The company history in North America started in Ohio with the inventiveness of three men: Edward Drummond Libbey, Michael Joseph Owens and Edward Ford who had separate, sizable companies, all manufacturing glass products. In 1930, the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company and the Libbey Owens Sheet Glass Company merged to form the Libbey-Owens-Ford Company (LOF). Over the years, three other major glass companies would become entwined: LOF, Pilkington and Nippon Sheet Glass (now known as the NSG Group).
In 1981, Pilkington plc from England acquired 30 percent of LOF, whose business had branched into three areas: fluid power, plastics and glass. In 1986, LOF sold its glass business and the Libbey Owens-Ford name to Pilkington. In 1990, NSG Group from Japan became a 20 percent shareholder in LOF. In 2000, NSG swapped its stake in LOF for holding in Pilkington plc. The same year LOF changes its name to Pilkington North America, Inc., its name today. In 2006, the NSG Group acquired Pilkington plc.