Beta Glass Manufacturing Plant (Image: Supplied).

For the past 50 years, Beta Glass Plc has been evolving into a key player and leader in the glass container manufacturing industry across West and Central Africa. 

Since its incorporation as Delta Glass Company LLC in 1974, Beta Glass has grown significantly, consistently demonstrating its commitment to sustainability, innovation, and quality. Key milestones in the past five decades include the beginning of production in 1979; being publicly listed in 1986; and merging with Guinea Glass Company to form Beta Glass PLC in 2000. The company continued expanding and optimising operations into the 21st century – adding a second furnace to its Guinea plant in 2002; increasing the output from 200 to 300 tonnes per day thanks to a furnace expansion project in 2021; and, most recently, rapidly upgrading its GF1 Furnace at the Agbara plant.

Pacesetters in Glass Container Manufacturing

Beta Glass currently operates three best-in-class manufacturing plants in Nigeria, boasting a daily capacity of 720 tonnes per day and annual production of 650+ million bottles and jars, as well as the capacity to produce 3.2 billion crowns and 5.5 million crates. The company employs more than 1,500 people across facilities and is led by an experienced and dynamic Management Team and a recently reshuffled Board of Directors. 

The Board of Directors is currently chaired by Chairman Dr. Vitus Chidiebere Ezinwa, an experienced leader with over 27 years of experience in diverse global corporations across 15 African countries. During his first official visit to the Beta Glass Agbara Plant in June 2024, the new Chairman initiated the heat up process of the newly repaired GF1 Furnace. As Dr. Ezinwa himself noted: ”In my capacity as Chairman of the Board, I had the honour to activate the most recent operational update of Beta Glass. This significant milestone celebrates our Company’s unwavering commitment to expanding production capacity and capabilities while maintaining the highest product quality.”

Dr. Vitus Chidiebere Ezinwa, Chairman of the Beta Glass BoD, reheating the newly repaired furnace at the Agbara manufacturing plant (Image: Supplied)

The upgrade and cold repair of the GF1 Furnace of the Agbara plant was led by Jagdish Agarwal, COO of Beta Glass. The project was concluded within a record 32 days (20 May-22 June 2024) glass-to-glass phasing to repair and rebuild the 60 square meter furnace with the help of 95 skilled engineers from Europe, Asia, as well as the local Beta Glass Nigeria team.

According to Mr. Agarwal, the repair is set to increase production by 30 tons, while also extending the lifecycle of the furnace by 8-10 years at just 30% of the cost of a major rebuild. This achievement highlights the ability of Beta Glass to grow sustainably and effectively, whilst at the same time, continue implementing cost-improvement initiatives to better serve customers across West and Central Africa.

50 Years and Counting

Looking ahead, Beta Glass remains steadfast in its mission to be the leading manufacturer and supplier of glass packaging solutions, driving exceptional consumer experiences across West and Central Africa.

In line with this, the company has expanded its efforts to champion a greener Nigeria with initiatives focused on recycling, sustainability, and educating the public about environmental responsibility. This includes a collaboration with the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) and Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment (RESWAYE) to establish glass aggregator centres in strategic Lagos locations. 

In addition, this commitment is also reflected in the recently announced partnership between Beta Glass and Wecyclers –an accomplished waste management company in Nigeria – for the launch of trucks to collect cullet (recycled broken or waste glass) to recycle and reuse in the glass manufacturing process, thus conserving valuable and finite raw materials and further minimising the Company’s environmental footprint.

Commenting on these high environmental standards and the Company’s leading sustainability efforts, the CEO of Beta Glass, Mr. Darren Bennett-Voci, stated: “We are not just suppliers; we are partners in progress, dedicated to setting new standards in the glass container manufacturing industry.” 

As demonstrated by all its endeavours and achievements, Beta Glass continues to champion sustainability, innovation, and quality. Relying on this trinity of values ensures that Beta Glass delivers superior glass solutions while striving to make a positive impact on both the environment and the Nigerian business ecosystem.

Download BAO E-MAGAZINE

Emmanuel Penneh (Image: Lusawovana Pius- edelman) 

Emmanuel Penneh arrived back in Accra this week, ready to start the next phase of a journey that’s taken three years so far and still has an intensive eight months to run. On Thursday 3 June 2021, the married 44-year-old father of three graduated with his team of 11 Ghanaians from an intense eight-week course at Nissan South Africa’s Rosslyn manufacturing plant outside Pretoria. That was just the first step for them. Now the hard work begins, getting Ghana’s brand-new Nissan assembly plant in Tema, outside Accra, ready to begin re-assembling the first ever Nissan Navaras to be built in Africa early in the New Year.

The graduation is a critical milestone in a process that began back in 2018 with the signing of the landmark Memorandum of Understanding between Nissan and the Government of Ghana, followed by the drafting and promulgation of Ghana’s automotive development policy the following year and then the appointment of Japan Motors Trading Company (JMTC), as Nissan’s preferred partner last year to ensure that the new facility will be 100% Ghana owned and run.

Penneh is up for the challenge. Speaking at the special graduation ceremony held at the Rosslyn, SKD plant, he said he and his team were proud and honoured, excited and delighted. “This is a historic evolution for Nissan Ghana, Nissan South Africa and Nissan worldwide. This is the plant where the Nissan Navara is being made for the first time in Africa, by Africans for Africa, now we are going home to re-assemble the first Navara made in Ghana for Ghana by Ghanaians!”

Penneh will be the plant manager. It’s a feather in the cap for the 10-year JMTC veteran. Before being approached to lead the team, Penneh was service co-ordinator for the group’s aftersales operations, overseeing five workshops across Ghana. He’s been in the automotive industry for 14 years, with four years at Man Truck Ghana before he joined JMTC.

“It’s exciting,” he says, “it gives a new dimension to my career. After concentrating on the after sales aspect, I’m now coming into the industry that actually builds the vehicles.”

The eight-week training that the team underwent in South Africa had been gruelling, he said, they had no idea what to expect. “It was challenging coming fresh into this industry and discovering so many processes and rules and mastering them, but it’s been exciting.”

He’s exceptionally proud of the team he led to South Africa and the way they’ve conducted themselves. “This (the creation of a Nissan assembly plant in Ghana) is going to be a game changer for ourselves, but also for our country, creating jobs, upskilling people and creating opportunities for local brand ownership.”

Download BAO E-MAGAZINE

BGI Ethiopia (Source: 8Sigma)

Montelektro, a leading system integrator in the brewing industry, and 8Sigma, a premium MES provider delivered solution KegTNT (Keg Track&Trace) to a brewery in Addis Ababa.

KegTNT is a software solution that tracks kegs throughout their life stages while inside the brewery and within the whole supply chain.

In addition to the mentioned brewery, during 2021, KegTNT will be implemented in two more breweries owned by the same company, BGI Ethiopia, whose long brewing tradition dates to the first half of the 20th century. The BGI Ethiopia’s owner is French Castel Group, one of the largest African and among the world’s ten largest beer producers.

The Ethiopian customer required a new, modern solution that will enable them to better manage its keg fleet, reduce costs related to the ownership of kegs, improve quality control, ensure better maintenance supervision, and to prevent possible keg losses.

Montelektro and 8Sigma’s scope of supply included the implementation of KegTNT solution that collects and saves all the data about kegs’ lifecycle, tracking it by using the RFID technology.

Its main purpose is to provide real-time tracking and traceability of each keg in the fleet, and better maintenance and quality control.

The scope also included a tablet application for tracking operations inside the brewery and a smartphone application for the sales agents. From now on, maintenance, laboratory, and warehouse staff can use tablets equipped with an RFID reader to manage everyday tasks related to the keg fleet. Sales agents can also report, track, and resolve all complaints through the application on their smartphones. All information is available in real-time, so staff can react immediately and identify potential problems even before they happened.

Within this project, KegTNT was also integrated with a keg filling plant (capacity of up to 900 kegs/h) that is fully automated and robotized. This integration enables the brewery to automatically collect and analyze data about kegs’ filling, like production rates, reject rates, downtimes, and other elements required for an efficient production.

These features of KegTNT should help BGI Ethiopia not only to improve resource utilization and the management of keg fleet, but also to preserve its good reputation and a desirable market position.

“Last year was very challenging for the whole world. The brewing industry, just like all others, was in turmoil. We are satisfied because we have managed to conclude the project in one of the three contracted breweries in the circumstances of travel restrictions. On this occasion, we would also like to thank Montelektro for their trust and partnership on another project we have successfully delivered together.”, said Vladimir Lukić, director at 8Sigma.

Apart from the mentioned project, 8Sigma and Montelektro continue to cooperate. The most important common project is the development and implementation of MES (Manufacturing Execution System) solution for the brewing industry, named BeerVision.

BeerVision schedules, tracks, and manages all production activities inside a brewery, from raw materials to the finished product – beer.

During production, this Industry 4.0 solution collects and analyzes data about the brewing process in real-time and provides fully integrated data for all operational activities. It connects and integrates the process control system (PCS) with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

With BeerVision, companies can make decisions faster and easier and manage their businesses much more efficiently. It also helps them improve their product quality and reduce costs.

Issued by 8Sigma

Download BAO E-MAGAZINE