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This industry is still thriving today and the O-I glass plant,
based in Schiedam, manufactures glass packaging for the food and
beverage industry at home and abroad.
O-I is Schiedam's original glass factory and was founded by
Jacobus Sirks at the Buitenhavenweg in 1854. By the 1910s the
factory entered a new era when mechanisation marked the beginning
of automatic production and, as business boomed, it became one of
the main employers in the city. After various changes of
ownership during the intervening years, O-I took over the factory
in 2004. Over 150 years since the factory first opened,
glass production is still a key part of life in Schiedam and a
wide variety of bottles are now made there, with customers able to
design their own shapes and styles. The factory also
maintains close links with the city and every two years the
residents of Schiedam are invited in to take a tour of the plant.
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