Harmen J. Kielstra joined the Dutch glass consultancy company CelSian in 2016 following 16 years working at coatings company AkzoNobel. Applying his business development and marketing expertise to the glass sector, helping CelSian Glass & Solar to grow and thrive as a commercial enterprise, Mr Kielstra is understandably proud of the company’s current position in the international glass industry.

“CelSian has been working very hard on the further development of the team, as well as its software and training,” he reports. “Our mix of operational experience and scientific background forms a unique basis to continue to support the industry’s energy transition. We are not only found to exercise research projects (on hydrogen, for instance), but more and more to support operational challenges. Recently our CFD [computational fluid dynamics] simulations were used to optimise furnace settings with better glass quality. It is fantastic to see when production improves within hours after implementation.”

In the immediate future, data analysis and clever algorithms will continue to become more relevant in glass production, predicts Mr Kielstra. “Where CFD modelling was something for R&D not long ago, today it cannot be missed during furnace rebuilds and during the entire campaign. The reliability of the models used, and increasing computer power has brought a lot of improvement to efficiency overall, and we have not seen the end of it. In combination with more and more data, furnace control will become more precise, enabling the connection of various production departments that today still work quite independently,” he maintains.

Team building

“It is a great joy to work with the CelSian team every day!” declares Mr Kielstra, pronouncing the team-building process the “most rewarding” aspect of his role as CEO. “As a team we have managed to create strong partnerships with the industry over the past years, and across all segments,” he states. “This creates trust and room for courageous conversations. It also made us less transactionally focused on the next project, with room to truly consult and support our clients.”

The CelSian team comprises 24 people supported by “excellent independent consultants” around the world. Most of the company’s consulting business is conducted in Japan, North America and Europe, and CelSian recently started in India with an agent representing the business.

“The current mix is strong,” says Mr Kielstra of the CelSian team make-up. “We have people with well-developed academic backgrounds as well as operational experts coming from float and container segments. Some have been there since the time we used to belong to TNO Companies, their previous owner. CelSian was then bought/sold by First Dutch Innovations and is now a privately held, employee-owned company, and many new talents joined our team over the past four years. Something we are also very proud of is that half of our team comes from abroad. With this mix of skills and talents, we are capable of addressing the needs of Asia, Europe and North America, which are our main markets, but also all the segments of the industry.”

Many of CelSian’s international employees are “from the new generation,” adds Mr Kielstra – something that creates further benefits. “[It] is important for us to have younger team members joining us as it creates a virtuous circle: a younger team attracts younger people,” he explains. “We also receive applications from experienced professionals in the glass industry which we are also very glad about."

“Retention of people is a challenge for most glass makers, and we believe that training them is crucial to keep them longer,” notes Mr Kielstra. Accordingly, the CelSian Academy, which offers both open enrolment and bespoke in-house training in glass technology, is kept current with a reactive syllabus that adapts to the changing needs of the glass industry: “We keep on updating our Academy training offer and courses’ content to teach relevant and up-to-date knowledge to tackle the industry’s challenges of today and tomorrow,” confirms Mr Kielstra.. […] We will continue to add new topics to our technical training offer.”

Always innovating

CelSian differentiates itself from other knowledge and technology providers by taking a proactive approach to addressing the R&D agenda for the future, delivered by “a unique blend of international and passionate engineers,” asserts Mr Kielstra.

Recently the company developed its EBM (Energy Balance Model): a highly accurate calculation tool to manage the energy of a furnace. “We have worked very hard to make bespoke models per furnace that are intuitive to use, and still very accurate,” says Mr Kielstra. “Based on the feedback from first users, I have high expectations of this latest release.”

Another personal highlight is the role that the company played in TKI hydrogen research for alternative furnace fuelling, as the co-ordinating partner for more than 20 players from the glass industry. “Also the focus on making our software easier to use and comprehend and […] our persistence in making the CO/O2 sensor work,” he adds.

CelSian has been working closely with a user group of select customers on a long-term project to jointly develop and test new CFD models. The ability to predict product quality with our models is an outcome of that partnership, reports Mr Kielstra, with leading glass makers “consistently driving our development direction.”

At glasstec 2022 CelSian will be showcasing a number of models frequently used in its CFD software, “especially NOx modelling, which is a tool that has been very useful for a lot of customers recently,” he reveals.

Co-operation is key

“Someone recently used the nice saying that the glass industry is a global village,” remarks Mr Kielstra. “We work together where we can, sometimes with raw material suppliers, equipment suppliers, and glass makers in the same project! We know most trade associations and if time allows we try to contribute to most relevant conferences on the topics we care for.”

CelSian is a founding member of GlassTrend and Oscar Verheijen, CelSian’s Technology & Innovation Manager for Sustainable Glass Production is Board Chairman of the consortium. GlassTrend aims to co-ordinate research and development activities to improve the competitive strength of glass industries, its suppliers and customers. Although GlassTrend has over 60 members, the consortium suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic from people not being able to get together, according to Mr Kielstra. “But the topics were there, and thanks to everyone, we could relatively easily move online reaching out to even more people and thereby increasing the connection with the glass industry globally. But I must say, the organising team is looking forward to the next live event."

“One of the elements we bring to our clients through the projects we work on, as well as through our GlassTrend network, is that we naturally combine insights and solutions from different disciplines,” he continues. “Many of our successful projects are based on experiences across the sectors. In these challenging times, co-operation is key to being able to succeed, and we are proudly supporting that. An example is addressing fundamental research questions about the application of hydrogen in glass melting; these questions can be addressed on a pre-competitive basis with multiple GlassTrend members.”

The big picture

“Recently I spoke with a student who was wondering where to start her career, and then I asked myself the same question,” confides Mr Kielstra. “I believe the glass industry has very good opportunities to offer especially for people who care about the planet and would like to make a positive impact through their work. Indeed, the next 30 years will not be boring as many challenges are ahead of us!"

“Glass can be a crucial fibre element of large constructions or the window of a train, or as C-glass supporting the insulation of buildings. In most applications it is infinitely recyclable. Remember the images of the millions of vials that were being produced during the pandemic. Need I say more? It is not easy to imagine a world without glass. We just need to make the energy transition!”

Besides supporting glassmakers with the energy transition to carbon-neutral manufacture, CelSian is also ready to take on numerous other challenges that need to be tackled to make a switch to becoming a truly circular industry, states Mr Kielstra. “I know the reality can feel different if you are working on the operational problems of today, but we should not lose the bigger picture.”

The immediate future will see the company focusing on attracting new talent to join its international team, building local presence in selected markets and continuing to invest in the tools it can offer to help customers with their operational challenges.

“Basically, any project where our team is involved to solve operational issues for our customers makes me smile from ear to ear,” beams Mr Kielstra. As the glass industry scrambles to adapt to this new era of sustainability, he is likely to stay happy for some time.

Image: Harmen J. Kielstra is CEO of CelSian Glass & Solar.