Rexam Glass' EUR 15M investment at its factory in Dongen, Netherlands, means energy consumption/tonne of glass produced from the improved furnace will be within 10% of the best performing glass furnaces in the world. The furnace at Dongen underwent a complete redesign to cut energy use, reduce NOx emissions and to allow it to use batch containing a greater proportion of cullet. The cold end, from annealing lehrs to packaging equipment, has been renewed with a new layout to ensure operators have the best access to the machinery for checking, maintenance and cleaning. Robot palletisers & a pallet transport system have been installed. The reject glass conveyors have been moved to beneath the floor, in line with HACCP regulations; transport lines are partly covered; and the new automatic packaging equipment is covered completely to prevent dust pollution of containers.
