Glas Industry

Centre of the European Plate Glass Industry

A clear matter: Saxony-Anhalt offers the glass industry brilliant prerequisites. The raw material stocks of quartz sand, soda and lime are in the immediate vicinity of the glassworks – an unprecedented proximity in Germany. The industry is growing and exports are booming. Our four plate glass plants produce a third of German plate glass and a tenth of plate glass produced in Europe. Glass from Osterweddingen shines in the new World Trade Center and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg.

From Shard to Pane

Plate glass production has emerged as a workhorse within the glass industry. About 2,700 tonnes of plate glass leave the factory halls in Wolfen-Thalheim, Osterweddingen and Haldensleben every day. HNG Global GmbH has one of Europe’s most modern glassworks for container glass in Gardelegen: 300 million bottles and glasses leave the production halls every year. Glass is processed into solar float glass or insulated and laminated safety glass. For instance, in terms of handicraft Saxony-Anhalt is graced with the glass workshops in Quedlinburg from the company Glaswerkstätten F. Schneemelcher, which has immortalised its ability at the Monument to the Battle of Nations in Leipzig.

Facts

  • Glass industry in Saxony-Anhalt: 11 plants with over 50 employees
  • number of employees: 2.300
  • Four plate glass plants: a third of the plate glass produced in Germany and a tenth of that produced in Europe comes from Saxony-Anhalt; total plate glass production capacity: 2,700 tonnes per day

Advantages

Best availability of raw materials:

  • Three quartz sand deposits, e.g. in Weferlingen
  • Soda in Staßfurt or Bernburg
  • Lime and dolomite in the Harz Mountains

Short journeys and delivery times

  • Excellently developed transport routes in all four directions

Efficiency for secondary processors

  • Solar glass manufacturers can get the plate glass they need from practically next door

Availability of staff

  • Flexible, tailor-made training programmes
  • Fast application

Businesses of the Glas Industry in Saxony-Anhalt