Adding value
Flint and cuvée glass products manufactured at the new factory, which has inherited the existing facility’s 60-year-plus client base, will still be geared to the food and beverage sectors, and will mainly supply the domestic market. With two furnaces in operation at Boffalora, the factory is currently running with eight lines. (“Obviously at the cold end it splits into more,” notes Mr Antoci.) “We aim for flexibility so we have lines that range from the single gob up to multi-gob lines,” he explains. “The Italian market we supply to has the full range: from bulk products in millions and millions of pieces, to small local producers that want only 50,000 or 100,000 pieces. So the flexibility we have is precisely on the machine front – we can convert from doing long runs to the short runs. That’s what we’ve done up to now and put simply, we will be able to do more of it in the future because the market is there for those products. – We want to be a local supplier, not bringing in glass from abroad."
“From a commercial point of view, bear in mind that we are not suddenly going to increase how much we sell by 70% because that’s not realistic,” he stresses. “For many years now we have been using inter-company products – being part of a large Group like Vetropack provides an advantage of being able to expand your footprint and the local market with inter-company products, but that can now be replaced (or added to because the Italian market is so big) with product made locally. Of course, Italian customers always look at price and quality but they will always have a preference to buy Italian if they can. The Italian food and beverage market is recognised globally as a force and we are part of that production cycle.”
So could Boffalora’s product end up at other Vetropack locations in Europe?
“Why not?” reasons Mr Antoci. “We always look at the environmental footprint of transport, both from a cost point of view and a pollution point of view and where we can, we minimise the distance. But having said that, there is no reason to avoid being what I call a centre of excellence – if somebody is doing something well and it’s able to be shared within the Group then inter-company produce can still be an advantage."
“We are small in our market in Italy compared to Vetropack’s prominent position in other markets, so our opportunity to grow is very visible,” he continues. “The Italian market is growing at a steady pace and we are now able to grow with it. We have a very impressive facility now and the market is ready for it."
“We are hungry for new customers, new products and new opportunities as well as being clear that we can provide more value to existing customers. Any product on the supermarket shelf with food or drink inside is an opportunity for us.”
Environmental aims
The now-empty Trezzano factory is scheduled for demolition and Vetropack Italia has submitted a plan for a subsequent environmental clean-up of the site.
“It was quite an emotional moment when production stopped there,” confides Mr Antoci, “and it was nice to know that the cullet we took from there [was] used at the start-up of the new factory to give a little bit of continuity!”
Italy is near the top end in Europe of recycled percentages, he observes, but the priority at Boffalora – “as with any glass plant, is to increase the amount of cullet that is used in the mixture,” he states.
“Our Group uses 50–55% of recycled product and we have a clear target in our Strategy 2030+ to have an average of 70% [used glass proportion by 2030 – conscious of the growing need for high-quality, uncontaminated used glass, Vetropack actively supports measures that increase collection rates]. We have steady sources of recycled material and with the increase in capacity [at Boffalora] we will need a constant supply because for us it is essential,” says Mr Antoci. “We participate in and support bodies such as Assovetro [Italy’s national association of glass industrialists] and CoReVe [the not-for-profit Glass Recovery Consortium responsible for achieving recycling and recovery targets for Italy’s glass packaging waste] and contribute to the clear message that until we reach 100%, we cannot stop."
“It’s interesting that a lot of the products we sell in the medium and top ranges to our customers are then sold abroad, so in the end the subsequent filling of the recycling tends to end up aboard,” he comments. “Because of all the many glassworks in Italy, at the end the recycled material can never be enough…”
With respect to the Boffalora glassworks, Vetropack Italia has implemented environmentally-friendly melting and production technologies that utilise energy recovery and re-use. “We generate a lot of heat and want to recover as much [of that] as possible and the technology allows us to provide hot and cold air and water during the summer and winter. This could be further developed as new technology becomes available and the focus is to make sure that the impact on the environment is as minimal as can be,” stipulates Mr Antoci. The plant is also designed to stay below the minimum limit imposed by BAT and always here in Boffalora, the first DeNOx of the Group was installed.
“In general, there are standards and laws you need to follow… but our standard was not only being within those parameters but to be well within them because it’s obvious that the standards will change in the future as we go along so there was no point in doing a plant that was just in line with current expectations,” he explains.
“Our customers expect the quality and service that goes with the Vetropack name and we need to continue to provide this and make sure that the impact we have on the environment and sustainability is an active part of our day to day operation.”
Future-proof facility
From the outset, the investment at Boffalora was aimed not just at relocating the Trezzano operation, but to guarantee the future of the Vetropack Italia business. The new site is about 350,000m2, and “adequate space has been left available for a third furnace – including all the necessary warehouses – in the future,” reveals Mr Antoci. “Everything we do always has a logic in being viable and at the same time sustainable with [regard] to future generations. If the Trezzano plant stood for 60 years, then for sure the new plant will be here for longer and therefore needs to be futureproof. By the way, the project was called ‘Project Future’ precisely because of this: we needed to bring the future into today’s present,” he explains.
The AGVs at Boffalora are a “classic example of where it’s new technology to us and a real eye opener for us,” says Mr Antoci. “I’d like to think that we will be able to supply leadership in certain elements for the Group to follow."
“We certainly have in every area bought the very latest technology available. But technology changes and we have to stay ahead of the rest, so as developments come on the market and as we develop new energy recovery and sustainability systems, we will aim to encompass them. We realise the importance of always being at the forefront.”
In terms of value growth, Vetropack has outlined aims to broaden the scope of activities at Boffalora by venturing into new business segments along the glass packaging value chain.
All suppliers were asked “to provide maximum flexibility in the machines, and therefore we are positioned appropriately for the full range of needs of the domestic market,” believes Mr Antoci.
“There is a healthy demand for glass packaging; an inert, completely recyclable product widely recognised as the best for maintaining the qualities of its contents,” he notes. “Our aim therefore is to make sure that our customers and the end customers continue to have this appreciation and for us to continue to grow with the market."
“We all know the market has been volatile and unpredictable in the last years because of the energy crisis as well as Covid,” he continues. “But in my view it has managed to ride the main storm, accepting the changes and learning how to deal with them. It’s been a unique experience…”
Conscious that, as a brand new factory, the Boffalora glassworks is now in the spotlight as the de facto flagship facility within the whole Vetropack Group, and with customers “excited by the new plant,” Mr Antoci is eager to get the new plant fully operational. “We are ready, we fully understand the challenges that lie ahead, and we will achieve the targets that go with such a great project,” he concludes.
Image: The brand-new Boffalora sopra Ticino facility in Northern Italy (inset: Sergio Antoci).