The Katz family’s first association with glass began during World War Two, when the UK War Office sought a manufacturer of glass spinning funnels for the production of artificial silk (rayon) used for parachutes and, perhaps even more important at that time, ladies’ stockings. Richard Katz’ father, Eric Katz, accepted the commission and started the business as an offshoot of the General Electric Company (GEC). “That was my father’s first foray into glass, and he then founded what became Epsom Glass Industries (EGI) in 1939, producing radio valve bulbs, lighting components and Christmas tree ornaments in addition to glass spinning funnels,” explains Mr Katz.

“In 1963 during my school holidays, my job was to wire the new 45,000ft2 factory in Epsom that my father was building and I did all the cabling. I officially joined the company in the brand new factory in 1965… and my role was to sweep the floor! It was a long time before I was allowed in the office, so I really did serve my apprenticeship!”

Due to his father’s progressively worsening eyesight, Richard stepped up at the firm and in 1988 took over as Managing Director, focusing on expanding the business within the pharmaceutical, lighting and electronics markets.

“We grew rapidly and were one of the world’s largest producers of injection ampoules, vials, dental cartridges and glass components for the electronics and lighting industries,” he recalls. “Manufacturing well over a million pieces per day, we led the world in terms of mass production and supplied injection containers primarily made of neutral borosilicate glass to all the big names in the pharmaceutical industries. We were a tubing converter, i.e., our raw material was glass tubing that we converted into the containers, and much of the production equipment was designed and built in our own workshops.”

In 1990 EGI was bought by water purification equipment manufacturer Protean PLC, and by 1992 the company employed over 300 people and was seeking new premises.

“Unfortunately, the parent company ran into financial trouble and was eventually sold to Fisher Scientific [a US-headquartered laboratory supply and biotechnology company],” Mr Katz continues. “EGI was moved first to Germany and then to America and it was my time to move on.”

Two failed retirements

After a recuperative week or two in the South of France, Mr Katz bought Royal Brierly Crystal, founded in 1664, producers of handmade crystal glass and was honoured to hold prestigious Royal Warrants from both Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and His Royal Highness Prince Charles, now His Majesty King Charles.

“The Royal Warrants opened up a whole new area of connectivity with the Royal Family and when we built a new factory in Dudley [in the West Midlands] in the early 2000s, we were thrilled to hear the Queen was due to open it. Unfortunately, two days before the opening, we were advised Her Majesty was unwell and couldn’t attend but His Royal Highness Prince Philip would ‘stand in’ which led to a wonderful conversation over lunch,” Mr Katz remembers. In 2005 he handed over the Warrants when Royal Brierly was acquired by Dartington Crystal, which runs the business today in North Devon.

“In parallel with Royal Brierly, I set up another company, Sunderland Glassworks, at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland,” says Mr Katz. “We were manufacturing stained glass for church windows and such like, as well as art glass and paperweights. It was a significantly sized operation that was the core of the National Glass Centre and the business also subsequently went to Dartington Crystal.”

In 2005 Mr Katz spent a few more weeks in the South of France thinking about retiring, but over the following 10 years he would take on a series of non-executive advisory positions, largely working with mid-sized SMEs outside of the glass industry. His specialty was encouraging management to ‘look over the parapet’ to see what they needed to achieve over the next five years and consider how they were going to get there.

“I assisted with putting the ‘how’ into process and was effectively encouraging management to think outside the box to see what direction their organisation should target going forward,” explains Mr Katz. “It was a very enthralling period for me as I was working with a number of companies simultaneously.”

Academic challenge

Epsom Glass Industries and Mr Katz’s other businesses had been members of British Glass, the representative body for the UK glass industry, and he continued to keep in touch with the association’s CEO, Dave Dalton.

“Dave and I were often discussing the prospects for the glass industry and training in particular, and in about 2014 we started the Glass Academy as a subsidiary of British Glass, securing a substantial government grant,” relates Mr Katz. “I headed up the Glass Academy and we recruited five new full-time members of staff into British Glass on the back of a three-year contract we secured with the Government to orchestrate apprenticeships into the glass industry (apprenticeships are typically three years, hence the length of the contract).” Mr Katz added: “On the back of the Government contract, British Glass entered into a commercial contract with Siemens to subcontract part of the apprenticeship training – and to maximise the opportunity for the youngsters who joined our cohort, we placed them with Siemens who have some of the best apprenticeship training courses in the UK. We used their facilities and added the focus of glass. The Glass Academy was therefore the forerunner for Glass Futures and after our initial experience and in conjunction with British Glass, we started talking to the Government about Glass Futures with a totally different philosophy, looking to see how we could help Government achieve its Industrial Strategy aims.”

Culture change

This pivot entailed taking a positive and constructive approach: “As opposed to complaining about the price of energy and all the other increasing costs the glass industry was facing, we changed the tune and said to Government: ‘How can we help you?’” Mr Katz explains. “Glass Futures was the not-for-profit vehicle we created as a separate entity, totally independent of British Glass, although Dave Dalton joined the Glass Futures board a year or so later,” he notes.

Glass Futures’ mission was to deliver a culture change message to the industry that glass could not continue to be mass produced in the same way it had been for the previous 50–100 years. “Industry 4.0 was appearing, climate change was becoming significant and the carbon-related issues could no longer be ignored, therefore the industry had to be prepared to change its manufacturing processes in the light of changing circumstances and dramatically improving technology,” Mr Katz underlines. “The attitude had largely been to accept the limits of our own furnaces, without a great desire to think outside the box. So, the first step of the Glass Futures entity was to encourage manufacturers to recognise the need for change and the potential domino effect that if one glassmaker was going to change then others would follow suit.” With founder members Guardian (USA), O-I Glass (USA), Encirc (UK), Siemens, the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London along with British Glass, the plan seemed to be working. Initial membership also included five major UK universities (Leeds, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, Liverpool and Cambridge) together with a number of supply chain companies.

Established “quite deliberately” as an independent, not-for-profit organisation with no owner or shareholders and not available for purchase, Glass Futures was incorporated as a company in 2016, and, following some three years of discussions with Government, started operations in January 2020 with its first Government Contract for £7 million to identify and demonstrate potential alternative sustainable fuels to replace high carbon natural gas.

“The aim of Glass Futures is [to be] a not for profit, independent voice to encourage the glass industry to understand the opportunities they can seize to decarbonise glass manufacturing. I was the first employee in January 2020, followed soon after by Aston Fuller as General Manager, Tracey Spaven as Office Administrator and Rob Ireson as Innovation and Partnerships Manager and we now employ over 50 people,” says Mr Katz.