Owens Brockway Reopens Idled Bottle Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Owens Brockway, a division of Owens Illinois Glass Container North America (NYSE:OI) (Toledo, OH), has recently reopened a 1906-vintage glass bottle plant in Brockway, Pennsylvania, which had been idled since December 2000. Production in the newly refurbished plant began April 15, 2002, two weeks before the official reopening on April 30. The plant will be making clear glass bottles for Miller beer and for Smirnoff Ice.

The shuttered plant was completely stripped down and refinished, with two new bottle-making machines that produce bottles at the rate of 750 per minute. Brockway is considering the possibility of adding a $6 million ACL Decorating Process system in the near future. Industrialinfo.com is tracking 22 Owens Illinois glass plants in North America.

Badger State Construction, Incorporated, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was General Contractor for the $16 million refurbishment project, and engineering on the project was done out of Owens Illinois' corporate engineering department.

This facility employs 60 people at the present time, one-fifth of the old plant's force. A sister plant in Brockway employs 350.

Owens Illinois is one of the world's leading glass and plastic container manufacturers, producing one out of every two glass containers produced worldwide.

Badger State is a leading mechanical construction contractor in Wisconsin, specializing in helping its customers to maintain, refurbish, install, and design mechanical systems.