• Hindusthan National Glass and Industries has commissioned a 650-ton-per-day glass bottle plant at Naidupeta in Andhra Pradesh. The plant has swelled HNG’s capacity in the region to 1000 tpd, which is expected to help the company serve the southern Indian market better, increase its overall market share from the current 24 percent and boost export.
• Schott Pharmaceutical Packaging continues to experience growth in Russia and now plans to increase the production capacities at its plant in Zavolzhe by more than 50 percent. The Russian pharmaceutical industry has experienced double-digit growth in recent years. State initiatives like the government’s “Pharma 2020” strategy that seeks to encourage local manufacturing of high-quality medications according to the “Good Manufacturing Practice” standard will continue this development.
• Robust vehicle sales are providing a boost to Pittsburgh Glass Works, which is adding 50 to 60 employees at its plant in Creighton, East Deer. The facility fabricates glass used mainly for automobile windshields. About 225 employees worked there before the company decided to add a fourth shift at the facility that sits along the Allegheny River about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The additional shift will keep the plant operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• PPG Industries’ flat glass business announced that it can now produce heat-strengthened glass in thicknesses of 2, 2.5 and 2.7 millimeters with surface-compression strength that exceeds that of fully tempered glass (greater than 10,000 pounds per square inch), while achieving ASTM C1048 standards for flatness.
• Abrasives maker Carborundum Universal, a part of the Murugappa Group, has deferred plans to set up its proposed greenfield project in Gujarat, India, as part of its Rs 200-crore capital expenditure plan to expand its fired and castable refractories. The reason for this move was the company’s recent acquisition of RHI Isithebe Pty of South Africa by its subsidiary CUMI International (Cyprus) Ltd.