Glasstec review

Glasstec 2022 review…

Glass International spoke to exhibitors for their thoughts on the show as well as common talking points among the 30,000 visitors in attendance.

The Glasstec trade show included a total of 936 exhibitor companies which were focused on all aspects of glass production.

The main talking points included decarbonisation, supply chain issues and the energy crisis. However, most exhibitors reported that glass was still very much in demand, with several companies having some of their most profitable years to date.

The overall feedback for the show was positive, with many stating that the quality of conversations had been excellent despite there being less visitors than previous years. There were also 25% less stands than in 2018, although exhibitors said the show felt just a busy as last time.

HFT

Sam Leaper, HFT’s Director of Glass Business Development, described the show as ‘excellent’ and said while the volume of visitors felt lower than previous years, the quality of visitors and conversations were excellent and well received.

“Most of the groups we spoke to had specific projects or investments in various stages of maturity that they wanted to discuss.”

Common conversations included investment in new facilities, major expansions or reconfigurations to existing furnaces, and production lines to meet glass demand. Emerging markets were also a prevalent theme.

Escalating energy costs was a common thread through the week, which led into breakout conversations as to how HFT could support long-term sustainability through its furnace designs, use of alternative energies and heat recovery system, as well as furnace and production line optimisation.

The company is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and marked the occasion at Glasstec with many of its clients who had made this accomplishment possible.

Nikolaus Sorg

Hartmut Hegeler, Sorg Consultant, said that the show had been ‘surprisingly good’ with clients from Mexico and further afield attending the stand.

“We’ve had a lot of detailed and technical discussions about construction, design possibilities and the main domain that’s being discussed all over, not only here, is the environment and emissions.”

Sorg’s current ‘Mission’ campaign focuses on the sustainable melting technologies of the future, to help the industry produce net zero glass on a largescale.

To help this mission, Sorg has created a hybrid furnace which it exhibited at the show. The furnace uses 80% of electricity and 20% of fossil heating – with a capacity of up to 400-500 tonnes of glass per day.

Dr-Ing Hegeler believed this capacity would be much higher once all furnaces shared the same electric concepts, as they could then be converted more easily.

The new hybrid melter can also melt reduced glasses, like amber glass, which is has previously proven difficult due to the amount of energy required to melt the glass.

“For industrial style production, we cannot do this because you have to produce too much energy to stabilise the process. So, it’s not possible. But with the

� Sebastian Hecht (middle) described the energy crisis as the main topic Horn Glass had to answer.

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� Dr-Ing Hartmut Hegeler said the Sorg was on the way to having a solution to hit net zero emissions by 2050.

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Antonio Hernandez (right) and

� Andrea dalla Pria of BDF Industries.

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Angus Farquhar (left) said everything from the furnace to the lehr had come up in discussions

� with Grenzebach clients.

hybrid furnace you can do this.”

Dr-Ing Hegeler also mentioned clients were interested in full-electric furnaces, which produce up to 1000 tonnes of glass per day.

On the energy crisis, he said: “The energy problem we have is all over this country. And from my experience here [at Glasstec], other customers have this problem. We know this problem. But in the end, it’s difficult for us to help because we have no solution.

“We have no gas storage or something like this. We have and can supply emergency systems like LPG systems, like heavy oil heating of furnaces. We have done in the past, many times, but now nobody wants to have this.”

Dr-Ing Hegeler also said the company was ‘on the way’ to having a solution to hit net zero emissions by 2050. For example, by using green hydrogen in its hybrid melter and reducing the amount of carbonates in natural raw materials.

He said that customers would also have to start evaluating what was possible for their products, as well as their raw materials and sites. For example, electric furnaces often need to be modified due to the amount of energy needed for the power supply.

“Very often [customers] are limited on the site, and we cannot install a complete, new furnace because the building is around [the furnace] - electric furnaces need a little bit more height.” (Pic 1)

Horn Glass

Sebastian Hecht, Sales Representative at Horn Glass, said that their stand had been occupied nearly every day, with customers from around the globe wanting to followup on new projects, new plants and new furnaces.

Mr Hecht said Horn had projects in North and South America, Africa, Europe (including Germany) as well as recently entering the Australian market.

“We try to be everywhere. […] Our company is based here in Germany, but we have representatives all over the world in Brazil, Malaysia and China.”

Mr Hecht described the energy crisis as the main topic the company had to answer, alongside delivery times from its suppliers.

Despite the crisis, Mr Hecht said demand had remained almost the same as the year before, although inquiries were more hybrid-focused than fully electric. For example, there was an interest in using gas with boosting or electricity.

“[Energy] is the issue which we have to face within the next few years.”

The company felt it was prepared due to its recent acquisition of the Melting Technology Division of JSJ Jodeit in 2021.

The investment was to expand the company’s competences in the field of electrically heated and gas-oxygen heated melting plants for technical and speciality glasses. This is to ultimately provide energy-saving and low-emission melting technologies for the industry.

“We are confident with them, so we can react on this [energy] issue for sure.”

However, Mr Hetch believed it was too early to say whether the industry could reach net zero emissions by 2050: “It is really hard to say. Nobody knows the future.” (Pic 2)

TECO

Karen Thompson, Marketing Manager at Toledo Engineering Co (TECO), said that the company had discussed the lack of raw materials, parts and energy with many of its customers.

However, despite the energy crisis, the company had never been busier. Ms Thompson said this was partially due to the Covid backlog, with customers now having to schedule furnace repairs two years in advance.

“Everyone wants to talk about business, we need double the people [on the stand]!”

Some customers were looking at the de-commissioning, or re-commissioning of furnaces, but Ms Thompson said this would take years – if the average furnace lifespan is expected to be 15-20 years.

She said it was hard to say whether clients should go the environmental route (with electrification) or the pricesavvy rout with electricity being so expensive.

Bucher Emhart Glass

Enrico Pirotto, Sales Account Manager at Bucher Emhart Glass, said that they had customers from all over the world visiting their stand, including Japan and the Middle East.

Mr Pirotto said there were concerns over the energy crisis from customers, as well as the supply of natural gas and raw materials.

However, 2022 has been one of the most profitable years for the company, if not the most. Mr Pirotto believed that innovation had kept the company one step ahead, and was the way forward through these challenging times.

The company’s latest development was its Smartfeedeer for gob control, which will be released in 2023. One of its benefits is that gob weight and length can be automatically adjusted for each section.

For an extensive interview with the company’s President, Matthias Kümmerle, see the September issue of Glass International.

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� Simon Parkinson (third left) said PSR had expansion projects planned around the globe. Image copyright: PSR.

Grenzebach

Angus Farquhar, Field Engineer at CNUD EFCO (a subsidiary of Grenzebach), said that they had discovered many new customers, and had spoken with a lot of existing ones too.

Mr Farquhar said “everything from the furnace to the lehr” had come up in discussions with clients, particularly since the company had gone turnkey.

There was also an interest in Grenzebach’s joint company with Sorg, GSE – Grenzebach Sorg Engineering, which Grenzebach introduced at the event after forming the company earlier this year.

The aim of the alliance was to ensure that customers had full access to the latest technological developments for sustainable and state-of-the-art glass production.

Grenzebach also founded Envelon, a system supplier for photovoltaic facades and building envelopes, which aims to provide sustainable solutions for the industry as well.

Part of the sustainable developments from Grenzebach include its redesigned annealing lehr, which was built on the knowledge of CNUD EFCO.

Mr Farquhar said that the R&D team succeeded in reducing the lehr’s energy consumption by 70%.

“We try to reduce everything. We try to bring [emissions] down so the production is a lot cleaner coming out the other end.”

Mr Farquhar was optimistic that the industry could achieve net zero emissions by 2050, due to the constant work of the R&D team. (Pic 3)

Socabelec

Marco Veri, CEO of Socabelec, highlighted the company’s latest developments to improve neck ring swabbing for WM product and complex neck ring shapes.

Visitors wanted to know how they could improve productivity with the use of swabbing robots.

He said: “Not all of them were familiar with the concept and the benefits of the swabbing on the fly by robot and no rejection after swabbing.”

Of course, the cost of energy was also discussed, but the focus was to keep skilled people into the hot end area.

“Too many people with a technical background are leaving the hot end area, and all the technological devices need at least one guy with this expertise to maintain or set-up.”

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FAMA

Lorena Casiano, Marketing Co-ordinator at FAMA, also said the show was a success, with the manufacturer’s stand being very busy throughout the show.

“This show was what we expect, you know. It’s a very wonderful show for us.”

Ms Casiano also said that there was a lot of interest from other countries.

“In my team, for example, there was a meeting with people from Pakistan, and yesterday people from Croatia, other people around the world that don’t know us, and so the exposure here was amazing.”

PSR

Simon Parkinson, Managing Director of Parkinson-Spencer Refractories (PSR) reported a good show: “Although overall footfall may have been lower than in previous years, the quality of visitors to the exhibition and to our stand was very good with a large number of constructive meetings held with our customers and partners.

“Above all it was fantastic to be back at a large event with the glass community and to see our friends and colleagues after four

� Mikael Le Guern (middle) said Eurotherm had seen a lot of upcoming projects to increase the electrical boosting in glass furnaces. Continued>>

� HFT described the show as excellent with high quality visitors.

Emhart and Vertech’ form partnership

Glass technology suppliers Bucher Emhart Glass (BEG) and Vertech’ confirmed their digital partnership at Glasstec.

The two companies have agreed on a co-operation to take data collection and usage in the glass plant to the next level. The co-operation will benefit customers with single point data access to the complete line data from batch to palletiser including all relevant forming parameters collected from and around the IS machine.

Based on the correlated data BEG and Vertech’ will offer applications and solutions that increase efficiency of the glass plant and quality of the containers.

long years.”

The UK-based group showcased developments it had been working on over the past four years. These included new refractory materials, PSR-930 and PSR-925, which provide improved operating life for feeder expendables.

Although the effects of the global economic and energy crises were regular topics of conversation, the overriding theme of the exhibition was largely positive, Mr Parkinson said, with expansion projects planned around the globe. (Pic 4)

Pyrotek

Joe Tarulli, General Manager-Glass, Pyrotek, reported more than 200 visitors to its booth. While the majority were from Europe, he reported guests from all regions of the globe.

“Besides customers, Glasstec is always a good opportunity to meet face-to-face with key suppliers and partners. I have no doubt the show was a worthwhile investment for Pyrotek.”

The company was highlighting two product groups in particular - expendable refractories and STS ware handling parts for the container market.

He added most people they spoke to were cautiously optimistic, despite current global economic uncertainties.

“Rather than concern about the future, our customers are focused on operational improvements and cost saving initiatives for their plants, both of which are Pyrotek strengths.”

Antonini

Barbara Antonini, CEO of Antonini, also reported a good show, with many visitors who, despite the global situation, were all talking about future projects.

The company is focused on reducing gas and energy consumption, she said.

“We have application for our old lehrs to make them get a lower consumption, we have updated our burner for new machines, so that we guarantee a lower consumption, we are producing a dual heating [electric and gas lehr], we are almost ready to launch our IE5 motors.”

Common talking points with visitors were difficulty in deliveries of some raw

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� Frederic Nio said Novaxion’s next steps were to incorporate AI into its swabbing robots. www.glass-international.com

materials, huge costs of transportation of goods, energy cost and energy saving as well as future technologies in making hollow glass.

Eurotherm by Schneider Electric

Mikael Le Guern, Global Key Account Manager-Glass at Eurotherm by Schneider Electric, said the quality of the visitors to its booth had been high.

“People have been coming to us for a purpose, with quite a few prospective new projects coming up.”

There had been a focus on decarbonisation within the industry in recent years and ways to reduce CO2 emissions. One of these ways has been the partial or complete electrifi cation of a plant.

“We see a lot of upcoming projects to increase the electrical boosting, the share of electricity, in the glass furnaces.

“It’s this movement towards decarbonisation and electrifi cation. It’s defi nitely something that we’ve been talking about for many years, but we’ve seen this trend accelerating or really starting two years ago.

“Now the sheer number of prospective projects is dramatically increasing.

“So, we hear very often about partial electrifi cations or there are few projects already of complete electrifi cations of glass furnaces.

“We think in the next few years it’s going to be really, really interesting for the kind of business that we have to offer.”

While the current energy crisis has thrown a wrench in the works, Mr Le Guern believes the long-term goals of the industry will remain the same. (Pic 5 )

Novaxion

Frederic Nio, Managing Director of Novaxion, described the show as ‘amazing’.

“We met a lot of the clients and customers - we found people that we haven’t seen for two, three, four years, so it was great.”

The group was highlighting its innovations over the past few years, which included its latest software for IS machines, as well as the new design of its swabbing robots, which the group has developed over the past two years.

Mr Nio said the company’s next steps were to incorporate AI into its robots.

“For example, we would integrate thermal cameras under the robots. So, we can use the robot not only for swabbing, but to also have a vision of what’s happening in that section of the IS machine.”

He highlighted digitalisation as a ‘big need’ within the market, with many clients looking to collect further data on their machinery. Fortunately, these new developments can be added to existing machines.

The company is also hoping to reduce its environmental impact by using spray oil as opposed to grease, which reduces the consumption of lubricant by 75%. (Pic 6 )

BDF

Nicolas Trentin, Marketing Manager at BDF Industries, said the company had focused on two main topics: performance and energy saving.

It presented a hybrid section of an IS machine and a fully electric Servo Baffl e and Servo Blowhead Mechanism.

Mr Trentin said: “We’re working hard on this topic, not only to achieve a green economy model but also in terms of supervising software to increase machines’ performances.

“Such a software is Panorama, a software able to give us in real time the status and the management both of the furnace and the IS Machine. These devices give us information about the consumptions, performances, and working conditions of machines.” �

https://www.glasstec-online.com/

Glass furnace inspection company Franke Industrieofen Service has joined the Munich-based industry service specialist, Robur.

It will now offer its furnace inspection and monitoring services under its new branding FIOS.

The agreement was confi rmed at the Glasstec show.

Dr Norbert Pfi tzner, founder, and CEO of Franke Industrieofen Service, said: “Operating in the glass and aluminium industry we are already well known in Germany and central Europe.

“Together with Robur we want to expand our reach and offer our services to more clients – together Robur partners and especially with our longtime friends at Excelsius.”

FIOS specialises in furnace inspection and monitoring services without stopping the production process.

Using a self-developed mobile

Robur acquires FIOS

Dr Norbert Pfi tzner (left) and Dr Florian König (right) confi rmed their companies’ agreement at Glasstec. inspection camera system, FIOS delivers HD-quality insights into the furnace during the production process in temperatures up to 1,500ºC and gives feedback on the burning process.

This information can be used to make well-founded decisions on necessary furnace maintenance.

The two groups were already known to each other through their cooperation with Excelsius.

“FIOS is the perfect extension of our hot work services” said Dr Florian König, Senior Partner at Robur, and CEO of the Business Unit Process of the group.

“FIOS and Excelsius have already partnered in the past, are both companies of choice in the glass and aluminium industry and together have the ideal potential to expand into further industries to deliver their hot works expertise,” he added.