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About Us

Over 250 years of experience Corning provides an outstanding example of expertise and a tradition of quality in the service of consumers. Our heritage begins far before the "Pyrex® revolution" or even before the first glass envelope for Thomas Edison’s light bulb, which contributed to Corning’s fame. It is indeed by Royal Decree in 1752 that the Bagneaux Glassworks were created to make the most of the pure Fontainebleau sand (southeast of Paris, France). Today, 250 years after the foundation stone was laid, the Corning plant at Bagneaux is the world’s largest production unit for ophthalmic glass, and Corning’s innovative spirit lives through the development of new products and technologies for the forthcoming ophthalmic plastic and glass applications.

Corning Ophthalmic key facts & figures

• Activity established in 1753 (Corning Incorporated founded in 1851)
• Business headquarters +  R&D center in Fontainebleau/Avon (France)
• 400 employees worldwide
• 8 sales offices
• 2 manufacturing locations (see below)
• Corning Ophthalmic also manufactures transparent protective shielding against X-ray radiation for medical, technical, and research applications (see our Med-X™ web page) and specific glass (such as infrared transmitting glass and ultraviolet (UV) cut-off glass) for the optical market.
• Triple Certification  ISO 9001 for Quality, ISO 14001 for Environment, OHSAS 18001 for Health & Safety . For more info :  

Our SunSensors ® monomer production unit in Corning's Process Research Center (PRC) in Sullivan Park, USA		Bagneaux plant, France: the world’s largest production unit for ophthalmic glass.

Corning Ophthalmic key innovations

• First photochromic eyeglass lens materials commercialized in 1968
• 1.6 to 1.9 high refractive index glass. Launched in 1991, Corning’s 1.9 High Index is still the thinnest mineral lens in the world
• 9754 infrared (IR) glass (1985) for the optical market.
• SunSensors technology for photochromic plastic lens manufacturing:
  • SunSensors by Corning, high-quality photochromic monomer, launched in 2000
  • SunSensors + , high-performance  photochromic monomer (2005)
  • SunSensors HPC , high-performance photochromic coating (2008)
    

Our locations worldwide