O-I, formerly Owens-Illinois, expects to close a glass container plant at Dusseldorf in Germany as part of its planned capacity reduction in Europe. The reduction follows its acquisition of container glassmaker BSN Glasspack, which owned the Dusseldorf operation. One furnace at the plant was closed in April and now O-I is considering closing the other two. In France, O-I plans to shut down one of the two furnaces at its former BSN plant in Reims; another O-I plant in the city will not be affected by the change. At present, O-I has 40 glass container plants in Europe after it was forced by EU competition authorities to divest two in return for approval of the BSN acquisition. O-I sold plants in Italy and Spain to the Spanish glassmaker, Vidrala. (whole item)
