Global View

Glass Focus Awards 2022 winners revealed

United Kingdom

The winners of the Glass Focus Awards 2022 were unveiled at a black-tie dinner hosted at the Sefton Park Palm House in Liverpool on 17 November.

Companies from across the glass supply chain gathered to celebrate the International Year of Glass and the milestones of the previous 12 months at the event which saw Pilkington NSG crowned Company of the Year for the first time.

The flat glass manufacturers also won the health and safety action award while Saint-Gobain Glass UK and Ardagh Glass Packaging were both double winners on the night. The former took home the Design of the year – flat glass and Strengthening business through people awards with the latter awarded the Sustainable practice and Marketing impact categories.

Other winners included Beatson Clark’s Dana Godfrey winning the Rising Star award, Encirc securing the Innovative solution prize and Stoelzle Flacconage’s One Gin coming out on top in the Design of the year – container award.

British Glass CEO Dave Dalton said:

“It has been another testing year for the glass sector and while may of the problems we have faced still persist, it is a great pleasure to gather everybody together at the Glass Focus Awards again to celebrate all the achievements our great industry has accomplished.

“As always, the level of entries for each of the categories has been spectacular and wide ranging. From showcasing our talent for innovation and our status as pioneers on the journey towards net zero to the beautiful designs we see every day on our bottles and buildings and the unrivalled talent that makes up our workforce, it is a reminder of why the glass industry stands in a class of its own.

“We are all extremely proud of the work we have done over the last year, and we look forward to continuing to build on our successes in 2023 and beyond.”

The full list of winners from the Glass Focus Awards 2022 are:

Design of the year – container (sponsored by Packaging Innovations): One Gin by Stoelzle Flaconnage Ltd

Design of the year – flat (sponsored by Glass International): The Spark by Saint-Gobain Glass UK

Innovative solution (sponsored by Glass Technology Services): Cooling system improvements by Encirc

Health and safety action (sponsored by Grayling): Vehicle and pedestrian GAP analysis tool by Pilkington NSG

Strengthening business through people (sponsored by Glass Worldwide): Complex cold repair by Saint-Gobain Glass UK

Rising Star (sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers): Dana Godfrey at Beatson Clark

Marketing Impact (sponsored by awesome.): The Glass making process by Ardagh Glass Packaging

Sustainable Practice (sponsored by Glass Futures): Water saving initiative by Ardagh Glass Packaging

British Glass Company of the Year: Pilkington NSG

Stakeholders mark UN International Year of Glass in 2022

Belgium

The United Nations designated 2022 as the International Year of glass, the first time a manmade material was chosen for worldwide attention. On 16 November, Glass Alliance Europe marked the occasion with an event gathering policy makers and stakeholders at the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union in Brussels.

Opening the event, Maive Rute, Deputy Director-General, DG GROW, European Commission, said: “Glass can play an important role as a material, helping to enable our green and digital transition and supporting our society in achieving long-term sustainability and prosperity. The glass industry has a long and rooted tradition in Europe, and we must work to ensure that it is able to continue operating in our continent at competitive conditions.”

Barbara Schretter, Director of the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union added that “Europe is home to many glass producers who are helping to turn Europe into a prosperous and sustainable economy and society.”

Speaking on how glass can enable a world without waste, Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, director of circular economy, DG ENVI, European Commission welcomed “the glass industry efforts to deliver on the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan to ensure that waste is prevented, and the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible.” Glass plays a key role as a high-tech material vital to the energy performance, safety, security and comfort of our homes, offices, buildings and cars and is essential to make Europe fit for sustainable living. Anne-Katharina Weidenbach, energy efficiency expert at the Cabinet of Commissioner Simson (DG Energy), was among the panellists to discuss how glass will contribute to sustainable living and will be crucial to green energy production in Europe.

The glass industry is committed to ensuring that greenhouse gas emissions from glass production drop substantially in the next decades. MEP Monika Hohlmeier along with UNIDO’s Managing Director Gunther Beger highlighted the challenges of decarbonisation and the importance of sharing best practices emerging from the glass industry’s roadmaps towards a climate neutral Europe.

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Pochet and Fives announce strategic partnership

France

The Pochet Group, a French luxury packaging specialist in the beauty sector, is joining forces with Fives, a global industrial engineering group, to reduce carbon emissions while producing eco-friendly glass.

A division of the Pochet Group, Pochet du Courval, which has been shaping and decorating glass for 400 years, has announced a goal to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50% by 2033 through the use of decarbonised glass. A flagship industrial site in Normandy, France, the Guimerville plant produces and decorates more than one million glass bottles and jars every day for top-end perfume and beauty companies.

The Guimerville plant will be built with an electric furnace manufactured by Fives, a wellknown name in all-electric melting technology. The furnace, a Prium E-Melt coldtop vertical melter, is one of the most advanced technologies available to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. The melter is designed based on Fives’ significant electric melting operational experience.

Benoit Marszalek, Pochet du Courval’s chief operating officer, said: “The investment, supported by Pochet Group's private shareholders, falls in line with the company's strategy to reduce environmental impact and will require both technological and human transformation. “This electric furnace will be the very first French furnace dedicated to luxury bottles enabling us to offer carbon-free glass to perfume, skincare and makeup brands that will deliver tomorrow’s beauty,” said .

Alexandre Brusset, vicepresident of glass at Fives, said: “Fives is committed to providing innovative solutions based on our proven technology to electrify glass process. We help the industry partners to meet their objectives in terms of decarbonisation, as well as to train technicians and operators at the plant level.”

Companies sign agreement establishing Packaging Alliance Europe

Luxembourg

Industrial Packaging Group and Treffpack Beteiligungsgesellschaft announced the signing of an agreement for combining their shareholdings into a new holding called Packaging Alliance Europe SA.

Over the past five years, Gaasch Packaging and Treffpack have gradually increased their cooperation. Using a common growth strategy and joint investments, both companies laid the groundwork for the next logical step, which was recently formalised with the creation of Packaging Alliance Europe. All operational companies will preserve their identity and day-to-day organisation, while benefiting from alliance-wide expertise and guidance.

Peter Börner from Treffpack Beteiligungsgesellschaft said: “Dorothée Kuhnert and I believe in the strength and sustainability of a family enterprise. Representing the fifth and sixth generation in the business we are very pleased to partner up with IPG and the Gaasch and Henckes families in Packaging Alliance Europe. “Together, we represent a very strong European provider of packaging solutions. We are here to stay and grow together with our customers and manufacturing partners.

Jean-Christophe Gaasch, managing director at Gaasch Packaging said: "This transaction strengthens our joint position in the Western European primary packaging wholesale market.

“After more than five years of close collaboration with Treffpack, Véronique Henckes, Sébastien Hottlet and I are fully convinced that we share the same values of trust, reliability and long-term commitment.

“Our family shareholders and committed staff fully support Packaging Alliance Europe as the sustainable continuation of our history of more than 100 years.”

To date, Packaging Alliance Europe includes member companies operating from offices in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and France under the following names: Treffpack, Gaasch Packaging, Pattesons Glass, Nova-Pack, Ursan Verpakkingen, Dijkstra Vereenigde, Premium Glass, EPG Service.

Altogether, the companies generated a traded turnover exceeding €200 million in 2021.

The closing of the transaction is expected to be finalised before the end of the year.

Treffpack Beteiligungsgesellschaft is the private holding company of the families behind CE Gätcke’s Glas Gesellschaft and F. Dau & Sohn with a history going back to 1873. The companies operate from Hamburg under the Treffpack brand.

Industrial Packaging Group SA is the holding company of Gaasch Packaging and its sister companies. In the business since 1906, the group constitutes one of the leading privately held European wholesalers in the primary packaging industry.

Saint-Gobain signs PPA with Spanish energy supplier

France

Saint-Gobain has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the top energy supplier in Spain, Endesa.

This 11-year agreement will start in 2024 and will cover around 55% of Saint-Gobain’s Spanish electricity needs. The electricity supplied by Endesa will be generated by its renewable portfolio: wind, solar and hydroelectric power.

This agreement will enable a reduction in CO2 emissions of roughly 39,000 tonnes per year.

This is the second renewable energy supply agreement signed by Saint-Gobain in Spain. Together, the two agreements will cover 65% of the Group’s electricity needs in Spain. It is a major step in the Group’s fight against climate change and towards its commitment to reach carbon neutrality in 2050.

Under this agreement, Endesa will supply Saint-Gobain 150 GWh of renewable energy annually, which corresponds to the supply of about 43,000 Spanish homes with renewable energy every year.

This announcement follows the recent signings by Saint-Gobain of two important renewable electricity supply agreements in Poland and North America, increasing the share of renewable electricity to more than 60% for the entire Group. It comes after the recent endorsement by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) of the Group’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets as consistent with the organization’s new Net-Zero Standard and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonisation of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance.

Pilkington makes 50 millionth sq ft of glass at St Helens

United Kingdom

Pilkington United Kingdom Limited, part of the NSG Group, has manufactured its 50 millionth square metre of specialist glass at its advanced coating line in St Helens, as the site marks 10 years since production began.

The milestone was passed after the manufacturer ramped up production to meet consistently high demand from building designers and the construction sector over the last year.

The volume of glass produced by its OLC1 off-line coater at Cowley Hill in the town is enough to cover 7000 football pitches. This total includes glass that prevents heat from escaping through windows, such as Pilkington K Glass S, a lowemissivity glass designed to provide the highest Window Energy Rating (WER) performance and Pilkington Optitherm S1 Plus which is helping building designers meet increasingly tougher regulatory requirements for insulation.

The line also manufactures its Pilkington Suncool range of solar control glass that helps to prevent overheating in buildings by limiting the amount of energy transmitted by the sun through glazing.

The company expects to see higher demand for solar control glass in the UK as building designers mitigate against the increasing frequency of heatwaves, and work to meet new Part O regulations for overheating in new homes.

OLC1 uses advanced glass coating technology to apply added performance to float glass produced on Pilkington UK’s UK5 production line at Greengate, St Helens. UK5 recently achieved three world first trials of hydrogen and biofuel to fire a glass furnace as part of the industry’s journey towards decarbonisation.

Neil Syder, managing director at Pilkington UK, said: “Demand for advanced coated glass that helps to deliver better energy performance to buildings is growing as building regulations tighten and developers go above and beyond to meet their own environmental targets.

“Advanced coated glass is also solving new challenges thanks to R&D breakthroughs, from antimicrobial glass that helps to sanitise healthcare and transport settings, to glass with a special UV pattern that helps to protect wildlife by being visible to birds.

“Our OLC1 line at Cowley Hill has played an integral role over the last 10 years supplying glass that helps specifiers in the UK and internationally to give added performance to their projects, from schools in Dudley to skyscrapers in Dubai. It’s set for another busy 10 years as industry demands more performance from glass to meet major challenges like net-zero.”

The milk bottle is UK's most iconic glass packaging

United Kingdom

The everyday glass milk bottle has been voted by leading experts as the most iconic glass packaging in the UK.

Seeing off competition from popular classics such as Heinz Tomato Sauce and Coca Cola, the single pint reusable glass milk bottle won out thanks to its instantly recognisable shape, perfectly suited design and enduring sustainable, made-to-bereused credentials.

As part of the UN International Year of Glass 2022 celebrations, experts from the worlds of packaging, retail, manufacturing and plastic-free living were brought together to choose the UK’s top 10 glass bottles and jars.

Waqas Qureshi, news editor of Packaging News, said: “It was a thoroughly informative judging session, with the panel assessing contenders for their iconic status, as well as their sustainability and user-friendly credentials. It was fitting that while we all had different suggestions for the final top ten, we were unanimous in choosing the simple glass milk bottle for the undisputed winner”.

Also on the panel was Jenni Richards, federation manager at British Glass: “I found the process of choosing my top 10 iconic glass bottles and jars difficult as there are so many wonderful contenders.

“Even easily distinguishable classics such as Ribena, Orangina, Marmite and Jack Daniels didn’t make it into our final shortlist. I think the milk bottle absolutely deserves its number one spot. Milk is synonymous with child nutrition and what better to convey such a pure liquid in than in safe, chemically inactive glass.”

Iain Ferguson, an award-winning environmental consultant who was environmental manager at The Co-Operative supermarket said: “The judging was great fun, and there were so many possible containers that we could have chosen from. Even deciding between the iconic entries on our shortlist was difficult. However, the top two entries virtually chose themselves – the glass milk bottle and the Moët and Chandon Champagne bottle. While they are at different ends of the price scale, they are both associated with important events – breakfast and celebrations. I'm looking forward to seeing whether the general public agree with us."

Corning introduces Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2

United States

Corning Incorporated unveiled its newest glass innovation, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. A new glass composition allows Gorilla Glass Victus 2 to provide improved drop resistance on rough surfaces, including concrete, the most abundantly engineered material in the world. However, the scratch resistance of Gorilla Glass Victus remains the same.

David Velasquez, vice president and general manager, Gorilla Glass, said: “Smartphones are the centre of our digital lives, and the requirement for exceptional scratch and drop resistance has only increased with our growing reliance on clear, damage-free displays. Surfaces matter, and rough surfaces like concrete are everywhere.”

Corning’s extensive research has shown that 84% of consumers across three of the largest smartphone markets – China, India, and the US – cite durability as the number one purchasing consideration behind brand itself.

“We challenged our scientists not only to create a glass composition that was durable enough to better survive drops from waist height onto rougher surfaces than asphalt, but to improve cover-glass performance for larger and heavier devices,” said Velasquez.

“With more sophisticated and varied designs, today’s smartphones are nearly 15% heavier, and screen sizes are up to 10% larger, than they were four years ago – increasing both the stress on the cover glass and the probability of damage. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 redefines tough for consumers and OEMs.”

In lab tests, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 survived drops of up to one metre on a surface replicating concrete. Competitive aluminosilicate glasses from other manufacturers typically failed when dropped from half a meter or less. In addition, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 continued to survive drops up to two meters on a surface replicating asphalt and maintained scratch resistance up to four times better than competitive aluminosilicate.

Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is currently being evaluated by multiple customers and is expected to reach the market within the next few months. It has been designed into more than 8 billion devices by more than 45 major brands.

Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company that specialises in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications.

Biesse is listed among the Best Managed Companies

Italy

The first award marks Biesse's fifth consecutive win - placing it in the Gold category - of the ‘Best Managed Companies’ award, the prize instituted by Deloitte Private with the participation of ALTIS Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, ELITE-Gruppo Euronext - the ecosystem that helps small and medium-sized businesses to grow and access private and public capital markets - and Confindustria Piccola Industria.

“These shining examples of Italian entrepreneurship were assessed according to the parameters of strategy, skill and innovation, commitment and corporate culture, governance and performance measurement, sustainability, supply chain and internationalisation, and were officially presented with their awards at Palazzo Mezzanotte, the headquarters of Borsa Italiana-Euronext, on 4 October”.

“We are delighted to receive this important recognition, which once again confirms the value of our work. This award falls within a highly positive period for our group, as the latest financial documents show - although we know, now more than ever, that it is essential to remain cautious with regard to the immediate future, in light of the many unknowns that the international scenario represents. In order to compete in a market that is increasingly changeable, we have launched a deep-rooted process of renewal of the group over the last two years, with a view to rendering it leaner and more efficient, simplifying its processes, and ensuring that it can adapt rapidly as new contexts arise”, emphasised Pierre La Tour, CFO of Biesse Group, at the award ceremony.

Biesse also received the "Italy's Best Employer" award, following the company's inclusion in the rankings drawn up on the basis of the survey conducted by expert analysts from Statista in collaboration with Corriere della Sera, which lists the companies with the highest level of satisfaction among employees in Italy. Biesse comes in third place in this ranking (with a score of 7.97) with regard to the engineering and systems design sector. “It's not just about smart working: employees are looking for values, well-being and training” - this is what has emerged from the analysis conducted on the Italian companies in the study. FIC GREEN ad 2022_Layout 1 03/12/2022 08:38 Page 3

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