VERALLIA FRANCE ANNOUNCES PLANS TO INVEST MORE THAN €65 MILLION BY 2025 AT CHALON-SUR-SAONE
to modernize the Group’s largest plant.
- €60 million, planned as part of the Growth and Competitiveness Pact (GCP) approved last June by the Group’s employees, will be used to equip the site with three new state-of-the-art furnaces to replace the three current ones.
- In addition to the investments planned in the GCP, more than €5 million will be invested as of 2022 to increase the site’s production capacity, improve its industrial performance, and reduce our environmental footprint and that of our customers.
La Défense, January 20, 2022
€60 million of the €65 million investment project is conditional on achieving the industrial performance objectives set out in the GCP. It will be used to rebuild the site’s three furnaces, which will be equipped with the latest glass melting technologies and improve working conditions for employees while enhancing their safety.
The additional €5 million will be used this year to increase the site’s production capacity and make it more competitive and responsive to new market growth opportunities. This investment will also reinforce the program to lighten the weight of certain bottles, in response to growing demand from customers who want to reduce their environmental footprint. This concern is fully in line with Verallia France’s intention to fulfil the ambitious environmental commitments made at the Group level[1].
The Chalon sur Saône plant is the largest of the Group’s 32 plants, both in size and production capacity. It can produce 1 billion bottles per year.
These new investments are part of a strategy to modernize the Group’s production capabilities with a view to long-term growth, particularly in France, the historical birthplace of Verallia. They follow the announcement at the end of 2021 of the project to build two new 100% electric furnaces at the Cognac site, already an illustration of Verallia France’s desire to ensure the sustainability of its sites and to innovate so that its customers and employees can benefit from state-of-the-art technology.
“The industrial development of our plants is at the heart of our strategy. This €65 million investment project is perfectly in line with the Group’s industrial modernization strategy and demonstrates our determination to meet our commitments under the Growth and Competitiveness Pact signed last May. Our ambition is to make the Chalon plant a competitive, flexible and reliable facility to best serve our customers in flint and dead leaf colored glass, characteristic of Burgundy wine bottles, while ensuring safety and better working conditions for our employees,” said Olivier Rousseau, President of Verallia France.
[1]The Group targets a 46% reduction in its CO2 emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.