Immersion in the magic of glass

As part of the week of construction disciplines, students of the construction department in April 2025, studying in specialty 192 “Construction and Civil Engineering” and students of the specialization “Building and Structure Decoration and Building Design” visited one of the largest enterprises in the Rivne region, PrJSC “Kostopil Glass Products Plant” with teachers of professional disciplines Ivanchenko Anatoly Myronovych, Chorna Iryna Vasylivna, Sasovsky Taras Anatolyovych and head of the construction department Pavlenko Oleksandr Ivanovych.

The enterprise held a binary class on the subjects of “Materials Science”, “Construction Materials Science”, “Production Organization” and a number of others in the form of an excursion.

Nataliya Ivanovna, an employee of the labor protection department, conducted a safety briefing for the students, and Valeriy Volodymyrovych Chorny, the head of the production department, told the students about the peculiarities of raw material preparation, the organizational structure of the enterprise, the functioning of the production organization department, the sales department, and the product quality service.

In January 2021, PJSC “Kostopil Glass Products Plant” passed a recertification audit according to the standard BRC (Global Standard for Packaging Materials Issue 6) with positive result.

BRC GS is an internationally recognized standard that defines requirements for the manufacture of packaging and packaging materials used in the packaging and filling of food products, as well as for cosmetics, toiletries and other consumer goods and materials. The standard is widely used in the European Union, North and South America, the Middle and Far East.

Certification according to the international BRC standard for “Kostopil Glass Factory” is a reliable tool for managing the safety and quality of food products when supplied to retail chains.

Valeriy Volodymyrovych gave an informative lecture, where he focused on the main technological processes of glassmaking.

Glass melting in a glass melting furnace. The charge and cullet delivered to the glass melting furnace undergo five stages of glass melting. Then, the melted glass mass, using feeder channels, is delivered to the glass forming machines. More details: In order to produce high-quality glass, all processes and conditions inside the furnace are carefully controlled from the control room using a computer system. Heat sensors in the furnace constantly measure the temperature distribution, allowing the system to regulate the temperature with the burners. We use a continuous bath furnace with regenerative technology. The furnace is heated with gas to a temperature of approximately 1550 °C. The furnace operates continuously and can process (melt) up to several hundred tons of glass per day, depending on its size. After several hours in the furnace, the molten glass enters the production channel, where it remains for a short time. The production channel is, in essence, a holding pool where the molten glass can cool to a uniform temperature of about 1250 °C. While the glass is in it, air bubbles that have gotten inside can escape. The molten glass is then broken into smaller streams (feeder channels). In the feeder, the temperature of the glass mass is regulated to a uniform level, after which it enters the feeder.

Preparation of glass mass for molding. The technological process of preparing the glass mass for molding consists of: homogenization in terms of chemical composition and temperature, with slow cooling to the molding temperature; feeding a portion of the glass mass of a given temperature and a certain mass to the glass-forming machine at a precisely defined moment. The process of preparing the glass mass is carried out in the pool and channel of the glass-melting furnace and the feeder of the glass-forming machine. The glass mass is fed from the furnace to the machine through the glass mass feeder.

Manufacturing products on machine lines. The glass mass delivered to the feeder is extruded through a hole of a certain size using a ceramic plunger, then, using a scissors mechanism, a drop of glass mass of a certain length is cut off and, using drop-conducting equipment, is delivered to the rough side of the glass-forming machine. On this side, the crown (throat) of the product and the rough pellet are formed, which are transferred using a turnover mechanism to the finishing side, where, using vacuum and blowing, the finished product is formed. The finished product is transferred to the table of the glass-forming machine.

All the knowledge gained was supported by an interesting tour of the enterprise: showing students modern equipment and technologies from leading companies in the glass industry market such as “Emhart” and “Bottero”. Recently, another furnace and glass-forming machines were installed. The technical capabilities of the enterprise allow the production of 370 million pieces of glass products per year, the glass factory is the fifth among glass container manufacturers in Ukraine.

The enterprise produces food, perfume and medical glass containers. Until recently, only the Kostopil Glass Plant produced containers for the company “Persico”. Today, the enterprise produces glass containers with a capacity of 40 ml for the perfume industry to bottles with a capacity of 2 liters.

The enterprise exports its products quite vigorously, over 60 % products, to the following countries: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey, Spain, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and in the future they plan to enter the Italian market.

Currently, the enterprise employs up to 500 workers. Teams of workers work in four shifts. The enterprise's team is developing rapidly, is engaged in the search and involvement of highly qualified specialists (operators and adjusters of glass-forming machines) in the production, and organizes their training.

The students really enjoyed the tour, they were impressed by the modern equipment, production technology and scale of the Kostopil Glass Products Plant. In addition to the specifics of glass production and the enterprise itself, the future builders received basic information about a possible place of work and answers to all the questions they were interested in.

We express our sincere gratitude to the Chairman of the Board, A. S. Kucheruk, and the Head of the Production Department, V. V. Chornm, for the lesson and tour of the production workshops of the enterprise, for the opportunity to visit this enterprise, and for the useful information that will help future builders successfully develop in their business.