AGR keeps the container industry safe
BUTLER TWP — Practically every plastic, glass and metal bottle in the world has been touched by AGR International on Whitestown Road.
Not literally, but each one has probably been tested or checked by machines developed and manufactured by AGR right here in Butler County.
Frank Preston started the company in 1936 under the name of Preston Laboratories. He began studying glass, what it could do and what it couldn't, as well as how to improve the manufacturing of glass products.
His research led to quality control tests that are still used industry-wide today.
Preston sold the company in 1962, and it became American Glass Research. The name switch also led to a change in purpose, with AGR becoming a manufacturer of quality control and laboratory test equipment for the glass container industry.
Since then, AGR's line of equipment has expanded to include glass, plastic and aluminum bottles, as well as beverage filling.
David Dineff, global marketing director, said what Preston found was a need within the container industry for a way to test and regulate not what goes into a bottle, but the bottle itself.
"We also look for ways to make bottle processes more efficient," he said.
Most of AGR's facility, which is just across the fence from the Butler Farm Show Grounds off Route 68, is filled with quiet rooms of people following incredibly large and detailed manuals putting together machines that can tell if a bottle is missing drops of a liquid or if too many drops have gone in."Seventy-five percent of our products are shipped to companies in 135 countries around the world," Dineff said.Recently, the company, which provides a homey atmosphere for its 180 employees — including holding Nacho Day, free nachos to everyone on the day of this tour — changed from a production line assembly process to a cellular one, Dineff said.This means that groups of assemblers, mostly engineers, work together on one machine until it is done instead of having the machines move from one assembly station to another."AGR is a quiet little company which is an important part of the beverage industry, making sure the bottling equipment and the glass are all safe to use," Dineff said. "But we are in every bottling plant — there are only about 500 to 600 worldwide — testing and making the process better and safer with new designs," he said.And while AGR's business and the bottling industry as a whole are considered very stable, AGR is also growing with two new laboratories in Europe — one in Leese, Germany, and the other in Montecchio Emilia, Italy. They were picked by the company to give customers flexibility and quicker turnaround times for sample testing closer to their facilities.While there is not much turnover in jobs at AGR, Dineff said they are always looking for designers, engineers, electricians, mechanics, sales people and others with high-level technical skills.
