As Manager of Furnace Operations for Ardagh Group’s European glass container business, Sven-Roger Kahl and his nine-strong team of experts are responsible for the glass melting process at 20 plants throughout the continent, involving facilities in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the UK. This work begins with the specification and selection of raw materials, the definition of glass compositions and the delivery of plant support for furnace operations. Central laboratory, furnace start-up and tuning specialists are also important members of the team.

Melting technology focus

Born in Leipzig, Germany, Sven-Roger Kahl attended university and gained an MSc in glass technology in Moscow. His first job was as a Furnace Operator in eastern Germany for Lausitzer Expert glassmaker working toward greater technology gains Sven-Roger Kahl fell in love with glass and its endless possibilities at the age of 12. Now Manager of Furnace Operations and Innovations Group for Ardagh Group, Glass – Europe, he spoke exclusively to Glass Worldwide about highlights from an illustrious career in the industry, including his involvement with GlassTrend as an Advisory Board member. Glaswerke Weisswasser, working shifts, before making his way up to Production Manager for the site within two years. In 1992, Mr Kahl joined the glass container industry and worked in quality control, forming and cold end inspection functions for Gerresheimer Glas and Glashütte Budenheim, before becoming Furnace Manager at Heinz Glas in 1996. Since then, his career has been dedicated to melting furnaces and glass technology, based in the Netherlands for the former PLM Glasindustrie Dongen, then Rexam and now Ardagh Group business.

“I fell in love with glass and its endless possibilities at the age of 12 after reading my first book about glass and glassmaking” he recalls. “To this day, I have never regretted my choice because every day brings something new. I am still impressed by the material and its possibilities! We take glass for granted but very few people realise how much our standard of living and the products around us are based on the availability of glass.”

Notable achievements

In almost every area, Ardagh Group is a standards-driven organisation, so the successful standardisation of glass chemistry across Europe by Sven-Roger Kahl’s team ranks as one of his greatest achievements. Another is the improvement of emissions during furnace repairs, starting from modelling, through furnace design, start-up and tuning. “It was a lot of work that also involved liaising with external partners but the end result was even better than we had hoped for” he says.

In Europe, Ardagh Group’s glassmaking network extends from near Glasgow in the west to Warsaw in the east, Gothenburg in the north and Rome in the south. Glass bottles and jars are produced via a combination of BB, PB and NNPB processes, in 10 different colours.

Current projects include the further implementation of advanced control systems, plus a glass chemistry standardisation that also involves Ardagh plants in the USA. In addition, daily routines include the provision of necessary chemical analyses for glass and raw materials so that plants can control and stabilise their processes.

Because Ardagh Group operates across two continents and multiple countries, close co-operation with suppliers is considered essential. “We want to improve and develop our business together, for the mutual benefit of all partners” Sven-Roger Kahl explains. When selecting external suppliers to support Ardagh investments, for example, the company looks for the best value for money. Its normal procedure is to create an Invitation To Tender (ITT) and send it to potential suppliers. Decisions are then based on the package offered.

Mr Kahl acknowledges that certain elements of the glass container production process are in greater need of development solutions than others, including the adoption of plant-wide Industry 4.0 technologies. “While some parts of the process will be more difficult to apply it to initially, this is just a question of time and development” he suggests. “In particular, however, the glass container industry should place special emphasis on understanding more about the surface and the surface defects of a container; this is what causes breakages and stops us using the full potential of the material in terms of strength.”

Towards CO2 neutrality

Following every furnace repair, Ardagh Group is improving its CO2 footprint but every day, the glassmaker is evaluating opportunities to minimise its energy consumption. According to Sven-Roger Kahl, to achieve this goal, the company applies advanced control techniques and uses as much recycled cullet as possible within the limits of quality, availability and cost. “For glass manufacturing that complies with the Paris Agreement, new technologies must be developed by the whole industry, with co-operation and input from organisations like FEVE and GlassTrend” he explains. “In terms of national initiatives, we also participate in the development and realisation of roadmaps and other initiatives. CO₂ objectives and improvement programmes are part of our sustainability strategy.”

Industry-wide responsibilities

For the past decade, Sven-Roger Kahl has been Ardagh’s representative on the Advisory Board at GlassTrend, an international consortium of industrial glass producers, suppliers, research institutes and other partners operating in the field of glass production. He confirms that membership of this organisation provides a valuable opportunity to participate in research projects, where the industry has significant influence on the subject and direction of research. Other benefits include the chance to participate in regular, high quality workshops and networking opportunities with fellow glassmakers, suppliers, universities and research institutes.

Elsewhere, Sven-Roger Kahl is Chairman of the NCNG, a Dutch foundation that supports training and research for the glass industry and within FEVE, he is a member of the Innovations working group, representing Ardagh Group. He also participates in FEVE’s Food Contact Materials working group and in the P&E Committee, both for Ardagh and the Netherlands.

Looking to the future

Having spent the vast majority of his career in the European glass packaging industry, Sven-Roger Kahl remains confident that glass, like no other material, maximises the premium quality of products, while also combining inertness, transparency, variation in design and sustainability. “What we as an industry need to overcome is the potential risk of breakage, however, as well as the assumption that glass is a commodity product. We need to realise that our competition is not so much other glassmakers but the producers of composite materials made up of multiple layers” he concludes. “From my (not fully objective) point of view, glass is superior to all other materials!”