Glass container manufacturer O-I, which has 37 plants in Europe including two facilities in the UK in Harlow, Essex and Alloa, Scotland, has said that announced an investment programme aiming to strengthen both its competitiveness and capabilities in the coming years. Investments planned for 2013 include furnace and glass making machine upgrades at plants in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. O-I's European operations employ around 8,000 staff in 11 countries and reported more than Euros2.3bn in sales in 2011, accounting for approximately 40% of the US-headquartered company's global sales. In a statement, Al Stroucken, O-I chairman and CEO, said: "Since O-I's Euros 1.1billion acquisition of BSN Glasspack in 2004, we have substantially invested in modernizing and maximizing the capability of our European assets. Over the next several years, we will accelerate our efforts to enhance O-I's competitiveness in Europe by improving quality, sustainability and capabilities to better support the growing needs of our European customers for more sustainable and healthy glass packaging."
