Vinolok unveils new glass furnace

Vinolok CEO Aleš Urbánek recently opened the first furnace at the glass closure manufacturer’s new factory in Jablonec nad Nisou, north Czechia.

The new furnace, named ‘Adéla’, was fired up on 10 February and will run for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, producing Vinolok’s 100% recyclable bottle closures.

But, though Vinolok, which is 50%-owned by Amorim as of 2019, has been technologically innovative, the factory itself has a long history rooted in the traditions of glass manufacturing. In 1913 the Redlhammer brothers opened their factory on Na Hutích Street, nicknamed ‘Glasswork Street’, for the production of glass buttons and beads.

After Vinolok began to develop the facility in 2011, glass production has returned to the site, affectionately known as ‘Josef’ since 1993, in time for its 110th anniversary this year. Closure manufacturing is also still taking place at Vinolok’s other production facility in Desná, 15 kilometres from Jablonec nad Nisou.

Urbánek, who cut the ribbon to open the new piece of equipment, said that there are plans for the production capabilities of the ‘Josef’ site to be significantly expanded: “The opening of the first furnace in Jablonec nad Nisou is the culmination of the first stage of Vinolok’s concentration of capacities in one production plant and a significant shift in the increase of the share of automation in the production of glass closures. By 2026 we plan to open a total of eight glass furnaces for the production of glass closures.”