The East Midlands Packaging Society visited Rockware Glass, Wheatley in February. Part of the Ardagh Glass Group, Rockware has four UK manufacturing sites at Knottingley, Portland, Worksop and Wheatley. With 9 furnaces & 23 machine lines, the company produces around 2.5bn containers a year. Ardagh's recent acquisition of Redfearn Glass has given the group the largest single site glassworks in Europe, with 5 furnaces, 13 glass production lines and 8 decoration lines. Rockware is the largest producer of glass containers in the UK. The company can offer pressure sensitive sleeving and labelling technologies, along with embossing, printing and coating facilities at its Brand Enhancement Centre in Barnsley. Since 1998, total glass container production in the UK has risen from 5.8BN units perannum to over 7BN containers.
