Emhart Glass to Build Glass Research Center in Windsor (CT), USA

A case in point is the project for tempered, and thus lighter weight and more durable, glass containers.



The “Emhart Glass Research Center” will house laboratories and offices for 60 employees and a complete pilot production line with a furnace for 40 metric tons of glass per day. The facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art Emhart Glass machines and equipment, including servo-electric NIS machines and Veritas inspection machines. This will provide the infrastructure for developing and field testing all current and future generations of machines as well as forming and inspection processes. The facility to be built on a 6 hectare site in Windsor, CT, USA, is scheduled to come on stream in mid-2007.



Emhart Glass is building this research and development facility, unique in the industry, with a view to extending its technology and market leadership. The Research Center will provide the framework for improving the stability, quality and efficiency of the glass forming process, while developing methods to reduce glass container manufacturing costs and accelerating the pace of new developments for future generations of machines. It will allow revolutionary new glass forming processes to be field tested and demonstrated to interested customers.



A case in point is the process currently being developed for tempering glass containers. The aim of the tempering process is to produce both thinner-walled, i.e. lighter weight, and more durable glass containers. It significantly reduces the only known drawbacks of glass containers, bringing to bear all the advantages of full recyclability and environmental safety inherent in glass packaging material. The first pilot plant for manufacturing tempered glass containers will come on stream at the Emhart Glass Research Center in mid-2007.



“Our mission is to provide our customers not only with simply great machines, but also with complete solutions for their complex processes. The developments made at our Glass Research Center will help to improve the competitiveness of the glass container industry and even offer revolutionary new solutions to compete with other packaging materials.” says Steven J. Pinkerton, Vice President RD&E.