O-I expresses confidence in growing Indonesian and Southeast Asia markets

Today Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE: OI), the world's largest glass container manufacturer, announced it is making a significant investment in its Jakarta plant, and introducing an innovative technology called narrow neck press and blow (NNPB), enabling efficient lightweight bottle production.An existing production line was also recently upgraded to increase speed and capacity, allowing the company to continue to serve Indonesia’s leading food, beverage and pharmaceutical brands, as well as the ever-expanding Southeast Asia market.

O-I Jakarta’s President Director, Joseph Haddad, says O-I’s investment is a direct result of growing customer demand and the company’s confidence in the growth prospects that exist for Southeast Asia-based manufacturers. 

“The Indonesian and Southeast Asian markets represent major opportunities for our Jakarta plant, which has supplied Indonesia’s food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets with quality glass containers for the past 40 years, and is set to play an integral role in achieving O-I’s growth targets,” said Mr Haddad.

“O-I’s 2013 Asia Pacific volume gains, were driven by strong growth in Southeast Asia, a trend we expect to continue,” he added.

To better align its operations with this predicted growth, O-I Jakarta is currently installing narrow neck press and blow (NNPB) technology, whichensures consistent and precise glass wall thickness, helping to reduce bottle weight whilst maintaining design profiles and glass strength. The lightweight bottle production process is also more sustainable because it uses less glass during production. It also requires fewer raw materials, and results in lower CO2 emissions.

“The advantage of being part of a multi-national business such as ours is that we can access a range of regional and global resources.  We have a great deal of expertise in lightweighting containers, and we have colleagues from around the world who are working with our team in Indonesia to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to successfully manage NNPB production,” said Mr Haddad. 

O-I’s NNPB technology has been used by many of the world’s high-profile beverage companies to deliver significant environmental benefits. One example is O-I’s award-winning Australian Lean+Green® lightweight wine bottle range, which has been adopted by over 75 Australian wine brands since its launch in 2009.

In addition to its own production, O-I Jakarta has the ability to access its regional footprint to support further local growth and ensure security of supply.

“Our regional footprint gives us the ability to source glass containers that we don’t currently produce locally, and offer our Indonesian customers an extensive product portfolio,” said Mr Haddad.

“In addition to providing the latest innovations in glass bottle production, we also offer local customers valuable insights into various markets around the world. We recently hosted a major Indonesian customer in Australia to provide it with a detailed look at the local beverage industry, including a range of perspectives on glass filling set-up, techniques, distribution and marketing,” said Mr Haddad.

O-I Jakarta also encourages its customers to access additional services to support new product development. For instance, O-I Jakarta works with its regional design team to help customers develop unique glass packaging designs that differentiate their brands.  They also ensure that designs are suited to manufacture, and meet customer filling-line and secondary‐packaging requirements.

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About O-I

Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE: OI) is the world's largest glass container manufacturer and preferred partner for many of the world's leading food and beverage brands. With revenues of $7.0 billion in 2012, the company is headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio, USA, and employs approximately 22,500 people at 79 plants in 21 countries. O-I delivers safe, sustainable, pure, iconic, brand-building glass packaging to a growing global marketplace. O-I's Glass Is Life(TM) movement promotes the widespread benefits of glass packaging in key markets around the globe. For more information, visit www.o-i.com or www.glassislife.com.

About O-I Jakarta

O-I Jakarta was established in 1973 under the name, PT. Kangar Consolidated Industries (KCI). At the time, it consisted of one furnace and four production lines that produced glass bottles, as well as tableware. In 1980, a second furnace was installed to more than triple O-I Jakarta’s capacity. The plant currently consists of two furnaces and six machine lines and employs around 305 people.

Today, O-I Jakarta produces around 2.3 million glass bottles per day for some of Indonesia’s leading food, beverage and pharmaceutical brands. Existing customers include Multi Bintang, PT Asia Health Energy Beverage, PT Djojonegoro, PT Supra Ferbindo Farma and Ultra Prima Adadi. As part of the O-I group, O-I Jakarta ensures its customers have access to the most advanced glass container manufacturing technologies and services available.