Glass International Digital December 2019

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Digital Edition - December 2019

COMPANY PROFILE: STEKLARNA HRASTNIK COMPANY PROFILE: ARDAGH CULLET SGD PHARMA KIPFENBERG I N T E R N A T I O N A L

A REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2019

Company profile: Steklarna Hrastnik

Embarking on a digital journey Slovenian premium glassmaker Steklarna Hrastnik recently completed an €11 million investment in a plant upgrade. A key focus was on digital glassmaking. Its General Manager Peter Câs tells Greg Morris that this is only the first step in a five year plan.

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remium Slovenian glassmaker Steklarna Hrastnik recently completed an €11 million company upgrade at its site.

The glassmaker is a manufacturer of packaging and tableware glass and the investment included a new 8-section IS machine which increased capacity by 22%.

But just as noteworthy was the €5 million of the investment directed to automation and digitalisation of the company.

It decided to make its glassmaking process more automated and in 2017 and 2018 digitalised three lines. Its inspection machines and palletizing machines were also revamped with robots now used for palletising. It means production work is now a lot less manual.

General Manager Peter Câs said: “We decided to embark on the digital route because we are special in the business, we are a high quality glass producer. With the flexibility and all of different process parameters that we have to have under control, digital is the best way to help and have process parameters under control.

“It means all the parameters are fixed to enable us to become a more efficient glassmaker.

“I think it is the perfect solution for us to gain on quality, efficiency and to gain on reputation in the final stage of the market.”

The company had an unprofitable mould blowing production unit and used the opportunity to close it down and offer the workers from the unit jobs in other areas of the business. The offer was accepted, which meant there were no lay offs during the investment.

He said: “We’re very connected to the community and it is important for us to stay connected to the community. We explained to staff what the situation was and they were very receptive.

“The workers are now more high-tech. Each worker could decide to stay and take a job in packaging. Each was trained for four months to be more skilled and independent. During the programme we mixed the older, experienced guys

1 Glass International December 2019

with younger guys who had more knowledge of IT and there was a real exchange of knowledge between old and young.”

Digital strategy The company appointed Siemens to prepare for its digital strategy.

Siemens spent three weeks at the glassmaker’s plant in Hrastnik to develop a digital roadmap which included a schedule, technical recommendations and return on investment data.

Siemens staff spent time at the plant and also shuttled the glassmaker’s employees to its own sites to boost their training.

The outcome was that Steklarna identified 10 projects to undertake until 2022 in order to become a smart factory.

Some have been undertaken already while a further four projects will be completed by the end of 2019.

Peter Câs said: “It was a great experience to work with Siemens. They provided good support and were willing to work hand in hand with our guys.

It was not just a Siemens or a Steklarna Hrastnik project, it was a common project.

“I learnt that I have very motivated employees who are willing to change to keep pace with the industry changes.”

The future projects will connect each of its machines so they can ‘talk’ to each other. The company will create a network to connect each of its machines to allow them to talk to each other. It means all the data from the machines will be kept in one place which can be calculated and evaluated in order to be a more efficient glassmaker.

A further six, more detailed projects will take place between 2019 and 2022 but have to be discussed in the future.

“The data will be used to optimise our process.

We also plan to add some Artificial Intelligence to use that data which will enable the machine to learn in future projects. It sounds futuristic but it is the way the world is moving now.”

� Its palletising line was completely automated during the recent project

� It counts Tiama among its technology partners.

Continued>>

Company profile: Steklarna Hrastnik

“We are always searching for new ideas and suppliers, we always want the competition on the purchasing side

”

Flexible The company is 158 years old and has two plants in the town of Hrastnik. It manufactures 200t/day of ultra-white flint glass and serves 55 countries. A total of 97% of its production is exported. The company is focused on niche markets and manufacturers high end premium perfumes, spirits and tableware products.

“What differentiates us from competitors is our flexibility,” stated Mr Câs.

“We can produce up to five products on one line so we are very flexible.

“If you want to find your piece of cake in this market you have to be flexible. Our skilled operators have to have the knowledge how to quickly change from product to product. They have operational excellence, they are used to dealing with short job times and reducing process losses. It’s not just the

� Mr Peter Câs.

knowledge of glassmaking there is also knowledge about operational excellence.

“We provide all the support to customers and support them in the design, mould, engineering and production phases. If they need accessories such as closures and decoration we will support them.

“Customers want to have the complete product and decoration is the vertical integration of our products.”

While it is still too early to publish the results of the changes so far, Mr Câs has noticed a difference internally within the company.

“We have ony just started this project but the whole thinking within the company has changed regarding operational excellence and that has Continued>>

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improved us. With digitalisation we expect another step in improvements.”

Mr Câs hopes that the glass plant will be regarded as a pioneer within the glassmaking community.

“I hope the glass world does see us as a good example of a digital plant and follows our lead. We are small in the glass world and this gives as a more adaptability and flexibility. Because of that we can adopt new things more quickly. ” The company has six production lines in total and counts Emhart, Bottero, Tiama, Iris Inspection Machines and All Glass among its technology suppliers. Mr Câs stated that the company is always looking for development in innovation from its technology partners.

“We are always searching for new ideas and suppliers, we always want the competition on the purchasing side to get the best solutions.”

Mr Câs has been with the company since May 2017 and has a background of managing industrial-focused companies. He liked the values of the company such as respect, passion to work and openness to discuss problems “I really like working for this company. I feel that I have great support and that people support the idea of where we are going. At the start some were afraid of what would happen with new management, but we coped with this issue. I brought some new people to the company and mixed them with former management and we have been successful to build a prosperous company ready for future challenges.”

With a further six projects in the pipeline Mr Câs is already looking beyond 2022.

“We see the potential for us on the market. We are present in 55 countries but the world is much bigger than 55 countries.

“There are opportunities for us on the market, the market needs high quality glass. There is also a sustainability drive away from plastic to glass so there is a requirement for more use of glass and an opportunity for Steklarna Hrastnik to grow.” �

Steklarna Hrastnik, Hrastnik, Slovenia www.hrastnik1860.com

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Environment Digital glassmaking

A digital consultancy for glassmakers A digital consultancy service provided by Siemens outlines the path a glass manufacturer should take on the road to becoming a smart factory.

Greg Morris spoke to Philippe Thiel and Steeve Baudry.

S

lovenian glass manufacturer Steklarna Hrastnik is currently making headlines in the industry.

The premium glassmaker has embarked on a digital path and plans a series of investments over the next few years, which will see its Hrastnik site become a smart factory by the year 2022.

But how exactly does a glassmaker embark on a digital plan? Where does it start and what route should it take from being a manual glassmaker to a digital one? It has to be sure it is making the right long-term investment.

This is where Siemens comes in. It provides a digital consultancy service to glassmakers and has recently completed a successful project within Steklarna Hrastnik.

Reactive Siemens Senior Manager for Glass Industry, Philippe Thiel, states that the idea was well received in the glass industry because the sector is more reactive to the demand for digitalisation.

“The glass industry is not as consolidated as some other industries where there are big players and almost nothing else.

“Siemens was perceived as a trendsetter in Industry 4.0 and many customers were asking us about digitalisation and industry 4.0. They were asking ‘what does it mean for me’?

“This is when our management decided we needed to do something. A team brainstormed the topic and decided to create a new offering to our customers: moving away from the one size fits all, portfolio-driven approach commonly seen on the market, and focus on customer needs and their strategies.

“We set up a team and an offering to support those customers who are a little lost and who wanted to know what digitalisation means for them.”

Siemens Digitalization Consulting head, Steeve Baudry states: “Due to the nature of our Process Industry and the life-cycle of the assets, the digitalisation roadmap has to take into account the existing automation and IT systems, and specifically how to introduce new technologies in an existing environment, how to benefit from the latest technologies but without changing everything, in other words how to include the new technologies into the existing IoT landscape.

� The Siemens team with Sterklarna Hrastnik General Manager Peter Cas (front right), Axel Lorenz, Head of Sales & Vertical / Solutions, Engineering & Consulting (in the middle) and Bernhard Saftig, Head

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of Glass Business (front left).

0 5

“We focus on a roadmap over the next five years, this gives an acceptable horizon for investment and satisfy the CFO community while keeping the digital road at a manageable complexity level because such a roadmap involves many projects that are technically interconnected. This includes cyber security and automation networks, or MES and Document Management systems for example.

“Keeping the roadmap within a thre to five year horizon results in proposed traditional modernisation projects, while looking at a 10-year roadmap will be more a ‘picture of the future’ rather than a concrete roadmap.

“To guarantee that we deliver, concrete and actionable results, we follow the same approach. We investigate with customers what they want to achieve with digitalisation – do they want to achieve improved time to market, improved quality, increased energy efficiency? Then we investigate the existing systems that are in place.

Do they have any ERP system, how is the automation layer developed, how is the automation network connected?

What is its cybersecurity strategy? In other words, we try to reconciliate the top-down approach with the bottom up view from the field.

“Once we have a clear view on the strategy and the existing IT and OT landscape, we identify the most important projects that need to be implemented.

“We then calculate the investment for a specific plant, taking into account the existing assets and projects already in place, because a facility might already have some pieces of the solution under development or have plans to invest.

We finally assess how we connect these new solutions to the plant and how much it costs.”

While Steklarna Hrastnik was its first Continued>>

Digital glassmaking

� The digital consultancy

customer in the glass sector, Siemens had already worked with several pharmaceutical and chemical companies to help them with their digital transformation.

“We observed a growing interest from Pharmaceutical and chemical industries in digitalisation, and it might be due to the heavy competition and regulation in these markets, but we predict that this is now arriving in glass industry as well.”

glasstec Siemens already highlighted its digital strategy at glasstec in 2016 and then introduced its consultancy offering in 2018.

It noticed a change in customer thinking towards digital glassmaking at the latter event.

“Two years ago at glasstec nobody really understood the benefits of digitalisation, but now we have noticed a change in customer mentality,” states Mr Thiel.

“We have had many questions about what is required. Many understand that they have to go digital, they have seen their competitors go that way and realise they have to start.

“There are savings and benefits to be gained from digitalisation and glassmakers are willing to move, at least from the discussions we have had at the booth.”

Case study Steklarna Hrastnik General Manager Peter Câs provided a good example of how an SME implements Siemens’ digital strategy.

“Mr Câs knew he had to do something, he was aware of the benefits of digital but he wanted some support, some guidelines, a framework and expertise to proceed. Within a few weeks he had changed from digital sensitive to digitally ready.”

“Our customers know they have to digitalise their supply chain and reduce

their time to market, but how do they do that? They all have good ideas about digitalisation but they don’t know where to start.

“The value we provide is to translate these strategic visions into an implementable roadmap where we tell them, okay, here’s the main projects, the implementation timeline and the cost, and this in a vendor-neutral way.

“At the end of that consulting project, they have a concrete roadmap, with a concrete investment plan with which they can go directly on to the market and ask suppliers to give quotations for the projects with these specifications.

“This set up, combining methodology, with IT/OT and glass expertise, is unique and allow us to provide a concrete, tailor made and immediately implementable roadmap.

We have seen a lot of interest from customers because of that set up,” states Mr Baudry.

A project could last four to six weeks, and of that Siemens will usually spend three weeks on site with the customer.

It will lead workshops, interview staff, investigate the maturity of the systems and their interconnections, build a map of the process and of their IT and Operational Technology (OT) landscape.

Mr Thiel states: “You can’t do this from the office, this is done with the customer, in complete immersion in his organisation. You have to collect the information from the field before putting it into perspective.”

During previous workshops they noticed it was common for departments not to communicate with one another while working in the plant.

The batch house operator did not talk with the furnace operator for example.

“The Siemens workshops helped to address this.

“Sometimes during a workshop

you would see people starting to discuss together and to discover they have the same issue. We have a team that can moderate the discussion and translate and we discovered staff have the same problems but are not talking the same language.

“Having us in the middle of the team, empowered by management, we first have to build credibility with the people because we come from outside. So we first check if we speak the same language and as soon as we have that then we can really moderate the discussion and bring them value.”

When asked if there is much resistance from staff, who may see the consultancy as the first steps towards redundancies, Mr Thiel, pictured above, admits there can be some resistance at first, particularly from the production side.

“For a glass manufacturer, deciding to go digital is nothing else than applying change management to its organisation, and resistance is part of this process.

These guys are all experts in glass manufacturing, we need to convince them first and that is why it is critical, our consultants are also engineers and experts, and therefore speak the same language.

“Once we really listen to them through the workshops and we translate their pain points into strategic action, handed over to the management, then they can see the value we bring to their problems and can overcome this scepticism.”

Continued>>

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offering.

6 Glass International December 2019

� Steeve Baudry and Philippe Thiel discuss the consultancy offering with Greg Morris.

Steklarna Hrastnik staff were fully committed to the project.

“From the beginning the people were wholly committed for the entire project because the CEO had told them about the goal and that it was not about cutting headcounts,” states Mr Thiel.

“This internal communication from the CEO beforehand was important for the people to buy in. At the end, the inputs were delivered by the people from the various departments. If they had not played the game it would have a huge impact on the quality of the end

result. So the success also comes from the commitment to the project.”

The resonance of the market at glasstec proved that this consultancy service meets a real demand of the glass industry and Siemens is now in discussions with other glassmakers about similar future projects.

Whichever glassmaker decides to use the consultancy, both managers are clear that it is worthwhile: “If you have an expensive car you want to insure it, when a customer has an investment plan for digitalisation over

five years and for several millions, it is better to have the insurance that they will go for the right projects, in the right order.

What we deliver is the insurance that their money will be invested in the most efficient way over the next few years,” said Mr Baudry.

“With this digitalisation consultancy offering, we give them the insurance that their investment will be maximised,” concluded Mr Thiel. �

Siemens Vertical Glass, Karlsruhe, Germany www.siemens.com/glass

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07/10/2019 11:17

Company profile: Ardagh cullet

Ardagh’s cullet approach reaches fruition after 10-year masterplan It has been 10 years since the creation of Ardagh Glass’s cullet task force.

Its aim was to maximise the quality and availability of cullet throughout the glassmaker’s European plants. Greg Morris spoke to Hans Hilkes about the organisation’s novel approach to cullet.

The Ardagh cullet team today: From left to right, � Peter West, Manager Best Practice Batch & Furnace � Wolfgang Cieleback, Manager Glass Technology (Nienburg) � Sven-Roger Kahl, Manager Furnace Operations and Innovations � Henrik Eriksson, Manager Glass Technology (CTS) � Hans Hilkes, Supplier Quality Manager � Brendan O’Meara, Cullet Process Engineer � James Byrne, Global Category Manager Glass Raw Materials � Koos Oostland, Quality Director

John Sadlier, Chief Procurement Officer for Ardagh, is not in the picture but is part of the team.

senior management, we’ve pushed ourselves to think outside the box.

“I’m convinced Ardagh Group is leading the way in terms of cullet. The main difference between us and others is that we have a central, team-based approach.

“The nice thing is that plant managers always used to complain about quality of cullet. Now they complain about availability and that is because the quality has improved.

Continued>>

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O

ver the past 10 years, Ardagh Group has transformed its approach to cullet.

The container glassmaker has reaped the rewards of a task force, which it formed in 2009, devoted to improving the quality and availability of the cullet used in its European furnaces.

The cullet group has analysed every aspect of the company’s approach to cullet, taking in its suppliers, individual plants, monitoring systems, specifications and procurement, among others.

In the succeeding 10 years, it has devised a cullet database for all 20 of its European plants and formulated a single group-wide approach to dealing with cullet. It has also organised regular cullet conferences, where suppliers and the glass manufacturer discuss the latest issues and opportunities in the sector.

Its dedicated approach has seen an improvement in the quality of cullet delivered by its suppliers, contributing to an improvement in the quality of its final products.

Its Supplier Quality Manager, Hans Hilkes, a member of the cullet task force since its foundation, said: “The reason for our success is that we haven’t followed the usual methods but, supported by

8 Glass International December 2019

Company profile: Ardagh cullet

Procurement, they began to define their approach.

Staff, suppliers and its customers all had to be informed about the new centralised approach, to learn how it would work and, in some cases, change their established working practices. But first Mr Hilkes and his team had to form a plan of how they would approach the task. They used a Total Quality Management standard to formulate their goals, including auditing suppliers to ensure they delivered cullet to an approved specification.

The group also wanted to develop a cullet quality monitoring system, to assist procurement in ensuring that current and future cullet requirements were met, as well as to work with its glass plants to address any cullet issues.

Suppliers “The benefits in terms of energy usage and sustainability are recognised by Ardagh Group, our customers and by end consumers.”

� Mr Hilkes at Ardagh’s cullet conference in Amsterdam last year.

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Group approach In 2009 awareness of cullet was on the rise and customer expectations were increasing, so Ardagh Group’s management decided to re-invigorate its approach to cullet by forming a Cullet Process Map and Cullet Task Force to investigate.

Mr Hilkes said: “The awareness of cullet has increased in my time in the industry, partly because customers want improved quality cullet.

“Ten years ago, suppliers would accept 100 breakages in every 1 million bottles, five years later it was 10, now only one or even none at all. It has been a dramatic change.”

Cullet – the broken or waste glass that is recycled for use in glassmaking - is extremely important.

The organisation’s approach had previously been one where domestic cullet suppliers would be in contact with an individual plant’s batch and furnace departments.

This ‘local’ approach had worked well, but Ardagh’s expansion to become a pan-European glass manufacturer meant that it required a complete centralisation of its cullet process across all of its plants.

Mr Hilkes, who has worked with Ardagh Group since 1999, was among those assigned to the task because of his extensive knowledge of cullet.

He said: “For us cullet is a high-level quality raw material – we use 70, 80, sometimes 90% in our furnaces. It is not waste as some people think. It is important and brings many benefits.

“More cullet use means less energy is used, fewer virgin raw materials are used and it drives sustainability - it means glass does not end up in landfill.”

The task facing Hans was huge. Ardagh Group runs 20 European plants across eight countries and has a total of more than 40 cullet suppliers. Cullet Process Engineer, Ed Purtill, was soon added to the team and, together with Quality Management and

9 Glass International December 019

“I guess you could say I have lived and breathed cullet for the past 10 years. It has been an enjoyable time.

There is nothing as nice as doing something new with the possibility of creating lasting

”

change.

Hans Hilkes, Ardagh Glass

Critical to the success of the project was ensuring that suppliers delivered a consistent standard of cullet throughout Ardagh’s plant network.

The team defined a cullet specification valid for all Ardagh plants and products, replacing the previous system where cullet specifications had differed from country to country, and sometimes from plant to plant in the same country.

This required agreement on an acceptance level on contaminant levels, as well as specification values, such as the average levels over 10 deliveries.

Mr Hilkes and the team devised a cullet audit form which provided suppliers with a checklist of requirements. They also defined a standard testing method for cullet deliveries, with measurements taken of each plant delivery. Failure to meet these pre-set specifications led to rejection of deliveries.

“Suppliers now accept what we do, but at first it was difficult, because a lot of plants did not measure any cullet. When you start measuring you start rejecting and suppliers are never happy with that. We had a lot of discussions.”

In some cases, it also meant having difficult conversations internally to ensure that standards were met. Some staff were asked to change their established job procedures to ensure these measurements and testing took place.

“The main thing was that we had to show people that they would benefit from the new approach. If they see it as something that has to be done just to please others, it will not work,” said Hans.

Mr Hilkes and the team have always had the support of senior management.

“One of the main drivers of success is the commitment from across the glass packaging business and the wider Ardagh Group to this initiative.”

Besides Hans and Ed who were responsible for the day to day cullet business, a larger group was formed consisting of experts on cullet and glass furnaces, drawn from different regions.

This group meets once a year and is a ‘think tank’ to debate and devise standardised group Continued>>

Company profile: Ardagh cullet

ALIGNED APPROACH In Germany the BV Glas association has aligned its approach with that of Ardagh. Its cullet specification and cullet recycler audit programmes are fully in line with the Ardagh approach. Supplier audits are conducted jointly by the glassmaking industry, which means that audit teams can exist of staff from different packaging companies.

Mr Hilkes would welcome the German approach being replicated all over the sector because it would benefit all.

“For me we are all in this together, not only Ardagh Group and its cullet suppliers but our competitors as well.”

RECYCLING RATES Hans is a firm believer that more needs to be done to improve recycling rates in Europe.

He believes there needs to be a standard best practice definition rather than a mixture of systems such as bottle banks and multi recycling facilities (MFR) in Europe.

“For example, a bottle bank gives a yield of 80-90%, while an MRF gives 50-60%.”

Initiatives should be taken to encourage consumers to recycle more by informing them on what is recyclable and where to dispose of it.

Inner city collection systems and community collection schemes should also be discussed.

Cullet database Mr Hilkes’ proudest achievement is the development of a comprehensive cullet database, which can be monitored and updated by staff at each of Ardagh Group’s plants.

The database comprises of detailed cullet data from each plant. It enables live trend monitoring of cullet quality on issues such as pollution and

� Above. The cullet colour chart has been placed in every plant in Ardagh’s European network.

� Mr Hilkes.

“The nice thing is that plant managers always used to complain about quality of cullet. Now they complain about

”

availability and that is because the quality has improved.

colour as well as a range of other factors. In 2018 alone there were 36,000 entries while 1.6 million tonnes of cullet were checked.

“An enormous amount of work went into it.

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approaches, with the objective of improving cullet quality.

Another result of the new approach has been the formation of cullet laboratories in each facility and the appointment of at least one cullet specialist in each plant.

“We had to demonstrate to suppliers and customers how committed we were to achieving our goals in this area, and now have established facilities in every plant,” said Mr Hilkes.

A colour chart to define each cullet colour type was also agreed by team members and has been placed in every plant.

The chart is referred to if there is a disagreement about a particular cullet colour.

10 Glass International February 2019

Company profile: Ardagh cullet

“We are now at the stage where we just update the system but there were a lot of elements that we had to tackle initially such as contaminants, specification, colour specification, pollution, grain size, everything.”

The database has helped to improve cullet quality internally while it has also helped suppliers filter out unwanted inorganics.

Customers A substantial part of Mr Hilkes’ role was to also explain to key customers about the new process.

“We explained how we work and highlighted the situation on cullet and quality and the challenges for the industry. We showed them an example of bad cullet and what impact it can have on the furnace and products.

“They appreciated our commitment and it helped to give them an understanding of the glassmaking process.”

The task force also focused on giving continued support to its plants and suppliers. The team shares essential information on a regular basis and data from cullet tests is sent to suppliers each week. A thorough internal cullet quality report is produced each month. Every quarter the team issues a cullet newsletter which details trends of cullet use within Ardagh Group, best and bad practices, as well as general information.

Mr Hilkes said: “I had never embarked on such a project before over such a long period of time. But you can only do something like this when have the support of the people behind you.”

Conference One of the supporting elements of the new approach was Ardagh Group’s Cullet Conference.

The concept has been a tremendous success and visitors to the conference have grown from 50 at

the initial event in 2011, to 88 in 2018.

It gives suppliers, the glassmaker and customers the opportunity to discuss the latest trends in the sector and to overcome any challenges. Last year, Ardagh Glass CEO, Johan Gorter, opened the conference, explaining the company’s view on sustainability.

“The conference was conceived to communicate to our suppliers that we, as Ardagh Group, want more than a standard supplier-customer relationship.

“We wanted to show them not only what we want to achieve, but also what we have to offer, and how we can work in partnership together to meet our goals.

“We seek cooperation in our mutual interests to drive continuous improvement and to achieve a win-win situation for all of us. We are in this together and therefore need each other.”

Its cullet approach is now well-established in Europe and the next step is to implement it in its US plants.

Work has already begun and there is a dedicated cullet specialist overseeing the project.

While the project is almost completed, Hans still has ideas on areas for improvement, such as the introduction of suction systems to remove organics from cullet. But for now, he is happy to oversee the new approach to cullet.

He states: “I guess you could say I have lived and breathed cullet for the past ten years. It has been an enjoyable time! There is nothing as nice as doing something new, with the possibility of creating lasting change.” �

*Supplier Quality Manager, Ardagh Group, Dongen, The Netherlands www.ardaghgroup.com

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Company profile: Gurallar Cam Ambalaj

GCA continues to grow Gurallar Cam Ambalaj General Manager, Mr Abdullah Gayret, discusses the growth of the Turkish glass bottle and jar manufacturer since its formation four years ago.

T

urkey’s Gurallar Cam Ambalaj (GCA) was only formed in 2015 but in four years it has established itself in the glass manufacturing industry. Production takes place at the Organised Industrial Zone in Kutahya, western Turkey where it has two furnaces and four production lines and employs 250 staff.

� Overview of the GCA factory in western Turkey.

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How many glass containers do you produce per year?

We produce between approximately 1 - 1.5 million glass bottles and glass jars per day. This figure is currently at a level we are pleased to see with our production capacity. With this being said, a potential increase in our production capacity is certainly among our long-term plans as we grow every year with our customers. We consider this as an inevitable result of progress and growth, therefore in the short and mid-term we are giving our attention and priority to our Research & Development & Engineering investments. For our company, there is considered to be no limits when it comes to quality standards and thus, we are continuously trying to improve our quality and products with the investments we make. Our group has as a philosophy and corporate mission to take the lead in all sectors we operate in and be favoured in the business world and by consumers as we adopt a pioneering role. As of now, we continue with our business partners by integrating modern technologies into our production processes and rapidly developing our design capabilities.

In your opinion what makes your company successful?

Gürallar Cam Ambalaj has been constantly making investments necessary for quality glass packaging manufacturing. From design to production and sales, our teams work to deliver customer satisfaction, high quality services and products to our customers.

13 Glass International December 2019

� Next page: GCA General Manager Mr. Abdullah Gayret The company has four forming lines GCA has two furnaces

Services are designed according to the needs of our customers. Gürallar Cam Ambalaj carries out a service innovation in its industry and assigns Customer Project Coordinators within its engineering teams to its customers. The Customer Project Coordinators are the main contact people for our customers and act as spokespersons within our company, bringing the ‘voice’ of our customers to all our corporate functions.

We, at GCA are aware of the significance of offering products in a healthy, high quality and eye-catching manner. GCA provides customers with the products to help this happen. From design to manufacturing, our teams do their best for customer satisfaction and our customers to receive high quality services and products.

Our manufacturing systems have been designed and certified in accordance with the BRC IoP Product Safety System. This certificate guarantees the products leaving the system are offered to business partners directly without any physical or chemical contamination.

Our entire glass packaging manufacturing processes are carried out and supervised in line with the ISO 9001 Quality Management System.

For the purposes of providing the values undertaken by GCA in the glass packaging manufacturing specifications various laboratory tests are undertaken. First a polariscope is used to verify the internal tensions measured in the automatic quality control equipment, then thermal shock resistance, vertical load strength, side impact strength, coat thickness, internal wall thickness distribution of the products are tested and measured in the automatic quality control machines as well as glass colour of the products using a spectrophotometer.

What is the present situation in the hollow glass market in Europe?

Turkey has a high potential in terms of resources

Company profile: Gurallar Cam Ambalaj

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used in the glass industry and its population growth. Therefore the Turkish glass industry has the opportunity to purchase a high proportion of its raw materials from domestic and convenient resources.

In this case, this may give glass packaging manufacturing companies a competitive advantage in terms of cost of production and quality of raw material. Turkish glass containers are trusted with their reliability and quality not only domestically but also in neighbouring countries.

The availability of resources and consumption enable the volume of the domestic market in Turkey to expand every year. Together with consumer awareness of glass packaging, demand is growing each year.

The glass packaging industry is an energysensitive business. Due to this the domestic fluctuation of exchange rates affects fuel and electricity prices, resulting in difficulties in cost supervision and business complexities.

If the glass packaging production at a European level is reviewed, the industry grew by 1% in volume (tonnes) and by 1% in unit terms in the first half of 2018 compared to the previous half year, according to data published in February by the European Container Glass Federation, (FEVE).

The growth is in line with the Year 2017 data recording a growth by 2% in weight terms and Continued>>

14 Glass International December 2019

Company profile: Gurallar Cam Ambalaj

2.3% in units and comparing favourably with the historical trend since 2012. Between 2012-2017, production increased by almost 1.7 million tonnes (8.3% increase) or 6.4 billion units (8.9% increase).

Generally, all food and beverage market segments experienced a demand growth for glass, and the outlook is positive for the upcoming years.

Due to media and political attention given to the marine littering issue all around the world, not only plastics but all packaging materials are obviously under the spotlight, and consumers are more attentive to the way products are packed.

In fact, this can drive product choice: the Friends of Glass research reveals that 73% of Europeans rate glass as the most ocean-friendly packaging, 78% rank it among top packaging choices when buying their food and beverage products, and 1 in 2 consumers say they use more glass than three years ago.

In Turkey, GCA is taking the lead in communicating the sustainability advantages of glass with its 100% and infinitely recyclable properties.

www.glass-international.com

Do you expect growth in sales in the coming years?

GCA is a company that provides service quality at a global level, which enables us to be a trustworthy supplier for international companies and countries. We currently carry out export operations in multiple countries and regions, particularly in the neighbouring region of the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

There is no doubt we always try to stay up-to-date with global trends in our industry and increase our market share in international markets.

For this purpose, we participate in several of the most important international food and beverage fairs and trade shows.

We are also using digital media intensively, which lets us reach our B2B target audience and increase our brand awareness in our target markets.

What are the other main trends in the hollow glass industry in Turkey?

Global trends are changing at an unstoppable pace in the world, which also applies for Turkey.

As Gürallar Cam Ambalaj, we always try to keep up to pace with the most updated consumer

15 Glass International December 2019

� It manufactures bottles and jars for the food and beverage industry.

“Today, how well we follow the trends determines the quality of services we provide to our customers who we consider as business

”

partners

and market trends. The change of tendencies is even faster in today’s age and the glass packaging industry is greatly affected by them. Today, how well we follow the trends determines the quality of services we provide to our customers who we consider as business partners.

A few of the latest consumer megatrends affecting as well the hollow glass industry in Turkey, would be considered ‘the emphasis on Healthy Living’, ‘premiumisation’, ‘Experience More’ and ‘Ethical Living’.

Glass packaging, which does not interact with any of the ingredients stored inside because of its high chemical resistance, ensures that the taste, smell and flavour of the food and beverage be kept unchanged for a long time.

Therefore glass packaging is preferred by those who care about a healthy life.

Premiumisation is another trend much observed in food and beverage categories.

There are more brands which launch either new product ranges with premium positioning in the market, or new sub-brands positioned under their masterbrands in several sub-segments in the food and beverage categories.

We see an interesting tendency in the bottled water category, with brand owners opting for glass bottles as packaging to position themselves in a more premium segmentation.

Consumers today are not only looking for daily consumption of consumer goods, but expect to get a higher value from their purchase. Thus, they demand brands to adjust their marketing and social responsibility activities accordingly.

Since 2017 we, as a glass packaging manufacturer company, are trying to communicate on behalf of sustainability aspect of glass which is 100% and endlessly recyclable to consumers in Turkey.

We support the Endless Ocean campaign in collaboration with FEVE and its communication channel Friends of Glass. A larger commitment to the concept of responsibility for the environment has a positive effect on the popularity of glass packaging thanks to its nature-friendly structure.

Has Industry 4.0 become a talking point in glassmaking in recent years?

Absolutely, it is a very important evolution for all industries, but for the heavy industry sectors such as glass manufacturing, Industry 4.0 is much more crucial.

It is increasingly a common topic when reflecting upon annual strategies. We have been working on this in order to decide on what next steps should be taken.

There are various projects being undertaken by our Technopark department where our engineers work on several projects relating to issues concerning Industry 4.0. �

Gurallar Cam Amballaj (GCA), Merkez Kutahya, Turkey www.gurallar.com

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Company profile: SGD Pharma Kipfenberg

SGD Pharma Kipfenberg completes maintenance masterplan � The SGD Pharma Kipfenberg plant in southern Germany.

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T

he past two years has seen a complete transformation of SGD Pharma’s Kipfenberg maintenance requirements.

The pharmaceutical glassmaker’s senior management wanted a new system that would update how maintenance was logged and archived at the southern Germany plant.

It tasked the plant’s Project Manager, Kevin Fiedler, with finding a system that would bring all its maintenance checks and systems together.

The system had to be one that employees could quickly understand, had to easily highlight the maintenance that was required and also be supported by exemplary customer service.

Just as importantly, the system had to also be accessible in several languages: German, English, French and Chinese.

17 Glass International December 2019

SGD Pharma Kipfenberg reviewed a number of prospects but, after a thorough consultation period, the group decided on the Ultimo software.

Mr Fiedler said: “Ultimo was the most flexible software which we checked. The support has been brilliant and it is very quick to find solutions to any issues.

“It has brought us many benefits but the largest has been in preventative maintenance. Ultimo tracks the machinery so we know when to take part in preventative maintenance and thus prevent machinery breakdown.”

How Ultimo works Every significant item of equipment in the plant was logged on to the software system. The equipment ranges from the vital components of

Company profile: SGD Pharma Kipfenberg

A software system used by SGD Pharma Kipfenberg has helped centralise its maintenance requirements.

The software allows employees to keep track of equipment maintenance and thus prevent machinery breakdown.

Greg Morris visited the German plant to speak to Project Manager, Kevin Fiedler.

an IS machine to everyday factory items such as plug sockets. When a piece of equipment breaks down, a member of the plant’s 250 staff will log it in the Ultimo system. The software then sends an email to the relevant maintenance staff members.

The plant’s maintenance team has five days to rectify the problem before reminder email is sent.

If, after 14 days, the problem has still not been repaired, an email is sent to senior management to take action.

“Over the course of a year there is an average of more than 6000 jobs reported in the plant. We can review all the jobs from each department and the jobs they had and solved. This ranges from the training department, general maintenance, health and safety, purchasing and the IS department,” said Mr Fiedler.

When a request is highlighted it means the maintenance team can act urgently, if required, to solve it. But Ultimo also keeps track of machinery and sends a notification email when equipment is due for a routine check.

So, for example, if an item of inspection machinery is due for maintenance, an email is sent to the inspection department to take action.

One benefit of its tracking expertise was highlighted during a series of small electrical cuts at the plant recently. The Ultimo system highlighted the cuts were taking place at around 6am every day. Although only lasting a few seconds they were enough to cause disruption to production.

Thanks to Ultimo, the team were able to highlight the problem to the electricity supplier and the patterns of disruption.

Since then there have been no further energy cuts.

� Kevin Fiedler, SGD Pharma Kipfenberg Project Manager.

SGD Pharma Kipfenberg’s maintenance team of 50 staff were at their busiest period at the time of Glass International’s visit. As required by German law, all the plant’s sockets, adaptors and computer monitors have to be checked. Ultimo reminds staff what needs to be checked and all the information is logged into to the system for future reference.

The team decided on Ultimo in December 2016 and set about preparing the plant for its use.

Mr Fiedler said: “The first step was to define the key points that had to be implemented. So we looked at the plant structure and gradually went down and down into each item that we use.

“When you look at the production hall and the production lines, there are a lot of devices that we use and that have to be changed from time to time.

There was a lot of information and a lot of detail.”

Continued>>

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Installation

18 Glass International December 2019

Company profile:

About SGD in Kipfenberg � SGD Pharma’s plant in Kipfenberg, Bavaria, Germany, manufacturers pharmaceutical bottles in infusion and injectable vials. � Today it produces two million bottles and vials a day from one furnace with four production lines. Its smallest bottle is 38mm high and weighs 11.7g while its largest bottle is 225mm high and weighs 372g. � The plant was founded in 1871 by local breweries and in the past has been owned

by Thuringian Glassmakers. In 1972 SaintGobain took over the plant and founded SGD, its pharmaceutical and perfumery division. It gained its first ISO 9001 certification in 1994. In 2002 it became a centre of excellence for Type II glass (special internal treatment). � Today it is ISO 15378, 14001, 50001 and BS OHSAS 18001 certified.

A More than 9000 items of plant equipment had to be logged on to the system, a process that was divided among 10 department heads.

Mr Fiedler said: “It was a big job but thanks to the staff professionalism we managed to finish it relatively quickly. It was clear in the beginning that they must put a lot of work into the software, but now they only have to check and distribute the work to staff. Every department can use mobile devices to do the ‘paperwork’ for their jobs.”

The depth that staff went into logging the equipment is impressive. An IS machine, for example, contains information about a swabbing robot, blow mould parts, valves, troughs, deflectors and blank moulds, among others. It is possible to delve even further into blow moulds to include plunger equipment and neck ring arms.

Photos were taken and logged of newer, more unfamiliar machines such as the swabbing robot.

It has proved particularly useful for trainees to help develop their industry knowledge.

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Digital glassmaking The software is also considered part of the Industry 4.0/digital glassmaking process currently popular in glassmaking. The software can connect to sensors installed at devices to gather real-time information about movement or temperatures.

The next step will to consider further digital solutions such as SIL and SharePoint to further collect and share data about plant operations.

At just the age of 32 Mr Fiedler is an industry veteran. He has worked in the industry since he was 16, in roles as varied as IS machine operator, department head of mould shop and responsible for furnace operations, junior furnace engineer and project engineer. He has always been interested in learning about glassmaking processes.

“To learn more about how a glass plant works I made the decision to join SGD Pharma in Kipfenberg. Here I report directly to the technical plant director and assist him in the planning works, make decisions, implement new technology and train employees.

19 Glass International December 2019

B � A. More than 9000 plant equipment items have been logged on Ultimo so far, including many from the IS machine.

� B. The plant has swabbing robots installed on three of its four production lines, with a fourth planned soon.

“I like to work for SGD Pharma. The company is innovative and does not stay still. Every day we improve our processes and people grow thanks to their tasks.”

Since Ultimo’s implementation in the plant in April 2017 the maintenance team of 54 staff have completed 12761 jobs, which equates to about 25 jobs a day during a five day week.

The plant regularly receives visits from customers as well as other glassmakers keen to discover more about the swabbing robot.

Talk usually turns to the Ultimo software and Mr Fiedler will find himself talking about the master plan to install the software.

He said: “I have been working on this project for three years – I feel like I know everything there is to know about this software!”

“I have spent 16 years in the industry and I have never worked with anything like it. I have no training in IT and this was completely new to me. I am completely happy with it. I know what is going on with maintenance and if there are any problems I can follow up. It gives me the bigger picture of the maintenance status of the plant.”�

SGD Pharma, Kipfenberg, Germany www.sgd-pharma.com

Furnaces

As part of its route towards carbon positive operations, Encirc has made substantial investments in its production and supply chain capabilities. Fiacre O’Donnell* outlines how others in the sector can employ cutting-edge innovations and new ways of thinking to help turn the tide against climate change.

Encirc: The power of positive production

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

A

lthough we are not even half way through the year, 2019 has already resulted in an unusually high number of headlines focusing on dramatic weather and unprecedented climate events. In the UK, for example, we experienced the warmest February ever recorded, with temperatures rising to above 20 degrees centigrade. Despite the unseasonably warm month giving many a chance to enjoy the outdoors, there was a strange feeling in the air that things weren’t quite as they should be.

At the time of writing, the news agenda is absolutely saturated with one political event which has divided the nation, causing widespread unrest and uncertainty. Hopefully, when this article is published, more will be known about the future direction of the country.

However, with so much discourse and

20 Glass International December 2019

Environment Furnaces

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media attention over the last three years focusing on Brexit, have we become distracted, losing focus on other, arguably more important issues such as global warming and our impact on it? The current political climate is unlikely to change at any point soon, but the actual climate is under constant threat.

Environmental responsibility is becoming more urgent by the day, with more people producing more pollution than ever before. According to research released in April 2019, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today is higher than it has been at any point in the past

three million years. To help ‘close the loop’ in our circular economy, many are pointing the finger at carbon-intensive industrial organisations, such as those in packaging production, calling for widespread operational change.

At Encirc, with more than three billion glass container products coming out of our factories every year, we know how important our role can be in the boosting the UK’s green credentials. Our longterm aspiration is to become the world’s most sustainable manufacturer and we’ve already had some fantastic success in reducing our environmental footprint.

This in turn has resulted in enormous benefits for us in terms of boosting our own industry reputation, company growth and overall efficiency.

Thanks to our annual survey, we know that our customers – much like ourselves – place sustainability at the top of their list of priorities. To help us meet their expectations, we make sure we’re constantly innovating and employing operational improvements across the business.

21 0 Glass International December 2019

Firing up sustainability The furnaces Encirc operates in Northern Ireland and Elton, UK are the beating heart of our operation. Our overall carbon emission levels and energy usage depend massively on their operational efficiency.

A more energy efficient furnace results in a more sustainable business, which is a key consideration when it comes to maintaining or rebuilding them.

Container glass furnaces typically have a life span of approximately 12 years, and we are in the process of rebuilding all four of ours as part of a multi-million pound investment by our parent company,

Vidrala.

As part of these modifications, the furnaces in Northern Ireland are being adapted to accept natural gas, which is the cleanest of all the fossil fuels. Our involvement in the Gas to the West Scheme has also meant that our site in Derrylin will benefit from a direct, reliable and a constant supply of natural gas. The £250 million scheme, which has extended Britain’s natural gas network into the west of Northern Ireland was championed by Encirc when it was first conceived and is now helping businesses across the country.

The new furnaces are securing our container glass making capabilities in Elton and Derrylin until 2030 and beyond, while also improving our operational and energy efficiency. In Elton, our record-breaking new furnace was opened in 2018 by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP. The industrial oven is now one of the largest glass container furnaces in the world and was built in record time. Its enhanced

power means we have been able to increase Elton’s melting capacity, while reducing the amount of CO2 produced by each container we make.

The full Elton project also saw a range of other equipment replaced and upgraded including the IS machines, new cold end inspection equipment and forehearths.

All furnace rebuilds have been carried out using the latest manufacturing technologies and processes. All in all, the new furnaces will be far more sustainable, and allow us to better minimise our impact on our environment.

On track for carbon reduction While the new furnaces are helping us boost our operational efficiency, the reopening of the railhead at Elton has been a groundbreaking development which is currently helping us scrub carbon out of our supply chain. Before it was Encirc, our site in Cheshire was an industrial power station which had a terminal connected to the rail network.

This provided us with an opportunity to invest in repairing existing infrastructure to create more sustainable transportation routes.

The railhead at Elton is now fully operational and is receiving recycled cullet all year round, helping us reduce our operational carbon emissions by more than 2,400 tonnes annually.

As well as cullet, the new railhead is enabling us to receive the majority of the sand and raw materials we need to make our products in a more sustainable way. By connecting to the network, we’ve considerably reduced our factory’s reliance on roads by around 6,600 HGV journeys every year.

By making use of our terminal, we can continue to make our customers’ and stakeholders’ supply chains more environmentally responsible by considerably reducing the carbon footprint of the containers we produce.

Shining a light on glass Our railhead is the perfect example of how we can also embrace past technologies to offer sustainable solutions for the future.

As manufacturers, especially in the glass industry, we should be championing this concept as we are an industry which uses a historic material with an unlimited potential.

Glass has been around for thousands of years, and it is highly unlikely to ever Continued>>

Furnaces

go anywhere. There are huge benefits for brands and consumers choosing glass. In terms of the levels of plastic in our oceans, and the public being more environmentally conscious, the glass industry needs to remain vigilant and more vocal in saying why it is the most sustainable packaging material.

According to the Plastic Rivers report from Earthwatch Europe and Plastic Oceans UK, plastic bottles are now the most prevalent and visible form of plastic pollution in European waterways.

Glass has the most powerful sustainability message of any packaging material. As anyone in the industry will tell you, it is infinitely recyclable and safe for the environment. As a sector on a path towards greater sustainability, we all need to reinforce the message around the power of glass, making it more visible and appealing to consumers. At the same time, the recyclability of the material is only useful if end-users take active steps to return their bottles. The more we help increase recycling levels of glass, the greener we can make our sector. The current recycling levels for glass across Europe remains at 74% according to the latest figures, and although this is great when compared to other materials, there

is clearly still room for improvement.

At Encirc, we work closely with industry bodies like Friends of Glass, British Glass and FEVE to help broadcast this message to wider audiences, including consumers and packaging specifiers. We are a proud member of the Glass Futures project, which is exploring how the glass industry can be more sustainable in the future in line with the Industry 2050 roadmap.

Our activity on social media (LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter), as well as articles such as this one, are a fundamental part

of this campaign. We all have to talk more about the issues affecting us as a collective sector, share our knowledge and showcase new solutions if we are to turn the tide in the fight against climate change.

For more information visit www.encirc360.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram (@Encirc). ďż˝

*Strategic Development Director, Encirc, Elton, UK www.encirc360.com

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22 Glass International December 2019

Electric Glass Fiber UK

Transformation of UK fibre glass plant Electric Glass Fiber UK was named company of the year at the 2018 British Glass Focus awards. The UK association highlighted the Nippon Electric Glass’s (NEG) subsidiary’s drive towards safety and its focus on staff engagement. Greg Morris spoke to NEG’s Steve Keeton and Phil Eccles.

www.glass-international.com

E

lectric Glass Fiber UK was named the British Glass company of the year during the recent Glass Focus awards.

The association highlighted the strides the Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) subsidiary had made in reporting safety issues as well as its continued focus on staff engagement.

Both Steve Keeton, the plant’s Operations Manager, and Phil Eccles, its EHS manager, were at the event when the announcement was made.

Mr Keeton said: “We were ecstatic. It was a complete surprise because you cannot enter the Company of the Year award, it is decided entirely by judges from within the glass industry.

“People within the industry have seen what the company has achieved and what we have been working on across the range so we were really proud.”

The award committee took the view that there had been a complete refocus at the company since its takeover by Japanese organisation Nippon Electric Glass in October 2016.

The plant had implemented a near miss reporting programme, called Hiyari Hatto (Japanese for Near Miss), throughout the site between 2016 and 2018.

While the facility had had a near miss reporting programme for years, the change in safety culture helped engage staff as well as educate them and reduce risks that could lead to an accident.

Mr Keeton said: “NEG is very focused on near miss. We had an expectation that everybody would participate in submitting Hiyari Hattos.

“Hiyari Hatto is a Japanese take on the near miss, it means people are fearful of an injury or of an incident.

“It could be a case of I saw an unsafe act, I identified an unsafe condition, or there was a true near miss that needed to be reported and

� The NEG site in Wigan, UK.

addressed.”

The company formed a system where anybody with access to a computer could enter a near miss.

Those without access to a computer could fill in a form. Each report was subsequently followed up.

On top of this, there were communications on noticeboards, monthly newsletters, digital signs and groups discussions to educate staff ahead of the launch. Everybody from contract workers to the Managing Director were encouraged to participate. All employees were challenged to submit one report a month.

The process reached its peak during the plant’s most successful furnace rebuild ever, particularly in terms of safety, last summer.

Only a handful of minor first aid cases were reported during the two-month project, which involved demolition of an old furnace and construction of a new one.

The project involved 84,000 man hours of work with a host of people from both NEG and its contractors on site. Despite this, there were only six reported first aid cases.

Workers were given an induction programme which highlighted the importance of safety before going on site.

Workers included a variety of contractors from different disciplines who had not worked together before. Some were there only for a day while others were there for the entire duration of the project.

Everyone was told about the importance of near misses and safety. Those who were caught too

23 Glass International December 2019

NEG company profile.indd 1

17/12/2019 09:54:20

� The NEG UK team at the Glass Focus, left to right:

many times were sent off site.

Mr Eccles said: “There was a heightened importance of safety on site and everybody came together to make it a success.

“To have six minor first aid cases for 84,000 man hours is classed as a major success and is well below the average for a construction site.”

The process has helped educate staff about the importance of reporting and how it can reduce the risk of accidents.

Before, there was an apathy in not reporting near misses. But as part of the education process staff were encouraged to think about the consequences and the possibility of staff injury.

While the near miss philosophy had been on site for some time it became a real focus after 2016.

Mr Eccles said: “There’s been a perception that a lot of near misses can mean that the workplace is unsafe. However, we consider that all reported near misses are opportunities to continuously improve.

“The philosophy of the education process is to

• Brian Stewart (Managing Director), • Phil Eccles (EHS Manager), • Steve Leach (Technical Manager), • Steve Keeton (Operations Manager), • Rob Beesley (IT Manager), • Sally Blades (HR Manager), • Dave Dalton (Chief Executive, British Glass).

report near misses today and prevent an accident tomorrow. We’d rather have a large number of near misses that we can do something about rather than dealing with an incident investigation report after somebody has been injured.”

Mr Keeton added: “It’s all about education. We want people to understand their environment and the risks they’re exposing themselves to, and what they can do to make it better for themselves and their colleagues.”

It was during this period that the topic of safety and of people engagement began to overlap.

Staff began to increasingly take more responsibility of their environment, their colleagues and of themselves.

It led to a breakdown of barriers between staff and management with an acceptance that everyone needs to work together to make the business more successful.

Mr Keeton said: “What we’re trying to do as a business is help to drive engagement and acceptance of new ideas. That’s been a big driver in people reporting things, accepting reports and Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

Nippon Electric Glass Fibre UK

24 Glass International December 2019

NEG company profile.indd 2

17/12/2019 09:54:23

Nippon Electric Glass Fibre UK

ABOUT NIPPON ELECTRIC GLASS (NEG) control processes. Such was its success that 14 of the staff are still with the group in more senior roles and with more responsibility.

Mr Keeton said: “It’s been a good measure of success for us because all of those jobs would have been available externally with a larger cost to us to train people to bring them up to speed.

“Now we have people on the shop floor who weren’t in the development group asking for beginning to trust us more so they don’t believe education and when the next opportunity will be. we’re going to frivolously dismiss their colleagues � Glass fibre composites in Where before we pushed education, there is now a if they’re found without glasses, for example. automotive use. pull from them. Staff want to be involved and be a “We’re not at the end but we’re certainly part part of it.” way through the transformation.”

The facility won the NEG President’s Award The company launched a training programme thanks to cost efficiency and harmonious UK, for its staff to help strengthen the business US and Japanese relationships in the successful through its people. The selection process for rebuild project. the programme was similar to a job interview.

To help celebrate management organised a trip Applicants had to respond to a job advert, while to Haydock Races for those who had made an extra the interview process included a personality effort during the rebuild. profile, psychometric testing and an interview Mr Keeton said: “That was our way of telling with senior management. The initial idea people we recognise your efforts, we recognise was to select 10 staff for the programme GLASS FOCUS AWARDS you’re getting more engaged with us and that but such was the level of interest that 15 in turn feeds more engagement.” were taken on.

Both the President’s Award and the Glass The Glass Focus awards celebrate the best Some were attuned for leadership Focus award now sit pride of place in the of British glassmaking and highlights while others were more suited to facility’s display cabinet and are there for the achievements of the sector in seven categories. technical roles. all to see.

Among the categories are sustainable practice, The plant spent £100,000 on the He said: “It’s great to show our Japanese health and safety in action, innovative solutions programme and set up a training guests and visitors and it highlights what and strengthening business through people. room specifically for the purpose. a good year it has been for us!” � This year’s event takes place on Training included demonstrations Nippon Electric Glass, Wigan, UK on flow and speed control together Thursday November 21 in Sheffield, UK. www.neg.co.jp/en/ with how to manually and automatically

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There is every possibility you have used an NEG item of glass at some point. Its glass products are widely used in the consumer and industrial sectors. While its most popular applications are wind turbine blades and in automotive use, its applications are varied. Its glass is found in products such as body boards, building materials, glass for lighting and cooking appliance top plates. It is also used in electronics and in IT as a substrate for LCDs and OLED displays as well as a substrate for solar cells.

25 Glass International December 2019

NEG company profile.indd 3

17/12/2019 09:54:27

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Company profile: Arglass Yamamura

An insight into the world’s latest glass plant � Groundbreaking has begun with the clearing and grading of the plot. The plot could eventually accommodate two furnaces.

� Entry perspective.

� Aerial perspective.

Arglass Yamamura is to construct a $123 million container glassmaking site in Georgia, USA. The joint US-Japanese venture said it will be the most advanced facility in the world.

Greg Morris spoke to its CEO, Jose de Diego Arozamena.

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C

onstruction work on a $123 million glass container plant in Georgia, USA has started – nearly five years after it was first proposed.

The plant will serve the US bottle packaging markets as well as reduce the number of imports from China.

Arglass Yamamura is a joint venture between New York investment firm Cambium and Japanese glass manufacturer, Nihon Yamamura.

The facility will do business under the name Arglass Southeast.

The man behind the idea is container glass industry veteran Mr Jose de Diego Arozamena.

Mr. Arozamena has experience in the Mexican glass segment and sits on the board of European container glassmaker Verallia. He will serve as CEO of the joint venture and subsidiary.

27 Glass International December 2019

He said it had been a long road to get to this stage.

“We’ve been working on this project for nearly five years and it has been a rollercoaster. It is not easy to find the right financial support for an industrial greenfield company. There’s been a lot of starts and stops along the way and the competition has put as many roadblocks as possible to make life difficult.

“We were about to close last year with a company but were unable to. We’ve had to persevere to get to where we are now.”

Start up Site work on the plant in Valdosta has already began with the furnace start-up set for the end of next year. The Lowndes County plant should be

Company profile: Arglass Yamamura

Digital glassmaking According to Mr Arozamena it will be the world’s most modern glass plant which will include the latest technology for digital glassmaking.

“We are not entering the industry to build yesterday’s plants, we have to be ahead of the curve.

“It is a lot easier to add this new technology into a greenfield start up rather than existing plants with an existing workforce and the like. We have the luxury of starting fresh and our goal is to build a plant for the next 20 years rather than the last 20 years.”

The plant will include equipment from ‘top of the line suppliers’ and proven glassmaking technology. It will apply a layer of high technology above proven day to day equipment.

This new technology will help the business to offer enhanced flexibility, a key company tenet.

“The glass industry in general needs to be able to react to changes in consumer demand and that means a lot more flexibility than we have been used to traditionally.

“The younger generation is used to having new things all the time and glass has to respond to that consumer demand in order to stay as an attractive packaging material.

“Our goal is flexibility. Traditionally flexibility

has meant at a high cost or an inefficient operation, so our goal is to strike the best balance between flexibility and efficiency.”

A key industry talking point is sustainability and Mr Arozamena highlighted that ‘green’ technology will be in use at the plant as well as closed loop water systems for example.

Disruptor

“We are not entering the industry to build yesterday’s plants, we have to be ahead of

”

the curve

Arglass sees the US as a market ripe for disruption after a wave of industry consolation. According to its website, there are currently 41 glass container manufacturing facilities operating in the United States, down from 120 plants in the early 1980s.

The three largest players own 35 of the 41 plants and control, as measured by the number of units sold, more than 90% of the US glass container market.

Its website states: “Incumbents have filled their plants with products that allow for long-run productions (i.e: beer), focusing on utilisation above all else, leaving customer needs such as emergency batches, shorter runs and customised products, unattended.”

As a result, customers have to rely on imports. In 2018, imported glass containers represented more than $1.6 billion, the company said and imports from China have grown at an annualised rate of 15.7% per year, it added.

Mr Arozamena praised state and county officials for their help in the site-selection process.

“They have stuck with us over the past four and half years. They have been crucial helping us to get to where we are, without the support of the local authorities and the continued support of very important customers we would not be here.”

Mr Arozamena grew up in the glass industry thanks to his grandfather, who formed several glass plants in Mexico as well as one in New York.

He has been involved in the formation of several greenfield plants - in glass and other industries – but said the process of building this plant had been a rollercoaster.

“Obviously nobody is going to invest in a plant that does not have customers so our first task was to secure a customer base.

“So as far as the rollercoaster it has been fending off these actions to block our entry to the market and it is where customer support has been critical.

“On the investor side a greenfield start-up always gives pause to investors. It has been testing and trying at times but we’ve persevered and now the real work starts to get the plant built and operational.

“The good thing over the past four and half years is we have had a lot of time to make sure we had all the technology right and everything in place to build a successful plant.” �

Arglass, Georgia, USA www.arglass.us

www.glass-international.com

fully operational by the first quarter of 2021.

The furnace will have a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year, equivalent to 265,000,000 units per year.

According to a financial filing from Nihon Yamamura, the Japanese company will put up 75% of the investment for the new venture, with the remainder coming from Cambium. It is the first time the more than 100-year-old Japanese manufacturer has ventured into the North American market. The company offers more than 1000 bottle varieties and has a 40% share of the Japanese domestic market. In recent years it has increased its global exposure and diversified away from its current supply bases in Japan, China and Southeast Asia.

Mr Arozamena said that Nihon Yamamura shared the same philosophy about glassmaking as Arglass.

He said: “We are lucky to have found Yamamura, who responded quickly and are fantastic to work with.

“It is an experienced company and has a philosophy of being flexible and agile, because that is what is required in the Japanese market.

“It produces high quality products day in day out for its customers. That agility and flexibility was very much in line with our goal because we’re not creating just another glass branch, we are putting in best in class technology.”

Nihon Yamamura also has a background in Industry 4.0 and the plant will include investments in modern machinery, automation and AI.

28 Glass International December 2019

Company profile: Gallo Glass

Gallo Glass embraces the latest digital technology � Main picture: The plant in California. � Overleaf: Some Gallo Glass bottles and company founders Ernest and Jullio Gallo.

California-based winemaker and glassmaker Gallo Glass has recently completed a capacity expansion and modernisation. Its revamped furnace three has � the latest environmentally friendly technology while its forming and inspection equipment rely on digital technology. Technology innovations have run through the history of the company, Vice President John Gallo tells Greg Morris. www.glass-international.com

John Gallo.

I

nnovation runs through the veins of Gallo Glass. Gallo Glass has invested in the future of glassmaking, just as it did when it was formed more than 60 years ago The Modesto, California-based winemaker and glassmaker has recently completed an expansion and modernisation of its Furnace Three operation.

The investment included a new energy efficient furnace, triple gob wine bottle forming machines and the latest inspection machinery. The technology will allow the glass plant to increase production by 20% to its current 500,000 tonnes per year capacity. The plant will maintain the same overall footprint and help towards meeting the

29 Glass International December 2019

State’s climate change goals.

Similar to how the glassmaking arm of the company originated in 1958, the investment was based on moving the company forward and ahead of its rivals in what is a competitive businessas China imports into California.

Back in 1958, company founders Ernest and Julio Gallo invented a glass colour called Flavor Guard.

Today it is an industry-wide colour commonly known as reduced champagne green.

The Gallo innovation was the first type of reduced champagne green in the industry and was used to help stop UV light spoiling sweet wines.

Today, company Vice President John Gallo is the

Company profile: Gallo Glass

� Triple Gob IS machine.

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

third generation of the family to run the business and that thread of innovation still remains integral to the company.

“This expansion today is very similar to how we got into the business in 1958. We were looking for a cost competitive advantage, as well as an innovation which is important to us.

“We started on a a continual innovation and that has run through the company to the present day.”

Over the years Gallo Glass has been at the forefront in new technology, both in regards to efficiency and to sustainability. One of its most notable moves in recent years was the introduction of oxy-fuel technology back in the 1990s. This reduced NOx by 80%, the equivalent of taking 97,000 cars off the road.

“My father was big on sustainability and he was the one who got our glass plant into oxy-fired furnaces, which were the first in the world.

“That environmental trait started with him. It was one of my father’s many contributions and it was a big innovative step for us.

“Before then we had all conventional-fired furnaces and to take this jump into oxy-fired furnaces with Praxair and Corning was a big step.

But he had a long term environmental view.” That was particualrly relevant California which has particularly stringent environmental standards.

The recent expansion is similarly pioneering.

It involved the introduction of high-tech, digital glassmaking technology. The triple gob forming machines used for wine bottles are the only ones in the United States as far as Mr Gallo is aware.

The six month project began in September 2018 and involved more than 250 trade workers at its peak. The expansion will create 30 jobs within the glass plant. German engineering company Sorg supplied an oxygen-fired furnace while technology partner Bucher Emhart Glass supplied servo NIS forming machines and inspection machinery.

This forming and inspection equipment brings the hot and cold end under one roof using Emhart’s closed loop technology and, using its Scout equipment, means the hot and cold end can communicate with each other.

The relationship with Emhart began when Gallo Glass was formed. The Swiss technology group supplied a six-section IS machine and was instrumental in developing the plant. Today a Technical Assistance Agreement is in place between the two organisations. Gallo Glass staff regulary attend Emhart’s R&D centre in Connecticut, USA for training, while Emhart provides operational and best practice support.

Mr Gallo said: “We’ve tied our future strategy in terms of technology to Emhart, we think they have the right vision going forward, they’re investing in the right way and we want to support that by buying their equipment, by building technical assistance agreements with them, and to do training, operating support and development with them.”

In Mr Gallo’s words the development expansion has the ‘full suite’ of technology and sensors from Emhart. Each of the lines has its robots, each has the Symplex gob image which takes pics of the gob, the blank radar, which takes pics of the loading into the blank and the FlexRadar which takes infra red imagery.

Gallo Glass is also a committed member of the International Partners in Research organisation, based in Aachen, Germany. Alongside fellow glassmakers, Fevisa, Nihon Yamamura Glass, Orora, Sisecam, Vetropack, Vidrala and Wiegand-

30

Company profile: Gallo Glass

Glas, as well as Emhart, the organisation strives to increase the competitiveness of the glass industry by sharing research in a non-competitive environment.

“We have always been very open over the years and have built relationships with organisations such as the IPGR, FEVE and the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI). They are very reciprocal and working with these organisations has been very beneficial.”

It was this openness and willingness to share information, as well as its advances in oxy-fuel technology that persuaded the Phoenix Award committee of glass technology suppliers to recognise Mr Gallo as its Glass Person of the Year in 2008. The committee said the company had a focus on continual improvement in the technology of glass making and sustainability.

FAST FACTS �

4 natural gas oxygen fired furnaces.

�

14 individual section forming lines.

�

5 colours available - Eco Flint, Antique, Dead Leaf Champagne Green and California Flint.

�

Each Gallo Glass bottle contains up to 50% recycled glass.

�

California’s largest single site user of recycled glass.

�

Gallo Glass recycles and reuses 93% of its process water daily.

www.glass-international.com

Environment The environment was a focus when the new equipment was installed. California plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, which is only one furnace lifetime away.

The new furnace commissioned at the plant has been pre-engineered to install Praxair’s waste heat recovery system to help achieve higher targets. The new technology can further reduce furnace energy demand and CO2 emissions.

All of Gallo Glass’ wine bottles produced are sold within California. About 80% will be used by Gallo’s own winery and the remainder sold to the more than 4200 wine makers in the state.

The new capacity will give California’s wineries the option to buy locally produced bottles direct.

Gallo can typically supply glass within two weeks of order placement and deliver just in time for filling at the customer.

Gallo Glass has noticed the trend in the growth of boutique wineries. The premium wine segment is growing by 4-8% a year and Gallo’s premium customers are increasingly asking for faster service and more flexibility.

The Emhart NIS servo machines can run multiple bottles on the same line. This provides customers with increased marketing options to customise bottles at a lower upfront mould cost and enable shorter production orders.

Mr Gallo himself has spent a lifetime surrounded by glass. As a child he remembers joining his father on Sunday visits to the glass plant and to its nearby company-owned limestone mine. It was during these visits that he gained an interest in glass, an interest which has lasted all his life.

“Growing up with glass was a major part of my life. It was during these trips that I started to develop an interest in it and became fascinated by how glass was made.”

He admits though that when he was young, conversation around the family dinner table would invariably turn to wine and the winemaking business rather than glass!

31 Glass International December 2019

After leaving college he worked in the winery and gained an understanding of a customer’s perspective and the importance of glass from a customer side. Then, after 20 years, he moved to glassmaking in the mid 1990s. He had spotted opportunities in sustainability and in bulk glass and wanted to pursue them.

The company then pursued a policy of lightweighting its wine bottles. The bottles had traditionally been very heavy but the group managed to reduce its standard bottles by 20% and its premium wines by 10%. At the time they were the lightest in the Californian wine industry.

Mr Gallo estimates that approximately 35 million cases of wine have been lightweighted which when transportation is also taken into account, has made a significant contribution in its sustainability efforts. He has also overseen the conversion to bulk glass. Over the course of 10 years the group converted the majority of its 18 lines to bulk glass.

One of the most satisfying aspects of his career has been witnessing the switch of glassmaking from a largely manual process to a technological one.

“We have seen people adapt and use the new technology. Through innovation we have seen the glass process evolve and change and bring in a new generation of glassmakers. It has gone from more physical work such as swabbing to a more servo driven, precision process, which uses data to work smarter and to prevent defects.

“We’ve seen seen our team members go from the more traditional method of making bottles to a new generation who utilise the technology.”

“Our technology platform is set up for future closed-loop functionality and automation to attract the next generation of glass employees.” �

Gallo Glass, Modesto, California, USA www.galloglass.com

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Company profile: Embalvidro

Angolan container glass plant Embalvidro lights furnace

The world’s latest greenfield container glass plant, built by Angolan group Embalvidro, held its furnace lighting ceremony late in October and produced its first glass in the middle of November.

Greg Morris spoke to company Director Antonio Ruivo.

www.glass-international.com

A

greenfield container glass plant in Angola will help supply the African nation’s glass bottle needs as well as those of surrounding countries.

The furnace lighting ceremony for the Embalvidro glass plant took place in late October with the first bottles set for production around the middle of November.

The glass plant will primarily supply beer bottles in green emerald and amber colour to begin with.

Early next year, it will then also add flint glass to its portfolio and begin to manufacture soft drinks bottles.

The site is equipped with Western technology.

The batch plant has been supplied by German engineering group EME, while its sister company Sorg has provided the 180t/day furnace. The furnace is connected to three 10-section, double gob IS machines from Bucher Emhart Glass, while the annealing lehr and cullet return system is from Portugal’s Vidromecanica. Its compatriot, Icebel, has supplied the production and palletising equipment. French organisation Tiama has supplied the inspection machinery while fellow French group Thimon has supplied the shrink wrapping equipment.

33 Glass International December 2019

� The constructed plant is on the outskirts of the capital Luanda.

For its Director, Antonio Ruivo, the beginning of production marks the culmination of a three-year planning, procurement and construction period.

“The construction of a greenfield glass plant does not happen every day in the industry so I feel really proud to have led and worked with this team.”

There has been a willingness to build a second container glass plant in Angola for a long time.

A group of investors led by Isabel dos Santos, daughter of ex-President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, decided to go ahead. The country already has one container glass plant - Vidrul, owned by the French beverage group Castel - but it is operating at full capacity.

Three years ago Ms dos Santos decided to proceed with the glass plant and appointed Mr Ruivo to lead the team.

Mr Ruivo is an industry veteran and in his 28 years in the sector has worked with BA Glass in his native Portugal as well as in Spain, and has worked with MEG in Egypt.

He had never worked in sub-Saharan Africa before but when the offer he jumped at the chance.

“An opportunity such as this may not come around again so I accepted it. For a glassmaker

� The site contains space for a proposed phase 2 and a

like myself it has always been a dream to work on such a project. In the past, I have always had it in my imagination how a glass plant should look like, so now I have achieved my dream.

“It has been tiring but it is also beautiful. I have worked with a really good team who have supported one another so it has been nice.”

The past three years haven’t all been straightforward. The first year was spent planning the glass plant and then securing procurement of all the relevant equipment. Construction started in July 2017 and has taken two years, which Mr Ruivo accepts is a long time.

“It is not rapid, but this is Africa and it is what it is.”

On top of that, the Angolan economy has been stifled in recent years. After years of growth in the early 2000s, low oil prices meant that Angolan GDP shrank by 1.8% in 2018, with inflation at 17.2% in July 2019.

It means Embalvidro may have to export more glass at first while it rides out the domestic economic crisis.

Continued>>

But Mr Ruivo is confident that once the economy picks up, domestic glass consumption will increase and the group will grow. Such is its confidence that it already has plans to expand the site with a second, 260t/day furnace with four lines earmarked.

For now, Mr Ruivo will focus on the task of training the local workforce. The glassmaking facility is based on a 15-acre site in a special economic industrial zone on the outskirts of capital Luanda and will employ 200 people. A total of 26 staff are expats from Portugal and India while the remainder are locals. Embalvidro provided 26,0000 hours of training to the locals in their first year alone and this will continue intensely as production is ramped up to eventually include two job changes a day.

www.glass-international.com

second furnace.

34 Glass International December 2019

“My dream is for a European glass company to one day hire these local engineers then I know my work is done!”

Mr Ruivo said: “It’s good to see local people start learning. It’s not always easy to find the good guys but once you find them you believe in them because they really want to learn.

“My dream is for a European glass company to one day hire these local engineers – then I know my work is done!”

While Mr Ruivo is an experienced glass engineer he says he has learnt a lot by spending the last three years living in Angola. The transition has been easier as Angola’s national language is Portuguese and much of the food and culture is the same.

But while the majority of life is spent either at the glass plant, in the company’s office in downtown Luanda or at home in a gated compound, it is impossible to ignore the poverty faced by the Angolan people.

“The quality of life is very different for the people here. You see people on the streets and families with nothing. People are really struggling and you see hardship every day.”

Local conditions are reflected in the type of glassmaking equipment that has been procured for the plant. While many glassmakers are keen to promote their latest, state-of-the-art, Industry 4.0-compatible technology, much of the equipment is more standard than this.

“All the technology I have in the plant must not be state-of- the-art, otherwise I’m going to fail,

it will never work. The idea behind it is to have standard well proven equipment that is reliable.

“You have to adapt to local conditions here otherwise the glass plant will become a white elephant. It’s a challenge within a challenge.”

Angola has vast reserves of gas but no pipeline to transport it to the capital. As a result the furnace will run on heavy oil to begin with but has the capability to be converted to natural gas if need be.

The company has invested in some digital software though. Its Tiama inspection equipment is equipped with its IQ analysis software. Mr Ruivo has also appointed a Portuguese software group, Primavera, to integrate all the company data.

Although Phase 1 of the Embalvidro project is about to come to an end, Mr Ruivo has no regrets about making the transition to Angola and has enjoyed his time leading the team.

“We have all established a close relationship with one another. The glassmaking process is still dependent on operators and being part of a team.

You have software today but you still depend on operators and their skill. I know the names of 90% of people here and at weekend we do things together. This makes a huge difference. We feel we are all part of the glassmaking team.” �

Embalvidro, Luanda, Angola www.embalvidro.com

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