mm can be coated at this location. In 2015, the production options were expanded to include the glass processes of cutting, grinding and tempering. “We had an increased need for models and wanted to process them ourselves and buy fewer of them in order to be more flexible and faster,” says Johann Knogl, head of the glass process department, who was involved in the procurement of the processing machines from the start.
“We examined the vertical proHD glass processing centre for the first time at Glas Gasperlmair in Wagrain in 2015. We were on site when the second systron machine was being set up,” remembers Johann Knogl, who has been working in the glass industry since 1988.
“When I saw it, I thought it was such a gigantic machine, it’s got Caterpillar parts from the crawler tracks. The vacuum suction cups are extremely stable.
Today the glass guidance is one of the cornerstones of a grinding machine. If you cannot position and hold the glass fully reliably, you will get an incorrect grinding pattern or a poor result. I also liked the grand accessibility of the processing tower, you can get into the machine, which is ideal for cleaning, maintenance or service.” Until then, the systron processing machine was only available with a water jet, the “systron proHD”. Cut-outs are hardly necessary for the architectural business, which is why the glass processing centre was adapted for Interpane and a systron pro Grinding and Polishing Machine was developed for maximum dimensions of 3,300 x 6,000 mm, which was installed beginning Q4 2016.
The systron pro edge processing centre is mainly used to seam, grind and polish the edges of large, coated LSG and float glasses, both in rectangular format and in model form. A weight of 1,000 kg is possible. “We process around 600 m² of glass with a thickness of 4 – 16.76 mm every day with the systron pro. We can also use it to remove edge coatings and grind small glass panes measuring 20 x 35 cm. We had systron design a program for these kind of glass and grind around 1,000 sample panes per year. Due to the size of the machine – which is designed for 3.3 x 6 m glass – the processing centre is of course not optimal for such small panes, but it is possible,” says Knogl.
The company pays particular attention to the diverse glass coatings, which make Interpane a trendsetter again and again. The innovative sun protection and thermal insulation layers require a lot of care in processing. Knogl is convinced: “Especially for coated glass, systron’s system has a huge advantage thanks to its integrated water cushion. There is no mechanical contact with the coated surfaces, the water cushion keeps the glass in the correct position throughout the entire grinding and polishing process.”
He ads: “This system has not only proven itself through the consistently high edge quality, but also the service is terrific. The fast remote connection to systron is great, the systron after sales technician logs in and is immediately on the machine. The maintenance costs are low and we have had continuous machine availability of 95% over all the years.
I got to know a lot of machines in the glass industry and this one is really great.“
