The NSG Group, a leading Japanese manufacturer of glass and glazing products for the architectural, automotive and technical glass sectors, has announced an investment worth 80 million euros to upgrade a high-performance glass furnace at the San Salvo plant near the Abruzzo city of Chieti during an event held at the Italy Pavilion's Auditorium at Expo 2025 Osaka.
    The San Salvo plant was created in 1962, privatized in 1994 with its acquisition by the Pilkington group and subsequently bought in 2006 by Japan's NSG Group.
    It employs over 2,000 workers directly and as many indirectly through satellite industries.
    The new investment is expected to boost production from today's 140,000 tons of flat glass a year to 160,000 tons, up 14%.
    The furnace's upgrade will allow the plant to produce glass for construction and design, in addition to the flat glass processed to build components used by all major automotive groups.
    The glass production cycle will thus be potentially completed for all sectors inside the San Salvo plant, optimizing costs on a global scale.
    The new investment is also set to have a positive impact in terms of environmental sustainability, allowing to save an overall 3.5 million cubic metres of gas a year as well as an annual 260,000 cubic metres of water.
    The furnace is also designed for the future implementation of more sustainable energy sources such as hydrogen and electric fusion.
    The furnace's reconstruction with a cold-repair technique is set to be completed by 2026.
    With a sand extraction cave in Melfi, near Potenza, and plants in Porto Marghera, Venice, as well as in Settimo Torinese near Turin for the production, respectively, of building and automotive glass components, the industrial group's strategy goes against the general trend followed by different markets of reference, aiming for the in-house completion of the production cycle and the optimization of production costs.
    "I learn with pleasure that the NSG Group has announced the allocation of an investment worth 80 million euros for the construction of a float furnace at the San Salvo plant", said Abruzzo Governor Marco Marsilio at the end of an event organized in cooperation with the Business and Made in Italy Ministry (MIMIT) and State investment agency Invitalia.
    Three Japanese companies operating in Abruzzo - Denso, NSG Group and Honda - took centre stage at the event, which was held at the Auditorium of the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka.
    "We are receiving good news in Osaka from the Japanese companies producing in Abruzzo, showing once again the great attractiveness of our Region", noted the governor.
    "I am happy that President Graziano Marcovecchio of Pilkington Italia here in Osaka, during Expo's week dedicated to Abruzzo, while participating in the event that celebrated the three Japanese companies present in our region, announced that NSG Group will invest in San Salvo with the upgrade of one of the float furnaces operating at the production site", commented regional Business Councillor Tiziana Magnacca.
    "A new furnace whose 20-year-long life still ensures NSG Group's presence in Abruzzo" and "thus new perspectives for the San Salvo plant", she added.
    Meanwhile the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Ambassador Mario Vattani, said the Italy Pavilion has confirmed its role as an "outpost of the diplomacy of growth".
    "Important economic announcements, like the one (made) by NSG Group, stress the strong attractiveness that the Italy System is able to have through the holistic collaboration between private sector companies and public institutions.
    "Just think that Abruzzo, a region with only just over one million residents, has the highest number of automotive companies, with the presence of the largest automotive glass manufacturing plant in the world".
    "This investment confirms the strategic importance of Abruzzo, a competitive and cutting-edge region", stated Giovanni Savini, the director general of the Investment Facilitation and Unblocking Unit (UMASI) at MIMIT.
    "Such investments show and are the concrete sign of MIMIT's commitment in favouring the competitiveness of territories, stimulating the interest of major foreign industrial groups in investing in the Italy System".

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA