Via its recent acquisition of the Moldovan glassworks in Chișinău, the Vetropack Group is continuing its expansion strategy in Central and Eastern Europe. The acquisition involves two separate operational units, Glass Container Company and Glass Container Prim. 

The glassworks in Chișinău produces approximately 100,000 tonnes of glass packaging annually for the food and beverage industry, which is sold both domestically and in export markets. The factpry currently employs some 450 people and generated a turnover of approximately €40 million in 2019. 

"With this acquisition, we continue to expand in a region with which we are very familiar – a region where we have almost three decades of glass making experience" commented Johann Reiter, CEO of the Vetropack Group. 

A deal to acquire O-I’s Australian and New Zealand glass container manufacturing business has been completed by Visy. “We are delighted to be welcoming the O-I Australian and New Zealand teams into the Visy family and we look forward to working with our new team members to integrate a new packaging format and build a bright future for the company” commented Mark de Wit, Chief Operating Officer. 

Visy is committed to investing in creating sustainable packaging solutions.

The addition of glass manufacturing to its portfolio is in line with the company’s long-term strategy and further supports its aim of investing in manufacturing capability throughout Australia and New Zealand, creating local job opportunities and supporting local communities. 

Piramal Glass recently commissioned a redesigned melting furnace for the production of premium cosmetics and perfumery bottles. Based on an existing 100 tonnes/day installation, the end-fired furnace has been reconfigured by HORN Glass Industries with a melting area of 82.8m2 to produce 145 tonnes/day. 

The contract comprised design drawings and equipment (combustion, boosting and reversing systems) for the furnace and eight forehearths. Advanced technology has been adopted to save energy, reduce emission values and extend furnace life. 

HORN was responsible for the supervision of all furnace repair work. Because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, however, Piramal took on the supervision and commissioning role, with remote assistance provided by HORN experts in Germany.

The Arc group has announced an agreement with its shareholders and partners, as part of a financing process made necessary by the global health crisis. As part of the agreement, key shareholder since 2015 will provide €20 million in the form of a capital injection, demonstrating again their confidence in the group’s future. 

Separately, the glass tableware specialist will receive €108 million in new loans from the French State, the Région Hauts-de-France and the local community CAPSO, as part of the measures taken by the French public authorities to help businesses affected by the health crisis. 

As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Society of Glass Technology has cancelled the Furnace Solutions Conference and Training Day in 2020, as well as its annual meeting in Cambridge.  

Furnace Solutions and Training Day is now scheduled for 9 and 10 June 2021 at Lucideon’s premises in Stoke-on-Trent, UK. In addition to the Glass Worldwide, supporters and sponsors will include AMETEK Land, Calumite, DSF Refractories, Eurotherm by Schneider Electric, FIC, Fives, Glass International, Glass Technology Services, Guardian Glass, HarbisonWalker, Lucideon, Nippon Gases, Parkinson-Spencer Refractories, Sefpro, Silbelco, Super Glass, Saint-Gobain and TECO Group.

To produce sustainable cosmetic glass packaging at its Tettau production site in Germany, Gerresheimer is working with EME to provide the concept and equipment to reconstruct the factory’s batch plant.

This turnkey project involves rebuilding the batch plant and increasing capacity of the associated recycling equipment.

Last year, EME upgraded Gerresheimer’s batch plant in Essen and is currently modernising the batch plant and cullet return system at the glassmaker’s Lohr factory, also in Germany.

www.eme.de

IRIS Inspection machines is supporting pharmaceutical glassmakers in their drive for additional productivity, working closely with such customers as Bormioli Pharma, Gerresheimer Group and SGD Pharma at their various manufacturing location throughout Europe, the Americas, India and China. Few industrial sectors have such stringent quality requirements as the pharmaceutical industry and to meet these exacting specifications, companies are increasingly utilising intelligent inspection solutions.

The St Helens Star local newspaper is reporting that Glass Futures, the UK national centre of excellence for glass innovation, has been approved to receive £9 million of funding as part of the Liverpool City Region’s £1.4 billion ‘Building Back Better’ economic recovery plan.

If delivered, the £54 million project will have the first and only experimental furnace of its kind in the world with provision for research and development trials to decarbonise the UK glass industry.

www.glass-futures.org