Glass International June 2020

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June 2020—Vol.43 No.6

GLASS & GLASS PROFILE BORMIOLI PHARMA SMART PACKAGING BATCH PLANT I N T E R N A T I O N A L

A GLOBAL REVIEW OF GLASSMAKING

Glass International June 2020

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Contents

www.glass-international.com Editor: Greg Morris Tel: +44 (0)1737 855132 Email: gregmorris@quartzltd.com Assistant Editor: George Lewis Tel: +44 (0)1737 855154 Email: georgelewis@quartzltd.com Designer: Annie Baker

June 2020 Vol.43 No 6

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Company profile: Glass & Glass Glass & Glass to triple capacity with furnace investment

15

Recycling: RWTH Aachen An overview of glass fibre recyling

18

Company profile: FAMA FAMA’s IS machine control expert

26

Forming: Sklostroj Combining mechanical engineering with IoT capability

29

Traceability: CETIE Tracing each glass container

32

Packaging: Bormioli Pharma Smart caps: ‘Connected’ pharmaceutical packaging

34

Batch plant: Zippe Zippe expands portfolio of remote services

37

Batch plant: EME EME’s web-based BatchSystem

41

Batch plant: Sibelco How raw materials can help with the decarbonisation challenge

44

Batch plant: Forglass A smart scraper conveyor

47

Batch plant: Vidromecanica Magement of hot waste glass recycling

51

History Food for thought

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com Chief Executive Officer: Steve Diprose Chairman: Paul Michael

Subscriptions: Elizabeth Barford Tel: +44 (0)1737 855028 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034 Email: subscriptions@quartzltd.com

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International News

GREG MORRIS, EDITOR

Be first with the news!

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The world seems a brighter place now than it did just a couple of months ago.

While the virus is still unfortunately prevalent in North and South America, nations in Europe and Asia have tentatively started to re-open. People can meet friends, go shopping and use public transport again.

Scientists describe the drug, dexamethasone, as a ‘game changer’ in the fight against Covid-19.

Hopefully now, the majority of us can begin to return to some sense of normality and for the glass industry, returning to prepandemic production levels.

One of the focuses, then and now, is the environment and climate change.

A book released during the height of lockdown in the UK, Six Degrees of Climate Emergency, warns of the catastrophic impact of climate change.

We are likely to see the North Pole melt in most of our lifetimes leaving it as open water for the first time in 3 million years.

Society has improved its environmental credentials with increased recycling and the move towards renewable energy in recent years.

The glass industry has played its part in this move, promoting recycling, adopting electric furnaces and reducing the weight of bottles.

This page highlights BV Glas’s research project into hydrogen as a glassmaking fuel. This is not the only environmentally-focused project taking place in the industry, something the sector should be applauded for.

BV Glas secures funding for hydrogen glass project The Federal Association of the German Glass Industry (BV Glas) has received state confirmation of funding for its hydrogen glass (HyGlass) project.

BV Glas is partnering with the GWI institute in Essen to conduct research into the suit-

ability of hydrogen as a substitute for fossil fuels in the glass production process.

Hydrogen is one of the most promising candidates in the switch-over from conventional to regenerative energy sources.

“We are delighted to have

received the funding from IN4climate because it gives us the opportunity to test hydrogen’s suitability for the glass manufacturing industry in real production scenarios,” said Dr Johann Overath, Director General of BV Glas (pictured below right).

Pharma groups are vaccine ready Stevanato Group, Schott and Gerresheimer have confirmed their readiness to support a future Covid-19 Vaccine with pharmaceutical glass containers.

The CEOs of each of the pharmaceutical glass manufacturers said they were committed to ensuring ample supply of pharmaceutical containers for any Covid-19 vac-

cine and treatment developed.

The companies will make every effort to support the pharma industry’s’ priorities for overall medication supply in addition to Covid-19 drugs.

2 Glass International June 2020

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

glasstec postponed

Corning Incorporated will receive $204 million from the US government to expand the manufacturing capacity of its Valor glass vials used to store coronavirus vaccines and treatments.

The investment will enable Corning to increase the manufacturing capabilities of its

three US facilities in Big Flats, New York; Durham, North Carolina; and Vineland, New Jersey.

The increase in vial manufacturing surge capacity will help meet the rapidly growing demand for glass containers as pharmaceutical companies enter Covid-19 clinical trials

towards eventual approval of vaccines and treatments.

Wendell P. Weeks, Corning’s chairman and chief executive officer, said: “Corning is ready to do our part in the fight against the pandemic, as well as to help prepare for future public health emergencies.”

US commission: Chinese glass containers not harm our industry A US trade commission has determined that imports of Chinese containers do not harm the US glass packaging industry.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) said the US glass packaging industry is not materially injured or threatened with material injury by imports of glass containers from China

which the US Department of Commerce had determined were subsidised by the Chinese government.

As a result of the Commission’s negative determination, no countervailing duty order will be imposed on imports of the product from China.

The Commission’s public report Glass Containers from China (Inv. No. 701-TA-630

(Final), USITC Publication 5068, June 2020) will contain the views of the Commission and information developed during the investigation.

The report will be available

by July 14, 2020; when available, it may be accessed on the USITC website at: http://pubapps.usitc.gov/applications/ publogs/qr y_publication_ loglist.asp

ESG/ICG conference cancelled A glass conference and annual meeting scheduled to take place in Krakow, Poland in September has been cancelled.

The combined European Society of Glass (ESG) and International Commission of

Glass (ICG) event has been cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The organising comittee said: “Unfortunately, because of already scheduled events in 2021, we were not able to post-

pone the conference.

“However, we still hope there will be a chance to meet all together in the beautiful and historical Kraków in the near future.”

Vitro closes two plants

Mexican flat glass manufacturer Vitro will shut two plants in the USA before the end of the year after the effects of the coronavirus pandemic hit demand from the automotive sector.

The two plants are in Evansville, Indiana, and Evart, Michigan, Vitro said in a statement to the Mexican stock exchange.

Clients would not be affected, the firm added.

Salvador Miñarro, president of Vitro Automotive said: “The decision to permanently close all operations in these plants came because of the need to deal with the excess capacity caused by the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the automotive industry.”

Glaston CEO retires

Glaston CEO Arto Metsänen is to retire from the company on 1 January 2021. He stepped down at the beginning of June after an agreement with the Board.

Glaston’s Board of Directors has nominated current deputy to the CEO Sasu Koivumäki as acting CEO as of 1 June 2020.

Glaston Chairman Teuvo Salminen said: “For Glaston this situation requires tight leadership right now, but at the same time looking far into the future. When Arto announced his wish to retire from Glaston at the beginning of next year we decided together that he would step down as CEO at the beginning of June.”

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Corning to receive $204 million to tackle Covid-19

glasstec 2020 has been postponed until June next year.

The new dates of the Düsseldorf, Germany-based trade show is June 15 to 18, 2021. It has been postponed because of the pandemic.

It is cooperating with associations to offer digital service formats for 2020 with the aim of bringing customers and exhibitors together digitally on the original trade fair dates in October.

3 Glass International June 2020

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International News

O-I resumes Gironcourt furnace construction

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Construction work has resumed on a third furnace at O-I’s Gironcourt plant, France.

Work had been interrupted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The world’s largest container glassmaker had invested €60 million into the investment. The expansion will see the glassworks produce 2 billion bottles of beer a year.

The factory employs 350 people, 60 of whom have been specially hired and trained as part of this in-

vestment.

The third oven will be started in the autumn, the date has not yet been set.

O-I: Business is slowly improving O-I said business is slowly improving as it navigates the coronavirus pandemic.

The world’s largest container glass manufacturer gave an update in its second quarter financial performance last week.

While quarterly shipments were down in midMay, volumes have gradually increased since then, said CEO Andres Lopez.

“As expected, the second quarter has been negatively impacted by temporarily

lower shipment levels and production curtailment as we balance supply with demand and comply with governmental health decrees in certain markets,” said Mr Lopez.

Globally, its daily shipments in tonnes fell 18% in the quarter compared to last year, primarily due to the pandemic.

Sales volume trends improved from mid-May as markets gradually reopened, while Mexico and

South America markets have just begun to reopen.

At the pandemic’s onset, O-I adjusted supplies to meet lower demand which resulted in the closing of some capacity.

O-I said it predicts full year 2020 sales volumes to fall 5-to-10% compared to last year.O-I began a temporary salary reduction for certain executives and directors and a wage deferral programme for other salaried employees.

Journal highlights work of Women in Glass A journal has published a special issue dedicated to women in glass.

The International Journal of Applied Glass Science (IJAGS) issue has highlighted a group of outstanding women researchers developing their careers in academia, government laboratories and industry in different countries and across topics related to glass.

The issue includes 17

original articles with 53 authors coming from 12 different countries (including the US, Europe, Japan, Korea and China) contributed to this effort.

Among the co-authors are PhD students, junior and senior researchers that give rise to a globally representative issue with 17 articles on topics that span basic science on glass structure and crystallization

mechanisms, to atomic simulation of structure and properties of glasses.

The guest editors are: Alicia Durán, Lili Hu and Kathleen A. Richardson.

Prof Duran, President of the International Commission of Glass, said: “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a scientific journal in material science has dedicated a full issue to women researchers.”

Glass International June 2020

17/06/2020 12:29:20

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

NSG Italian site fully decarbonised

NSG Pilkington’s automotive site in Settimo Torinese, Italy has become the first fully decarbonised site within the NSG Group.

Starting in April, the site has been operating solely on renewable energy provided by a combination of certified renewable electricity and a district heating network.

This will reduce the site’s emissions by 1,650 tonnes of CO2 per year, the equivalent of planting around 2,400 trees or removing almost a thousand cars from the roads.

Tecoglas appoints Project Manager

Tecoglas has appointed Ondrej Bunda as Project Manager.

Following the retirement of Ondrej’s predecessor Garry Fisher, Ondrej’s new position will see him directly manage glass plant installation projects from early development through to project completion where he will be responsible for project scheduling, technical and budget evaluation, as well as construction co-ordination.

Ondrej originates from the Czech Republic where he received his Masters’ Degree in Structural and Transportation Engineering from the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Mike Davies, Tecoglas Managing Director, said: “Ondrej has worked hard to prove his ability to lead others, manage projects well and maintain high customer satisfaction throughout every process.”

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Phoenicia AmericaIsrael glass factory closes

The Phoenicia AmericaIsrael flat glass factory in the Zipporit Industrial Zone near Nazareth, Israel, has closed.

The coronavirus crisis was the final nail in the coffin of the struggling company and also meant that the factory’s 300 employees lost their jobs.

The company was founded in 1934.

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Ciner Glass plans UK container glass plant construction Libbey files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Steklarna Hrastnik focuses on glass packaging US Department of Commerce Increases Duties on Chinese Glass Containers glasstec 2020 postponed The death of Durobor Vitro to close two plants Verallia transformation plan O-I Gironcourt furnace construction resumption Piramal Glass cuts jobs

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Steklarna Hrastnik focuses on glass packaging Steklarna Hrastnik is cancelling its table glassware programme this September and focusing all of its production capacities onto glass packaging.

The Slovenian glassmaker decided to expand capacities on the latter programme due to increased demand from the market for glass packaging because of its quality of glass.

The crisis, triggered by the

global spread of coronavirus from March onwards, has affected the at the time still operating table glassware programme the most.

For this reason certain manufacturing machines of this programme were stopped.

It has been forced to reduce the number of employees at the table glassware programme by 60 until September of this year, of the total of

700 employees.

The layoff is being conducted in a soft manner, mostly through retirements and financing of early retirement for all those who are a few years shy of retirement.

The rest of the employees from the table glassware programme will be re-employed in the packaging programme.

The end for Durobor Durobor, the troubled Belgian-based tableware glass manufacturer which went into administration last year, will not be restarted.

The glassmaker went bankrupt last year and, despite several potential buyers coming forward, none were prepared to take the risk of investing in

the group.

A revival project backed by a group of workers and the regional government was considered but the financial arm of the Walloon Region, Sogepa, pulled the plug on this.

The Walloon Minister for the Economy, Willy Borsus, said: “After several months

of work and many avenues explored, the elements necessary to create a decisive competitive advantage for Durobor in the sector have not been gathered. The glass sector has a high concentration, is competitive and requires significant investments, to reach a level of quality.”

6 Glass International June 2020

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Zippe completes Wiegand-Glas project

Wiegand-Glas recently put into operation a batch house delivered from Zippe at its Steinbach am Wald plant in Bavaria, Germany, while a recyclable material silo plant was also fully commissioned.

The project was an example for the further use and treatment of created waste material which arises during glass manufacturing or of its recycling.

Zippe Industrieanlagen designed, planned, and constructed a custom fit plant according to the requirements of Wiegand-Glas‘s Steinbach am Wald site.

Libbey files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy US tableware manufacturer Libbey Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

It has filed for a courtorganised reorganisation of the business under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware.

It expects to use the restructuring process to strengthen its balance sheet to navigate the effects of the pandemic and better position itself for the future.”

Its subsidiaries in Mexico, The Netherlands, Canada, Portugal and China are not included in the motion.

Covid-19 safety kit for glass plant construction

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Frazier-Simplex is to use a COVID Toolkit from Vigilant Technologies (VIT) for all future construction project job sites to help eliminate workplace injuries and illnesses before they happen.

FSI is working to provide all future furnace construction job sites and glass industry customers with automated daily COVID screening of employees entering a job site.

The self-serve kiosks and wearable devices make automated tracking of indicators and social distancing compliance simple for construction projects and businesses looking to re-open.

AGI glaspac plans expansion at end of year AGI glaspac has delayed a multi-million project expansion for the time being but plans to go ahead when the situation improves.

Speaking to The Times of India, AGI glaspac CEO Rajesh Kosla said the company had intended to start groundwork for its brownfield expansion at Telangana and a greenfield facility in the east of the country

in May. This will now take place at the end of the year. The expansion will increase the company’s capacity to 8.9 million bottles a day by 2022.

It will invest 700 crore ($92.6 million) in the greenfield plant and 150 crore ($19.8 million) in Telangana. The proposed greenfield facility will boost capacity by 400 tonnes a day in

the first phase and 350 tonnes a day in the second.

Its Telangana plant currently has a capacity of 1600 tonnes a day of container glass. This will increase by 150 tonnes a day after the expansion.

AGI glaspac is the packaging products business of HSIL Ltd. It produces container glass for liquors, food & beverage, water and pharma.

Applied Vision awarded Turkish project for Volcano systems Turkey’s Gurallar Cam Ambalaj (GCA) has selected Applied Vision Corporation’s Volcano glass inspection systems for its new furnace project in 2020.

It means Applied Vision continues its strategic growth into the glass container market due to its advancements in glass inspection technology

and global support network.

Mr. Abdullah Gayret, General Manager of GCA Gurallar Cam Ambalaj , said: “We chose Applied Vision for this project because of its commitment to new technologies that support our strategic focus as well as our positive experiences working with them on past

projects.

“It is clear that the future will belong to the most advanced, efficient and technology-driven companies, and we try to strive towards the future in collaboration with our global suppliers and business partners.”

Verallia’s transformation plan A slowdown in the French still wine market has required Verallia to scale back its glass container production activities.

Verallia has a strong presence in the still and sparkling wine sector, with seven factories and 14 furnaces operated close to the country’s vineyards. Some €220 million has

been invested at the group’s glass plants in France since 2016, with approximately 2500 people employed.

Verallia’s transformation plan aims to respond to the wine sector’s current challenges by adjusting its production capacity in France and improving its industrial per-

formance. This includes the postponement of a scheduled furnace rebuild at the Cognac site. This furnace comes to the end of its service life at the end of the year and produces bottles for the wine market.

Approximately 130 job losses are anticipated in France, including 80 at its Cognac site.

Piramal Glass to cut 165 US jobs Piramal Glass plans to cut 165 jobs at its Park Hills, Missouri, USA plant.

Sanjay Tiwari, Chief Executive Officer, Piramal Glass USA, said: “The current economic environment coupled with the heightened uncer-

tainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a significant reduction in customer demand resulting in a substantial pile up of finished goods inventory.

“Under such trying circumstances, the company is forced

to cut back on the manufacture of certain products, realignment of the business functions and downsizing teams to optimal levels.”

The cuts will take place by July 31st this year. It will retain 320 staff across its US sites.

8 Glass International June 2020

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Company profile: Glass & Glass

As one of Mexico’s newest players on the glass container making block, Glass & Glass has enjoyed a rapid rise. Now it is set to go one step further with a new furnace which will triple capacity, and plans to export to Mexico’s biggest neighbour. Greg Morris spoke to its General Director, Raymundo Morales.

� The Glass & Glass site in Tamaulipas.

www.glass-international.com

Glass & Glass to triple capacity with furnace investment G lass & Glass’s rapid growth as a glassmaker has been eyecatching.

From humble beginnings in 2011 as a single-furnace container glass manufacturer the Mexican company has grown at a rapid pace – and now plans to build a second furnace to keep pace with demand.

The group specialises in the production of perfume and cosmetics bottles for the domestic market but has its sights on overseas geographies, with Mexico’s neighbour the USA featuring prominently in its plans.

Glass & Glass is based in Tamaulipas, Mexico and was the brainchild of Mexican entrepreneur Juan Carlos Pena Garcia.

He originally started a decoration facility in 2009, capable of spraying and screen printing.

Work began on constructing its first container glass line. The single 100 tonnes a day furnace was lit in 2011 and production to its four lines began in January 2012.

Today, its General Director is Raymundo Morales. While Mr Morales is relatively new to the company, having started in January this year, he is a glass manufacturing veteran of more than 30 years.

He has known Mr Pena for 21 years and said: “While Juan Carlos’s origins were not in glass, he loves glass now. He started the business very young and he has done very well to build a company up from nothing. He has the perfume and cosmetic company and he has the glass factory completely aligned under the same umbrella.”

In recent years, before the pandemic, Glass & Glass had seen demand for its products increase, up to 25 million units a year for one product alone. But the glass manufacturer does not only manufacture perfume bottles.

It is a specialist in high quality flint glass and while perfumes comprise 35% of production, the manufacture of spirits and liquor bottles makes up about 40% of production. The remaining 25% is focused on tableware production such as tequila shots, drinking glasses and candle jar production.

It can offer, for example, 100,000 to 150,000 pieces for special tequila or mezcal brands.In line with the personalisation trend prevalenet among its perfume clients, Glass & Glass can provide a more personalised offering thanks to its in-house decoration services.

It has started initial construction of a second furnace of 200 tonnes per day capacity, which will

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Company profile: Glass & Glass

increase the company’s capacity to 300 tonnes per day. The furnace is due to be lit early next year and feed three production lines.

The trade war between the USA and China has been in the news recently and it has resulted in more duties on Chinese glass bottles imported into the US. Glass & Glass believes the situation it provides an opportunity to glassmakers such as itself.

“There is a necessity for glass containers in the world right now. There are fees on Chinese glass containers into the US, so all the main distributors in the US are looking for a new source of glass

� Left: Mr Raymundo Morales

Above Right: The new warehouse

warehouse and distribution centre. The warehouse, conveniently located adjacent to the factory, was built in expectation of the group’s expansion.

From here its glass bottles are distributed across Mexico as well as the US. Approximately 90% of production is currently distributed to Mexico and the remaining 10% to neighbouring countries.

Similar to the first furnace, the new oven will be a gas-air furnace. While the engineering for the new furnace project will be locally sourced, the Continued>>

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containers,” said Mr Morales.

He admits it is a big leap for the group to export to the US but one it is prepared for. About 70% of the new furnace capacity is earmarked for export.

The company’s strength is its flexibility as well as its capability in manufacturing small runs and niche items.

“We are not competing with the large companies, they produce in volume, we want to go with added value and niche. We produce small runs, up to big volumes and we want to be very flexible to customers,” said Mr Morales.

“We want to be viable to our customers and offer a more personal touch.”

It can offer, for example, 100,000 to 150,000 pieces for special tequila or mescal brands while for the larger companies require a run of 200,000 items minimum.

In line with the personalisation trend that is a highlight of the Fraiche company, Glass & Glass can provide a more personalised offering thanks to its in-house decoration services. It has two spray lines as well as automatic printing machines from Fermac and Tecno 5, both of Italy.

As well as the forthcoming furnace, the group has recently completed an expansion of its

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Company profile: Glass & Glass

technology providers will be either European or US. It counts Bottero, Tiama and Iris Inspection as partners on its container side and Waltec as a partner on its tableware side.

It is the first time the company has embarked on a new furnace project and is one that Mr Morales is looking forward to.

Mr Morales spent more than 30 years working at fellow Mexican container glass manufacturer Vitro. One of those he worked alongside for much of that time was engineer Jesus Sandoval.

The pair are colleagues again at Glass & Glass now, and Jesus has been entrusted with managing the expansion project.

Mr Morales said: “We have a strong experienced team of glassmakers. We can give our experience, support and knowledge in order to make this company an important organisation in the glass industry in Mexico.”

Although relatively new to the company Mr Morales is already impressed by what he has seen. “The facility was built thinking for the future. Juan Carlos has looked at the small things and wants to build a strong company.”

While he has known Juan Carlos for a number of years it is the first time they have worked together.

“We always said would do something together but we didn’t know when. This was the right time to join the team, he invited me and I’m very proud to be here.”

While working for Vitro, Mr Morales was involved in a variety of glassmaking processes including production, decoration and quality. He was also plant manager of its Cosmos unit, and was responsible for its move from downtown Mexico to its current location in Toluca, Mexico in 2007.

He also spent four years working for Pavisa based in Mexico City and worked for Piramal Glass in

Missouri. But after a stint in the USA he felt it was time to return home to be closer to family, as well as to share his knowledge and experience with a new generation of glassmakers.

“Glass has been a passion and I’ve had it since my first year of working in a glass factory. You can never quit you are always thinking about it.

“I’m constantly being told I have spent 38 years in the glass industry and that I should rest at home but I cannot do that, there is a pull every day that I must be at the factory no matter what, it is like a magnet that keeps pulling me in.

“I like to share my experience with my colleagues, particularly young people, I tell them they can make a career in glass. If you are a glassmaker you can live from the glass all your life and can have a long and satisfying career.” �

Glass & Glass, Tamaulipas, Mexico www.glass-glass.com.mx/en/

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Recycling

An overview of glass fibre recycling Thilo Becker* and Thomas Gries discuss the challenges and opportunities of the glass fibre recycling sector, and suggest cooperation between industry and academia is a key step to develop a sustainable industry. polymers (GFRP).

Since the early 2000s, this topic has gained an increasing amount of focus in academia, with the number of respective publications seeing an exponential increase since. However, to turn concepts developed by academia into industrially feasible processes, a close cooperation and technology transfer between academia and industry is required. (Fig 1) Glass fibre production waste, textile and composite production waste as well as composite end-of-life waste all require separate recycling strategies. During glass fibre production, approx. 5 – 20 % of the melted glass ends up as waste material, mainly due to: � Small bobbins below the weight threshold for sale � Removal of inner and outer glass fibre layers on the bobbins due to inadequate sizing � Flow of glass through the bushing

� Fig 1. Number of publications listen in the Scopus Database for the search terms abs = ( ( “Glass Fibre” OR “Glass Fiber” OR “Fiberglass” OR “Fibreglass” ) AND ( “Recycling” OR “Recycled” ) ).

during process interruptions � Other, such as drain bushings Current recycling strategies for glass fibre production waste are based on post-processing of the fibre waste and re-introduction into the furnace. During post-processing, organic components such as sizings and other impurities are removed. Through mechanical chopping and grinding, the cleaned waste is prepared for re-melting and subsequently re-introduced into the furnace. On average, less than 10% of glass fibre production waste currently ends up in landfill. While the re-melting of glass waste is preferred both in terms of financial and environmental interests, it should be noted that the re-melting is associated with a significant additional energy requirement. 15.1 MJ/kg of total primary energy in process electricity and fossil fuel consumption is required during the glass production for dry chopped strand [1]. The reduction of production waste through decreased downtime and improved fibre processing should therefore be a key research target. (Fig 2) Composite end-of-life waste and composite production waste poses a further challenge in glass fibre recycling.

While the recycling of production waste is motivated by both financial gain and sustainability targets, the same can currently not be said for composite endof-life recycling. Glass fibres are a high volume, low cost product. With the price of virgin chopped E-glass fibres below 1 €/ kg, the recovery and re-use of glass fibres cannot be justified from a purely financial point of view. However, sustainability goals and corresponding legislation are

Source: Scopus

Continued>>

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R

ecycling is widely believed to be a key aspect of any sustainable society and defined by the European Union as a ‘recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes’.

For the glass fibre industry, recycling poses a significant challenge which must be addressed in order to remain competitive in the long term. Recycling of chopped and continuous glass fibres used as reinforcement is a particular challenge due to the combination of organic resins and inorganic glass fibre reinforcement.

A survey conducted by the Institut für Textiltechnik of the RWTH Aachen of 10 leading glass fibre manufacturers and research institutes showed that all participants believe that for the glass fibre industry to survive in the long term, we must develop innovative strategies for recycling of glass fibre reinforced

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Recycling

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� Fig 2. Overview of glass fibre production waste recycling.

the key drivers for innovation in this field.

While thermoplastic composites can be re-used through heating and re-moulding of the composite component, this is not possible with thermoset composites.

Three main alternatives to landfill for the handling of end-of-life thermoset composite waste exist: incineration, use as an alternative fuel and raw material (AFR) in cement production, and fibre recycling. (Fig 3) In order to re-use the fibres from composite end-of-life waste, the fibres must be separated from the matrix material. In this process, the composite waste is chopped before separation to increase the surface area and simplify handling. Common separation processes include solvolysis, pyrolysis and the fluidised bed process.

These processes damage the glass fibres through a combination of corrosive environments, mechanical wear and high temperatures. Such damaged fibres are not suitable for re use in various composite applications.

However, studies have shown that the reduced mechanical strength of the glass fibres can be recovered through treatment in hot alkaline solutions such as KOH and NaOH [2].

The regeneration of fibre strength is a promising approach to enable re-use of recycled glass fibres from end-of-life composite waste.

Processability however remains an issue, since in contrast to virgin chopped glass fibres, recycled glass fibres are not held together by a sizing in highly oriented chopped strands. This leads to challenges during post-processing in injection moulding applications.

Web based composites consisting of nonwoven fabrics provide an alternative path for composite production with such recycled glass fibres.

While often featuring high fibre orientation, good drapeability and high customisability, web based composites generally feature lower mechanical strength compared to other composite structures based on woven or unidirectional continuous fibres.

Web based composites therefore show great potential in offering a highly versatile, low-cost composite material for recycled glass fibres. Further research is required to reduce the cost of the recycling process, recycled glass fibres and respective web based composites.

Finally, re-melting of glass fibre waste from composite production as well as end-of-life waste has the potential to create glass fibres with good mechanical performance and excellent processability.

The significant variations in chemical

composition of different glass fibre types such as E- and AR-Glass as well as variations within each type pose challenges in re-melting of recovered glass fibres. These challenges have yet to be overcome and alternative re-melting strategies are required.

The Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of the RWTH Aachen University is currently looking for partners to develop innovative recycling and re-melting strategies of glass fibre waste.

The glass fibre industry must continue to work on new and recycling strategies in order to achieve zero landfill of both production waste and end-of-life waste.

Close cooperation between industry and academia is a key step to develop a sustainable industry. Legislation will likely be the key driving force of this innovation, and the industry must prepare for stricter regulations now to avoid consequences in the long term. �

References [1] Life cycle assessment of CFGF – Continuous Filament Glass Fibre Products. October 2016. Prepared for GlassFibreEurope by PwC – Sustainable Performance and Strategy [2] Bashir, S. T., Yang, L., Liggat, J. J., & Thomason, J. L. (2018). A simple chemical approach to regenerating strength of thermally damaged glass fibre for reuse in composites. In ECCM 2018 18th European Conference on Composite Materials [Athens]

*Leader Inorganic Fibres Group, Institut für Textiltechnik of the RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany www.ita.rwth-aachen.de

� Fig 3. FIbre Recycling Processes.

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Company profile: FAMA

FAMA’s IS machine control expert

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FAMA’s Electronic Systems Operation Technology Expert, Mr Luis Gilberto Espinosa Chavez, has worked for the Mexican company for 36 years. In that time he has witnessed the evolution of electronic control systems for IS machines, from their birth in the mid-1980s to the Industry 4.0-prepared equivalent today.

How long have you worked at FAMA for and what role/s have you had?

In 1984, on February 9, at the age of 22, my career and professional experience in the glass industry began by starting to work at FAMA (Vitro Group Company).

Once I joined FAMA, I became part of the Department of Electronics and Control, a department that already had a group of engineers with knowledge and experience in the design and development of electronic technology in the different projects that they carried out for the manufacturing companies of Grupo Vitro.

As a FAMA strategy, in 1984 the Electronics and Control Department was responsible for the design and development of an electronic control for IS Machines with its own technology, which would replace the existing external technology that FAMA had acquired overseas to equip its IS Machines.

Having been involved since the beginning of the creation of the Electronic Control for IS machines allowed me to learn the several phases of the process, such as: Definition, Conceptualization, Generation and Selection of the best alternative, Specifications, Design and Development (software and hardware), Hardware Selection, Documentation (Diagrams and Manuals),

Laboratory Prototype Construction, Laboratory Tests, IS Machine Equipment Implementation, Glass Container Production Plant Testing, Interaction, and Technology Transfer with the Technology Management and with the users (operation, process, and maintenance) of the different areas and disciplines of the glass production plants in the IS machine environment. � Mr Luis Gilberto has worked for FAMA for 36 years. He shares his know how and experience with colleagues.

What does your current role entail?

I am an Electronic Controls Operation Expert applied to IS machine glass container manufacturing. The role includes research, develop, and software(s) implementation of Control or Human-Machine Interface (HMI) of the projects of the area and the products in the automation market. I will also collaborate with Technical Support to increase the reliability of the product, as well as validate the products’ behaviour after finishing versus the software specifications.

When did you first come into contact with IS machines?

In 1984-1985, during the birth of this electronic Continued>>

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Company profile: FAMA

When did you first become interested in the control element of the machine?

In 1985, when we saw that everything designed and developed with FAMA’s technology, was one of the most important elements in the production of glass containers. It was also an interesting Control and Automation challenge in this IS machine area.

This interest increased when we saw the opportunity in Mexico. Vitro was a leading glass container manufacturer and was 100% Mexican.

It was creating through FAMA a development in Mexico, which would allow the delivery of IS machines with its technology for its glass container manufacturing facilities.

It was fascinating to be involved and to see how, through Electronic Control made in Monterrey, Mexico, it was possible to automate an IS Machine with all the challenges that the glass container operation and manufacture required.

I did not know at the time it was the beginning of a new generation for FAMA’s IS Machines Electronic Controls.

How has the control element evolved during your time in the industry?

The evolution of Electronic Control has been proportional to the advance in technology.

The new challenges, new procedures, and their optimization, as well as the new containers to be produced, led the glass industry to integrate into their production lines control equipment

with technology that allowed them to maintain and increase their Efficiency and Productivity Indicators.

“I have enjoyed working in an environment and with high level human and creative teams, where each person with their talents and knowledge shares and contributes to generate the best ideas for the benefit

”

of FAMA

The first CEIS was installed in 2018. Can you describe the difference between a CEIS and its predecessors?

The main difference between CEIS (Control Electronico I. S.) and its predecessors is that it is built on current software and hardware technology and is prepared for Industry 4.0 CEIS is the successor of the Electronic Controls (C.E. Vitro II, C.E. Vitro III) born in the ‘80s and of the C.E. Vitro IV born in 2001. It has the operational knowledge (basic, necessary, special and safety) that was gained during the 36 years of experience of interaction with the experts and users of the IS Machines equipped with these controls.

CEIS is not only an updated Software and Hardware Technology but is also prepared to configure any type of Process (both existing and future). It has embedded in its foundations all the technical-operative experience that FAMA has gained by its interaction with bottle making experts, installing, starting up and providing through a Technology Transfer through Training, Coaching, Advice, and post-startup follow-up via Technical Service, both electronic, mechanical and operational in more than 130 production lines.

CEIS’ current capacity is to control the entire glass manufacturing process in a production line, from the feeder up to the tempering furnace (Stacker).

FAMA has the CEIS as the new generation of electronic controls for the IS machine operation.

CEIS has three different versions based on the type of IS machine installed: � CEIS-N = Electronic Control for IS Machines 100% Pneumatic � CEIS-2 = Electronic Control for IS - Hybrid Machines, a machine with 2 servomechanisms per section. � CEIS-10 = Electronic Control for IS Machines known as Full servo (which have 10 servomechanisms per section)

Continued>>

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control project. It was when the first conversations with IS machine operation experts and the initial tests of the prototype at FAMA took place, and the main requirements for automating an IS Machine were understood. These were important meetings where training experts provided their knowledge and of operational procedures that they had applied and were currently using for years.

These meetings and work sessions at both FAMA and at the glass factory were an important and necessary part of the process. Knowledge gained was converted and integrated (in Software/ Hardware) into the 1st FAMA new generation Electronic Control.

In September 1985, the 1st. Electronic Control Installation in an IS machine for its laboratory tests and glass start-up took place in a glass factory.

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Company profile: FAMA

simulations of the control of the container manufacturing process, monitoring the effects of the behaviour of components (e.g. motors, drives, power devices, etc..) in different processes, used to show what happens in areas of the process that are not directly or completely visual.

In the near future, through the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms and AR applications, we will have Predictive and Preventive systems applied in each of the processes.

Can you list some of the advantages of the CEIS control system?

HARDWARE: � Operator Panels do not require a cooling system � Interconnectivity via Intranet or Internet � Communication with peripheral

equipment and information systems of any level SOFTWARE: � Concurrent multi-users (Control room,

Kiosk, Hand Terminal) � Intelligent Algorithms OPERATIVE: � Graphical and user-friendly interfaces

(Control room, Kiosk and Handheld) for user settings in the process � Intelligent Creation, Adjustments and Conversions for Job Stories in Packaging

Manufacturing (Set-Up) � Algorithms for Intelligent Machine Speed Change SERVICE: � Predictive and preventive software (prepared for Industry 4.0) � Design of the modular electronic control, to simplify the change of electronic components. � Reduced corrective maintenance time

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Is it complicated to learn how to operate such systems?

To know, manage and operate the Electronic Control (CEIS) is easy to use, it has been designed under a practical and simple operational concept for the User, a concept based on User Friendly.

FAMA currently has a Process for Training and Evaluating in a theoretical and practical way, the different CEIS User Levels for IS Machines. These include Production Operator, Job Change Team people, IS Mechanical Staff, Container handling personnel, Electronic Maintenance Personnel, Head of Electronic Maintenance and Area Manager/ Oven Manager / Bottle Technician.

How do you anticipate control systems to evolve in the future?

The evolution of control systems along with the advance in the information technologies has been rapid in recent years.

The Innovation and Development of new technologies has driven the industry to create new projects, such as the optimisation and automation of their processes. Many companies have devices where data and information travel from one side of the world to the other instantly, they have managed to have better control of their processes, which has increased and improved their communication, efficiency and productivity.

There will be more AR applications in Industry 4.0 in the short term, such as Machinery Simulations based on design information,

Fabricacion de Maquinas (FAMA), Monterrey, Mexico www.fama.com.mx

What have you enjoyed about working for FAMA? To help the Electronic Technology Management work team so that FAMA has an Electronic Control product with its own technology for its IS Machines and can compete on a global level.

To learn about the interesting processes used in the IS machines for glass container manufacture, such as: Blow Blow, Press and Blow, Narrow Neck Press and Blow, to mention some. To learn and contribute to each of the challenges of automation, synchronisation and operation of special sequences for the different requirements of speed in cuts per minute in IS machines.

Get to know the requirements and needs of the glass container manufacturing expert and be part of the work team that contributes to make the requirements and challenges of the process a series of rules, sequences, procedures and operational improvements that have been implemented and automated in CEIS in its different versions.

To interact with different IS machine users, Glass Container Manufacturing Experts and with different facilities in Mexico, USA and other countries (Central America) To learn about different technologies globally, to know the suppliers and producers of machinery and the related electronic equipment in the glass industry. Participate with the Electronic Technology Management team in generating intellectual property information for FAMA in the field of IS machine electronic control.

I have also enjoyed the fact that the concept of desktop has become tangible through IS Machine Electronic Control. I would like to emphasise that during all this time the road has not been easy. All the planned challenges and the unforeseen ones as well as the difficulties that have been presented in these years, have served to grow so much in the professional and personal aspect and to contribute in this way with FAMA. I would also like to emphasise that it was important to have good management and direction to set the objectives and directions of the projects, as well as to have people and colleagues around where communication and trust flow in both directions.

I have enjoyed working in an environment and with high level human and creative teams, where each person with their talents and knowledge shares and contributes to generate the best ideas for the benefit of FAMA. �

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Focus on what`s important!

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Forming

I

oT capabilities and connectivity are central requirements to container glass equipment. But often underestimated, intelligent mechanical design combined with flexibility, speed and cost efficiency are still relevant, even more than in the past regarding the growing CAPEX requirements in large container groups.

It has been 10 years since Sklostroj in Turnov, Czech Republic launched the ISS full servo IS machine. The machine is global number one in standard size full servo IS machines, able to use most existing mould sets.

Large container glass groups in Europe have recently installed 8 machines. Other installations have been taken place in the CIS and in Asia.

Robust design The first machines in the ISS series have been running for nearly 10 years without a major overhaul. The reason is the robust design, which has reduced the causes of wear to a minimum. Standard Siemens servo controllers and motors are used, available in most countries. More than 90% of the parts are manufactured on high-end CNC machines in Sklostroj’s main site in Turnov. All mechanisms are assembled and tested there.

High speeds are based on cooling performance. On a baby food line, the ISS has a cavity rate of 19,75 over a long period. The reason for this is the design of the parallel MOC mechanisms, allowing a precise guiding of the mould halves combined with 360 degrees cooling.

Compared to other IS-machines, the design of the ISS allows a larger air flow to the blank and blow side cooling, reports the deputy CEO for production.

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Existing mould sets The number of greenfield projects in the container glass industry can be counted on one hand. Brownfield projects or the modernisation of existing lines is standard. Flexibility concerning the use of existing mould sets is therefore important. Jan Koren and his R&D team have paid a lot of attention to this factor.

This has resulted in a special design of the parallel MOC and the cooling technology. Apart from a few situations, the existing mould sets can be reused.

When it comes to decision making criteria about large investments, flexibility is a major subject. For IS machines this means the possibility to cover a wide article range, of course at low unit costs. The ISS produces wine

Combining mechanical engineering with IoT capability Jan Koren*, Karel Maruška and Mark Ziegler** discuss how the combination of traditional mechanical engineering and new digital technology are key components of Sklostroj’s IS machines.

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Forming

well as open interface for the integration of closed-loop sensors and actuators.

IoT features The basis for IoT features and closed-loop functions is an open control platform with standard communication modules.

This provides the opportunity to integrate new features for blank side and blow side, as well a real-time connection to the cold end information for an immediate reaction on mould specific issues.

On the blank side, a swabbing robot has already been installed several times, including the ability to swab mould ‘on the fly’ without rejected bottles. Camerabased gob weight control same as infrared-based blank mould temperature measuring are optional. On the blow side, e.g. automatic ware spacing as well as an infrared-based glass distribution measuring system are among the list of possible features. � Robust servo MOC with flexible cooling option.

Reducing lifecycle cost The cost of spare parts is major importance when it comes to the TCO or lifecycle cost management. Sales manager Karel Maruška reports positive feedback from customers, as the company’s equipment is based to a large extent on standard components which are available for everybody on the market.

Another important influencing factor for lifecycle costs are short downtimes.

Short job change times are critical, the same as long service intervals. Both topics were mapped very well in the ISS, as the purchasing manager of a large European container glass group states.

� ISS in 12 section TG and below the Mobile control interface for SDT-10.

bottles in triple gob, as well as baby food or standard beer bottles.

The machines can be equipped with an optional quad gob kit to produce beer bottles or small jars. Of course, NNPB, PB and BB is standard, wherein for in BB productions the LPBB technology is often used, saving weight and also improving wall thickness distribution.

Connectivity The e-timing and the motion control is based on standard Siemens components.

SDT 10 is the name for the complete control system, which has also been integrated on existing IS machine in retrofit or upgrade project.

The standard components from Siemens makes it easier to find skilled operators, as all over the world many people are trained on Siemens technology.

The user interfaces are easy to understand and article databases to fasten the job changes are integrated.

Full connectivity is standard, allowing remote maintenance and diagnostics, as

Technology is important but is not the only success factor. Team spirit and motivation is at least on the same level.

Sklostroj, as a family-owned company, is able to pursue a long-term innovation strategy, combined with a dedicated HR strategy where skill, management and diversity plays an important role, leading to a mixture of senior design engineers with younger, digital-native technicians.

In all projects, the team works closely with its customer for ongoing improvement of the equipment. The team spirit and its diversity, combined with an open communication has led to positive customer feedback. �

*COO,**Sales and Marketing Management, Sklostroj, Czech Republic https://www.sklostroj.cz/en

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Team spirit

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Traceability

Tracing each glass container Josquin Peyceré* Secretary General of Cetie, discusses a single, universal method which can trace each individual glass container.

1 = flat dot) in the shape of a square of dots or a matrix, known as a data matrix. It is a bit like the QR codes that you scan with your phone.

Asides from the ability to trigger the laser at the exact moment when the bottle passes in front of it (as the bottles go past at a fast but not totally regular pace), this device offers several other advantages: � As it is indexed to the production machine, it can tell which section of the machine each bottle has come from, and can therefore determine which mould was used to make the bottle out of the many moulds in place on the machine at any one time, in general from 12 to 36. This information is crucial for tracing glassware. � Its software is able to modify the code for each bottle, so that it engraves a unique code on every bottle.

This code appears discretely on the bottle as it is a 6-to-7mm wide square, made up of domed and flat dots which are naturally all the same colour as the Photo: Tiama glass. Machines with built in scanners can read the code, for instance an automatic inspection station at the we would know that a particular bottle end of a glassware production line, or a was no. X, produced at time T (right down device at the beginning of a bottle filling to the second), produced by which glass line. It can also be read, however, using manufacturer and at which location a smartphone for a spot check in the (plant, production line). production/distribution chain, or even by the end consumer.

A code for each container Developing laser marking has been For several years, some suppliers of a complex process, due to the need to machines designed for the glass industry ensure optimal efficiency and reliability have been developing lasers which can for continuous production lines under mark the bottles ‘hot off the press’, difficult conditions. meaning as soon as they are shaped and Glass manufacturers will not be able while their temperature is still close to to equip all their production lines with 400°C. As the bottle passes in front of the laser marking, as in some cases space laser, it sends precise pulses to a designated constraints prevent the investment being location on the glass, melting the surface possible, and the cost of the equipment to create dots with a diameter of less than also currently limits their widespread use. half a millimetre. The distribution of these Continued>> dots creates a binary code (0 = melted dot / and the pallet to which it belonged. This creates a connection between incoming and outgoing products, so that we can trace which pallet of empty bottles the finished product came from, if necessary.

This is so as long as the bottling line precisely records the first and last bottles on the pallet, which is rarely the case.

These limitations and relative imprecision, could be overcome if each bottle could be individually identified as soon as it was moulded. At any stage of the process, and without having to follow up complicated links and connections,

www.glass-international.com

I

n the food industry, traceability is absolutely essential, not only for foodstuffs but also for other components which come into contact with the food: the primary packaging.

For the best possible traceability, we need to be able to identify the object that we want to trace, at any point in the value chain (when the packaging is produced, when it is filled, at the various storage and distribution points, and especially when it reaches the end consumer). This individual identification system means we can retrieve key information regarding the object: the supplier, the exact time and place of production, which can help us work out the exact conditions in which it was manufactured (settings used in the process, material used, personnel involved) and potentially analyse anomalies detected at any point in the value chain.

What may seem like a simple prospect becomes more complicated when glass containers, bottles and jars are involved. There are several obstacles that hinder tracing these receptacles: � Once a glass manufacturer has blowmoulded and shaped the bottles, they undergo a series of stages, theoretically in the order in which they were produced, but this is not necessarily the case. So when they are stacked on a pallet holding one to two thousand bottles, the pallet is identified but it may contain bottles produced at slightly different times, and not necessarily consecutively.

It is the pallet itself which carries identification markings, and not the bottles. This reduces the amount of objects traced, but prevents tracing of each individual container. � As for the bottler, they must conserve the link between the bottle used

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Billions of Individual codes To guarantee totally individual codes, we need to collectively find the ‘best’ system, and also agree on the same international standard.

To avoid ending up with the same ‘number’ on two bottles made by two different glass manufacturers, all glass manufacturers should ideally use the same system, or at least use coordinated and compatible systems.

Cetie has therefore brought together the major inter-professional players in its ad-hoc ‘Hot End Laser Coding’ working group. These include the main international glass manufacturing groups, manufacturers of inspection and control systems, and brand owners with an interest in this area.

The group members first agreed on the number of dots which the matrix should contain: 14 x 14. In binary code, this matrix is equivalent to a 16-digit number.

This relatively small matrix is the largest matrix that can be engraved on articles produced at high speed, typically 25 and 33 cl beer bottles. Manufacturers are therefore coordinating their processes for the most demanding products in terms of speed (more than ten products to engrave per second).

Among the various coding systems already tested, one offers the benefits of being compatible with the 14 x 14 matrix and including the production date (down to the nearest second), the mould number, and the production location of the bottle.

As it is impossible to produce two bottles on the same machine using the same mould in the same second, this system generates a different number for each of the tens of billions of bottles produced worldwide each year.

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Production assignment The system’s only limitation: creating a 4-digit code for each of the 3000 production lines in the world.

Group members have suggested that Cetie simply assign production line numbers to all glass manufacturers who want to set up laser marking.

The marking system, which offers many other possibilities beyond traceability, is described in the document ‘DT40.00’, currently being finalised at Cetie. In particular, it outlines the system for recording production line numbers.

All glass manufacturers wishing to set up laser marking should contact Cetie to receive the amount of numbers

Photo source Bucher Emhart Glass

SCOPE OF THE CETIE GROUP: LASER CODING ON GLASS PACKAGING Working Group chairman: Olivier Dangmann, Innovation Manager - O-I Manufacturing, France This group develops a harmonised approach to coding of production data of glass packaging by laser marking for traceability applications within the glass plant and by downstream customers.

COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN THE LASER CODING GROUP: AB-InBev (Belgium) Ardagh (Germany) BA Glass (Portugal) Bucher Emhart Glass (Switzerland) BV Glas (Germany) Encirc (UK) Gerresheimer Essen (Germany) Heye International (Germany) Konatic (France) Moët & Chandon (France) corresponding to the quantity of lines that they wish to equip with the system.

Registering these numbers will be free, and available to anyone registered with Cetie (also free of charge).

It will of course be flexible if a glass manufacturer decides to equip more lines with the system, and regularly updated to take into account plant sales and changes in name.

O-I Manufacturing (France) Saverglass (France) Stoelzle Masnières Parfumerie (France) Tiama (France) Verallia (France) Verallia (Germany) Wiegand Glas (Germany)

Over the course of 2020, Cetie will offer each glass manufacturer the chance to sign up, using a specific procedure to centrally record the information, and providing an ideal way to trace glass containers! �

*Secretary General, Cetie, Paris, France http://www.cetie.org

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Smart packaging

Smart caps: ‘Connected’ pharmaceutical packaging Federico Piutti, Innovation Manager at Bormioli Pharma, discusses smart packaging in the pharmaceutical glass sector.

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I

oT – by definition - interconnects everyday objects over the internet, enabling them to send and receive data. One of the technological trends destined to influence products, services and business models in the future it is one of the major innovation challenges across every industry.

CES 2020 has made us believe that the process will be much faster and extensive than ever, also creating spaces for the renewal of the most traditional businesses, such as healthcare businesses in the broadest – and somewhat weird - sense of the term: underwear, diapers, toothbrushes, smartwatches, are some of the most representative examples of how objects will develop, deeply changing our lifestyle.

Due to its intimate interaction with the product, packaging, and primary packaging in particular –- is destined to become a connected element as well, gathering information about the product,

the user and their interactions.

A very useful interface able to generate new values.

When talking about smart packaging, we refer to all those elements that, once connected, allow to develop a portfolio of usable functionalities, such as tracking products or their characteristics along the supply chain, tracking the product lifecycle, collecting data on the interactions of use, interacting with the customer in new forms, offering services and acquiring data.

Healthcare will be strongly impacted by this new technological trend, enabling patient monitoring at full speed and efficiency. That is to say, a revolution is likely to happen with the development of a healthcare digital ecosystem made up of all the actors involved in the value chain: patients, doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical companies; hospitals, technology producers and industrial players.

Some tools of this ecosystem are

already present, as demonstrated by the success of connected ‘smart’ devices such as smartwatches, which measure our heartbeat, movement, sedentariness, sleep quality; but also specific medical equipment such as stethoscopes, blood pressure meters, blood glucose meters or consumer diagnostic tools.

All these tools are already able to perform complex diagnoses and to remotely send and archive the results.

In this ecosystem the patient becomes the protagonist and all the other players actively contribute to his or her health.

Pharma packaging will be able to interact with this digital ecosystem generating and transmitting high-value data and information that are now hidden thanks to a new user-centered design and approach.

Bormioli Pharma is starting to explore some possible paths where our products could intervene, in order to identify the needs of users that could be solved

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Smart packaging

SUPPLY CHAIN CONFIDENCE

5 LOCATIONS ACCROSS UK AND IRELAND • Soda Ash • Sodium Sulphate • • Feldspars • Chrome • Barium Sulphate • Sodium Nitrate

SPECIALISTS IN THE GLASS INDUSTRY

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through the use of smart solutions.

The first use case we have developed – in collaboration with water.io, a specialised Israelian startup in smart packaging solutions - is focused on a new product of ours, which has already elements of innovation: Accurec.

Accurec is a product in our dual-chamber range, i.e. packaging solutions consisting of two separate chambers, which are only connected to each other just before the drug is taken. The first chamber is housed in the capsule and contains a powder while the second one, the bottle, contains the liquid.

With a few simple gestures, powder and liquid are brought into contact, creating the medicinal solution which is then shaken.

Since on the medicines leaflets we generally read ‘shake vigorously for a minute’ or other qualitative indications, Bormioli Pharma has decided to make it visual, building a smart capsule able to measure the correct reconstitution of the drug, estimating the energy that the patient puts into shaking, and giving him visual feedback when the solution is correctly reconstituted.

At the same time, we have also started working on a dedicated App related to the use case. The connection between capsule and smartphone allows a second confirmation of the correct reconstitution, but above all it allows the transfer of these data over the Internet, collecting other information.

Since Accurec is a multi-dose, we can monitor with the same data the shelf-life of the medicine after each dose and the patient’s adherence to the therapy, verifying how many times it interacts with the packaging or how many times it reconstitutes during the treatment period (for example the week). Smart packaging therefore becomes a great producer of data containing different layers of information on the patient and for the patient.

The use case described is just an example, as many more are the benefits for pharma companies (and final users) in introducing this kind of smart solutions. There are advantages in building digital services to the final user. In this case the connected packaging allows to generate data related to the user’s behaviour. The analysis, processing and synthesis of these data will allow the construction of value-added services to the final user that can be designed and built by different actors of the ecosystem.

The services can be very different and the business models can be the most diverse. These services are the ones that are reaching the market first: services for the patient adherence to the treatment, to monitor the shelf-life of the drug, to control parameters that could be different along the chain such as temperature, humidity, light radiation.

The importance of monitoring these parameters lies in the fact that they could significantly influence the shelf-life, and therefore the efficacy of the drug.

In conclusion, approaching the Internet of Things in the pharmaceutical sector is not only a technological issue, it is also a cultural one. Understanding how fast the competitive scenario will evolve, and recognising our role as a part of a more complex environment, is key for the development of such an ecosystem of relationships and opportunities whose centre is the final user.

Human centricity becomes a paradigmatic foundation for all actors of the ecosystem, the starting point of any innovation effort, even in the smart packaging direction. �

Contact us: +44 (0)20 8332 2519

+44 (0)20 8940 6691

sales@newport-industries.com

*Bormioli Pharma, Italy www.bormiolipharma.com/en

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Batch plant

Zippe expands portfolio of remote services German batch and cullet plant specialist Zippe has increased its remote support and use of Augmented Reality for customers during the pandemic.

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F

or 100 years the core business of Zippe Industrieanlagen has been the design and construction of high performance batch and cullet plants.

As one of the few full-range suppliers in this industrial sector, the spectrum covers all services of plant construction: engineering, planning, construction, production, process control, installation, site management for all trades as well as commissioning and training of customer personnel and services for the running operation.

The current situation regarding Covid-19 with the resulting travel restrictions requires a rethinking concerning installation, commissioning, and service of the different machine and plant parts. Here Zippe sets on remote support for customers with the help of augmented-reality (AR), remote services, and teleservices.

In times when unrestricted traveling is not possible, Zippe is in a position to support its customers from a distance.

In this case it is often challenging that the customer sided technician as well as the Zippe service specialist ‘speak the same language’. In the past, numerous e-mails were necessary in which the situation on site was described also with photo documentation. With the help of modern technology it is now possible to support customers in a more efficient and rapid way. This is where Augmented Reality (AR) steps in.

To benefit from AR support, the customer installs a mobile app on Android or IOS on site and the working environment is transmitted to the service technician in real time via video streaming with the smartphone or tablet camera. The Zippe remote expert uses a specifically equipped service computer in his office and has the latest documentation of the customer plant

Fig 2

� � Figs 1 and 2. A rapid and more efficient maintenance and repair of plants means shorter downtime and higher plant availability.

at hand. The technician communicates with the customer via various optical tools such as arrow markers and free hand drawings, language, and text input.

By means of this virtual ‘step-by-step navigation’, it is possible to analyse and solve a problem respectively to execute maintenance works more quickly.

This technology enables the user to perform installations and repair works under instruction personally on site (fig 1 and 2).

As Zippe supplies plants worldwide in different time zones, our support is always connected with a timed coordination of the service technicians. For production reasons, only a limited time frame is available in many cases. Through the remote support with Augmented Reality an improvement is recognisable.

With the help of digital assistance

systems, shortages on skilled workers can be reduced or compensated to a certain degree. They can support new or less trained customer personnel who are not yet very familiar with the machines and plants.

In addition to the visual support and support by phone, Zippe also offers a Remote Service in order to analyse automation systems and control stations via remote maintenance.

Upon customer request the Zippe remote service enables us to access to the glass plant directly from our Wertheim headquarters. Here problems can be analysed, corresponding adjustments realised, and necessary measures induced.

Zippe’s teleservice and remote maintenance concept leads the way Continued>>

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Fig 1

Furnace Draining

Recycling Drain

� Fig 3. Security router with integrated firewall for the support rail.

Furnace Heat-Up

Experienced Teams

WORLDWIDE AVAILABILITY www.hotwork.ag contact@hotwork.ag Tel.: +41 71 649 20 90

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� Fig 4. Zippe is available for its customers by telephone in case of a service need 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In technical terms this is also referred to as lifecycle support.

* latest swabbing-robot installed in July 2017 in Germany

*

Batch plant Zippe.indd 3

towards economic automation. Zippe is on the safe side for the location independent maintenance of its plants and machines.

The setup of the secured remote connection is, for example, started by pushing a release button in the control cabinet.

After a successful connection setup, a remote connection to a restricted production cell or a certain group of automation components can be effected. Access to defined automation components can be either granted or restricted through the specific router configuration. This leads to an even higher safety level of the plant IT. The company’s remote maintenance concept offers other advantages besides the location independent availability of public networks. These include reduced travel costs and downtime, better customer relations due to higher service quality, and less effort with warranties.

Also, fewer devices are necessary due to remote maintenance, routing, and firewall all combined in one device and the operator network is protected against unauthorised access.

Furthermore, there are no safety problems associated with the theft of equipment, the administrative effort remains the same, even for an increasing number of machines, and the customer alone enables the remote maintenance. Thus, the machine integration in customer networks is simple.

The resolution of IP address conflicts is also faster and the protection of plant/machines from the operator network and vice versa is guaranteed. Moreover, no adaptation of machines and plants as well as of no software is necessary (Fig 3).

Its remote maintenance modules are network components which unite the function of the router, the firewall and VPN device. The aim is maximum security and plant availability.

A maximum level of security is reached with IPsec protocol on layer 3, and a high VPN data throughput of up to 70 Mbps are possible. Current certificates such as x509.v3 are supported and exclusively outgoing User Datagram Protocol (UDP) connections of the operator network are used. An inspection firewall for dynamic filtering and a connection for the VPN acceptance button and VPN status LED exists.

A further important component of the company’s teleservices is the existing telephone support during working hours and the 24h-service-hotline which has been in operation since the year 2000 (Fig 4). �

Zippe Industrieanlagen, Wertheim, Germany www.zippe.de

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Batch plant

EME’s web-based BatchSystem Roger Knüttel* describes a remote web-platform where the batch system can be accessed at any time and from anywhere in the world.

� Fig 1 EME BatchSystem base website.

� Fig 2 Batch archiving and consumption analysis website.

W

Main Features The EME BatchSystem covers all aspects

� Fig 3 Recipe Management overview and details website.

of a modern batch house, such as: � Clear and intuitive interfaces � Batch archiving and consumption analysis (MS SQL Server) � Diagnosis and analysis of dosing accuracies by means of curve, standard deviation, etc. � Powerful recipe management � Preventive Maintenance � Universal data Interfaces -> XML,

XLS, CSV, PDF, EXCEL, RTF, MS SQL � ERP Interfaces (SAP, etc.) � Interfacing with third party software, such as batch calculation programs, etc. � Automatic backup of all system parameters, setpoints, settings, etc.

Continued>>

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hen we started nearly a decade ago with the first web development, it was our belief that web technology would be one of the future key features of automation systems. The future is now the present.

The new EME BatchSystem (fig 1) uses the advantages of browser-based software, which can be used without local installation on any type of hardware solution such as tablets, smartphones, desktop computers (Windows and Linux), etc. and with any operating system while taking advantage of desktop-based software like direct access to the control hardware and a high performance database.

With the help of an internet connection, access to the system is possible at any time and from any place in the world while considering and maintaining a high level of security. The EME BatchSystem uses a modern web framework as a base of the development, which provides us with the flexibility to include any upcoming technology.

It is an investment in the future, since the dependence on a specific operating system for the HMI is a thing of the past.

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Batch plant

correction, dosing speeds, dosing power monitor and numerous other parameters.

Any recipe change is logged and the data is synchronised on all SCADA servers.

� Direct integration with the EME SCADA System � OPC Server as interface for the process communication � Input of maintenance text in any language.

After changing parameters, settings, etc. the module synchronises the data with the other SCADA server. When creating a new maintenance list for a device the system knows the specific maintenance type and suggests EME standard parameters for use. These EME standard base settings are always part of any installation and are stored in the SQL database.

The user can fully change all settings to his need. Therefore he can create his individual maintenance plan for his plant. Through XML export / import, the user can then save his settings and restore them at any time.

Preventive Maintenance

Universal data interfaces

EME provides a tool for preventive maintenance (fig 4). EME Maintenance has the following features: � Standardised maintenance objectives based on EME maintenance guidelines � Fully flexible adaption of these settings to meet specific customer needs � Export/Import of all data as XML � Print out of all data as PDF, Excel, Word � Inclusion of online maintenance document/description as PDF for any standard device � Synchronisation of all data between the SCADA servers � Creation of maintenance units from groups of equipment � A fast and reliable Backend

The EME BatchSystem automatically exports all data to XML or Excel, some standard exports are as follows: � Daily export of batch data as XML file (activated by default) � Daily export of daily consumption as PDF (activated by default) � Daily export of daily consumption as XML (activated by default) � Monthly export of monthly consumption as an Excel file (activated by default) � Monthly export of monthly consumption as XML (activated by default).

The export can be changed to any of the following types at any time: XML, XLS, CSV, PDF, EXCEL, RTF, MS SQL Server. In addition a transformation to

� Fig 4 Preventive maintenance website. � A sophisticated data redundancy concept � Simple changes to the style of all forms and dialogues In the following some of the possibilities of the EME BatchSystem are introduced.

Batch archiving and consumption analysis (MS SQL Server) With the module for batch and consumption analysis, a detailed evaluation and diagnosis of batch production is possible (fig 2). A list of the generated batches according to different furnaces, recipes and/or furnace silos is possible as well as the determination of tolerance and / or incorrect batches. A list can be generated by day, month or a freely selectable timeframe. An evaluation of the consumed raw materials, also by day, month or specific timeframe, and the diagnosis of the dosing accuracy using a curve diagram are further possibilities.

The evaluation of the batch data, which is also saved in different data types via the automatic export, is also part of the module. Printing out the evaluated results and switching languages is a matter of course.

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The Recipe Manager The manufacturing of high quality glass is fundamentally based on the quality and subsequent precision with which raw materials are combined to form the glass batch, now managed by EME’s recipe management (fig 3).

The recipe management is based on a modern database application (MS SQL Server) and operated through a web browser. Each individual recipe contains all parameters required for a complete batch, such as dosing set points, weights for coarse and fine dosing, run-on

� Fig 5 View plant parameter database.

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Batch plant

a custom defined format using a style sheet converter is also possible. For any other export e.g. via an OPC UA server or cloud based data presentation, the EME Universal Data Exchange Suite as part of the BatchSystem offers an extension.

strategy to keep all recipe settings, plant parameter and also the batch data up to date. Even after a failure of a device, you will not lose any data, as when the new device comes online it is restored from its partner.

Manage Plant Parameters

Universal web-based operating concept

In all systems, all plant parameters are saved automatically into a database after operator changes in the SCADA system (fig 5). This database is synchronised with the partner server. In addition, operators with a special access level have the option of triggering the complete storage of all parameters at the push of a button.

The stored data records can be individually filtered or completely loaded back into the controller.

This means that if a CPU fails, exactly the optimal plant parameter can be restored before the failure.

The data can be exported from the database as XML. The XML file serves as additional security as a backup of the parameter data. The data in the XML file, like the data in the database, can be loaded into the controller. Of course, the data can also be printed out or exported as a PDF, Excel.

As all forms and dialogues are web controls, the customer can use any type of hardware to connect to the system.

For example performing a scale calibration on a smartphone or managing recipes on any tablet gives the user the flexibility he needs (fig 6).

Summary

� Fig 6: Scale calibration website (responsive) Smartphone view.

Redundancy concept As already described in the previous sections, the data is always synchronised with the partner server. The EME BatchSystem has therefore a sophisticated

The new EME BatchSystem for the glass industry bundles the entire functionality of a modern batch system on a hardware and software independent web platform and is the foundation for the future of digitisation. We believe it is a great investment in the future. �

*Manager Control Engineering Department, EME GmbH, Erkelenz, Germany, www.eme.de

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Glass International June 2020

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Batch plant

How raw materials can help with the decarbonisation challenge Raw materials used in the glass manufacturing process can help producers face the tough challenge of decarbonisation suggests Hans van Limpt*. He discusses some of the innovations taking place in the raw materials sector

T

he glass industry faces one of the toughest decarbonisation challenges of any industry. The high temperatures required in the melting process and the existence of process emissions in melting furnaces present substantial technological challenges. For the glass industry to meet its ambitious goals will require innovation not only in production technology but also the composition and morphology of materials used in the production process.

Speaking at the GlassTrend webinar on 27 May, Hans Van Limpt, Technology & Innovation Business Partner at Sibelco’s Glass Expertise Centre, explained how innovation in materials can contribute towards these required improvements in energy efficiency without sacrificing product quality.

Providing high quality cullet In addition to its well-known role as a

supplier of silica and other primary raw materials for the production of glass, Sibelco is a producer of glass cullet. Hans explains: “Sibelco is Europe’s second largest glass recycler and we provide more than one million tonnes of glass cullet to the glass industry each year. This position has been growing rapidly with recent acquisitions in Italy and France.”

Using higher percentages of glass cullet is one of the most direct ways of reducing the energy required in the glass melting process. Benchmark studies demonstrate a 2.5 to 3% energy saving for every 10% of cullet used. Cullet use has increased over the past two decades and now makes up around 26% of the raw material feed in flat glass manufacturing.

Reaching a higher level of cullet use presents additional challenges especially because the availability of high quality grades is limited. As shown in fig 1 several processing steps are required to

get rid of contaminants like CSP, glass ceramics, organics and metals. With modern optical sorting technologies it is possible for Sibelco to remove high levels of contamination and to produce four different colour-sorted types of cullet for different applications - flint, green, amber and dead-leaf.

Use of cullet in an industrial glass furnace also has consequences. In most cases, cullet with different colour (redox states) are mixed with each other.

Sulphate in oxidised flint glass can react with sulphide in amber glass leading to the forming of foam and creating sulphur dioxide emissions. Oxidising or reducing agents need to be added to compensate for redox state of the final glass. In many cases, sodium sulphate (Na2SO4) is added to oxidise the batch, but if the cullet levels exceed 80 - 85% this becomes less effective.

Continued>>

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� Fig 1. Cullet processing at Sibelco: (left and right) raw cullet input vs. processed clean cullet.

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Batch plant

� Fig 2. Glass beads prepared from mixed recycling cullet. The beads ‘Standard Cullet’ and ‘Treated Cullet’ were prepared with the same amount of Mangagran.

Due to the high levels of cullet, direct reactions between the sodium sulphate and other batch minerals are delayed and the Na2SO4 evaporates or dissociates before it can act as an oxidizing agent leading to SO2 emissions and a higher risk of clogging the regenerator.

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Manganese and alternative amorphous materials One way of tackling the issue of contaminants in the cullet is the addition of manganese. Sibelco’s Mangagran product is a pyrolusite mineral that can be used as an oxidant in the glass batch to offset the reducing effect of contamination of the cullet by organic materials.

The amounts of Mangagran required in the batch depends on cullet quality and chemical oxygen demand (COD) as well as on the redox state of the final glass.

The measured redox states of the glass samples shown in Fig 2 confirms that the product is much more effective in the treated cullet. This means that less material is needed to compensate for the presence of organic species.

The use of alternative amorphous materials is also a valuable material stream for float and container glass producers and can be a solution if insufficient high quality cullet is available and can be added to the top of the batch.

Experiments conducted at Sibelco’s Glass Expertise Centre to determine the theoretical heat demand of glass batches have demonstrated significant energy saving benefits. A furnace with cullet and about 6 -12% amorphous materials added to the top can generate energy savings of more than 10%.

Materials as an enabler for innovation Glass manufacturers are taking up the challenge of developing new furnace technologies for glass production. These include NSG – Pilkington’s hydrogenfired float glass furnace planned for St Helens and FEVE’s large-scale demo project to evaluate a hybrid oxy-fuel

furnace powered by 80% renewable energy.

Hans believes that material solutions can also be a significant part of the solution.

“We have been running tests on the use of ground/flour materials in place of standard silica and can demonstrate that these more refined materials can have a major effect on reducing the residence time needed to make a high-quality and homogeneous glass batch”.

The average residence time of a glass melt in a float glass furnace is about 50 hours and the glass needs a temperature of about 1,380 – 1,400°C to remove all bubbles. Water cooled skim bars are used to control the flows and stirrers are often used to homogenise the glass. Such large re-circulation flows might be limited if the fresh, primary melt phases are already of high quality. “Some of the questions we have been asking on behalf of customers are ‘why do we need so much time to convert the primary melt phases into a high quality glass?’ and ‘can we change the quality of the fresh glass and finally reduce the re-

� � Fig 3. The upper figure shows the melting behaviour of normal coarse batch vs. a flour batch.

The lower picture shows glass beads prepared from normal coarse batch materials and flour batch.

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Batch plant

circulation flow in the furnace?’”.

In a batch using standard materials, Sibelco’s Glass Expertise Centre has shown that during the primary melt phase (1,300°C) silica grains are still dissolving in the melt and generating gases (CO2) in the form of bubbles. These bubbles become entrapped in the melt and therefore need to be removed in a later stage of the melting process by fining.

Using ground materials, the bubbles are released earlier in the primary melt phase.

The somewhat slower heating of the more porous flour batch is an advantage because there is still enough porosity of the batch during the time that the dissociation reactions take place and CO2 bubbles are formed.

Using this type of ground material, all the silica dissolves in less than two hours at 1,350°C, creating the formation of a homogeneous glass melt in less than half the time compared to using standard materials.

Fig 3 shows clearly that during the melting process batch gases, mainly CO2, will be entrapped in the primary melt phases if normal coarse batch materials

are used. Sufficient fining around 1,350 – 1,400°C is required to remove these gases during the melting process. Flour batches show less gas entrapment during the melting process and faster conversion of minerals into a melt.

Activated flour batches could be the enablers of new furnace concepts – such as plug flow reactors – with much shorter residence times of the glass in the furnace.

The cost benefits are obvious: furnaces can be much smaller; the structural losses lower; and no stirrers and skim bars are needed. The energy savings are also significant with lower residence times and temperatures inside the furnace reduced by 50°C or more.

About Sibelco’s value proposition for the glass industry Sibelco offers services for customers in the container, float, fibre, display and speciality glass industries.

Materials offered by Sibelco include silica sand and low-iron silica sand, silica flour, low-iron dolomite, nepheline syenite, feldspar, colouring oxides, manganese, cullet, petalite, anorthosite

and high purity quartz. Sibelco seeks to ensure excellence in the mine-tomelt consistency of its materials and complements this with a comprehensive approach to sustainability and safety in its operations. Sibelco has a global footprint and supports customers across the world with a global logistics network.

Underpinning all this is a dedication to innovation and technical partnership.

Sibelco’s Glass Expertise Centre operates in Dessel, Belgium. It includes a dedicated glass laboratory and is staffed by a team of scientists and glass experts.

Sibelco’s Material Solutions for Future Glass Solutions innovation programme is developing solutions for customers in the areas such as the optimum usage and processing methods for glass cullet, new alternative amorphous materials and activated fine batch materials to enable new glass melting concepts. �

*Technology & Innovation, Business Partner Fiber glass, Float glass & Container glass, Sibelco, Dessel, Belgium www.sibelco.com

6252 Calumite Glass Worldwide 87x128 AW

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www.glass-international.com

• Increase furnace pull • Reduce furnace temperatures • Reduce NOx and CO2 emissions • Provide a high quality alumina source

43 Glass International June 2020

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Batch plant � The SmartScraper

A smart scraper conveyor For glass manufacturers, safety and reliability are the most important values in their factories. Many suppliers in the glass industry are now able to meet the expectations of clients and fulfil their safety and reliability needs.

T

he current trend in every industry, including glassworks, is to reach for the latest technologies. It is the transformation to Industry 4.0 – the fourth industrial revolution, that is taking place right before our eyes. Factories nowadays have machines augmented with various wireless sensors that can monitor the entire production line and make decisions on their own. Manufacturing processes are increasingly becoming digital and the boundaries between mechanical, digital and biological spheres are blurring.

All of this translates to an increase in production by as much as 30% and a decrease in costs by 25%, according to a recent study. The current solutions offered to the glass industry are more flexible and comprehensive than ever before.

sensors to continually monitor the working conditions of a scraper conveyor, diagnose problems and react instantly to changes in operation. Unlike with the previous solutions there is a possibility to slow or stop the machine at an appropriate moment before its elements are damaged.

Additionally, when connected to a comprehensive array of sensor (e.g. temperature, working speed or efficiency), OPS facilitates detailed analysis of a scraper conveyor’s performance. And that is a step towards Industry 4.0.

www.glass-international.com

Facing the problems Although the glass industry is conservative, more changes permeate its environment. This transformation allows the suppliers of equipment and technological solutions to develop rapidly, using innovation as the competitive advantage. This is especially true when it comes to protection systems.

Forglass is moving in this direction.

Its motto ‘Progress through technology’, means that people working there are development-oriented by implementing new solutions. Through this the company consolidates its position on the market.

Forglass strongly invests in R&D, that’s why engineers from this department have already developed innovatory solutions.

An example of these solutions is the Overload Protection System (OPS) created by engineers from Forglass’s R&D department. It is an intelligent system, which integrated with a machine enables a detailed analysis and a proper reaction for specific situations. It is dedicated especially to the machines, of which reliability and safety are key for their users. Such a machine is e.g. scraper conveyor. Rather than a mechanical protection, this system uses electronic

SmartScraper conveyor

Nowadays scraper conveyors employ mostly mechanical protection. This kind of protection gives no feedback about what caused the problem, there is also no storage of event history data. The process of re-start is difficult, time-consuming and requires manpower and spare parts.

From the glassworks’ standpoint it is a

stoppage of a machine critical to the safety and functioning of the whole factory, as it means stopping the removal of hot gobs from the furnace for several hours.

SmartScraper The OPS solution is effective in its simplicity. A standard setting offers three operation thresholds. The first represents normal working conditions, where the efficiency of the conveyor is in line with the demand and each value is within normal limits. When these limits are exceeded and the situation is considered potentially dangerous, the second threshold is reached and an alarm is activated. The system warns about the danger quickly enough to enable verification of the issue, preventing the conveyor from being abruptly and unnecessarily stopped. In a critical situation, when there is no response to the alarm or if the overload reaches the third threshold limit value rapidly, the scraper conveyor stops automatically.

Of course, the number and functions of thresholds can be tailored to each client’s needs. Thanks to this system damage can be avoided, which means that the scraper conveyor’s lifespan in increased.

Continued>>

Operator Panel

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Batch plant

Furthermore, the functioning of a conveyor is continuously monitored in real time and can be controlled remotely.

The entire process is maintenance-free and automatic, generally not requiring any manpower, except to re-start the machine after it stops. In comparison with the re-start connected with mechanical protection, it is far easier and faster, reducing stoppage time. The system stores event history data, allowing its analysis, so that conclusions can be drawn and changes made to prevent such situations in the future. OPS is also connected to IS machines and cullet rejection system – a configuration that allows the system to predict the load on the scraper conveyor and to adjust its functioning. Apart from the aforementioned increase in lifespan, the operational costs associated with the maintenance of a scraper conveyor are reduced, which directly improves the financial bottom line.

Summary We can imagine an environment where machines are able to make decisions for us or improve our work by seamlessly

� System OPS visualisation

communicating with us. These changes are happening right now in technology and they are impacting the glass industry.

In the pursuit of maximising production and minimising costs for its clients, and even more importantly to improve safety, Forglass plans to broaden the range of solutions beyond the ‘smart scraper conveyor’, to include all of the equipment and machines produced by the company.

The goal is to connect all of them in one

network, with data being collected in a cloud to improve workflow and facilitate immediate reactions to changes. The clients, who have already decided to implement this ‘smart scraper’ solution in their factories, offer positive feedback, which certainly motivates Forglass to continue development in this area. �

Forglass, Krakow, Poland www.forglass.eu

TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

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One system. One operator. One touch performance. High-precision coating measurement for the finish and body of glass containers in one machine.

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45 Glass International June 2020

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Recycling

T

he management of Hot Waste Glass Recycling must be designed to guarantee the operation of the productive flow as mistakes are not allowed on this equipment at normal working conditions.

Also, water consumption must be managed rationally and in respect of the environment.

Production rate and furnace capacities are increasing today, which is why equipment must be designed and dimensioned to facilitate the energy and environmental management, reducing human intervention to a minimum, working with maximum warranty.

Glassmaking is a modern, hi-tech industry operating in a competitive global market where quality, design and service levels are critical to maintaining market share. Modern glass plants are capable of making millions of glass containers a day in different colours. Few of us can imagine modern life without glass. With increasing consumer concern for the environment, glass has again come into its own proving to be an ideal material for recycling. Glass recycling is good news for the environment. It saves used glass containers being sent to landfill and less

energy is needed to melt recycled glass than to melt down raw materials, thus saving energy. Recycling also reduces the need for raw materials to be quarried thus saving precious resources. A piece of equipment that allows reception of hot waste glass coming from the furnaces and forming machines is the Scraper Conveyor. This equipment normally receives hot glass, cools it, granulates it and places it once more at production flow, since it is permanently full of renewed water to absorb thermal energy coming from glass (Fig 1, above).

Scraper Conveyor When designing this kind of equipment, Vidromecanica resorts to calculation and dimension methods supported by numerical methods of heat transmission, that have as base mass and energy balances (water flow/glass flow) to perfectly characterise the water flows needed to granulate the glass flow on this equipment.

The positioning of the hot gobs chutes relative to the Scraper Conveyor can be foreseen near the exit zone of glass since the equipment is conceived with a double

bottom and allows the cooling of glass in a reasonable way and allows a considerable decrease of water consumption.

Complying these factors, it is possible to decrease daily water consumption compared with traditional cooling and granulating glass equipment (Fig 2).

Vidromecânica’ s Scraper is composed by a steel vat with 900 to 1200mm width and 1100 to 1200 of height full of water where a conveyor belt with dragging shovels, highly resistant to wear and tear, that allows transportation and the contact of the glass with water at the same time, will granulate it by the thermal shock of contact with water that is at inferior temperature.

The dragging chain is important since it is constantly subjected to aggressive working conditions. The dragging chain is formed by a roller chain conveyor of high solidity connected in itself by the dragging shovels of the glass.

The shovels are of T or L type according to the scrapers used (double or simple bottom).

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

Management of Hot Waste Glass Recycling

Vidromecanica highlights the important role of the management of hot glass recycling, particularly in respect of increased production rates and furnace capacities.

47 Glass International June 2020

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internally covered with great hardness material to resist to the erosion provoked by the displacement of the hot glass.

Normally, they are pneumatically driven with high speeds to send the glass to the scrapers or to the storing containers placed near the scrapers.

They are of extreme importance in the protection of the normal working of the equipment, because in case of energy break, they automatically direct the glass to the exterior of the scraper.

Vidromecanica has been developing these systems of glass conducting to the scraper, decreasing the preventive maintenance operations to the minimum (Fig 4, below).

� Fig 2. Scraper Conveyor 300 TPD.

Roller flattening gobs

� Foresee preventive and corrective maintenance when necessary.

In the case of production of glass gobs heavier to 1kg, as for example the production of insulators, or production of glass for washing machines, we advise placing flattening gobs to allow a greater contact area of glass/water and like this increase the heat transfer area, cooling efficiency and glass granulation.

Auxiliary equipment

Crushers for floating bottles

We have auxiliary equipment for scraper which are: Conveyors, Pipes Hot Gobs Chutes, Crushers for floating bottles, and roller flattening gobs to increase a glass/ water thermal exchange (Fig 3).

These crushers break the bottles that float at the water surface that can cause tensions on the conveyor chain. By being installed on the scraper, they avoid human intervention on the bottle breaking operation. �

Pipes Hot Gobs Chutes

Vidromecanica, Marinha Grande, Portugal vidromecanica@vidromecanica.com www.vidromecanica.com

� Fig 3. Belt Conveyors for crushed glass.

The bottom of the vat is totally covered with basalt plates of high resistance to erosion.

The conveyor belt speed as well as the water temperature are permanently verified and adjusted according to the glass flow to be received by the equipment.

The double bottom is nothing more than a second bottom that allows the glass displacement at the opposite of the exit displacement, allowing more time of contact with the water.

Nowadays, it is common to conceive a scraper of double bottom with 30 to 35 meters long, for furnaces of 350400 T/day capacity. This equipment is characterised by presenting high working performances, needing preventive/ corrective maintenance measures, when furnaces are modified or transformed.

These allow directing the hot glass to the scrapers. These tubes have variable diameters from 350 to 400 mm and are

www.glass-international.com

Essential factors for scraper life The scrapers must be led to increase their lifetime at maximum, considering the following factors: � Decrease, when possible, the speed of the glass dragging chain. � Direct the pipes hot gobs chutes onto the centre of the scraper vat. � Allow entry of water on the scraper at lowest temperature possible. � Control the water temperature in the interior of the vat. � Control the tension levels of the chain.

48 0 Glass International June 2020

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COUNTLESS IMPROVEMENTS FOR O N E T H I N G T H AT R E A L LY C O U N T S .

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With our experience we are constantly improving the efficiency of our Container and Special Glass furnaces. Today, we are up to 25 % CO2 and 35 % NOx reduction (compared to previous furnace campaigns).

Besides these environmental advantages, our technologies help our customers to reach a more efficient production process saving up to 20 % energy.

New Hybrid Furnace Technologies will satisfy the future‘s requirements.

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GLASSWORKS HOUNSELL We make new, we make spares, we refurbish and we advise. We have a tradition that dates back to our foundation in 1877 and we adhere to core values that have stood the test of time. How well our products work and how long they last drive our commitment to quality, allowing us to remain a leading manufacturer.

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History

Prof. John Parker

Food for thought

O

ur northern Europeans ancestors had limited experience of sugar – mostly just honey and ripe fruit.

Its extraction from a type of grass growing in India and the Far East was a local secret. But the expanding reach of trading ships during the 1500s meant valuable rootstock could be carried alongside cargoes of ‘gold’ and led to the sugar cane plantations in the West Indies and North America where the climate also suited cultivation.

The infamous people trade, using the same ships provided the workforce which fuelled the sugar industry’s growth.

Shakespeare mentions it, Queen Elizabeth I’s blackened teeth bore witness to it and the habit of tea and coffee drinking sold more of it. In 1764 a sugar tax, effectively an import duty, was introduced and raised £1 million p.a.

Following the abolition of the slave trade, the cost of cane sugar rose but in the mid-1800s a method for extracting it from beet gave Europeans an alternative source. So at the behest of Prime Minister Gladstone the tax was repealed in 1874, and sugar’s transition from luxury item to commodity accelerated; it became a key ingredient for those living in poverty, assisting food preservation in times before refrigeration, but perhaps a first step towards today’s obesity epidemic.

Cheap preserves and jam (one part fruit pulp to two sugar) appeared in workingclass households, and sugar consumption quadrupled each century from 1700 to 1900 reaching per capita 40kg p.a.

Women, many working long hours in sweatshops, no longer made soups for the next day's lunch - bread and jam was much easier. York Castle museum (UK) has a lifestyle exhibition covering 400 years; one section is devoted to sugar.

Preserves needed containers and glass was the material of choice. The Kilner Jar produced in Yorkshire, UK (similarly, the

Mason Jar, USA, Leifheit, Germany and le Parfait, France) arose out of these trends.

The provision of reliable, resealable and airtight closures using a screw-top with a rubber seal was a unique selling point, replacing waxed paper covers. Adverts noted that the contents contacted only glass and could be cooked inside the jar.

The Kilner company factories had complex histories but were entrepreneurial being among the first to adopt continuous tank furnaces and in the vanguard of production automation.

Although the original factories have long since gone and production has moved to China, their iconic names are still part of everyday language.

Meanwhile outdoors, in agriculture and gardening, bell-shaped glass covers were protecting individual plants from low temperatures; called cloches (from French, cloche for 'bell'); they also trapped the sun’s heat through the greenhouse effect. They can be traced back to market gardens in 19th century France, where entire fields were protected. While largely replaced by plastic in commercial situations, cloches are nowadays limited to smaller gardens. An indoor variant is the terrarium, a miniature greenhouse for growing exotics on the windowsill. The web even offers for sale Edison lightbulbs minus wires for growing, you’ve guessed it, bulbs.

Of course, a too small container constrains the shape of a growing plant and this approach was used by Victorian Britain for cucumber straightening. Other shapes were made to support harvested bunches of grapes with the central stalk dipped in water to maintain freshness.

In Tottori, Japan an industry-academia collaboration is exploring more exotic uses for glass, particularly to solve global issues such as food shortages caused by population growth and water shortages.

A glass foaming technology has been

developed - pulverized glass waste is heated with additives such as calcium carbonate (limestone, shells).

The product aids water conservation in irrigation systems. Morocco is an agricultural giant where production is thriving with well-equipped facilities to reduce water consumption, including drip irrigation and the country’s tomatoes have the fourth largest export value in the world but the groundwater level has been falling, raising concerns about depletion of water resources.

Trials showed a 28% yield increase in tomatoes while conserving 50% of the water supply. The foamed glass is porous and can store water and soluble fertilizer.

Since it comes from naturally occurring materials, it has minimal environmental impact. The company hopes to expand into Peru and the Gulf States.

Another development is home growing, for example herbs or lettuce in the kitchen. To avoid the associated mess an alternative is growing plants in a jar hydroponically.

While commercial systems exist the inexpensive Mason/Kilner jars are a cheap alternative container; instructions are available on the web. A vital component is a suitable substrate on which to germinate seeds; one solution is based on rockwool, melted basaltic rock spun into fine glass fibres and formed into easy-to-use blocks.

But is it safe? Although perhaps an irritant, it is made from natural materials, contains no harmful chemicals, no weed seeds, disease pathogens or pests and also no organic compounds or microbes.

Postscript: In 2016 George Osborne, UK Chancellor reintroduced a sugar tax: revenue £520 million p.a. �

*Curator of the Turner Museum of Glass, The University of Sheffield, UK www.turnermuseum.group.shef.ac.uk j.m.parker@sheffield.ac.uk.

www.glass-international.com

Prof John M.Parker highlights examples of use of glass in the food pakaging sector.

51 Glass International June 2020

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Predict the future by really knowing the past

Traceability Imagine being able not only to trace every individual bottle to its origin but also to know everything about it, allowing you to produce the best container possible. Well, with YOUniverse you can, thanks to yet another powerful tool for you to prepare for Smart Factory.

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One could call it the unique DNA and history of every container.

And the best part is, you can offer your customers and their customers a multi-value tool: great for marketing and research, effective as an anti-counterfeit tracking tool and efficient for cost reduction because resorting & recalls can be minimised.

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Data – the deciding factor