At 9.45 pm on Thursday, 12 July 1962 glass began to flow in an endless stream from a massive melting tank in a new Whangarei factory and a vital new industry was born – right on schedule.

It wasn't good glass. It was ridged. It cracked. It rippled. It obstinately refused to emerge upstairs in the cutting room in one solid continuous sheet. But all through the night, drawing speeds were adjusted, temperatures changed. And on Friday morning, at 8:30, it finally came through as sheet – not perfect as yet, but sheet glass all the same.

The rest is only a matter of time.

Unfortunately, the buoyant enthusiasm displayed by the founders of the sheet glass industry in New Zealand, and the technical expertise of their European consultants, failed to bring the glass quality up to commercially acceptable standards and within six months, the company was in receivership.

Taking over the role of producing New Zealand's sheet glass requirements, New Zealand Window Glass Company was formed as a partnership between two companies with long experience in sheet glass manufacture – Pilkington Brothers (NZ) Limited and Australian Consolidated Industries Limited.

This paper sets out to identify the raw material requirements and controls necessary for the successful manufacture of sheet glass, and the availability and supply of suitable materials for use at Whangarei.

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