Sep 3 2010 --- Owens-Illinois, Inc., the world’s largest glass container manufacturer, has introduced the latest in a line of innovations. O-I’s new patent-pending Vortex bottle – designed to differentiate the product on the shelf is debuting in North America with MillerCoors’ Miller Lite beer. The innovation is being hailed as the most significant change to the long-neck bottle since the twist-off cap.

Manufactured using O-I’s proprietary internal embossing technology, the Vortex bottle features specially designed grooves on the inside of the bottle’s neck. The exterior surface of the bottle remains smooth, allowing for easy labeling. O-I has a variety of internally embossed stock patterns available, or the company can create custom packaging designs to suit any beer, wine, spirits, non-alcoholic beverages or food brand.

“A true marketplace differentiator, the Vortex bottle exemplifies O-I’s innovation capabilities,” said Rich Crawford, president of O-I’s global glass operations. “We’re blending the art of package design and the science of glass to create innovative new packaging options to attract consumers and deliver results for our customers.”

O-I Innovations Redefining the Future of Glass

In addition to the Vortex bottle, recent O-I innovations include Lean+Green lightweight wine bottles and black glass soda, beer and wine bottles. These glass packages are the result of an invigorated innovation pipeline at O-I that marries the company’s longstanding expertise in engineering with growing capabilities in glass sciences research and package design. The company has tripled the size of its product innovation and R&D teams since 2008. By 2011, O-I plans to invest more than $40 million in glass research and development and efforts to continue redefining how glass is made, melted, formed and decorated. O-I holds more patents than any other glass packaging maker, with more than 1,600 active patents worldwide.