History

AGP Plastics Factory Floor
AGP Plastics Factory Floor

AGP Plastics was started in 1963 as the manufacturing arm of a contract architectural glazing company that had an interest to diversify its activities. Starting with the fabrication of silk screen decorated, ceramic fired small appliance parts, under the original name of Artistic Glass Products, the company quickly saw a market need to be able to strengthen such glass parts for product reliability and customer safety. Acquiring chemical strengthening technology, which was at the time little more than laboratory theory, AGP went on to pioneer the techniques and know how necessary to apply chemical strengthening technology to high volume commercial applications. This included our original business of small consumer appliance parts and later to special grinding and machining operations for photocopier and other special near-optical applications. AGP continued as a leader in this business by expanding into the then emerging technology of thermal tempering targeted at the very small and thin glass parts of the appliance industry.

In the late '70s AGP saw a steady growth in the use of its chemically strengthened glass for architectural and security applications and especially when laminated glass was called for. AGP began to see a need for a stronger, more reliable, less expensive and easier to laminate and fabricate interlayer material than was presently available to supply these growing markets. Applying some of the then latest developments in polymer technology, AGP developed the necessary chemistry and extrusion and created and patented the ionomer based interlayer called Noviflex®, a product which has revolutionized the security transparency business. With a totally integrated production facility AGP extruded the interlayer, strengthened the glass and fabricated the finished laminates to supply the rapidly expanding architectural security market of the '80s and '90s.

AGP Plastics Autoclave
AGP Plastics Autoclave

As natural progression in laminated security glass products, AGP began providing high security and ballistics resistant glass for the automotive security market. Laminated bend glass for special purpose and military vehicles as well as armored passenger vehicles incorporated not only our Noviflex® interlayer but also our emerging embedded wire technology for high security heated windshields and sidelites.

Today AGP Plastics has focused its business on providing Noviflex® interlayer to glass laminators interested in producing low, medium and high security laminated glass. Noviflex® finds a particular application in attack resistant, blast resistant, ballistic and vandal resistant architectural transparencies, and has the advantages of reliability, clarity and cost over many of the competing products. AGP has also found a niche producing wire embedded heated interlayers for customers requiring heated laminated glass primarily, though not exclusively, in the transportation market. AGP is perhaps the only producer of embedded wire mats that can claim excellent reliability and quality when shipping and exporting these interlayers to distant customers. AGP can also boast of improved optical characteristics when embedded wire is combined with Noviflex® interlayer.

1939

In 1939, our original company was founded. We specialized in light glass parts fabrication, auto glass replacement, and mirror production.

1950

Started commercial architectural glazing.

1963

Artistic Glass Products Company is established.

1965

Moved to a new building on Kumry Roadd in Trumbauersville. At that time we were diamond drilling, silk screen printing, and ceramic decoration of flat glass parts.

1966

First commercialization of chemical strengthening small appliance parts, photocopier platens, and mold plates for osmosis desalinization films

1970

Proceeded into precision beveling of photocopier platens

1975

Our company started thermal tempering of high volume appliance parts:

  • toaster oven doors
  • ceramic decoration
  • 3 mm thickness
  • small dimensional parts
1980

Artistic glass had the largest, commercial, fully automated chemical strengthen equipment

1981

Acquired our first autoclave

1982

Lamination begins with antiballistic vision blocks - periscopes

1983

Noviflex® is invented and we purchase our first extruder to produce Noviflex® for architectural security

1990

Started our embedded wire and were laminating railcar glass, locomotive windshields, and aftermarket automotive up-armor sets

1995

Artistic Glass sells fabrication capability to St. Gobain:

  • Established new name - AGP Plastics, Inc.
  • AGP retains Noviflex® production
  • Construct new building - 80,000 square feet and relocate extrusion
1997

AGP Acquires DuPont Company Contract for the extrusion of SGP - SentryGlas® Plus.

1999

PPG Industries (PGW) Mercedes backlite

2010

Military vehicle (MATV) windshield with embedded wire

2013

Installed an in factory energy efficient LED lighting system

2016

Installed a rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar array system