O-I ignites €30 million Seville glass manufacturing furnace

O-I Glass has inaugurated a €30 million furnace at its Seville, Spain container glass manufacturing site.

The updating and overhauling of the Seville plant will ensure the maintenance of almost 200 direct jobs and another 100 indirect ones, according to the company.

The investment focused on the construction of a new furnace, the optimisation of its energy efficiency and reducing its environmental footprint.

The company has also completely renovated two production lines, which translates into a 10% increase in plant capacity and greater flexibility to adapt to market demand.

The renovation of the plant was carried out between May and July.

During the work, almost 500 professionals worked on-site, 350 of them external technical specialists, many of whom travelled to the plant from other countries.

Pablo Arenas, director of the Alcalá de Guadaíra factory, said: “It is a commitment to a quality professional occupation, which generates employment with high added value for the local socio-economic fabric and also for the stability of the industrial sector that needs to gain weight in the productive structure of the country and specifically in regions such as Andalusia ”

More than 50 years in Seville

Around 1960, olives began to be packed in glass jars, a process promoted by the American market, which was among the first to identify the advantages of this type of container for a typical product of the Mediterranean diet.

Faced with this demand, in 1967 the construction of the plant in Alcalá de Guadaíra began, with a project of two machines precisely for olives jars.

The activity grew and diversified into models and clients, who have always collaborated in innovation and the development of new patterns.

Large, locally based companies were involved with the plant early on. As a result of this collaboration, in 1987 a new furnace was built and innovative prototypes were being developed.