home | about | divisions | news | media player | sponsorship
QUINN glass refutes inaccurate Rockware (Ardagh Glass) claims
Recent press coverage of a legal challenge by Rockware (Ardagh Glass) to Chester City Council relating to the planning status of the Quinn Glass plant at Ince has been highly inaccurate and misleading. The following is a factual background to the issue from the outset.
When the Quinn Group decided to enter the Glass Container Industry in 1998 by building a plant in Northern Ireland, it was the first new entrant into this closed market in many decades. Indeed no new glass container manufacturing facility had been built in the UK or Ireland since 1968 and clearly the industry needed major investment in order to compete on an international level.
Despite some questionable tactics by the incumbent glass industry, Quinn Glass quickly found favour with a number of UK and Irish customers who welcomed this investment, the improved product quality and the refreshing competition that it brought. These customers included major UK beverage producers who were competing in a global market and who were anxious to remain competitive on a global scale.
Encouraged by this, Quinn Glass decided to build a second glass plant. In their search for a site they considered potential locations in West and South Yorkshire but eventually selected an old redundant brown-field power station site near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire. An alternative location in Northern France was considered and despite significant incentives to move there, it was decided to proceed with the power station option. Until its closure in 1997, the power station was burning orimulsion, a bitumen based fuel that produced an enormous level of emissions. For this reason, as well as the new employment potential of the plant, the people in the locality, in the main, welcomed Quinn Glass and continue to do so.
In designing the plant, Quinn Glass also decided that they would offer customers the option to manufacture, fill and store product in a fully automated bonded warehouse, all in one manufacturing process. This offered a huge improvement in efficiency and environmental advantages over any previous process in the market. It was a completely new concept to the industry and one that has subsequently grown the UK market by taking significant levels of production from overseas.
A planning application was submitted to the two local Councils and this was granted approval. Customers at this point could see all the environmental, logistical and commercial benefits that this new operation would offer and further enquiries came in leading Quinn Glass to consider an extension of the proposed plant. It was then decided to increase the size of the operation by some 20% and a submission was made to the planning authorities who deemed that this increase could be dealt with under their delegated powers. Subsequently, they gave approval to the increase in size.
Clearly the prospect of further, increased competition from this new model was daunting for Rockware (Ardagh) and they decided to challenge the planning authorities on technical grounds related to their jurisdiction in the approval process. It is unfortunate that Rockware (Ardagh) did not consider it more appropriate to make the same type of investment in their own existing plants which would have enhanced the market overall. However they took this negative approach and have continued to do so ever since.
The planning laws in the UK are nothing if not complex and rather than defend the technical challenge brought against them, the local authorities asked Quinn Glass to submit a new application which it did. Advice received by Quinn Glass at this stage confirmed that it could proceed with the construction of the plant at their own risk providing that there was no harmful effect on the environment and this position was supported by both relevant local authorities.
This new application was made and as is normal for a plant of this size a public inquiry was established by the Secretary of State under whose jurisdiction the ultimate approval comes under.
Rockware (Ardagh) then commenced a disinformation and misinformation campaign claiming that what Quinn Glass was doing was illegal. This was entirely incorrect but they, and some newspapers, persist to this day to make that claim. They also regularly claim that the approval of the Quinn Glass operation will result in thousands of job losses. This is abject nonsense of course. Rockware (Ardagh) have never once explained why they have not taken up the challenge to compete in the market with Quinn Glass by investing in similar type of operations. Nor have they explained why they attempted, in another negative campaign, to make play on the emissions levels of the Quinn Glass plant which are in fact amongst the lowest in Europe, and which on a simple comparison with their own outdated operations, are in a different league of compliance.
As a result of the public inquiry the Secretary of State indicated a number of areas that needed to be addressed by Quinn Glass before any further planning application could be approved. A new planning application was submitted in January 2008 and determination of that is currently being considered by the planning authorities. This latest challenge to Chester City Council is in the view of Quinn Glass yet another attempt by Rockware (Ardagh), to cynically manipulate the planning system to gain unfair commercial advantage. Quinn Glass remains the only company to have made any significant investment in the industry for many years. The £300m investment has made this plant one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly glass plants in Europe. This is in contrast with Rockware’s (Ardagh) under investment, which leaves them in severe danger of having to shut down some of their plants because they will not meet new environmental standards that will come into force on the 1st of April 2009. Clearly Rockware (Ardagh) is trying to shut down Quinn Glass because it shows that the new standards can be achieved.
While all of this was progressing, it is interesting to note that Rockware (Ardagh) sought approval from the Office of Fair Trading to acquire Redfearn Glass (Rexam) Barnsley. Asked to give evidence, Quinn Glass did not object to Rockware’s (Ardagh’s) application because it was and remains their view that competition in the marketplace is the driver of continuous improvement. Indeed, in justifying their acquisition Rockware (Ardagh) stated to the Competition Commission that the entry of Quinn Glass into the UK market, with its state of the art integrated facility, was a good thing and would justify the consolidation of Rockware’s (Ardagh’s) position resulting from the acquisition of Redfearn. The Competition Commission agreed with this and allowed Rockware (Ardagh) takeover of Redfearn.
As outlined above, the false and malicious headlines in recent media coverage are clearly fuelled by an alternative agenda and Quinn Glass has initiated appropriate action to have them corrected. For the record, no aspect of the plant has been constructed illegally. Quinn Glass received approval for its initially proposed plant and the increased capacity plant. It was entirely within its rights to continue the build programme while the challenge by Rockware (Ardagh) was being assessed. Throughout this period it is a matter of public record that Quinn Glass has operated in full compliance with all the conditions that could have been imposed upon them by any interpretation of the outcome of that challenge. In the meantime, Quinn Glass has over the past four years built the business to the point where it is almost at full capacity and employs over 630 people and provides the best product and service in the industry. This is manifestly evidenced by Rockware (Ardagh) themselves supplying bottles on an ongoing basis over the past three years to be filled by Quinn Glass at the plant. Perhaps it is time Rockware (Ardagh) began to compete properly in the market and make a worthwhile contribution to it rather than pursue their current course.
20 Feb 2009
