O-I is the leading glass packaging supplier in Asia Pacific with 14 glass plants and one mould shop located in Australia, New Zealand, China and Indonesia.
With a technical advancement centre and further joint venture operations in Malaysia and Vietnam, O-I Asia Pacific's employees deliver excellence in quality, service and innovation to make glass packaging for the beer, wine, spirit, non-alcoholic beverage, food, ready-to-drink and pharmaceutical markets.
O-I Asia Pacific understands the consumer and translates this data and knowledge into a wide ranging and attractive product portfolio.
O-I's success derives from continually challenging its people to design, produce and deliver consumer-preferred glass packaging for customers, including ground-breaking products like internal embossing and black glass.
The Asia-Pacific region represents more than 10% of O-I worldwide sales. For an overview of the benefits of glass packaging, click here to view the brochure Glass is the answer.
History
O-I Asia Pacific traces its glass container manufacturing history back well over a century. The Melbourne Glass Bottle Works Company was established in 1872 in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia by two pharmacists --- Alfred Felton and Fredrick Sheppard Grimwade. Soon afterwards, the company moved to Spotswood, near Melbourne, and changed its name to Australian Glass Manufacturers (AGM).
The company became a major entity when it merged with six other glass companies in 1916. In 1939, the company changed its name to Australian Consolidated Industries (ACI). By this time glass container manufacturing plants were established in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and New Zealand.
Glassware and lightingware were also produced at some plants. Hand blown production continued for lightingware until 1966 when automation was used on remaining lightingware products in Sydney, Australia.
ACI Crown Glassware was established in 1926 and as an importer and marketer of glassware until the business was sold in 2000.
After World War II, ACI expanded and diversified. In 1948, Singapore Glass was established --- the first joint venture outside Australia and New Zealand. Other glass container plants were subsequently established in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1968 (now trading under separate ownership as KL Glass); Jakarta, Indonesia in 1973; and Lae, Papua New Guinea in 1973.
In 1988, ACI International was acquired by the Melbourne-based BTR Nylex Limited. The major shareholder in BTR Nylex was BTR plc of London and the remaining shares were acquired by BTR plc in 1996.
ACI Packaging purchased Smorgon Glass at Penrith in western Sydney in 1991 and subsequently closed its Sydney Waterloo site a few years later. Also in 1991, Rockware Glass in the UK was added to the glass container operations managed by ACI Packaging and the company also expanded its PET container business.
In 1993, ACI entered a joint venture in Shanghai, China, followed by joint ventures in Guangzhou in 1994 and Tianjin in 2005.
In early 1998, ACI's glass and plastics businesses were acquired by Owens-Illinois, Inc. of the United States. The entities had worked together under a technical agreement for almost thirty years. Following the acquisition of ACI by Owens-Illinois, ACI was responsible for managing the Indian plants in Pondicherry, Rishikesh and Pune until their sale in 2001, and the Wuhan plant in China.
In 2004, ACI sold most of its plastics and closures business and in 2005, Owens-Illinois and all its subsidiaries around the world changed their trading names to O-I.
In 2010 and beyond, the focus is on further expansion throughout China and south east Asia. The 2010 acquisition of Malaya Glass with joint venture partner Berli Jucker Public Company Limited (BJC) added another facility in Sichuan, China, plus partnerships in new markets in Malaysia and Vietnam. Two further acquisitions in China in 2010 (Zhaoqing and Hebei Rixin) have O-I Asia Pacific well positioned for continued growth and product development.