SCHOTT inaugurates new tubing plant after only 15 months
Specialty glass manufacturer SCHOTT has celebrated the official opening of its new factory in Jinyun, China. The production, which went into operation at the end of 2020, is manufacturing high quality borosilicate glass tubing for vials and syringes for COVID-19 vaccines.
With an initial capacity of 20,000 tons of glass and room for further expansion, the plant is functioning as a production and supply hub in the region. SCHOTT has invested €60 million in the new plant as part of a $1 billion investment to expand its global pharmaceutical business.
Building a melting tank for high-quality pharma glass tubing requires extraordinary skills. Despite the pandemic, a team of German and Chinese experts managed to complete the construction of the factory in record-breaking “China speed” of just 15 months.
“Of course, our glass stands at the very beginning of an ambitious value chain. But it´s one piece of the bigger picture: Turning the vision of “Healthy China 2030” into reality. We’re very proud that it also marks the first time that SCHOTT is melting glass in China,” says Dr. Frank Heinricht, Chairman of the Management Board of SCHOTT.
“As the most modern tubing production site worldwide, it is equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology. Through our local glass production, we enable a faster and improved supply chain that will subsequently help to improve packaging quality,” adds Dr. Patrick Markschläger, Executive Vice President of SCHOTT’s Business Unit Tubing. With the help of big data and artificial intelligence, each tube is inspected 100 percent based on the company’s perfeXion process, which is also in place in SCHOTT’s other pharma tubing manufacturing sites.
The manufacturing site will support the move away from the low borosilicate glass (so called 7.0 glass type) to the higher quality middle borosilicate glass (so called 5.0 glass type), which is already well established globally.
