FEVE – the European Container Glass Federation elected its Presidency team for the 2023-2025 term of office at its Annual General Assembly on Thursday 15th June.
Martin Petersson, CEO Ardagh Glass Packaging – Europe: one of the world’s leading glass packaging manufacturers – has been elected President of the EU container glass federation.
Commenting on his appointment, Mr Petersson said: “I am honoured to take up this important role and look forward to contributing to FEVE’s work in collaboration with FEVE members, staff, and the national associations. We have challenging and exciting times ahead of us, but we are in a strong position to reach our sustainability goals and strengthen our industry’s Circular Economy model.
He added: “Glass is a material that has unique inherent sustainability benefits: it is a permanent material, endlessly recycled in a closed loop and it is inert, meaning that it protects the quality of products, it preserves their taste, and guarantees safety for consumers’ health. It is also uniquely versatile in adding value and premium positioning to products. However, all these qualities are often taken for granted in the marketplace. We need to be more proactive in defending and promoting glass.”
Martin Petersson succeeds Vitaliano Torno, O-I Glass President Business Operations & O-I Europe, who led the association for the previous two years. “Vitaliano did a great job in navigating the federation through recent years, marked by the global pandemic and unforeseeable market dynamics, but he also managed to maintain a united industry in shaping a common vision to face the major challenge of climate neutrality”, commented Petersson.
The FEVE members also elected Michel Giannuzzi, Chairman of the Board of Verallia, as Vice-President. Mr Giannuzzi commented: “Our industry is at a crucial crossroad on the path to the future. We should not be afraid to invest in the sustainability assets of our business model to secure our future as packaging leaders. I am looking forward to supporting Martin and the sector over the next two years in the drive to address climate change and the sustainability agenda.”
For the first time ever, European container glass manufacturers come together to build the first large scale hybrid electric furnace to run on 80 % green electricity.
The ‘Furnace of the Future’ is a fundamental milestone in the industry’s decarbonisation journey towards climate-neutral glass packaging. It will be the first large-scale hybrid oxy-fuel furnace to run on 80 % renewable electricity in the world. It will replace current fossil-fuel energy sources and cut CO2 emissions by 50 %.
For the very first time, the industry has adopted a collaborative approach where 20 glass container producers have mobilised resources to work on and fund a pilot project to prove the concept.
We are extremely proud to announce this joint-industry project”, comments Michel Giannuzzi, President of FEVE. “The hybrid technology is a step-change in the way we produce and will enable us to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of glass packaging production. The move marks an important milestone for the glass sector in implementing our decarbonisation strategy”.
Ardagh Group – the second largest glass packaging manufacturer in the world – has volunteered to build the furnace in Germany. It will be built in 2022, with an assessment of first results planned for 2023. The industry already works with electric furnaces in several of its 150 glass manufacturing plants across Europe, but they are small scale and exclusively used to produce flint (colourless) glass with virgin raw materials, therefore using very little or no recycled glass content. With this new technology, the industry will be able to produce more than 300 tonnes per day of any glass colour, using high levels of recycled glass.
“With this new technology we are embarking on the journey to climate-neutral glass packaging, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of manufacturing”, states Martin Petersson, CEO of Ardagh Group, Glass Europe. “We aim to demonstrate the viability of electric melting on a commercial scale, which would revolutionise the consumer glass packaging market”.
Bringing the ‘Furnace of the Future’ to life is an extremely ambitious project requiring significant financial and human resources and a wide range of expertise. For this reason, the industry has committed to work together. By adopting a sectoral approach, it also intends to gain the support of the European Commission through the ETS Finance for Innovation Fund Programme. Despite its key importance, this project is not the only one the industry is working on. Other pathways towards clean production technologies and climate-neutral glass packaging are already implemented and others are also being explored.
Michel Giannuzzi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Verallia Group – one of Europe’s leading glass packaging manufacturers for the food and beverage sector – has been elected Vice-President of FEVE – the European Container Glass Federation – at its FEVE General Meeting in Rotterdam on June 15th.
“I am eager to put my experience at the service of this industry which has an unrivaled cultural heritage in Europe and a strong future ahead. Glass continues to be the packaging material of reference for many products despite competition.” says Michel Giannuzzi. “Our European industry association has a leadership role in federating forces towards circular economy”.
About Michel Giannuzzi
Starting from September 1, 2017, Michel Giannuzzi has been appointed as Chairman and Chief Executive officer (“CEO”) of the Verallia Group. Aged 53 years old, Michel Giannuzzi served as CEO of Tarkett, a worldwide leader of innovative flooring and sports surface solutions, from 2007 to 2017. During his tenure at Tarkett, Michel Giannuzzi pursued a profitable and sustainable growth strategy, which led to a successful IPO in 2013. Prior to that, Michel Giannuzzi held several leading positions within the Michelin Group and Valeo Group. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Harvard Business School.
Global roll-out underway of largest production-volume addition to Unifiller range, a system that features an accuracy rate typically double those of competitors.
JBT Corporation, one of the world’s leading solutions providers for the food and beverage processing industries, is pleased to announce the launch of the new, High Capacity Unifiller, a unit capable of filling 1,500 containers per minute at an unparalleled accuracy rate.
The High Capacity Unifiller, which can be synchronized with JBT’s 12-head seamer to provide an effective, high-speed canning solution, includes all the best features required for Total Performance Management (TPM), such as clear-guarding, enabling easy revision of the machine as it functions, and LED lighting. The system’s built-in Clean-In-Place (CIP) technology also means the system can be completely cleaned in around one hour, maximizing uptime and minimizing downtime in the process.
Jan Sundberg, JBT’s Produce Line Manager for the Americas, said: “When you have lines that are dedicated to one can- or container-size in high volume, this is a good fit. Eliminating older lines and combining them into a single line can improve efficiency and achieve cost reductions. If you look at the cost per container compared with a single high speed line, there are some big savings. If customers have to achieve the volume, this is the best way of doing it.”
Sundberg added that the High Capacity Unifiller also features an accuracy rate typically double those of competitors. “This adds up very quickly on high-speed lines like this,” he said. “If you are running 1,000+ cans per minute, we are talking about several hundred thousand dollars a year in savings.” To date, JBT has sold and installed four High Capacity Unifillers – two in Asia-Pacific, one in North America and one in South America. The new installations perform: high speed filling of Coffee Drinks in glass bottles, high speed canning of Evaporated Milk, and the fastest filling line of Sweetened Condensed Milk in the world.
