is always a unique product
Hundreds of millions of Heineken bottles each year
Glass
The Dutch 'Vereenigde Glasfabrieken' United
Glass Factories) produce several hundred million
of those familiar green Heineken bottles each year.
On a visit to the factory in Leerdam The World of
Heineken talked to two gentlemen who turn lyrical
as soon as the subject of glass is raised. 'It really is
a unique product'.
mixture of sand, soda and chalk to a
temperature of 1600 degrees Celsius,
cannot be extinguished even for a few
days.
Every furnace is lined with fire
bricks, but these bricks have a hard
time of it because of the enormous
heat in the furnace. When a furnace is
first built the bricks are about 50 cms
thick. When the furnace is demolish
ed after fifteen years faithful service,
the thickness of the bricks has been
reduced to a mere ten centimetres.
The quietness in the boardroom
forms a sharp contrast with the
noise, heat and steam near the
glass-making machine. Working con
ditions in the factory are tough.
'That's right, a glassworks falls within
the heavy industry sector. Production
work is done in five shifts, round the
clock, 365 days a year. In total we
make five hundred different prod
ucts', explains packaging glass sales
director J.A. Soetens.
There can be no question of even a
temporary shutdown of the produc
tion process. The flames under the
furnaces, which have to bring the
T H F. WOULD OK HEINEKEN
