Dive Brief:
- Arglass says it’s seizing on demand for glass food containers as it prepares to add a second, larger furnace to its Valdosta, Georgia, headquarters. The project, which will more than double the site’s capacity, is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025, financed with more than $230 million in structured equity and debt.
- Incorporating additional technologies, the company’s vision is to build out the site to be resilient to shifting demand. “These advances will allow the new facility to produce up to eight different glass container types simultaneously for maximum flexibility, enabling smaller production runs, faster reaction to market demands, lower inventory levels and reduced investment in molds,” Arglass wrote in an announcement last week.
- The upcoming expansion is expected to add 150 new jobs. Arglass can tap into multiple technical institutions in the area, as well as existing internal knowledge at the site, said Ron Holmes, who recently joined Arglass as vice president of sales, marketing and sustainability.
Dive Insight:
Whereas the spirits industry is currently exposed to destocking, Holmes said, growth is happening in food, such as with jars for products like mayonnaise or salsa. When Arglass acquired the Valdosta land, it hoped to expand beyond the original furnace, Holmes said.
Arglass announced the Valdosta site in 2019. At the time, it was known as Arglass Yamamura, but this past December, Arglass announced the buyout of its Japan-based majority shareholder. Anchored by that Georgia headquarters, Arglass says it supplies customers across the U.S.
It can be cost prohibitive when a customer has to fill an entire machine, which contain multiple sections and molds, in order for the manufacturer to run it. Arglass’ machines will allow for a mix of glass containers.
“The flexibility that we have in our lines with the amount of molds that we can run at one time will allow us to meet that demand,” said Holmes, who previously led Diageo’s North American packaging and technology department.
The company plans to outfit the new facility with artificial intelligence-integrated monitoring and predictive maintenance technologies as well as quality assurance systems. “It's great to be new because we're able to embrace technology as it comes out,” Holmes said. “It's not like we have to retrofit.”
Arglass is testing some of those technologies on its existing Valdosta furnace. The new furnace is expected to be capable of producing over 350 million glass containers per year.
The manufacturer also says it’s adding “sustainability infrastructure.” It will feature an on-site post-consumer glass recycling plant, which Arglass says will provide post-consumer glass cullet for use in new containers. Arglass indicated last year that it was struggling with sourcing enough clean glass, driving a partnership with The Upcycling Co. to collect glass containers from communities in southern Georgia and northern Florida.
As far as power, the plant will be supported by “a hybrid gas, electric and hydrogen oxy-fuel furnace capable of melting 490 metric tons of glass per day,” the announcement states, with additional plans to install solar power infrastructure.
Orion Infrastructure Capital is among those providing funding. OIC’s previous investments have included in bottle-to-bottle recycler and rPET producer Evergreen Recycling (formerly known as CarbonLite) as well as reusable pallet business RM2. Construction will be supported by the Valdosta Lowndes Development Authority and the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
According to Holmes, this announcement of a second furnace is “only the beginning” of Arglass’ expansion vision across North America.
