Plate glass industry

Glass and glass product manufacturing accounts for approximately 15% of the shipment value of the ceramics and stone manufacturing industries, and is broadly divided into three industries based on product type: plate glass industry, glass product industry, and glass fiber industry.
[Plate glass industry]
It is a typical process industry that operates continuously day and night using large melting furnaces, and for this reason there are few companies in Europe and the United States. In Japan, the industry is dominated by three companies, Asahi Glass, Nippon Sheet Glass, and Central Glass (established in 1959), in order of sales share.

*Some of the terminology used in the "plate glass industry" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…ガラス，ガラス製品製造業の出荷額は窯業，土石製造業の約15％を占め，製品形態別に，板ガラス工業，ガラス製品工業，ガラス繊維工業の三つに大別される。
［板ガラス工業］
　大規模な溶融窯で昼夜連続操業を行う典型的な装置産業で，このため欧米各国とも企業数は少なく，日本でも，販売シェア順で旭硝子（あさひガラス），日本板硝子，セントラル硝子(1959進出)の3社寡占状態になっている。…

※「板ガラス工業」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報