Şişecam has announced plans to invest in a new furnace with a 155,000-ton annual capacity at its Eskişehir glass packaging production facility.

This is in response to the growing potential of glass packaging arising from the rapidly expanding demand across the world. The €84 million glass packaging furnace is planned to be commissioned at the beginning of 2023 boosting Şişecam's global capacity to 3.2 million tons/year.

For over a century, WECK jars (or simply WECK glasses) have been used in every German household for preserving food. Made at the company’s production plant in Bonn-Duisdorf since 1950, the beginning of COVID-19 saw demand for WECK products boom.

SORG has been the preferred partner and provider of WECK’s equipment for its glass making processes, with the latest furnaces built in 2008 and 2015, alongside the capacity expansion through the installation of further forehearths on existing furnaces.

As well as furnace construction, SORG has continually modernised and expanded the equipment at WECK Glas with regards to the melting performance, energetic efficiency and especially, the reduction of emissions.

Paşabahçe has expanded its 100% Recycled Aware Collection with new products, breathing new life into glasses that have completed their life cycle and inviting us to use recycled glassware for a sustainable living.

With a lower carbon footprint and reduced industrial waste output, the Aware Collection combines sustainability with aesthetics and modern style in its wide range of products.

Launched with four products in 2020, the Aware Collection now includes 25 products consisting of glass, mug, stemware, jar, carafe that appeal to consumers who are environmentally conscious and aware.

The natural environment is preserved when glass is recycled in products that compose the collection, eliminating the need for new raw materials.

Şişecam has received two awards for its 2020 annual report from the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP), one of the world’s most prestigious platforms that sets the standards for excellence in the field of communications.

The company's 2020 Annual Report was given a Gold award for its online annual report and Silver for its printed annual report at the LACP Vision Awards.

The 2021 edition of this annual competition judged nearly a thousand reports from 20 countries vying for recognition.

Glass Futures, based in St Helens, UK, is working to create a world-first global centre of excellence, an experimental research and development and training glass facility, with the long-term goal of making glass the low carbon material of choice.

Glass Futures has now started the public procurement process for the batch plant at its global centre of excellence facility.

Glass Futures’ goal is to innovate global glass manufacturing by delivering new technologies, world class training for the whole supply chain and new resource-efficient processes.

This new facility will bridge the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) gap between research and commercial implementation.

Saint-Gobain, through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed, announced a $400 million investment plan to expand its production capacity at four key manufacturing locations in the United States to better serve its customers in a high growth environment.

The combined investments will reduce waste by more than 50% and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 20% compared to existing manufacturing technology.

Ardagh Glass Packaging has been a major supplier of Edrington’s spirit bottles for over 30 years, producing premium bottles for brands such as The Famous Grouse and Brugal rum.

In revealing the glass maker as the spirit producer’s overall choice of Supplier of the Year 2020, Edrington commented that they were impressed with Ardagh’s 100% quality record during the year.

Ardagh Glass Packaging Sales Director UK, Nick Witton, said: “This is a great result for the business, and I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the teams at Irvine, Barnsley and Knottingley in the UK who have delivered the quality that has made us stand out, particularly during the huge challenges of 2020.”

Responding to greater than expected demand the Board of Directors of Cristalerías de Chile have unanimously decided to begin the process of selecting locations of a new glass container plant.

Eduardo Carvallo, general manager of Cristalchile, says that this would be their third plant and would complement those in Llay Llay (north of Santiago, in the Valparaíso Region) and Padre Hurtado (Metropolitan Region).

Both existing sites have been recently modernised, the addition of the proposed new plant would see production capacity increase by more than 50% compared to 2019 levels.

The glass conditioning system (working end/distributor and forehearths) is a vital part of good glass production so making sure that it is functioning as it should, and knowing when it isn’t, is a prerequisite of a well-run plant.

Alan Stephens of Fives Stein will present a Melting Technology Committee training webinar on Wednesday 10th November at 13.00 GMT on forehearth audits to detail where the glass conditioning equipment is working at its best.

This session will be a brief outline of the steps necessary to achieve this – structural condition, combustion system setup, cooling equipment functions, and temperature control system operation.

Recording of the event will be available to view on the SGT YouTube channel.