UPDATE: Ball resumes production at fire-hit plant
Ball Packaging Europe managed to restart production at its fire-hit plant in Wrexham, UK, just two days after it happened.
Ball suffered a fire at its beverage can plant on 22 July. Although the cause of the fire is still unknown the company has revealed that it was able to restart production of two lines on 24 July.
Sylvia Bloemker, director of public relations, said: “We expect the other two lines to follow progressively. Details about the cause of the fire are still unknown. We can only say that a technical defect was the cause. Thanks to the fire prevention measures that we have implemented in all of our European plants and the close relationship with the fire brigade in Wrexham the damage caused by the fire in the plant could be contained.”
Crews from North Wales Fire and Rescue Service were called to the plant, which is based in Bridge Road, Wrexham Industrial Estate. It produces about two billion beverage cans per year, mainly for soft drinks and beer. The plant was founded in 1979 and has a workforce of 210 employees.
“We believe that we can accommodate the majority of customer needs, for example by drawing upon stocks,” adds Bloemker. “Fortunately we are able to make use of our well managed European production system and the professionalism of our workforce in order to manage this unpredictable event. This will potentially require re-allocation of customer demands across our other production facilities in UK and in Europe and very close co-operation with our customers. We will do our utmost to minimise the inconvenience for our customers.”