BUCHER INDUSTRIES AG 
By Niederweningen, 6 December 2011
Emhart Glass and Vetropack to commercialise technology for tempering glass containers Emhart Glass, a division of Bucher Industries, has invested heavily in developing a new technology for manufacturing tempered packaging glass. The process is going to be commercialised under industrial production conditions in collaboration with Vetropack. This tempering process represents a milestone for stronger and lighter- weight glass containers.
For more than 80 years, flat glass has been tempered for use
as safety glass. Emhart Glass
is the world's first producer of glass container
manufacturing equipment to have succeeded in giving packaging
glass the properties of tempered flat glass. The new,
patented tempered glass technology was developed on the
in-house glass production line, dedicated exclusively to
research and development, at the Emhart Glass Research Centre
in the USA. The revolutionary process allows either a
significant increase in resistance to breakage or a reduction
in the weight of packaging glass. In practice, both these
properties will be combined as required. The process is
predestined to significantly reduce the weight of
returnable
bottles, while maintaining the same filling capacity. When
tested by dropping onto a hard surface from a height of 1.5
metres, only very few filled bottles break, while
conventional ones generally shatter. Tempered glass
containers can be recycled like normal packaging glass.
Implemented downstream of the glass forming machine, the
innovative tempering process can be used independently of
that unit. It consists of uniformly heating the glass
containers to the tempering temperature of just below 700 °C
and then rapidly and evenly cooling the
inside and outside surfaces of the glass containers in a
quenching unit. A completely new
testing and inspection process, covered by several patents,
has been developed specifically
Phone +41 43 815 80 80 • Fax +41 43 815 80 81
media @bucherind.com • www.bucherind.com Page 1/4
for inspecting the tempered glass containers. Further
marketing of the technology will depend on the success of
industrialisation, now to be achieved in collaboration with
Vetropack under commercial production conditions. Given the
high capital intensity of equipment for manu- facturing glass
containers, it is likely that the glass container industry
will be cautious about implementing it. For this reason,
Emhart Glass expects the market roll-out to take several
years, with sales from this new technology consequently
rising moderately.
Vetropack is one of Europe's leading manufacturers of glass
packaging. The line for tempering glass containers will be
installed at Vetropack's Pöchlarn glassworks in Austria in
late 2012 and subsequently be used in an industrial
production process for the first time. This will require
close collaboration between Emhart Glass and Vetropack
specialists. Vetropack not only has the necessary
technologically sophisticated operational expertise, but also
the visionary, entrepreneurial pioneering spirit, commitment
and customer relations that are essential to launch a new
technology commercially.
Emhart Glass is the world's leading supplier of advanced
technologies for manufacturing and inspecting glass
containers, with a portfolio encompassing glass container
forming and inspection machinery, systems, components, spare
parts, advice and services for the glass container industry.
In 2010, the division employing some 870 people generated
sales of
CHF 259 million. At the end of June 2011, Emhart Glass
acquired a 63% interest in Sanjin, China's market leader.
Sanjin generated approximately EUR 40 million in sales for
2010, with about 1 200 employees.
Operating seven glassworks and a total of 16 melting
furnaces, the Vetropack Group has a daily production capacity
of more than 4 000 tonnes of packaging glass. In 2010, the
Group
employing some 3 000 people generated sales of CHF 643
million.
Page 2/4
Email: media@bucherind.com
Vetropack Holding AG: Claude R. Cornaz, CEO David Zak, CFO
Phone +41 44 863 33 05
Email: elisabeth.boner@vetropack.ch
Bucher Industries is a global technology group with leading market positions in speciality areas of mechanical and vehicle engineering. The company's operations include specialised agricultural machinery, municipal vehicles, hydraulic components, manufacturing equipment for the glass container industry and for wine and fruit juice production. The group's shares are traded on the SIX Swiss
Exchange (SIX: BUCN). For further information, please visit www.bucherind.com.
Page 3/4
Pictures from Emhart Glass
Glass forming machine Glass forming machine side view
Detail of triple gob machine Detail of quad gob machine
The pictures can be downloaded from
http://www.bucherind.com/html/en/3220.html.
Page 4/4
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