Manufacturer of solar glass Borosil Renewables intends to double its capacity by building a new plant at its Bharuch facility in Gujarat.

Part of the Borosil Group, the Indian company is the sole domestic manufacturer of solar panel glass and currently has 450tpd capacity at its Bharuch plant, sufficient to power 2.5GW of solar power plants. With the brownfield expansion, capacity is set to jump to 900 tonnes per day or 5GW of installable capacity of solar power plants. The new plant, at an investment of Rs 500 crore, is scheduled to be up and running by July 2022.

This is the second doubling of Borosil Renewables’ capacity in the past five years, following a Rs 235 crore expansion in 2016.

Glass packaging manufacturer Vetropack Group’s Annual Report for 2020 shows results at a good level, despite disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vetropack Group sold 4.86 billion units of glass packaging in the 2020 fiscal year, which was 5.9% less than in the previous year (5.16 billion units).

As catering establishments were closed for months due to the coronavirus, demand for wine, beer and above all soft drinks, mineral water and fruit juices fell. However the lockdown also led to more demand for foodstuffs stored in glass jars.

The Group generated consolidated net sales of CHF 662.6 million, 7.3% lower than the previous year (CHF 714.9 million). This only amounted to a 3.5% reduction in local currencies.

Glass manufacturer and filler, Encirc, part of the Vidrala Group, has appointed Paul Williams as its new 360 Development Director, with Mark Holmes taking over Mr Williams’ previous role as Beverages General Manager. The pair will work together to bolster the company’s filling and supply chain offering following a period of growth and investment.

Mr Williams has worked at Encirc for six years and his new position will involve driving the company’s ‘360’ proposition for manufacturing, filling and shipping some of the world’s leading drinks brands directly to retailers, all from a single purpose-built location in Elton, Cheshire.

American materials science technology and innovation company Corning Incorporated is set to receive an additional $57 million from the US Government to fund growing demand for domestic glass tubing and vial manufacturing capacity as part of President Biden’s goal to accelerate America’s Covid-19 vaccination programme.

This award is in addition to a $204 million contract announced in June 2020, for a total of $261 million invested in Corning’s pharmaceutical vial and tubing manufacturing capacity. Corning has met every milestone to date under the original contract.

The OPC UA Companion Specification 40301 and the associated VDMA standard sheet are expected to be available as a release in October 2021 – after the review and comment phase has been completed.

OPC 40301 describes the interface between a glass processing machine and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for data exchange. The goal of OPC 40301 is to ensure compatibility between glass processing machines and higher-level systems from different manufacturers.

The VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbau e.V. – Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering) represents around 3,300 German and European companies in the mechanical and plant engineering industry.

Manufacturer of integrated container glass AGI glaspac has commissioned German tech giant HORN Glass Industries to build a 154tpd furnace for the Speciality Glass Division at its Bhongir plant in Telangana, India.

The cost of the furnace (INR 55crores) will be funded by recent investment raised by AGI glaspac from its parent company HSIL Limited.

The facility will comprise end-fired furnaces with six forehearths for production, heated by piped natural gas, with HFO backup firing.

The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) has announced the selection of Tim Connors, Managing Director O-I Americas North, as Chairman of GPI’s Board of Trustees. His term as Chairman commenced 17 December, after receiving formal Board approval.

Leading figures from across the glass supply chain have joined together with Zero Waste Leeds to encourage glass recycling in the city.

Trade body British Glass, recycler URM and manufacturers Ardagh and Allied Glass, have come together with the zero-waste team on a campaign that looks to capitalise on the renewed recycling effort that has been seen in Leeds during the pandemic.

The campaign will focus on encouraging residents to visit their local bottle banks using analysis to identify areas to improve lower performing collection sites after lockdown saw a 26% increase in glass recycling at glass bank sites across the city.

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