Company profi le: Libbey Libbey: Industry needs more collaboration

Chandra Mangalagiri is a true glass has grown globally in the last industry veteran. He started in his three decades. The MRcurrent role with tableware industry manufacturer is headquartered in specialist Libbey Inc. at the beginning of 2019 after Toledo, Ohio, USA and manufactures a 25- year career in the industry. glass from six locations. It has two facilities He has worked in a variety of glass sectors, and in the US (Toledo and Shreveport), two in Europe been employed by notable companies such as � Chandra Mangalagiri. (Leerdam, The Netherlands and Marinha Grande, , Brands (formerly known Portugal) as well as facilities in Langfang, China, as World Kitchen) and Corning Inc. His roles and Monterrey, Mexico. The Monterrey facility is have included process engineering, operations the group’s largest with half of the workforce. management, project management, and roles in In 2018 the group sold about 1.2 billion pieces of product and process R&D. He has also worked with tableware around the globe, with more than 70% a variety of such as LCD glass substrates, of its sales concentrated in North America. The Valor Glass in pharma packaging, group supplies tabletop products through three in speciality, Corelle, and ClearFire in sales channels: foodservice, retail, and business- tableware. to-business. Libbey is also in the food service “I’ve been fortunate to have been exposed to business, with products being the largest share several different glassmaking sectors and learned of its sales and customers. This sector includes the specifi c challenges and opportunities in each restaurants, bars, hotels, cruise lines, resorts and of them.” healthcare facilities. Its retail channel sells to Libbey is a familiar name in the glass industry. traditional brick and mortar establishments as It celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2018 and well as direct to customers through its strong www.glass-international.com 10

Glass International February 2020

Libbey Greg.indd 1 05/02/2020 09:21:45 Company profi le: Libbey Glass Libbey Vice President of Global Engineering, glassmaker must make furnace rebuild decisions Chandra Mangalagiri 2-3 years in advance for an asset that will operate Libbey: for over ten years. I consider this to be an infl exible believes the various glass process. We are investing a large amount of capital for an asset that will supply glass for much longer sectors should collaborate. than the near term that we can forecast market Industry needs more collaboration He tells Greg Morris such trends. For example, the restaurant industry trend has moved from ‘dine-in’ to ‘take-out’ to ‘delivery’. partnerships would drive Although you can see some macro trends, it is hard the industry forward. to pinpoint a forecast of what the product demand will be.” Three quarters of the total global comes from four large segments – container, fl at glass, tableware and fi bre. The majority of these products have existed for more than a century, with glass manufacturers still making the same type of glass. Some glass products such as TV picture tube has seen disruptive replacements like LCD glass substrates which allowed considerable ongoing growth and profi tability because of product innovations, but this is not the case in other sectors. On top of this, there is an excess of capacity and too much competition in the market resulting in commoditisation, lower prices and profi ts. Mr. Mangalagiri believes this will force players in the industry to ask themselves ‘how are we differentiating and what product extensions are we introducing so that we can continue to survive in this market where demand for volume exists but the margins do not.’ He believes this is why innovation in the glass industry is critical. “Step change innovation is needed in both the product space and process technology. Industry has seen process optimisation and automation in the last 2-3 decades but has seen very little product development.” While speciality glass companies like Schott, online e-commerce presence. � Libbey is headquartered Asahi and Corning invest heavily in R&D and Libbey’s strengths include its global reach with in Toledo, USA. show continued product innovation in the glass customers in more than 100 countries around the and materials industry, the traditional glassmakers world, outstanding customer service and history of cannot afford to do so. innovation. Its focus on new product development What can traditional glassmakers do to sustain was refl ected at a national restaurant show (NRA) profi tability and grow markets? last year where it launched 295 new items. “Different glass companies need to come “This demonstrates that we really put product together to collaborate and conduct joint innovation at the forefront,” states Mr. Mangalagiri product/process development where there is no commenting on the volume of new products. competition. This is almost non-existent today “When you think of Libbey, you think of best in and is a signifi cant opportunity,” states Mr. class products and service. We believe innovation is Mangalagiri. critical for sustaining momentum with customers He believes the glass industry can learn from and our superior service drives repeat customers.” the tech sector where there is more collaboration which has propelled that industry forward. Challenges There has been a reluctance to collaborate The glass industry faces challenges in the in the past because of intellectual property (IP) upcoming years in terms of emissions regulations. protection concerns. On top of that, as any glassmaker knows, there is the ongoing challenge of working in a capital and energy intensive industry. “In addition to the regulatory challenges, a Continued>> www.glass-international.com 11 Glass International February 2020

Libbey Greg.indd 2 05/02/2020 09:21:50 “People are more conservative with sharing � Libbey has six plants “Libbey is willing to work with other non- in the glass industry because they are concerned globally and manufactures a competing glass companies, industry suppliers, about giving away trade secrets and a fear of losing variety of tableware glass. and with academia to drive innovation.” IP. Joint development which is not new, would help share costs, risks and propel advancements Customer push much faster than any one company’s investment.” He believes more innovation will occur in future On top of this, “glass manufacturing decision thanks in part to customer and end consumer push makers need to be more prominent at industry for novel and environmentally friendly products. events,” Mr. Mangalagiri suggests. Years from now people will still be drinking While glass scientists, technical managers and beverages and eating food from glass - its intrinsic operations managers are usually prominent at health and environmental qualities will ensure conferences, the people who decide on capital this. But to drive innovation the glass industry investments are noticably absent. must change its way of thinking to drive future “You always see the same people at conferences! technology improvements. The decision makers in the glassmaking industry “Innovations will come from what consumers don’t attend conferences where we talk about want to see,” he states. problems. We need to educate the decision makers He cites Libbey’s innovations, such as its (typically executives of companies) about why ClearFire glass which digitised the forming these collaborations are necessary in the industry. process and its OptiMelt process which, in “If decision makers are in the room, the true partnership with Praxair, has reduced energy in challenges will come out, and a real discussion, the glassmaking process as examples of this. In with action, will occur. That doesn’t happen addition the company has transformed itself from today.” a US centric to a global glassmaker. While there have been technology advances In 2017 it also launched an E-commerce retail – sometimes in part to equipment supplier business which can sell direct through Amazon innovations – the industry will advance forward and other online retail platforms in a bid to capture if there was more participation from the decision a larger online audience. makers. These decision makers tend to work in “These are examples of how we are staying isolation and push their technical teams to figure ahead of the game. The glass industry must come out solutions for challenges, and reduce costs and together to do the same.” � capital argues Mr. Mangalagiri. “We have to learn from the tech world and Libbey Glass, Toledo, Ohio, USA change our perspectives. www.libbey.com www.glass-international.com 12

Glass International February 2020

Libbey Greg.indd 3 05/02/2020 09:22:16