OAO Ufa PSZ Glass Bottle Production Facility, Ufa, Russia

OAO Ufa PSZ, a subsidiary of Anadolu Cam and a member of Turkish Sissecam, is constructing a glass beverage container plant in central Russia. The bottling plant is being set up with the assistance of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which will offer a loan of $32.5 million in two phases. The total estimated cost of the container plant project is $65 million. Anadolu Cam is the largest producer of food and beverage containers in Turkey.

Under the two-phase programme, EBRD will extend $19.35 million in the first phase and $13.15 million in the second phase for the bottling plant. Ufa will raise the remaining funds and the investment will cover the year 2005 and the first quarter of 2006.

BACKGROUND

Russia's bottling industry has recently begun to bottle alcohol in plastic and cartons instead of glass and metals. This is seen as a very convenient and offers scope for original designs. This trend has resulted in a slump in the glass packaging industry and has posed a threat to bottling plants. EBRD is trying hard to promote glass packaging and the Ufa plant is a part of this campaign.

The new bottling plant, Ruscam-Ufa, located at Bashkortostan, is aimed at improving the quality of glass packaging solutions to food and beverage producers in central and eastern Russia. The bottling plant will also widen the choice for Russian customers. The new bottling plant is the third plant of Anadolu Glass Industry, Inc., in Bashkortostan.

Construction began in June 2005 and production is expected from the second quarter of 2006.

CONSTRUCTION AND CONTRACTORS

Anadolu Cam is constructing the bottling plant in compliance with Russian laws and regulations. The bottling plant will also conform to European Union environmental standards.

As part of the project, Ufa will have two lines of glass beverage and food containers. Once the two furnaces of the plant become operational, the installed capacity will be 240,000/yr of glass beverage and food containers.

NARROW-NECK PRESS AND BLOW (NNPB) TECHNOLOGY

The Ufa bottling plant project will make use of lightweight technology to produce glass bottle containers. This is an innovative technology being implemented by Ufa that minimises the amount of glass used in packaging by manufacturing lighter bottles and jars. UFA will use Best Available Technique (BAT) standards along with ISO 14001 Environmental Management System for its operations. The Ruscam bottling plant will employ blow-blow, press-blow and Narrow-Neck Press and Blow (NNPB) technologies.

NNPB technology is a common feature in Western Europe and North America but not widely prevalent among the Russian companies. The technology decreases the weight of glass and guarantees even distribution of glass in the process of bottle manufacturing. This makes the bottle stronger and helps further eliminate breakage on the filling lines.

NNPB technology makes use of a metal plunger that forms the internal cavity in the bottle during blank formation rather than an air bubble as in conventional methods. The gob enters the mould at a temperature of 1,200°C and then the mould closes and the plunger, driven by a pneumatic piston, pushes the molten glass all the way into the mould. The plunger is then withdrawn and the mould automatically opens. The blank gets transferred to the later stage of production.

Using NNPB technology, bottles are made much lighter with at least 25% less glass in each container. This saves on the cost of materials. The glass containers are made with the least defects on internal surfaces and a lower reject rate.

The bottling plant will produce containers in several colours including flint, green and amber. The sizes of the containers will vary from 8cc to 8,000cc. Labelling will be done by modern methods like silk screen printing, PVC sleeving, heat transference, frosting and OPS wrapping. The screen printing will come in seven distinct colours.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

The EBRD has taken care of the environmental concerns before pushing the project. Since the bottling plant is located 3km outside the town of Sashka and the nearest residential settlements are just 1km away from the plant, the bank carried out an environmental impact analysis. The report showed that the new plant would not lead to any health or environmental risk.

The project was so designed to reduce air emissions from raw material handling, the forming of the glass and emissions from the furnaces. Water consumption and wastewater discharges will be minimised with the help of water circulation system. There is also scope for hazardous waste management in accordance with the principles of segregating, recycling and appropriate disposal.

UFA will implement ISO 14001 Environmental Management System for its operations to ensure that the environmental regulations will be adhered to. ISO 14001 also calls for prevention and minimising of impacts on employees and locals as well as the environment. For this, an environmental action plan has also been drafted.

ADVANTAGES

The new glass bottling plant in Bashkortostan will make glass packaging technology available to central and eastern parts of Russia, thus giving a boost to the packaging standards in these regions.

The bottling plant will generate direct employment to 3,200 persons and 15,000 persons indirectly with an annual endorsement of $342 million.

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