Many people will have concern when it comes purchasing glass machinery from China. In the past, low quality products flooded the market. But this does not mean that China only produces cheap quality products, it has a lot more to offer. It actually caters to all kind of buyers.
Today, China is considered to be one of the top glass machinery exporters of the world. More and more customers choose to buy from China, from single machine to a custom automation production line.
There are so many glass machine manufacturers in the market and you may not know how to pick the reliable ones, below are tips that helps to pave the way and save your time.
1. Types of glass machines and their locations
The glass machinery manufacturers in China become to focus on one or two products, in order to be more professional in it. You should be careful if you find a supplier who can provide every machine you need, it could be a tragedy if you work with them. Bellow are the machines you need for your glass processing plant, and they could be from different manufacturers:
Glass tempering furnace. It is a big investment and also the key for successful business. You should be very cautious before making the decision.
Choose a famous brand, the brands you have heard or the machines your peers are using. But remember, don’t go for a machine that only has beautiful looking. Some manufacturers only pay attention on the appearance of the machine but function and performance are not good. Maybe 50% of the cost is for the image developing companies they hire and the fancy advertisement they promote.
Focus on the R&D team, check how many patents they have and see if there is any breakthrough on technology they have made. Make sure it is an energy saving furnace and it’s easy to operate. What’s more important, choose a supportive factory who can react fast to your questions. Even some factories have agencies locally in your country, they will not fly directly to your site when problem occurs. Working efficiency is an important term to judge the manufacturer. Make sure they will give respond to you quickly when you have after sales issues.
There are two main locations for tempering furnace, Luoyang city, Henan Province and Foshan city, Guangdong Province. Among these factories, there are only several worth to buy if you care about quality.
Southtech(South Glass Technology Co., Ltd) could be the one who is with highest cost performance. The two owners of the company are technical experts in the industry and invest large amount in product development every year. In 2014, the first 2mm continuous flat glass production line by Southtech was successfully put into operation which opened a new era for tempering thin sheets.
Glass cutting machines. There are many ways to cut glass, for raw material, CNC glass cutting machine is the best option. Precision is the key for this machine. Then it comes to speed and maintenance. Manufacturers for this type of machine mainly locate in Anhui Province.
Several standards to judge if the machine is with quality components:
*Electrical parts, like motors, are from famous brands.
*Guide rails should be imported, or at least from Taiwan.
*European or US software system.
*With protection against damages during the separation process.
For laminated glass, the cutter should have function of edge deletion and coating protection.
Glass edging machine. Straight line edging machine is a must have machine for glass fabricators. And of course double edgers are also popular. Sometimes you also need to polish round edges or glass with irregular shapes. There is a place you should remember: Lunjiao town, Foshan.
No matter straight line edging, beveling, double edgers, shape chamfering or high speed seaming machines, from high quality to cheap ones, you can find in Lunjiao, which is also called the Town of Woodworking and Glass Machinery. Of course, there are a few qualified manufacturers for edging in Zhongshan, a city nearby.
Many suppliers provide OEM service, maybe the machine you buy directly from the local distributors in India or America, with their own logos printed on the machine, are all from here.
Glass washing machine. It’s the basic machines for glass plants. There are two main types, one is to dry glass with sponges and the other is with air knives. It seemed to be a simple machine with not high value, but if you made wrong decision on it, it will cause big trouble. Qualified manufactures for this machine mainly in Lunjiao, Foshan or Shenzhen.
Remember do not to buy this machine from Shangdong province, the suppliers there will offer machines with incredibly low price but it will cost you more for after sales problems.
Techwin(Foshan Techwin Glass Technology Co., Ltd) maybe the only glass washer producer who owns its metal processing center and rubber rollers workshop.
The rubber rollers made in house are with 3mm thick seamless tube while many other suppliers will use 2mm thick welded pipe. Rollers will get bent for two or three years with welded pipes. Rubber content for Techwin’s roller is up to 40% even they have been used for 5 years, the roller surface will be elastic, unlike others, rubber will fall off after one or two years. Glass powder will stick on the holes and scratch glass. Then you need to stop production and wait another 2 to 3 months to get new replacements.
Besides, machines from Techwin have the reputation of stable and long duration. That’s because the machine chassis is quite tough and strong, it’s for heavy duty jobs. Unlike some factories, use thin stainless steel and light structure to reduce costs.
As production line is a trend, Techwin has rich experience on working with different edging machine manufacturers, to integrate the washing machine into production line. Communication test between washer and other machines will be carried out before shipment to make sure they can cooperate well with each other.
Glass drilling machines are designed for drilling flat glass, mostly from 3 to 20mm thickness of flat glass. It’s widely used for shower door glass, window glass, furniture glass, appliance glass, ect. The traditional double headed auto or semi-auto drilling machine are affordable and easy to source.
Now CNC drilling machine becomes popular, it’s with PLC and touch screen. Servo motors controls the travel of X/Y/Z axes for faster and more precision jobs. Single and multi stations are as option.
For fabricators who needs online drilling, automatic drilling production line will be a good option. Online drilling means the drilling process can be done in a production line. The flow can be like this — Automatic loading machine — double edger — transfer table — double edger — glass rotatory table(if necessary) — automatic glass corner edging machine(if necessary) — drilling machine — glass washing machine — unloading machine. Of course, it’s not so easy to set up a line like this, the machines are from different factories so it will take certain time for thorough communication between the suppliers to ensure the line runs smoothly.
Both offline or online drilling machines can be found also in Foshan or cities near by.
IG line of equipment includes components such as a butyl extruder, two component extruder, automatic spacer bender, desiccant automatic filler, automatic Low-E film deleter, spacer cutter, spacer conveyor, rotating table, hydraulic elevator, salt loader, and more.
No matter what degree of automation is desired, whether relatively simple, semi-automatic or highly automated, IG production line manufacturers in Beijing and Jinan can take care all your needs. Suppliers in Beijing are with higher quality and of course price will be comparatively higher. But you will get what you pay for. If you have limited budget and you are not so picky for quality, the machines in Jinan will make you satisfied.
Laminating glass production line. For PVB lamination line, it is integrated with loading and unloading tables, horizontal glass washing machine, assembly station, pressing and convectional heating sections.
There are only a few manufacturers for laminated glass machines in China. For PVB laminating, the most famous three brands are in Shenzhen, Shangdong and Liaoning. For EVA laminating, you can check the ones in Bejing, Shangdong and Guangzhou.
If you want to know more details or are interested in other machines like sandblasting machine, CNC work centers, glass handling machines or tools, please contact franky@fstechwin.com and I will provide advice and solutions to you.
2. Ways to know and access the manufacturers
When you have clear goals on what to buy, you may start to source to get a list of potential suppliers. You can get to know them by google, alibaba.com or trade fairs.
Some suppliers have attracting pictures on their web or in alibaba, but be careful, not all of them are manufacturers. Some are trading companies who has good photoshop skills. They even put their own logo on the factories which they download from the internet.
Normally, the real factories will have pictures for their workshop, where machines are with their logo, or employees in clothing with logo printed. You can also search the company name, if they work with machinery distributors in different countries, they must be real manufacturers.
Trade fairs are good ways to know suppliers. China Glass is a big event for all glass machinery and accessory manufacturers in China, it will be held in Beijing and Shanghai by turns, at the end of April or May every year. You can also know them at the local trade fairs, like Eurasia Window, Door and Glass show(Turkey), Mir Stekla(Russia), Glasstec Dusseldorf(Germany), GLASSBUILD AMERICA(US) and so on. Only qualified manufacturers who have good business can afford the high expenses to attend overseas exhibitions.
Next, it’s time to talk to them or visit them. If you are going to Foshan, you can fly to Guangzhou, it’s about an hour drive from Baiyun airport to Foshan. If you are heading to Shangdong or Jiejiang, you can fly to Shanghai and take the high speed trains to the cities to, and between, the provincial cities.
3. Try to get proposals with detailed information
You will get technical sheets from the suppliers. The one who can provide