People profi le: Günther Mlynar/Zippe

Zippe says goodbye to Günther Mlynar

Zippe’s Chief Technology Officer Günther Mlynar is saying goodbye after a 31-year association with the batch plant specialist. Glass International spoke to him ahead of his retirement.

1. How are you feeling about your forthcoming retirement? What do you plan to do in retirement? Well, after so many years working for company ZIPPE and – certainly – after more than 40 years in employment, naturally it is not so easy to see oneself retiring.

On the other side I am certainly looking forward to spending more time with my wife, my family and to have time for oneself. I have several hobbies and I am mainly looking forward to travelling more.

2. What is your overall feeling of leaving Zippe? It was nice to having contributed a bit to the success of the company and in the end to the glass industry overall.

In this connection I would like to give special thanks to the Zippe-family, who I got to know and worked with for over three generations and who have supported me all the time. Our cooperation has always been fair and loyal. However, I must not forget the many employees and colleagues of mine – without them and their engagement and cooperation this success would not have been possible. I do not worry about the future of company Zippe. There is a young, engaged and competent team that has grown up in the meantime.

3. How long have you worked at the company for? What are some of the highlights of your time at the company? I started in 1990 as a young engineer in the sale department. There we designed and calculated the plants and discussed solutions with the customers. It was a nice time. I learnt a lot from and with the customers about the glass industry.

In the year 2000 the head of the projecting department retired and I became his successor. I had to lead a young, experienced team of engineers. I travelled a lot visiting customers. Later in 2005 I became General Manager responsible for Technology & Sales. And in 2016 I was appointed to be the CTO!

There have been many highlights. I enjoyed always visiting customers and travelling in many countries. There were always exciting projects for me – modernisations and modifications during

“It was nice to having contributed a bit to the success of the company and in the end to the glass industry overall”

production were always a challenge. One of the most interesting projects was in 1996 when we received three big orders for Float Glass Plants at the same time from a large Float Glass Producer.

4. Is there something you are most proud of achieving during your time at Zippe? We found special customers with whom we still have a very close and successful relationship. These are for example Guardian Glass, Bangkok Glass, Siam Glass, O-I, Saint-Gobain and Verallia and Wiegand-Glas here in Germany.

New equipment which we developed is for example the Vibrotube Charger, Heat Recovery Systems and Preheaters. Moreover we did a lot of advancements and ongoing developments in Batch and Cullet Plant Technology – more reliability, dust-reduction and health care and safety. In these fi eld we have been active during the last decades.

5. What are your thoughts about the overall glass industry itself and the people you have met over the years? The glass industry is a relatively small branch of business with high potential, clever minds and many good ideas. Glass is a fantastic material the potential of which is still very big.

Who would have thought of LED-lamps, display glass, optical glass fi bres, TFT-glass many years ago? Glass is a material which we meet in our lives every day in different facets. All people who I meet in the glass industry have always been enthusiastic about this material and the possibilities it offers.

6. Do you have any suggestions for how the glass industry should go forward in forthcoming years? There are new upcoming challenges in the next decades, especially in the glass production.

CO2-neutral production, fl exible production on demand, high recycling rates and raw material consumption.

7. How do you plan to celebrate your last days at Zippe? Quiet and thankful. It was always exciting and a pleasure to work for the glass industry with the Zippe-team and with the customers.

Thanks again to the Zippe-family and their confi dence. �