O-I Announces Expansion of Glass Container Manufacturing in Lurin, Peru

CEO Al Stroucken made the announcement at the official opening ceremony of the plant.



The $30 million expansion, which is expected to be in full operation in the second quarter of 2009, will support the region's continuing growth in demand for glass packaging and will create approximately 65 new jobs.



"The growing demand for glass packaging by various market segments in Peru, most notably the agricultural export market and the domestic beer market, has clearly demonstrated a need for increased production," said Jose Lorente, president, O-I Latin America. "We are pleased we can meet this demand by expanding our Lurin operations, and we see the potential for some exports as well."



The company also announced it will establish an engineering center at the Lurin manufacturing facility. The new center is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2008 and will create approximately 60-80 jobs over the next 12 to 18 months. This realignment of the Company's engineering resources to Lurin from the global center in Perrysburg will enhance the engineering support capabilities.



"Engineering is a core capability of O-I that we will continue to build upon by organizing resources globally to support the needs of our facilities," said Andres Lopez, vice president, global manufacturing and engineering. "Establishing this center will also allow us to deliver on our strategy to grow with emerging economies, while serving O-I's global engineering needs more efficiently."



The Lurin facility is the first O-I plant to be built outside of the United States in 30 years. It began production in October 2007 and is operating at world-class standards. It has already manufactured more than 111 million glass containers. O-I also operates another glass container manufacturing facility in Callao, Peru.



About O-I



Millions of times a day, O-I glass containers deliver many of the world's best-known consumer products to people all around the world. With the leading position in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America, O-I manufactures consumer-preferred, 100 percent recyclable glass containers that enable superior taste, purity, visual appeal and value benefits for our customers' products. Established in 1903, the company employs more than 24,000 people with 83 manufacturing facilities in 22 countries. In 2007, net sales were $7.6 billion. For more information, visit http://www.o-i.com .