PacificGlas, the Korean company invests in a new furnace!

Jean-Yves Bourgeois

14 February 2012

Next June, the Korean company, PacificGlas ($ 60 million in sales) which was created in 1973 will commission both its new electric furnace of a capacity of 20 tons/day and two new production lines in its historical plant located three hundred kilometres south of Seoul. Total investment, $ 20 million. A decision was relayed by the setting up of a new organization and of a more aggressive commercial strategy with a "2015 Vision", aimed at winning new customers, particularly the global markets, including Europe and U.S.A. as well as meeting the domestic demand.

Upon arrival in the courtyard of the factory, the tone is set. Several banners on which is written in large letters the slogan "2015 Vision" explain the new objectives of the glassmaker. 450 people, a flexmelter furnace of 50 tons/day built in 2006 and five IS lines capable of producing some 150 million pieces a year, PacificGlas is the glassmaker to be reckoned with in this region of Asia.

The plant has all the necessary equipment for decoration including a score of screen-printing machines and new coating lines recently delivered on site. It supplies most of the major perfume and cosmetic brands of the region, exports 30% of its production (mainly in the U.S.A, Europe and Japan) and claims producing one of the most transparent glass (the first grade sand comes from Australia), "largely on an equal footing with European standards," explains Jack An Export Sales Manager.

Export as a target!

The commissioning of the new furnace of 20 tons/day in June, is of course, mostly designed to cope with particularly strong demand in the domestic and overseas market. "But not only," insists Jack An, "we have the ambition of serving more customers outside Asia, particularly U.S.A and Europe, by highlighting our assets that are real like the quality of our glass, our flexibility and/or reactivity (no more than four weeks are required between the designing of a bottle and the first pilot sample) and, of course, our costs!"

To note that the plant has two lines for small batches (as of 20,000 pieces).

The goals of the "2015 Vision" are also very clear... "To become the No.1 glassmaker in Asia in the perfume and cosmetic sector thanks precisely to the commissioning of this new furnace and of all the peripherals equipments that are going to be installed, especially in terms of decoration but also of mould designing (the company in charge is incorporated). The whole of it punctuated by a significant effort in terms of productivity and new product development."

The glassmaker is of course ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. The plant has adopted ERP-SAP since 2005 and has introduce MES (Manufacturing Execution System) since 2010. The capacity of the decoration workshop was increased by nearly 30% last year and in 2010, PacificGlas received the export award from local authorities for breaking the record of $ 10 million invoicing overseas.