Electrical Engineering Solutions (EES) has announced that it is currently working on a challenging furnace rebuild appointment, which is scheduled to be done within a very strict construction window.

Consol Glass, is one of the largest glass manufacturers in Africa and the rebuild is at its Bellville plant near Cape Town.

The plant has a total of four furnaces, which manufacture bottles for the food and beverage industry. EES and Consol Glass have a long-standing working relationship; in 2007 EES upgraded Bellville furnace 1 (B1). A furnace of a similar design to that installed for B1 is now being installed for Bellville furnace 4 (B4).

The existing B4 furnace produces approximately 285 tons of glass per day, and the rebuilt B4 furnace will increase capacity to 320 tons per day. Currently, the entire plant produces between 950 - 980 tons a day, and makes on average approximately 1.8 million to 2 million bottles each day.

“The reason for the tight project deadline is that this particular furnace makes flint containers and is the only facility in the country capable of producing baby food jars and light weight wine bottles,” explains Craig Findlay, Technical Manager at Consol Glass. “As a result we are under pressure to supply sufficient stock to the customers who take these bottles while the furnace is out of production for almost three months of the rebuild.”