Customers

High quality and service are key features in building relationships with industry customers. We are committed to the safe application of our products, through storage, handling, fitting and use.

Most efficient means having the lowest delivered unit cost of what we supply and using the minimum resources and energy to produce and process them.

Most reliable means that, having committed to a customer order, we deliver what they ordered, with the promised quality, when they expect it, in full, on time, every time, without quality issues or paperwork mistakes.

Most responsive means that when our customers contact us, by whatever method, they get an answer immediately. In other words, they know where they stand with us. To be the most sustainable supplier means ensuring that we set high standards and adhere to them throughout the supply chain, from our own suppliers, through manufacturing, transport and delivery. We aim to achieve an economic performance that ensures the long-term viability of the Company.

Product responsibility

We aim to provide customers with products that have safety, environmental and in-service benefits. These include personal protection, security, energy saving, solar control, noise reduction, fire protection, improved styling and enhanced visibility for vehicles, and self-cleaning properties for glazing in buildings.

We are well aware that glass products generally require careful handling. We are committed to the safety of our products and to ensuring they can be effectively handled, fitted and used by our customers. Our product risk review procedures are designed to identify risks and to provide advice to users on safe handling. We communicate these risks through safety data sheets, labels, and Glazing and Handling Guidelines.

Highest quality

Quality is a key feature in building successful relationships with our industry customers and end customers. It is also a crucial factor in Sustainability, because high quality can reduce waste throughout the supply chain, while improving production efficiencies. Quality encompasses design, development, manufacture, delivery, assembly and price of glass, as well as customer support. In the NSG Group, the achievement of high quality is supported by the use of rigorous quality management systems and standards.

In the Building Products business, the Group has ISO 9000:2000 quality management certification in Europe, Japan, North and South America.

Our European Building Products business has been a prominent player in the development of new glass product standards for the European building industry. These standards have provided a route for glass manufacturers to meet the European Construction Products Directive and apply to virtually all NSG Group products used in buildings.

Global supply chains in Building Products are increasing and we are actively contributing to the development of new global product standards that meet Sustainability requirements, through collaboration with working groups set up by organizations such as the International Standards Organization. We work closely with our customers, trade associations, governments and standards-setting bodies to ensure that our products meet and where possible exceed local energy performance standards.

Our Automotive Original Equipment business operates a single quality management system to ensure the consistent quality of its products from wherever they are manufactured and supplied. It has a corporate ISO/TS1 6949:2009 (the internationally recognized automotive quality standard) certificate, which covers all of our principle OE operations on a global basis.

We are now a leading supplier of glass products for solar module production where quality standards are set by customers with electronics industry quality experience. Where applicable, our management systems have been extended to include Solar Energy products. In this sector, formal glass product qualifications with major customers are additionally required to ensure end products meet electronic industry IEC 61646 and IEC 61215 standards.

Product innovation

The NSG Group is a global leader in manufacturing excellence and innovation, notably in the areas of glass melting, glass forming by the float process, online coating and complex shaping technology, especially for automotive windshields and backlights. The Group invested ¥10,692 million in R&D in FY2011.

The Group owns or controls approximately 4,000 patents and patent applications, predominantly in the fields of float glass production and processing and automotive glazing and also in the Information Technology field, and has access under license to patents held by third parties. The Group has also been active in selective licensing of its patents and technology, in the areas of online coating, encapsulation (of automotive glazing) and rain sensors for automotive glazing.

Awards for quality and marketing

Building Products

• G11 Awards: Pilkington Cumbernauld ‘Glass Company of the Year’ (UK).
• Certified LEED® Gold Award: for MSUFCU building, Lansing, Michigan (USA).
• World Architectural News Awards 2011: Pilkington Spacia™ Product of the Year’ (UK).
• Best of the Best 2010 award for brand design to Cebrace joint venture (Brazil).
• Modern Customer — Excellence in Customer Services award Home and Building category (Brazil).

US ‘Green Building’ Award

The Gold LEED®-certified MSUFCU building at Lansing, Michigan, showcases 44,000 square feet of Pilkington Eclipse Advantage™ EverGreen, providing a perfect blend of visible daylight and low solar heat gain. Nearly 80 percent of the building takes advantage of natural day lighting, reducing  the need for artificial lighting.

The LEED® green building certification program is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of energy-efficient buildings in the United States.

Automotive

• 2010 Toyota cost excellence performance/cost achievement awards (Brazil).
• Autodata Award ‘Best of Automotive sector for pieces, parts and components’ in 2011 (Brazil).
• Toyota FAW Tianjin Manufacturing Quality Supreme Award (Gold) in 2010 (China).
• Ford Award ‘Quantum leap supplier improvement in 2011’ — (Brazil).
• VW supplier quality program (Forum Lieferantenqualität) participant 2010 (Germany).
• JLR Quality award presented to Automotive Kings Norton in June 2011 (UK).
• CLAAS (agricultural machinery) award for Quality Achievement Specialized Transport 2011 (Finland).

Specialty Glass

• Creative Sensor Inc. (CSI) award to NSG Hong Kong for Outstanding Performance and Excellent Support, 2010 (China).
• Fuji Xerox Premiere Partner 2011 NSG Co., Ltd. (Japan).