Production. Petersburg Glass looks to the future

Luga land is a fertile place for glass production, since one of the main natural resources of our region is sand. In the 19th century, about 15 glass factories operated from local raw materials in the Luga district. By the beginning of the twentieth century, few survived. Among them was I.K. Beckman. In Soviet times, the Ploskoye plant produced glass containers, lamp, lamp and greenhouse glass.

The modern production page opened in 2003. The plant was named "Petersburg Glass". During the modernization, a new glass furnace was built, an Italian line for the production of colored glass containers for sparkling and still wines was installed. At present the enterprise is a part of the group of companies “United Glass Plants. Management Company".

In August 2020, the Ploskiy glass plant was headed by A.V. Zhuravlev. At the end of February, at his invitation, I got a unique opportunity to visit the enterprise.

General Director of the plant A.V. Zhuravlev is a Luzhanin, he graduated from high school No. 3. For many years he lived and worked in Gatchina, but having received an offer to return to his native land, he did not hesitate.

A.V. Zhuravlev: “I love Luga very much. My wife also accepted the opportunity to return to our city with great enthusiasm. It was difficult at first. Production is a living organism, where everyone must be responsible for their position and work responsibly. Failure of one can lead to serious consequences for the whole case. "

Speaking about competitiveness, Aleksey Vladimirovich noted that Petersburg Glass is one of the few similar enterprises in the Leningrad Region and one of the leading manufacturers of glass containers on the Russian market. The plant is in demand in the industry for 100%. He is a member of the National Joint Council of Glass Industry Enterprises "Steklosoyuz".

In addition to the general director, my interlocutors were the chief technologist O.V. Derevyagin and the senior foreman of the composite shop V.V. Skvortsov. Oleg Valerievich is a top-class specialist. He has been working in the industry for 27 years, passed all the professions of glass production, worked in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Italy.

Vladislav Vladimirovich - Luzhanin, has been working at Petersburg Glass for 10 years already. At the factory, he met his wife Irina and got so accustomed to production that he dreamed of building a house in Ploskiy. However, this is not surprising. The village stands at the confluence of Luga and Oredezh. The places here are beautiful, the river is wide and full.

O.V. Derevyagin said that the main specialization of Petersburg Glass is the production of containers for the food industry from green, olive, brown and black glass, with a capacity of 0.2 to 1 liter. The production capacity is 120 thousand bottles per day. This is about 3.5 million per month.

It turns out that the production of sparkling wine containers is the most difficult in the glass industry. The Petersburg Glass plant is doubly unique, as it is focused on the production of colored bottles. Color matching is magic. Perhaps it is not for nothing that the CEO calls his chief technologist Hottabych. Oleg Valerievich is not offended: “I really do magic all the time. You have to select dyes to get the desired color scheme. We have recently put in a lot of effort to create a certain olive shade. It takes up to four hours to rebuild a line to a new color. If there is no conformity to the pattern, you have to start from the beginning. "

By the way, one of the largest factories in the south of Russia demanded a special shade. He appeared on the list of partners of Petersburg Glass already when A.V. Zhuravleva. The CEO noted that cooperation with this customer took a lot of time, but allowed us to understand the reserves of production and the level of the team: “We are convinced that we can handle the new tasks and there are great opportunities for growth. I am grateful to the employees for their work and I am confident in the future. "

Now the company employs 114 people. A feature of glass production is the presence of rare specialized specialties. The fitters and operators of glass forming machines are exclusive workers. These positions are occupied by shift workers. They provide continuous production for two weeks seven days a week, 12 hours a day, and then another team arrives. The company rents housing for specialists, however, plans are to build a dormitory, a shower building and a power supply unit in the immediate vicinity of the plant.

A.V. Zhuravlev invited Luzhan to become a part of the plant's team: “We accept residents of the Luga District as handymen, forklift and front-end loader drivers, workers on packaging. The company pays wages without delays, there are conditions for a comfortable meal, and there is a delivery service ”.

Taking this opportunity, the CEO thanked the carrier, which provides the delivery of employees. He said that the workers of the plant are not only taken within the city from the established collection points, but also called in for those who live in Gorodok, in Shalovo or Luga-3.

My acquaintance with production began with a compound shop. Its sovereign owner V.V. Skvortsov. He perfectly knows all the details of preparing raw materials for the manufacture of glass melt. The technological process is automated, dosing according to a given recipe is carried out by a computer, but there are problems. O.V. Derevyagin noted the high professionalism of his subordinate: “Thanks to his experience and personal qualities, Vladislav Vladimirovich managed to create a stable team. In difficult situations, he acts quickly and competently. His scope of work is very important, as the mistakes made will affect the quality of the products. "

Glass mass is 70% charge. It includes Pikalevo soda, dolomite from the Vladimir region, limestone, chrome, coal and our Luga sand. It is mined in a quarry located in the immediate vicinity of the plant. 30% of the mixture is cullet. At the plant, the rejected bottles are not thrown away, but transferred to cullet and sent to production.

Melting takes place in a furnace at a temperature of at least 1500 degrees. The automatic line for the production of glass containers, located next to the oven, is literally a hot shop.

In this part of the plant, I felt like the heroine of the wonderful film Spring on Zarechnaya Street. Remember how the teacher Tatyana Levchenko could not take her eyes off the metal tearing from the furnace? Likewise, I, as if spellbound, looked at the shining columns of molten glass. Obeying the rhythm, they continuously fly out of the nozzle and fill the blow molds. In an instant, a bottle that has just been born, blazing with heat, begins to move along the conveyor line.

Even now, when you are reading these lines, at the Petersburg Glass plant, rows of cooling bottles are moving towards the technical control department. Production does not stop!

Women work in the quality department of "Petersburg Glass". The quality of the plant's supplies depends on them. Talking about the work of the department, A.V. Zhuravlev noted that everything is interconnected in production: “Someone is responsible for raw materials, someone for glass melt. Quality control department has an important task of product control. The marriage must not go outside the factory! Any impregnation in the depth of the glass can cause the bottle to burst when bottling, and bring disappointment to people gathered at the festive table. Excellent specialists work in our Quality Control Department. Thank them for their attention! "

Head of the central plant laboratory E.O. Mekshonkova joined the enterprise in 2009. Elena Olegovna said that the task of the laboratory staff is to control raw materials and products, chemical analysis of glass.

Says E.O. Mekshonkova: “I like working in our production, watching the technological process. We have an excellent team, there is an opportunity for creativity. I love glass, probably, it's my family one ”.

It turned out that Elena Olegovna's parents and grandparents worked at the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory in the Bryansk Region. E.O. Mekshonkova followed in the footsteps of her relatives. Today she is one of the oldest and most experienced employees of Petersburg Glass.

I was leaving Ploskoe in a great mood. The present day of the glass factory is the time of searching for sales markets, expanding production, improving infrastructure, improving working and living conditions of workers.

In the future, the construction of a second automated line for the production of glass containers, a second furnace, which will be able to serve two lines. This will lead to the creation of jobs and increase the competitiveness of production.

The plant "Petersburg Glass" keeps the best traditions of Luga glass production, lives, develops, looks to the future, invites new employees to its friendly team.

Source: https://lpravda.ru/