Just like its competitor Johns Manville (JM, Denver, Colorado / USA; www.jm.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 18.03.2014 – fellow US glass fibre producer Owens Corning (OC, Toledo, Ohio; www.owenscorning.com) also recently invested in its European operations, spending EUR 50m on the renewal of two furnaces at its site in Laudun-l’Ardoise / France.

At EUR 22m, about half the money went towards modernising furnace 1, a process OC wrapped up early this year. The furnace is in the process of being ramped up. The modernisation of the second furnace will come at a price tag of EUR 26m and is due to commence in the summer. The latter installation mostly produces roving for wind energy rotor blades, boats, pipes and tanks. OC did not specify the site’s nameplate capacity. In response to a Plasteurope.com query, a company spokesperson did say, however, that the old furnace stops operating as soon as the new one is installed, meaning during the modernisation works the company is producing at lower output rates.

The investment means the 256 jobs at the site, located about 20 km north of Avignon, can be considered safe for the next 10 years – the usual lifespan of a glass furnace.