A full-scale generation 1 line of O-I’s MAGMA glass manufacturing technology is expected to be live within weeks.

The line, located at its Holzminden, Germany, glass facility, is expected to heat up at the end of February and be in operation in March.

It said this will represent a major milestone and pave the way for broader deployment starting next year.

Andres Lopez, Chief Executive of O-I, the world’s largest container glass manufacturer, told a Q4 financial analysts call that plant personnel are being trained and that the line will be transferred to them over the next three months.

O-I said that the Modular Advanced Glass Manufacturing Asset (MAGMA) will re-imagine the container glass manufacturing process.

It is a flexible, modular, standardised glass production line which ‘will enable rapid mobile capacity expansion in smaller increments’.