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Saint-Gobain – A World Leader with a Focus onLeading Edge TechnologySaint-Gobain is a leading producer of abrasives, building materials, flat glass, glass containers, industrial ceramics, insulationand pipe. It is one of the world’s top 100 industrial companies with more than 117,000 employees worldwide and annualsales of over 20 billion dollars. Saint-Gobain is committed to be the leader in all the markets it serves by being responsiveto customer needs, developing state of the art products, and maintaining the most modern manufacturing facilities.In abrasives, Saint-Gobain is the parent company of many of the world’s most highly regarded suppliers to the woodworkingindustry including Norton Abrasives, EAC English Abrasives and CORA Abrasives.THE NORTON APPLICATION ENGINEERS SALES TEAMFor more than a century, Norton has focused on providing innovative abrasive products that solve customers’ manufacturing needs wherever materials arecut, shaped or finished. The combination of the Norton products and the specialty products of manufacturers like English Abrasives and CORA provideour woodworking customers with the industry’s most comprehensive line of quality abrasives and is unmatched for wood processing solutions.To ensure your abrasive application needs are met, Norton sales engineers are thoroughly cross-trained on all products in the Saint-Gobain family ofabrasives that are used in the woodworking industry. To continually develop superior sanding results, the abrasive industry’s largest research anddevelopment team supports your Norton application engineer by continually developing more innovative, value-driven abrasive products.By representing the most complete line of advanced sanding products, Norton sales engineers can provide the most effective abrasive solutions to meet thewoodworking industry’s requirements for consistent quality, maximum productivity and total cost effectiveness.WORLD GRINDING TECHNOLOGY CENTERSSaint-Gobain’s commitment to product breakthrough abrasive technologiesled to the opening of the Higgins Technology Center in Worcester,Massachusetts. The opening of satellite centers in Troy, New York andJapan followed the Worcester facility. Much of the technology effort at theTroy facility is dedicated to the woodworking industry.The World Grinding Technology Centers (WGTC) offers extensivebenefits to customers. By evaluating the entire abrasive process of themachine, abrasive and sanding parameters in a “systems approach,” we candevelop expertise that can be applied to improve the abrasive applicationsof our customers, help machine builders develop superior equipment andhelp in the creation of new abrasive technology that will improve thequality of the goods you manufacture.Our application sales engineers are continuously learning of the latestdevelopments in abrasives developed by the WGTC. Norton engineers usethis information to advise our customers on how to improve part quality,increase productivity of existing equipment and lower abrasive costs.For the woodworking industry, the goals of the WGTC include thedevelopment of new products like Norton SG, which was awarded theIWF Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award.The WGTC uses “mapping technology” to help determine the optimummachine feeds and speeds, grit sequence, pressures and other parametersfor woodworking applications like edge and deadhead sanding. TheWGTC is also used to measure and monitor product quality consistency toensure our abrasives perform at the highest levels every time they are used.The end result of our dedication to leadership in abrasives is innovativeproducts, consistent quality, personalized service and superior solutions tothe challenges of the woodworking industry.2