Glass is one of the oldest materials; packaging liquids of various natures in glass containers is still popular today. Therefore, the volume of glass container production in Russia and in the world is constantly growing. We all use bottles, jars and other glassware in everyday life, but few people think about how they are produced.

Speaking very generally, the essence of glass production technology is to melt the raw material, then pour it into pre-prepared molds, cool and solidify the melt.

Stages of glass container production

Batch formation

The charge is a mixture of initial substances from which the bottle will be produced. Glass is based on a complex of substances, each of which must undergo input control for compliance with standards. These include: quartz sand, cullet, dolomite flour, alumina, bleaching and coloring agents, technical nitrate, sodium carbonate, etc. When preparing the charge mixture, it is important to maintain the proportions between the ingredients. Otherwise, the glass will be of unsatisfactory quality and will be sent for re-melting. For this purpose, glass factories have special dosing equipment.

Preparing the melt

Along conveyor lines, the prepared mixture is sent to a regenerative furnace, in the digester pool of which the mixture is heated to high temperature(over 1000°C). As a result, the charge melts into liquid silicates, which still contain refractory elements. A further increase in temperature (over 1500°C) leads to the production of liquid glass melt, in which there are no refractory elements and gas bubbles evaporate. It is precisely because of the gaseous substances formed during the decomposition of silicates that the production of glass products requires specific, bad smell. Insufficient melting of the charge leads to the presence of cloudiness in the structure of the container.

Melt cooling

Liquid glass cools and solidifies quite quickly, but in production, before molding the melt into bottles, the prepared melt is cooled to blowing temperatures (approximately 900°C).

Bottle molding

The shaping of the future product is done using metal equipment and special equipment for blowing. The partially cooled melt is supplied in the form of dosed drops, which are directed into one mold, in which the machine makes the neck of the bottle and forms the rudiment of the entire product. The final blowing of the volume of the bottle occurs in the following form, after which ready product sent by the machine to the conveyor for further processing. After this, a new mold is prepared to receive the next drop of glass melt.

Flashing

This procedure is necessary to give the bottle mechanical strength and resistance to temperature changes during its further preparation and operation. This operation is carried out in directly heated ovens, where the bottles blown by a molding machine are transported. During this operation, the temperature of the hot glass is gradually reduced from blowing temperatures (approximately 900°C) to finishing temperatures (approximately 70°C).

Finishing

At this stage, the finished bottles are treated with a special solution that protects the products from scratches and other defects during packaging and transportation.

Production quality control

Glass quality control is carried out by machine or manually. Technical control is carried out for compliance with the standards in force in the Russian Federation, as well as with the standards of an individual enterprise and industry. During the analysis, the intensity of coloring, compliance of sizes and volumes with the required ones, the presence of casting defects and bubbles and some other parameters that are determined technical specifications, valid for each specific production. Bottles that do not pass quality control are filtered and sent for remelting.

Packaging of finished products

Completion production process happens on special conveyor lines, where the bottles arrive after passing quality control control and are packed into transport packaging.

As you can see, the production of glass products for mass consumption is a complex technological process, requiring not only specialized equipment in workshops, but also the work of highly qualified specialists. In the future, we will try to reveal the technological details of production in more detail.

We invite you on an excursion to one of the largest enterprises located beyond the Urals - the Novosibirsk enterprise OJSC Ekran Plant, which produces glass products. The rather strange name is explained by the fact that before its repurposing the plant produced television equipment.

And we will tell you about how they are born glass bottles and not only.

It produces clear glass bottles with a capacity of 0.25 to 1 liter for carbonated drinks, beer and liquor, brown glass bottles, as well as jars with a capacity of 0.25 to 3 liters for sauces, juices and other canned products.

Glass furnace.

Being the largest manufacturer of glass containers in the territory from the Urals to Far East, the plant produces 620 million units of glass containers per year (almost 1.7 million units per day).

The production of glass containers consists of two workshops (for the production of colorless bottles and brown bottles).

These bottles are ready, but have not yet passed the quality check.

The process of producing glass containers consists of several successive stages: the raw materials are prepared, the batch is prepared, then the glass melt is melted, the products are formed and annealed, which at the last stage undergo quality control and are packaged.

The initial raw materials are cleaned of unwanted impurities, after which they are prepared for further processing and use. A charge is a dry mixture of materials fed into a furnace to produce glass melt. To obtain a homogeneous mass, during the process of preparing the charge, the components are weighed in certain proportions and mixed.

This is a glass furnace: batch and cullet are fed into it. Such a furnace produces almost 180 tons of glass melt per day.

Melting glass melt is the most difficult operation in the production of glass containers. It is carried out in continuous bath furnaces, which are pools made of refractory materials.

When the charge is heated to a temperature of 1100-1150ºC, silicates are formed, first in solid form and then in the melt. A further increase in temperature in the melt leads to complete dissolution of the most refractory components, resulting in the formation of glass melt, which is heterogeneous in composition and saturated with gas bubbles. To lighten it, the temperature is increased to 1500-1600ºС.

Glass melt leaving the glass furnace.

The transparency and color of the bottles depend on the addition (or absence) of dyes and opacifiers to the mixture. Thanks to mufflers (phosphorus, fluorine compounds, etc.), the glass becomes opaque. Different colour glass mass is achieved using various connections: Blue colour- these are cobalt compounds, green color- chromium, purple - manganese, blue-green and brown - iron and others.

This process smells quite unpleasant.

At the end of glass melting, the glass mass is cooled to the temperature required to obtain the viscosity required for blowing glass forms.

The glass melt is fed to the glass lines. At the bottom of the photo you can see two bright drops of glass melt falling - they will become bottles in the future.

And here is the process of creating droplets of glass melt.

The finished glass melt is fed to molding machines that mold the products.

A 10-section line that produces bottles from brown glass melt.

After molding, glass products undergo additional heat treatment (annealing) in direct heating furnaces. Thanks to annealing, the internal residual stress in glass containers is removed, ensuring the product’s safety during further processing and subsequent use.

At the entrance to the annealing furnace, the products have a temperature of about 400-500 degrees Celsius, and at the exit - about 50-80.

Glass containers after annealing.

Bottles are sprayed with a special solution that protects them from abrasions and scratches during transportation.

The products still need to undergo quality control.

This workshop is equipped with modern inspection machines that scan every glass bottle every second for compliance with established requirements.

The products are already packaged.

In another workshop they are produced transparent bottles and banks, and quality control is carried out manually.

Both workshops are always very noisy, so all workers wear earplugs or noise-absorbing headphones.

Scientific and technological progress and new developments in the field Food Industry will never be able to displace glass containers from consumer market. This statement has been verified by numerous marketing research and the level of consumer demand for products made specifically from glass (or packaged in glass containers). Therefore, the production of glass bottles and other types of glass containers is the most profitable and reliable business venture.

Registration and organization of business

In order to legalize any type of business, you must register with the Federal Tax Service How For an individual entrepreneur or the Founder of the LLC. To do this, you will need to write an application and choose a taxation system (in this case, personal income tax).

After all priority issues have been resolved, the entrepreneur will have to collect an additional package of documents for work. This list includes:

1. Premises rental agreement.
2. Quality certificate for equipment.
3. Sanitary services permit.
4. Fire inspection approval.
5. Approval from the Occupational Safety and Health Commission.
6. Work license.
7. Certificate of conformity for finished products.
8. Evacuation plan with marks on the location of fire fighting equipment and emergency exits;
9. Medical books for company employees.
10. Agreement on the purchase of raw materials.

Premises and equipment

Speaking of choice production premises, then it is better to rent a small plant or several workshops in an existing enterprise. This will help provide the work process with everything necessary (light, heat, water, etc.), as well as quickly install equipment and think through the scheme of logistics routes.

The zoning of the selected room should look like this:

1. Main workshop.
2. Assembly workshop.
3. Dining room.
4. Locker room.
5. Shower room.
6. Sanitary room (toilet).
7. Warehouses for raw materials and finished products.

Equipment and other equipment are installed only after a major or cosmetic repairs premises.

List of required technical means, must necessarily include:

1. Channel for feeding raw materials with automatic control.
2. A device for dosing (cutting) liquid mass.
3. Automated press for several forms.
4. Cooling system for complexes and machines.
5. Dedicated station for hydraulic drive of the press.
6. A mechanism for removing finished products from the mold.
7. Conveyor line.
8. Melting furnaces.
9. Automatic machine for applying a design to a product.
10. Drying machine.
11. Washing apparatus (necessary for final preparation for sale).

Raw materials and suppliers

The raw material base for the production of glass bottles is huge. Required amount material can be purchased from

However, the most profitable business decision is to buy broken stelae and glass products from the population. After all, during the production process appearance the source material and its color have absolutely no meaning.

The main task is to recruit required quantity raw materials. If for some reason it is still missing, you can go to the base and get the necessary ingredients for production.

Production technology

The main raw materials for the production of glassware are the following technical fillers:

1. Quartz sand with additives from:
   • dolomite flour;
   • soda ash;
   • sodium sulfate;
   • chalk;
   • saltpeter;
   • sodium nitrate.
2. Bleaching agents (cobalt oxide, selenium, cerium oxide) or color imparting agents (antimony oxide, colloidal silver, others).
3. Cullet of any color.

Of all the above ingredients, the easiest to find is cullet. It effectively replaces all chemical additives and can serve the only source raw materials for production. However, to achieve the required level of production, manufacturers often mix primary chemical additives and already prepared glass, thereby providing high quality at minimal cost.

If we talk about the production technology itself, it can be divided into several main stages. These include:

1. Grinding and storing raw materials in a receiving hopper for further mixing.
2. Connecting the combat unit with other components in the consumable compartments. Automatic dosing also takes place there, which greatly facilitates the work of technologists.
3. Supply of the resulting and distributed mass to the furnace compartment.
4. Melting.
5. Formation of the final product (produced automatically).
6. Transition along the conveyor to the cooling unit - compressor.
7. Final thermal (steam) treatment of the product.
8. Quality control.

Staff

For the most efficient work workshops need to select the right personnel. Usually the following people are hired for production:

1. The chief technologist who checks quality and creates a production line from scratch.
2. The shop foreman is the financially responsible person who takes over and turns over the shift. His main task is monitoring the implementation of assigned tasks, training staff, in some cases – personal labor, which is paid additionally.
3. Glass workers are junior personnel in production. Responsible for executing the production plan.
4. Electrician for maintenance and repair of machines and complexes.
5. Cleaners.
6. Administrative staff – logistics manager, sales manager, secretary, HR employee.

Sales market

Despite high consumer demand and a large number of potential business partners, selling finished products can become a real problem. The most the best solutions for implementation become:

1. State support organizations local residents essential products and nutrition. The officials may not pay a lot of money, but this a great opportunity to start.
2. Firms producing carbonated drinks or alcohol. Since December 2014, more than 15 different types of alcoholic and highly carbonated products (lemonade, mineral water). Since such companies have just entered competitive environment, cooperation with newcomers is most beneficial for them.

Financial component of business

Like any other type of business, the production of glass bottles and glass containers requires substantial, even “capital” investments. This is primarily due to high cost equipment and a large amount of raw materials.

Cost of opening and maintaining

Based on known data on glass production, a novice entrepreneur will have to shell out a substantial amount to launch a line. It consists of the following types of costs:

1. Rent or purchase of premises – 6 million rubles.
2. Equipment – ​​6 million rubles.
3. Payment for electricity and installation of powerful stations such as KSO - 2.4 million rubles.
4. Purchase of raw materials – 300,000 rubles. per month.
5. Wages for workers – 1.8 million rubles.
6. Other expenses – RUB 300,000.

In total, the final amount will be 11.7 million rubles.

Amount of future income

Expected and actual profit levels may differ. Therefore, even at the very beginning of the journey, when passing all scheduled checks in production, it is worth taking care of the possibilities of selling the finished product. If this condition is met, the total income from the enterprise will be at least 12 million rubles.

Payback period

Based on the level of initial costs and profitability, we can conclude: a glass bottle production enterprise will pay for itself in no less than 1.5 years of productive work.

Deciding to launch a large-scale production line, it’s worth weighing the pros and cons several times. After all, the level of initial costs is colossal, and the sales market has long been subordinated to several large organizations. Competing against better-trained competitors can be overwhelming for a newbie.

The production of glass bottles and jars is a process that requires maximum dedication. If even small details of container manufacturing are not observed, then the end result can be 20 liter bottles with walls of unequal thickness. The problem may also be the fragility of the material or the uneven shape of the container. There can be quite a lot of nuances, so it’s better to trust in “ Trading house"CHAINGLASS CONTAINER".

Wide range of glass bottles from Glavsteklotara

The products presented in our catalog meet all quality standards and are distinguished by high performance characteristics. Our products not only have good tightness, but also have other, no less beneficial properties. You can store juices, water, and various drinks in such containers. They are great for cooking homemade wine and moonshine. Separately, it is worth noting the container, which holds up to 0.5 liters. It can be considered universal, since in the mass bottling of drinks in such containers it is considered the most profitable from an economic point of view.

Our company has also established the production of bottles that are used for champagne. This is a special container that has dark glass to prevent fermentation of the drink, has fairly thick walls and a special elongated neck. Only in such conditions can champagne be stored for as long as required by GOST or TU. It is our price that is distinguished by an acceptable range for both large productions and small enterprises that are just starting to produce their own champagne wines.

It is important to understand that the cost of producing glass bottles directly affects how much it will ultimately cost finished products. We were able to optimize the process so much that thanks to automated lines you receive exactly the containers that are needed for specific purposes.

The company "Trading house "GLAVSTEKLOTARA" presents a wide range of glass products, as well as various components intended for high-quality storage and transportation of products. So, you can purchase from us such a type of product as a yoke stopper. If you want to learn more about cooperation with us, call the numbers listed on the website.

How glass bottles are made. aslan wrote in March 13th, 2013

It often happens that when I go to a factory, I can’t even imagine what awaits me there. This time it was the same, I had to visit the largest glass container production outside the Urals and I imagined huge production area, but in reality everything turned out differently.

1. Glass line.

We will talk about the Novosibirsk enterprise OJSC Ekran Plant.

The history of the plant began after the Great Patriotic War- exactly then Soviet Union thought about creating a base for the production of electrovacuum devices for radar and television. In 1948, a decision was made to build the plant, and in 1954 it began its work as an electronics industry enterprise producing electro-optical devices, cathode ray tubes for oscillography and picture tubes for completing television factories. For decades, the plant regularly supplied its products to the needs of partner enterprises, but with the cessation of mass production of television equipment in Russia in 1994, it was repurposed to produce glass containers.
2.

Today OJSC Ekran Plant is an enterprise that occupies a leading position among manufacturers of glass containers in the territory from the Urals to the Far East. The plant's product range consists of flint glass bottles with a capacity of 0.25 liters to 1 liter for bottling alcoholic beverages, beer and carbonated drinks; jars for juices, sauces and other canned products with a capacity of 0.25 to 3 liters; brown glass bottles.
3. Glass furnace.

When I said the largest production of glass containers outside the Urals, I meant that the production capacity of the enterprise is 620 million pieces. glass bottles per year. If we divide by 365, we get about 1.7 million units. in a day. Novosibirsk alone would have so many bottles; glass containers are in demand among enterprises in the Siberian and Far Eastern districts of the Russian Federation, as well as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

But the largest production in this case is just two workshops (production of a colorless bottle and a brown one).
4. Bottles that are ready but have not yet passed quality control.

Glass container production technology consists of the following sequential processes:

Preparation of raw materials,
- preparation of the charge,
- glass melting,
- formation and annealing of products,
- quality control and packaging.

Preparation of feedstock is the purification of the feedstock components from undesirable impurities and their preparation for further processing and use. This is followed by the storage of individual types of raw materials and the supply of raw materials to receiving bins.

The charge is a dry mixture of materials that are fed into the furnace to produce glass melt. The main thing in the process of preparing a charge is weighing out the components in certain proportions and mixing them in order to obtain a homogeneous mass. The following raw materials are used to prepare the charge: quartz sand, dolomite flour, cullet, industrial chalk, alumina, soda ash, sodium sulfate, bleaches, dyes, etc.

5. A glass furnace into which batch and cullet are fed. The productivity of such a furnace is about 180 tons of glass melt per day.

Melting glass melt is the most complex operation of the entire glass production, is produced in continuous bath furnaces, which are pools made of refractory materials.

When the charge is heated to 1100...1150 degrees C, silicates are formed, first in solid form and then in the melt. With a further increase in temperature, the most refractory components completely dissolve in this melt - glass melt is formed. This glass mass is saturated with gas bubbles and is heterogeneous in composition. To clarify and homogenize the glass mass, its temperature is increased to 1500... 1600 degrees C. At the same time, the viscosity of the melt decreases and, accordingly, removal is facilitated gas inclusions and obtaining a homogeneous melt.
6. Glass melt leaving the furnace.

The color and transparency of the bottle is determined by the addition (or absence) of dyes and opacifiers to the mixture. Silencers (fluorine, phosphorus compounds, etc.) make glass opaque. Dyes include compounds of cobalt (blue), chromium (green), manganese (violet), iron (brown and blue-green tones), etc.

7. The process is quite smelly.

Glass melting is completed by cooling the glass mass to a temperature at which it acquires the viscosity required for the production of glass products by blowing.

8. Supply of glass melt to glass lines. At the bottom of the frame two falling bright drops of glass melt are visible - these are future bottles.

9. The process of creating droplets of glass melt.

11. The finished glass melt is supplied to molding machines, where the products are formed using the appropriate equipment.

13. Ten-section line producing brown glass bottles.

14.

After going through the molding process, the glass product undergoes additional heat treatment(annealing) in direct heating furnaces. Annealing is necessary to remove the internal residual stress in the glass container, which gives the product safety during further processing and operation.
Temperature of products at the entrance to the annealing furnace: approx. 400°C - 500°C.
Product outlet temperature: approx. 50°C - 80°C.
15. Glass containers after annealing

16. Spraying bottles with a special solution that prevents scratches and abrasions on bottles during transportation.

17. The product is ready, all that remains is to pass quality control.

18. This glass complex is equipped with modern inspection machines that every second scan the parameters of each glass bottle for compliance with the buyer’s requirements.

19. Packaged products.

I showed the process of making bottles at the new glass complex. There is another workshop where transparent bottles and jars are made, where quality control is done manually. The first 4 and next 7 photos were taken there.
20. The production in both workshops is very noisy. You have to wear earplugs or noise-absorbing headphones.

21. The process of creating a two-liter jar.

23. Checks.

24. Vodka bottles after annealing.

25. Quality control.

26. Finished products.

I advise you to watch a short video that I filmed during production.

Thank you for your attention.