Owens-Illinois closes Canadian glass container plant … feels targeted by prominent government agency

Owens-Illinois is closing its Toronto glass container plant. According a Canadian newspaper, the company blames a prominent government agency for undermining demand for the facility’s products and thereby forcing the closure.

Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, says it obtained a letter to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, in which Owens-Illinois chairman and CEO Albert Stroucken wrote that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario engaged in an "unprecedented, ongoing attack” against Owens-Illinois.

According to the newspaper, Stroucken’s letter accused the LCBO of  "aggressively encouraging -- and in some cases effectively forcing -- our customers in Ontario and in other jurisdictions to switch from using glass packaging to so-called 'alternative' materials such as plastic and aseptic cartons."

LCBO spokesperson Chris Layton denied the charge. "Nobody is being forced whatsoever," Layton told The Globe and Mail, "The facts don't support their claims."

The closing will occur on September 30, 2008. Approximately 430 employees will be affected. The company says it will provide assistance to help employees seeking new jobs.

Additionally, Owens-Illinois has also announced it will be expanding its Auckland, New Zealand plant. The effort will include the addition of another furnace and two glass container forming machines. The company says this will increase the annual output of glass containers from the plant by 90,000 tons, allowing the plant to make as much as 2.2 million bottles per day.
The Auckland plant expansion is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2010.

Related Article:Owens blames Canadian agency for plant closure

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