Schott Glass Expands in Pennsylvania

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Schott Glass Technologies Incorporated (Duryea, Pennsylvania), a subsidiary of Schott Group (Mainz, Germany), has been conducting a study of growth at its Duryea, Pennsylvania specialty glass manufacturing plant. The company has grown the plant from 55,000 square feet when it first opened in 1968 to its present day size of close to 800,000 square feet. The company spent close to $10 million from 1996 to 1998 expanding its laser glass melting and manufacturing capabilities.

The most recent plans include the expansion of research and development facilities to a purchased plant located across the street from the current operations at 400 York Avenue. In 1997, the company purchased the former Topps chewing gum building located at 401 York Avenue, with plans to start up a thin glass manufacturing operation, but the market fell for that product and plans for developing the building were postponed. Topps had closed the chewing gum and baseball card manufacturing operation in late 1996, due to poor market conditions complicated by the major league baseball strike. Topps had employed up to 800 employees at that plant. Now Schott Glass is readying the building for laboratory, research & development facilities, and warehouse space and plans to spend over $15 million outfitting the building over the next few years. The company plans to increase its work force from the current 450 employees up to around 650 by 2006.