SIC 3231 Glass Products, Made of Purchased Glass

SIC 3231

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing glass products from purchased glass. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing optical lenses, except ophthalmic, are classified in SIC 3827: Optical Instruments and Lenses, and those manufacturing ophthalmic lenses are classified in SIC 3851: Ophthalmic Goods.

NAICS CODE(S)

327215

Glass Product Manufacturing Made of Purchased Glass

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

In the mid-2000s, the industry was made up of 1,463 companies operating more than 1,635 establishments. These companies generated shipments valued at $10.91 billion in 2004. Employment in the industry, which hovered around 50,000 in the mid-1980s, increased more modestly, reaching a total of 60,725 in 2002. Of these, 47,554 were involved in production operations. The annual payroll for all employees in the industry totaled $2.07 billion in 2002.

ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE

Firms in the purchased glass products industry are distinguished from other glass manufacturing firms—known as primary glass manufacturers—in that their products are not made directly from raw glass materials but from secondary glass bought from other companies.

Companies within the industry make everyday home glass products, such as mirrors, beverage glasses, shower doors, bathtub enclosures, picture glass, ash trays, lighting fixture glass, glass top tables, display shelving, window glass, automobile glass, clock glass, patio doors, oven door panels, novelty and souvenir glass items, appliance glass, and cosmetic and perfume containers. Industry products are also used in an extensive number of industrial, technical, and other non-household applications such as safety and bullet-proof glass, instrument dials, precision glass tubing, stained glass, industrial safety glasses and welding lenses, greenhouse glass, glass fiber used in optical components and for data and nondata transmission (faceplates, sensors, and glass-based optical coatings), chemical glassware, instrument panels, cathode ray tube screens, and high-tolerance specialty glass products such as elapsed-time indicators and gravity-sensing electrolytic transducers.

Important subgroups of industry products include beverage glasses such as tumblers and stemware, beer glasses, crystal and casual glassware, and glass fiber used in optical components and for data and non-data transmission.

Product Manufacture

Because industry firms do not make glass from raw materials as do primary glass manufacturers, the methods for making glass products from purchased glass vary with the specific product. Firms within the industry buy glass in the following forms: float glass (a type of flat glass manufactured by floating the glass in a bath of molten tin), sheet glass, plate glass, glass sand, and "cullet" or glass scrap.

Other materials and supplies used in the manufacture of purchased glass products include industrial inorganic chemicals, plastic film and sheets, ground or otherwise treated nonmetallic minerals, and sodium carbonate (soda ash), as well as paperboard containers, wood boxes and pallets, and lumber.

Some of the more common glass products, which illustrate different glass manufacturing methods, include...

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