More than 100 leading names from across the UK glass industry and supply chain, academia as well as local and national government, attended the Glass Futures Industry Conference in St Helens last month. The event outlined plans to create two centres of glass excellence, hot glass at St Helens and cold end research at the University of Leeds.

These two multi-million pound international research and testing facilities have been planned to shape the way forward for the glass sector. Among other goals, the hot glass facility is aiming to eliminate CO2 from the manufacturing process.

The latest version of Verallia’s Virtual Glass packaging creation tool is helping customers to obtain realistic renderings of their projects in record time. The result of a significant R&D effort, this digital tool makes it possible to create and visualise glass packaging filled, labelled and encapsulated with a realism never previously achieved.

At the forefront of virtual reality and 3D computing technologies, Virtual Glass is said to generate

The Glass Packaging Institute has announced the appointment of Scott DeFife as its next President, effective 19 August. Assisted for the past 11 months by Joseph Cattaneo, the GPI Board of Trustees and its executive leadership team worked diligently to find the right fit for the organisation and its members.

Munich-based Symplex Vision Systems has been acquired by Bucher Emhart Glass. The innovative German equipment supplier will be integrated into Bucher Emhart Glass, while assembly and engineering remain in Munich.

Ardagh Group’s Limmared plant in Sweden has finalised a 10 year agreement with The Absolut Company to supply glass bottles for its Absolut Vodka brand. At its core, the partnership will focus on sustainability, innovation and future growth. Both companies are committed to keeping their environmental impact as low as possible and the agreement will ensure that carbon emissions are further reduced in the production of the iconic glass bottles.