Company

It all started in 1860, when a glassmaking plant was built in a small town that goes by the name Hrastnik. It took a little more than a decade of growing until it became one of the largest glassworks in then Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Driven by innovation from the start, the company introduced a new way of heating the glass furnace. Instead of coal, they started using coal generated gas, which was the most modern technology in the Austro-Hungarian empire at the time. Even Ernst Werner von Siemens himself was present at the first trial, as the generators were designed based on his plans. The prosperous technique was successfully used for more than 90 years.

By the end of the century, the glassworks specialised in three glass product lines – glassware, packaging and lighting glass, while the manual production gave way to industrial processes using presses and semi-automatic machinery.

With Franc Wieltshnigg in charge, Steklarna Hrastnik achieved new heights and expanded to worldwide markets. The main reason was adding focus on commercial glass instead of fine cut glass products that resembled crystal.

The company introduced the first automated machine for small packaging glass products which produced bottles up to 250 ml. Bottles were mostly used for farmacy, cosmetics and food industry.

Year 1977 marks the introduction of the first electronically controlled automated machine. At the time packaging became the dominant segment.

The packaging glass product line was moved to a brand-new plant, built according to the standards of the best available technique for the industry following EU recommendations.

To meet the demands and extand our portfolio of glass packaging products, perfumery and cosmetics segment was reintroduced.

With the transition towards industry 4.0, automation and digitalization of processes becomes the focal point of further development.