Luxury glass group pumps £15m into site to create flagship for spirits and beauty. By Simeon Goldstein

Challenge

Austrian firm Stölzle Oberglas acquired its Knottingley facility from the then Rockware glass manufacturer in 1994, although the plant’s history dates back to 1871. In 2005, Stölzle Flaconnage (STF) decided to repair its furnace ahead of a rebuild in 2010/11. Despite a temporary shutdown in production due to the recession, in May 2009, Stölzle decided to make the facility the flagship of its prestige spirits and health and beauty division.

"Since the end of the 1990s, one of the strong trends has been for more premium products," says Neil Robson, sales director for prestige spirits and design. "The container is more than just a bottle to put your wares in – it is key to the image of the brand." To meet that demand for premium products, Stölzle outlined a plan for a complete revamp of the Knottingley facility and the building of an on-site customer centre.

Strategy

One of the most important decisions was to bring forward the rebuilding of the furnace by 12 months. Stölzle also decided to invest in cold-end equipment – used after the bottles have cooled down – and a new mould shop. Stölzle cites having its own mould development facility as crucial in helping to win new business. "The quicker you can bring a customer a product sample, the quicker you can convince them you are the right supplier for them," says chief executive Johannes Schick. Furthermore, everything the company produces is bespoke.

The other key focus of the refit was increasing the size of the site’s decoration facilities by 50% and reorganising them to include state-of-the-art machinery. "The marketplace has changed. More and more decoration goes on the bottle and that is the primary focal point for the consumer," says Mark Devonald Smith, sales director for perfumery and personal care.

Implementation

The new furnace was built over a 42-day period around Christmas 2009. A full production shutdown provided the opportunity to incorporate the furnace area into the overall site build.

Production began in January this year and the five production lines – two of which can produce coloured glass – each make between 55,000 and 100,000 bottles a day. The revamped decoration facility now includes a Techno six-colour automatic printing machine, two organic spray machines that can decorate 28 bottles a minute and automatic etching machinery for a high-quality finish.

"For luxury bottles, we needed to find a good way to bring costs down to a reasonable level," says Schick. STF says it is now the only glass factory in the UK to have a hot-foil stamping system to decorate bottles. Stölzle has also invested in new quality control systems in the cold end of its facility that has been extended to house the new decoration equipment.

The final stage of the development was the mould shop and new customer centre, officially opened last month.

Results

Schick says the firm is extremely pleased with the development, particularly against the backdrop of the global economic recession. He says that being a privately owned company made it easier to convince the owner, Cornelius Grupp, of the need to make the investment. "We’ve not been investing for shareholders, but for the future of the company," he says.

The changes and developments that have resulted in the new STF are not just good for the company, but the group as a whole and the region the plant is located in, says Schick. "But, above all, our employees now work in an environment that encourages their endeavours to ensure that all our glass containers, whether decorated or not, are perfect when they leave our plant."

Furthermore, Schick says Stölzle is continuing to invest in Knottingley and has plans to buy conveying and packing robots to streamline the process. These should be installed in the first half of 2011.

For further information, please contact:

• Mag. Doris Marka

• Stölzle-Oberglas GmbH
• Fabrikstraße 11
• A-8580 Köflach

• Marketing

• Phone: +43-3144-706-328
• Fax: +43-3144-706-386
• Mail: doris.marka@stoelzle.com

Source: www.packagingnews.co.uk
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