Glass container manufacturer Owens-Illinois (O-I) has signed a three-year agreement with the University of Toledo (UT) College of Engineering, Chemical & Environmental Engineering Department, in a bid to support research at its new R&D Innovation Center.
The center, which is slated to be completed by the fall of 2013, will produce sample glass containers using new manufacturing technologies and product designs that are being tested by O-I.
O-I R&D vice president Dr Kimberly Houchens said the company will use UT's equipment to help it advance its understanding of basic principles.
"Our scientists will benefit from the help of UT graduate students, who will leverage the university's extensive laboratory capabilities," Houchens said.
According to O-I, the budget covers the purchase of new equipment specific to characterize glass, and fees to use UT's existing equipment, including x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy instruments.
