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ONE AMBITION: TO IMPROVE THE WELL-BEING OF ALL
5. A Group organization to serve customer and market needs
39
SAINT-GOBAIN
- REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2016
A Group organization to serve customer
5.
and market needs
INVENT THE MATERIALS OF THE FUTURE AND PROVIDE INNOVATIVE
5.1
SOLUTIONS FOR BUILDINGS AND INDUSTRY: THE INNOVATIVE
MATERIALS SECTOR
Innovative Materials
Flat Glass
Ceramic
Materials
Performance
Plastics
Technical fabrics
(Adfors)
Abrasives
Glazing for the automotive
and transport markets
Building Glass
solutions
High-Performance
Materials
With its unique portfolio of materials and processes for the
construction, transport, healthcare, and industrial markets,
the Innovative Materials Sector provides the Saint-Gobain
Group with its innovation-oriented culture.
It consists of two businesses:
Flat Glass;
High-Performance Materials (HPM).
In line with the strategy for the Sector, its R&D is devoted to
serving customers by providing them with differentiated
solutions.
support to the sales and production teams.
design of new products and procedures, providing technical
It is supported in this aim by the Group’s eight cross-business
research centers devoted to focused technologies, and local
teams close to production sites. Of the 3,700 researchers
employed by the Group, 2,100 work in Innovative Materials.
They work on over 600 research projects involving the
sciences industry.
Some development projects are aimed at maintaining
technological leadership in current markets: innovative
processes for thin coatings, next generation ceramic grains
and abrasive products, more effective double and triple
glazing, plastic films for automobiles and building, etc. Other
major programs target new markets: electrochromic glazing,
ceramic cores for fuel cells, materials for energy storage, or
single-use systems for the biopharmaceutical and life
KEY
FIGURES
More than
500
industrial sites in
45
countries
Over
60,000
employees
Flat Glass: over
33,000
employees in
42
countries
HPM: over
27,000
employees in
46
countries
Materials
8
cross-business R&D centers in the United States,
Europe, China and India, dedicated mainly to Innovative
2,100
researchers
Some
300
patents filed annually by the Innovative
Materials Sector
Approximately
2/3
of the Group’s R&D expenditure
Competitive positions:
No. 1
worldwide
(1)
High-Performance Materials
Ceramics:
no. 1
(1)
in the world for silicon carbide,
zirconium-based abrasive grains, ceramic balls and
refractories for the glass industry
Abrasives: World
co-leader
(1)
for all abrasives lines
Performance Plastics:
no. 1
(1)
in the world for bearings
for automotive applications, single-use tubes and
connectors for the pharmaceutical industry, aircraft
radomes for communications satellites
Saint-Gobain Adfors:
no. 1
(1)
in the world for
construction fabrics and paintable wall coverings
High-Performance Materials: more than
200
industrial
sites across
36
countries
N
o. 2
(1)
for Flat Glass in the world
N
o. 1
(1)
for Flat Glass in Europe
Flat Glass: around
300
industrial sites across
33
countries
Source: Saint-Gobain.
(1)