Glass and Glass container manufacturing is a specialised area which has only one major supplier in New Zealand – Owens Illinois (NZ) Ltd based in Auckland.

The company makes most of NZ’s beer and wine bottles along with other containers and is enjoying substantial growth with production capacity expected to increase by around 50% in the next few years.

Career options include all of those previously listed in addition to some which are unique to the industry. Because glass is made from silica and other ingredients that need to be melted before forming into containers there are specialised skills required at the “hot’ end. Quality assurance is also an important aspect of glass container manufacture.