In March 2025, Pochet inaugurated an electric furnace at its Guimerville site in Normandy. This latest-generation furnace is part of an ambitious decarbonization strategy.
The figures, like the scale of the furnace, are impressive. Seven months of work, 4,000 tonnes of concrete, 100 km of cable, 500 tonnes of framework and 10 km of pipes were required to install the new electric furnace at Verrerie du Courval, the Pochet Group's emblematic site in Guimerville, in the heart of the Bresle Valley, France's glass valley.
Equipped with three electric firing arches and mixed gas and electric feeders, the furnace - the first electric furnace for flasks in France - has a power of 8 megawatts and a volume of over 250 tonnes of glass, equivalent to a three-storey building, according to the glassmaker.
The cost of setting up the new furnace was close to €40 million, an investment backed by the Pochet Group's private family shareholding and made possible thanks to the participation of the French government, with the support of Ademe (an employment development agency) and the Normandy region.
To ensure the furnace's smooth operation, 12,000 hours of in-house and external training were deployed for the technical and melting teams, in collaboration with glassmaker SGD Pharma, located in Saint-Quentin-Lamotte-Croix-au-Bailly in the Somme region, which also possesses electric melting technology for the pharmaceutical industry.
This hands-on training, with the opportunity to learn about the complete life cycle of an electric furnace at the SGD Pharma site, contributed to the successful start-up of the furnace at the Guimerville site. "The fact that the start-up of the furnace was smooth and enabled us to produce bottles already, and to inaugurate the furnace one month after start-up, is to be commended".enthused Xavier Gagey, Chairman of the Pochet Group's Management Board, on March 14, 2025, at the inauguration of the facility. A few months of qualification tests for the new tool will be necessary, however. These will be carried out in partnership with Fives, the furnace's designer and supplier.
Target date: 2033
"The advantage of gas is that it heats up very quickly, very strongly, and cools down very quickly, very strongly. With electricity, it heats up strongly, slowly, and cools down weakly and slowly", explains Benoît Marszalek, Operations Manager at Pochet du Courval. In an industry where flexibility is essential, thermal inertia can be an obstacle. But that doesn't matter. Pochet's teams know how to adapt. The roadmap is clear: the creation of France's first electric furnace for luxury bottling represents a major step in Pochet du Courval's overall decarbonization plan to reduce emissions by 50 % by 2033 (compared with 2014).
In operation since February 2025, the Guimerville electric furnace is more energy-efficient than the gas furnaces used at the glassworks. " With a capacity of 66 tonnes per day, the new furnace consumes half as much energy per tonne of glass melted.says Benoît Marszalek.
The furnace will be powered in part by the green energy generated by the brand-new photovoltaic power plant operated by ABO Wind, a major player in the renewable energies sector. Scheduled for commissioning in January 2025, this plant represents the largest photovoltaic park deployed by ABO Wind in France. Pochet du Courval has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with ABO Wind. A long-term partnership to secure prices while guaranteeing a sustainable supply.
An ambitious plan
In total, according to Pochet, 45,000 tonnes of CO2 will be saved per year by 2033, once the decarbonization plan is completed.
The steps to achieve this objective are many and varied. The Pochet Group's plan has been broken down into forty concrete actions to be deployed. However, one of the most emblematic steps will undoubtedly be the replacement of the gas furnace still in operation at the Guimerville site.
"In our decarbonization plan, a second electric furnace is planned. We didn't just say we wanted to halve our carbon emissions by 2033. We have defined the projects to be implemented, and we are validating them as we go along. The project for a second electric furnace has been validated".says Benoît Marszalek.
"The Pochet Group is a family business. We are fortunate to be supported by shareholders who are committed to the long term.adds Xavier Gagey, who has no hesitation in calling on the public authorities for a helping hand. "To ensure our future, we also need a stable legislative framework, simplification of our processes and, above all, affordable electricity. Today, it's a real gamble to switch this furnace from gas to electricity in the current context. And it's worth noting that our Asian-American competitors pay between two and four times less for energy, whether electric or gas, than in France, even though we have incredible nuclear facilities. It's vital that the French government give clear signals to manufacturers like Pochet, who are decarbonizing their processes with vigor.he emphasized at the furnace inauguration, addressing the political figures in attendance.
| T3E project, sorting automation project At Pochet du Courval's Guimerville site, the electric oven was not the only significant investment. The packaging area has been redesigned to improve working conditions for operators. By 2023, Pochet du Courval is investing nearly 13 million euros in employee health and safety, thanks to the T3E (sorting, ergonomics, packaging and case packing) project, which focuses primarily on modernizing and optimizing production lines. In the sorting areas, line restructuring has been undertaken to minimize the handling of heavy loads by pickers. This initiative includes the introduction of a conveyor system and robots to deliver the bottles to the operators. whose repetitive gestures are now limited, aiming for movements of less than 30 % amplitude, in order to prevent RSI (musculoskeletal disorders). In the packaging sector, Pochet du Courval has automated the loading and palletizing process. A machine capable of assembling cartons has been installed on the line. New robots assemble the cartons from the bottles. |
| AI & Digital Twins for optimizing industrial furnaces: Pochet takes part in the ANR TwinHeat industrial chair The TwinHeat industrial chair - inaugurated in March 2025 by Mines Paris-PSL and the French National Research Agency (ANR) - has teamed up with four major national industrial groups facing the technological challenges of reducing their carbon footprint: Saint-Gobain, Verallia, Fives and Pochet, to create the digital twin of their own furnaces. The project aims to optimize furnace operating conditions, study optimal combinations of heating parameters, minimize energy consumption and adapt to the energy transition. It will enable the development of innovative solutions specific to industrial needs, while guaranteeing the quality of finished products. "The TwinHeat industrial chair, co-funded by the ANR to the tune of €500k, is a perfect illustration of the ambition of this specific scheme to support public-private partnership research. We are delighted with this collaboration, which takes up the challenges facing the glass industry. It aims to optimize the operating conditions of existing industrial furnaces, to study optimal combinations of heating parameters, to minimize energy consumption, and finally, to adapt to the energy transition towards low-carbon energy sources".said Dominique Dunon-Bluteau, scientific advisor to the ANR's science directorate. |
Yaël Zajac
