Nampak has opened its energy-efficient glass furnace in Gauteng, South Africa, with an investment of around $0.11bn (R1.2bn).
The new furnace, which is the company's third, will increase the plant's capacity to 295 000 tons per annum and help create around 140 direct jobs.
Nampak will supply a mix of glass bottles and jars to customers according to long-term contracts.
Speaking about the investment, Nampak's chief executive officer André de Ruyter. said: "Of the R1.2 billion invested in the third furnace, 50% was spent on developing the building in South Africa and the balance was used to buy the furnace equipment in Europe."
The company claims that the third furnace is one of the most environment-friendly technologically advanced machines in the world which helps in reducing emissions and waste of water and energy.
The Department of Trade and Industry's (dti) section 12I tax allowance incentive on brownfields investment helped sponsor the third furnace project.
The company which was established in 1984 opened a $14.26m (R160m) cullet processing plant in 2010. This plant processes about 80,000 tons of cullet a year, procured from 4,000 SMMEs.
Production, which is expected to be ramped up with third furnace, will boost demand for cullet that currently replaces up to 55% of the requirement for virgin raw material at the factory.
Some of the features of the new plant include cullet batch preheating from waste gases, a closed-loop water purification system and an ESP filter that reduces emissions. One of South Africa's largest Rotary Uninterrupted Power Supply (RUPS) has also been installed on the site which will remove the risks of power outages and surges.
"In the past year alone, Nampak has spent approximately R2.5 billion on a number of capital projects, the majority of which were in South Africa. More will be spent in the future, mainly on refurbishing and upgrading existing operations in order for us to remain competitive in the face of increasing competition and cost pressure."
Nampak has also recently acquired a beverage can-making business in Nigeria for $300m and is doubling its beverage can-making capacity in Angola from 800 million to 1.8 billion cans by 2015.
