Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has praised glass giant O-I's commitment to the country as it put premiumisation and a hugely accelerated design process at the heart of a £25m upgrade to its Alloa bottle factory. The world's biggest glass packaging group recently unveiled a new design and development suite at the facility, which specialises in bottles for the spirits industry, that will cut the time to produce prototype bottles from eight weeks to as little as two weeks, alongside a UK-first technology that prints up to eight colours directly onto glass. The investment has also brought upgrades to bottle inspection facilities and the plant's ability to produce different colours of glass, including black and ultra-clear "extra flint" glass bottles.
