STOELZLE Flaconnage has announced that it is targeting a December 2025 restart of operations, following a fire at its West Yorkshire facility in July.
Emergency services responded swiftly to the fire, with all employees being safely evacuated with no serious injuries. However, the incident caused ‘significant’ damage to the furnace and key production equipment.
Stoelzle activated its business continuity plan and began reallocating production across sister facilities in Europe to ensure uninterrupted service to customers. Group-wide efforts focused on supporting the recovery of the Knottingley site to enable a return to full-strength operations in December.
The rebuild was led by the local UK team, whose dedication and teamwork brought the plant back to life, Stoelzle said. Working across departments and shifts, they restored critical assets and completed the furnace rebuild, IS machine exchange, and civil works within five months.
Volumes were reallocated to backup plants in Poland, Austria, and France, covering all customer demand. To ensure process consistency and quality, experienced specialists from the UK team specialised in spirits bottles were transferred to these sites to support start-up and on-the-job training.
Supply capability was maintained throughout, with no customer relationships lost. Orders were delivered within the agreed window and in full. Customers received weekly updates to keep lead times and allocations transparent.
Dr August Grupp, CEO of Stoelzle Glass Group, said, “The rebuild was more than a repair. It showed the spirit of our people and the strength of our organisation. Within weeks, our team turned disruption into momentum. With operations resuming in December 2025, we move forward stronger, more connected, and more committed than ever to our customers.”
The rebuild centres on a new ‘state-of-the-art’ furnace from Horn. Its optimised control and cooling systems improve energy use and environmental performance. Forming is provided by Emhart new IS machines, allowing for enhanced process stability, faster job changes, and overall improved efficiency.
Thomas Riss, CEO of Stoelzle Flaconnage, added, “The implementation of the new equipment and technologies significantly increase stability and yield. We extend our sincere thanks to the entire Stoelzle team and to all external partner companies involved, such as Horn, Emhart Forglass, Havercroft as well as to the local authorities for their strong and continuous support.”
At the cold end, the inspection area has been refreshed and revalidated. A mix of new and existing systems remains in operation. With only minimal fire impact, work focused on targeted upgrades. The decoration department was likewise only lightly affected. Equipment remains operational with incremental improvements, and standard processes such as lacquering, screen printing, and hot foil, continue as planned.
Following furnace heat-up and hot commissioning, and the subsequent cold and hot testing, the site remains on track to restart operations on December 22.
