With no change to the high level of demand for glass packaging, the dominant features of the 2022 fiscal year were persistent delivery bottlenecks and rising prices. The loss of production capacity in Ukraine during the first quarter of 2022 made it more difficult to cover the demand situation. In this challenging environment, the Vetropack Group succeeded in increasing its net sales from goods and services by 10.2% to reach CHF 899.4 million in the 2022 reporting year. The Vetropack Group sold 5.26 billion units of packaging glass in 2022, 10.6 percent below the previous year's 5.88 billion units due to the Ukraine situation.

The Society of Glass Technology Annual Conference will be held at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, on 3–6 September. The conference is a forum for the discussion of all aspects of glass, including industrial, scientific, artistic and historical.

The conference theme is Sustainability: sustainability improves the quality of our lives, protects our ecosystem and preserves natural resources for future generations. The Sustainability co-chair is Collin Wilkinson of Alfred University. The conference will have three strands following glass science, glass industry, and history & heritage with their own co-chairs: Science co-chair: Alex Hannon; Industry co-chair: Brian McMillan; and H&H co-chair: John Parker.

Şişecam has announced a strategic investment in mining to ensure the raw material supply needs of its ongoing new flat glass investments in Mersin. The company will invest in a sand preparation facility in Tarsus OIZ, and increase the capacity of its existing limestone and dolomite processing facility in Mersin. The total investment amount for both projects will be approximately 1.5 billion TL.

Şişecam aims to secure close and sustainable resources for its production processes and proactively manage the risks caused by disruptions in supply chain. The sand preparation facility will have an annual capacity of 490,000 tons. The annual capacity for dolomite limestone will reach 655,000tons with the realization of 165,000 tons capacity increase.

With Glass Worldwide as official journal, ATIV (Association of Italian Glass Technicians) has announced its programme of 2023 events to take place at the University of Parma at the Santa Elisabetta Center in Italy.

On 23 June, a conference will be staged entitled ‘State of the Art and New Developments in Glass Recycling in Italy’ and will cover hollow and flat glass.

‘The Glass Days’ event will then take place on 16-17 November, focusing on ‘Environmental Sustainability and Economics of Glass Production. Combination and/or Autonomy.’

Further information and a new ATIV website will follow shortly. In the meantime, interested parties are invited to contact: associazione.ativ@gmail.com

Knauf Insulation is to invest around €120 million in a new sustainable manufacturing line featuring innovative electric melting technology at the company’s Novi Marof plant in Croatia. The expansion will enable the plant to more than double its annual manufacturing capacity for energy saving solutions, create more than 70 new jobs in the process and significantly expand the company’s European presence.

The latest sustainable technology will be at the heart of the expansion. The electric melting furnace will cut direct greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to traditional technology, green electricity sourcing has been secured for the plant and the possibility to recycle in the production process will increase by 60%.

Guardian Glass North America honoured the glaziers and fabricators of seven commercial projects at its Sixth Annual Commercial Project Awards event on March 6 in Las Vegas. More than 40 nominees were grouped based on location, and the six winners were selected by judges Katy Devlin, Editor in Chief, National Glass Association; Patrick Flannery, Editor, Annex Business Media’s Light Construction Group; Andrew Haring, Vice President of Business Development, National Glass Association; and Ellen Rogers, Editorial/Content Director, USGlass and Architects’ Guide to Glass & Metal.

Western US: Synapse in Culver City, CA. Architect: Abramson Architects. Glazier: Hale Glass, Inc. Fabricator: Glasswerks. The judges were drawn to the visual interest and detail of Synapse.

The world's leading trade fair glasstec and GlassPrint, Europe's only conference and exhibition specifically for the decoration of hollow, flat and speciality glass, are continuing their cooperation. The two events will thus continue to support each other in the future, making GlassPrint 2023 "powered by glasstec".

GlassPrint 2023 will present the latest trends and developments for improving end products, reducing production costs and increasing process efficiency. It will take place on 25 and 26 April 2023 at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel in Düsseldorf.

Glaston has received an order valued at above €8 million from a global automotive industry glass processor. The first lines will be delivered in H2/2023 and the final delivery is scheduled for H1/2024.

The strategically important deal includes multiple CHAMP EVO automotive glass pre-processing lines for highly efficient and precise cutting, breaking and grinding and drilling of automotive glass. The lines will be manufactured in Switzerland in 2023 and 2024.

Gerresheimer Essen GmbH has been in existence since 1723, its origins going back to the "Royal Privileged Glass Manufactory" founded 300 years ago. Today the company, as the production site of Gerresheimer, produces high-quality glass packaging for a large number of well-known customers in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries.