Ardagh Glass is to double production at its dedicated Heineken beer bottle production site in the Netherlands by opening a new glass furnace. The Moerdijk site has served the brewing giant for 10y and the new £35.6m furnace will help "position both businesses well for the future." The furnace, which should be in production in 2009, will use oxy-fuel fired technology to help reduce emissions & will also reduce the impact of transportation as it is located close to Heineken's Dutch production facility. Regional operation director John Visser described the new furnace as a "significant development" to consolidate the firms' long-term partnership. Ardagh Glass acquired the Moerdijk site when it bought Rexam's glass packaging operations in 2007. The firm employs 7,000 people at 20 sites across Europe.
