Saverglass, which makes top-of-the-range bottles for spirits & fine wines, is planning to set up its third production unit at a glassmaking site belonging to Arc Int, the French tableware manufacturer. Arc is to close down a furnace with a capacity of 55,000/tpa, as part of plans to reduce capacity & workforce. Arc says that an investment of at least EUR 15M would have been required to replace the furnace, while pressure on prices in the sector for these products means that the company is no longer competitive in this area. Saverglass is now to set up a new plant with an initial annual capacity of 80,000/t at the site by June 2008, at a cost of around 60M Euros. The new factory will initially employ 250 staff. Saverglass, which is registering annual growth of 10%, is exhausting capacity at its two existing sites. The company has a turnover of EUR 220M.
