Following the completion of her doctorate from the University of the Basque Country – the region’s primary research institute – in Spain, Estela Alejandro was intrigued by the “huge chemistry” behind the glass, and the opportunity the industry afforded her to “expand my knowledge and work as an authentic chemist,” she recalls. Ms Alejandro began her career in glass in 2002, joining Vidrala as a Glass Laboratory Manager, at a time when the Spanish glass manufacturer – which now produces more than eight billion glass containers a year – was a smaller company, with just two sites in Spain. Initially, Estela’s role entailed providing glass and raw materials physical-chemical results to the Industrial Director and Production Managers. “Since then, with the growth and internationalisation of Vidrala, I have developed the small laboratory department into the current Glass Technology department, for which I am responsible, with six people in my team,” she reports.

Vidrala currently has eight plants and 19 furnaces in Spain, Portugal, Italy, UK and Ireland, producing containers for multiple purposes (wine, beer, olive oil, water, tomato sauce, spirits…) in multiple colours (flint, blue, emerald green, olive green, antique, autumn leaf, topaz, amber and black). “I am responsible for the Glass Technology processes for all of them,” says Ms Alejandro. Two of her team work in Marinha Grande, Portugal, and the other four are located at the Llodio plant in Spain.

“As Glass Technology Manager, I make sure that the glass produced at Vidrala furnaces fulfils the specifications, in terms quality and workability,” explains Ms Alejandro. “I ensure that raw materials and cullet used for glass production meet the required specification and I decide on the feasibility of new ones. I am responsible for the colour changes, and I try to make sure that they cause minimal disruption to plant efficiency. I am involved in glass R&D projects – consorted and internal – including research on new materials, new properties of glass, reducing costs, etc.”

Ms Alejandro cites several successful projects undertaken and delivered for Vidrala, including: development of a predictive model for colour changes, reducing batch costs by developing new glass compositions, and reducing glass production losses (due to quality issues or colour changes) with the application of standardisation procedures and continuous improvement tools.

“One of the greatest challenges has been to build a technological model that could [adapt], with flexibility and quickness, to a fast changing market,” she reveals. “This model has allowed us not only to solve glass issues quicker and to develop new products in [a] reliable way, but also to face, with strength and tools, testing periods such as the recent coronavirus pandemic.”

Collaboration and sustainability

In a multi-national organisation such as Vidrala, co-ordination across different business units and teams is crucial. “For Glass Technology, collaboration is the base,” emphasises Ms Alejandro. “I cannot imagine doing all the things we do without collaboration, co-ordination and a common vision of the different teams in the plants and business units."

“Vidrala is an organisation where our customers, people and suppliers are the heart of what we do, so we need them and they need us to keep growing,” she continues. “This leads us to a collaborative relationship that helps in our final product quality and their process development.”

Vidrala’s goal is to be the most sustainable glassmaker, investing in R&D for the sustainability and the future competitiveness of the company, and for the glass sector in general.

“[The] group has a serious commitment to sustainability,” expounds Ms Alejandro. “We are the only glassmaker that participates in the three main organisations/associations of R&D for glass: FEVE, IPGR and Glass Futures. We are strongly involved in several CO2 reduction projects, totally committed to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 47% until 2030, in the frame of Science Based Target initiative. Those projects are diverse: increasing electrification, modifying glass and batch characteristics, blending low-carbon gases into our top fire, using augmented intelligence to improve operating and energy efficiency, among other things.”

Vidrala has established a long-term partnership with cullet suppliers in Spain and Portugal, supporting their development, process improvement and management, and thereby improving the quality of the final product. “We want our suppliers to follow us on the way for a win-win relationship; and for this, we need our suppliers to recognise that we need to improve together, and this improvement must be continuous,” observes Ms Alejandro.

Attracting the next generation

Increased automation in the glass industry is making jobs easier and safer, “helping people to work in better and ‘smart’ conditions,” believes Ms Alejandro. “Now it is much more focused on optimisation of the workforces: faster machines, autonomous processes, expert software, data management…” Attracting the next generation of engineers and workers to maintain and deploy talent at Vidrala is achieved with continuous training and upskilling, career management and graduate programmes. “There are also other initiatives like collaborative robotics and workplace digitalisation which demonstrate that our industry is modern, safe, sustainable and aligned with the values of younger generations,” she adds.

Speaking to a female leader in a traditionally male-dominated manufacturing environment, it is interesting to seek Estela’s opinion on the importance of diversity in the glass industry.

“We need to focus on the talent, on the skills, on the experience, and give people the opportunity to develop themselves, because people make things happen,” she contends. “I can only see this scenario in an environment where diversity is correctly addressed and, at this point, Vidrala is really engaged with projects related to diversity; for example, ‘Women in Manufacturing’. I really think that all industry is making an effort with this, but still there is a lot to be done.”

GlassTrend membership

Estela became a board member of GlassTrend, the consortium for operating industries and institutes working in the field of glass and glass production, in March 2021. “Although Vidrala has been a member for a long time [participating in GT18, GT27, GT33, GT35 and GT36], I have only been involved with more intensity since 2012,” she clarifies. “My main contribution has been through GlassTrend projects and attendance and participation as a speaker at GlassTrend seminars and sessions in other conferences (ICG, ESG, etc.).”

As a ‘container ambassador’ for the association, Ms Alejandro’s role is to report an overview of developments (technical, market, legislation, policy, etc.) and concerns in the glass container sector. She credits GlassTrend with facilitating research and development through consorted projects, “which otherwise, a single company, perhaps could not undertake.”

Members become part of a large community of glass world people, she continues. “Not only glassmakers, but also suppliers, customers, expert consultants. It also gives the chance to meet different glass sectors, so we can learn from each other […] GlassTrend board members have long experience in the industry and a very broad global vision; they know what really concerns the glass industry. This allows initiatives and activities to be focused where they are really needed, and for knowledge gaps to be quickly identified and filled."

“Glass manufacturing needs to face big technological challenges and I think that this will be much easier if we [work] together, with collaboration, knowledge sharing, networking partnerships… So now more than ever, it is of so much importance to be part of a well-managed organisation as GlassTrend,” she concludes.

A positive future

“I could never think, 20 years ago, that I would do what I am doing now,” reflects Ms Alejandro. “There are many people who have inspired me and to whom I will be grateful forever.” These include former managers, “who supported me in my first steps in the glass industry and transmitted me all the knowledge and experience they had, with honesty and enormous generosity” and outside Vidrala, “Professor Ruud Beerkens and Professor Alicia Duran have inspired me since I had the chance to know their work and meet them in person; I admire them for their enormous knowledge and expertise in glass and for their strong personality.”

Glass has a bright future, states Ms Alejandro. As an endlessly recyclable material, it is “an exemplar of sustainable circularity and conscious consumption,” she remarks. “In addition to its strong environmental credentials, the glass industry contributes to thriving local circular economies, providing local jobs supported by resilient local supply chains, all founded on a longstanding cultural heritage of European glassmaking dating back thousands of years."

“And glass has a lot of positive features as a material by itself,” adds Ms Alejandro, “specifically when it is for containing food and beverages. I think the way to enhance these positive characteristics is by promoting its sustainability: usage of recycled raw materials (not only cullet: there are also slag [-heap materials], ashes, EP dust, by-products of other processes…) together with an increase in zero-carbon fuels."

“The most rewarding aspect of my role is to prove, day after day, how a scientific approach to the Glass Technology process together with strong teamwork can lead to great results and success,” she concludes.

Image: Estela Alejandro and the Llodio plant in Spain.