The Director of Vidrio Formas has vowed that the container glass manufacturer will bounce back after fire swept through its Mexican site last week.
Marcos Bernstein, its General Director, said the company would come back stronger after the fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning (Feb 4).
Despite only lasting approximately 30 minutes, the fire destroyed furnace two and damaged IS forming machinery on furnace one at the company’s plant in Lerma, near Mexico City.
Emergency services were immediately on hand and while three people were treated for shock, no one was injured.
Mr Bernstein said: “On Tuesday morning we even had retired employees and staff arriving on site to show us their support and asking what they could do to help. They offered to clean, to sweep the floor and to do whatever was needed. It was incredible.”
Furnace 2 will need to be rebuilt while the IS machines for furnace one have to be replaced. Furnace one is expected to re-start operation in 15 days while furnace two may re-start in approximately 45-60 days.
The company has received offers of support from its suppliers, such as Bottero and Parkinson-Spencer Refratories (PSR), as well as fellow Mexican glassmakers.
The company manufacturers spirit bottles and food and beverage jars for global brands including Nestle and Kraft.
Mr Bernstein said: “We try to keep between 60 and 90 days of inventories so although the restart will be tight, we will run very short runs to supply the immediate needs of customers. It is going to be a tough couple of months but I think we will be fine."
The company employs 700 people. Training courses will be scheduled for cold end staff and those who are unable to help in the hot end while repairs take place.
Mr Bernstein said: “We will come back strong. The batch houses are in perfect shape, the shop , laboratories, offices, lunch room and cold end are all intact.”
21.02.2020, Vidrio Formas
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