The Belarusian company OAO Gomelglass is expected to launch a modernized line to make polished glass on 20 December, the press service of the Belarusian Architecture and Construction Ministry told BelTA.
The kindling of the glass furnace and bringing it up to the working condition will be the first step. The company plans to start manufacturing the first merchandise in late March 2013.
Central and local government officials are expected to take part in the furnace kindling ceremony.
The modernization of the polished glass line is part of the company’s retooling campaign. The launch of the second line to make polished glass sheets in March 2010 considerably improved the company’s capacity. It allowed the company to start manufacturing and exporting new kinds of glass (varying in size up to 3.21x6 meters and thickness from 2mm to 12mm). Before the launch of the line Belarus had to import colorless polished glass sheets 2mm, 3mm, 8mm, 10mm, and 12mm thick.
The two lines in combination with some other technical measures will allow Gomelglass to more than double the output of polished glass in 2013 to a total of 42.5 million square meters. In the near future the Gomel-based company will start recycling glass for the sake of manufacturing plate glass and laminated glass, automobile glass, including laminated glass and curved tempered glass, as well as coated glass and energy-saving glass.
Specialists estimate that by the end of the current five-year term the company’s export will reach 70% of the output. In the future OAO Gomelglass also plans to start manufacturing energy-saving glass units. All the projects to modernize the manufacturing facilities will be aimed at processing the raw materials as much as possible and making products with a high added value. Calculated using the gross added value, the output per employee working to process the glass will be over $150,000.
