GMIC 2009 Board

Please Click here to obtain a list of our Calendar Year 2010 Board.

GMIC Newsletter

To review our current newsletter and GMIC activities (click here). 

GMIC 2009 Energy Efficiency Workshop

Energy Efficiency in Glass Melting - Various Approaches to Energy Efficiency in Glass Furnaces

November 15, 2009

Energy Efficiency (EE) in glass melting operations continues to be of major interest to our industry!  For the second time in three years the GMIC workshop held at the conclusion of the Glass Problems Conference in Columbus, Ohio, focused on various approaches to improve the Energy Efficiency in glass furnaces.  Around 100 attendees hear 8 speakers from 4 countries presenting their ideas and experience with reducing energy. 

Below is the agenda of the day’s events that lists the titles and presenters for each of the presentations.  Click here to see abstracts and speaker bios.

10:05 a.m. – 10:35 a.m.            

New Glass Plant Energy Performance Indicators (EPIs) for Rating Glass Plant Energy Efficiency – Elizabeth Dutrow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. USA

10:35 a.m. – 11:05 a.m.            

Energy Efficiency and Low-CO₂ Footprints of Industrial Glass Melting Processes – Ruud Beerkens, TNO Science & Industry, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

11:20 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.            

How to Save Energy Using Advanced Predictive Modeling Tools Offline and Online – Erik Muijsenberg, Glass Service B.V.,Maastricht, The Netherlands

11:50 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.            

Heat Recovery for Full-Oxy Float Furnaces with ALGLASS SUN Burners: First Industrial Results – Joussef Joumani, Air Liquide, Paris, France

12:20 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.             Lunch served

12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.              

(working lunch) Impact of Heat Recovery on Air Pollution Control Strategies – Rod Gravley, Tri-Mer, Owosso, MI USA

1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.                

 Use of High Emissivity Coatings to Lower Glass Tank Fuel Consumption - Thomas Kleeb, North American Refractories Company, Moon Township, PA USA and William Fausey, Owens Corning, Granville , OH USA (Note: this presentation is not included in CD)

1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.                

Batch Solutions Can Reduce Energy Demand and Carbon Footprints – Charles Merivale, Amalgamet, Toronto, Canada

2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.                

Heat Recovery in the Glass Industry – This Is How We Do It! - Niels Rozendaal, Optimum Environmental & Energy Technologies, Arnhem, the Netherlands

2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.                 Break

2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.                

Waste Heat Recovery Made Simple – and Profitable - Sean Casten, Recycled Energy Development (RED), Westmont, IL USA

3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.                

Thermafficient™ Thermal Engine – As Power Source from Glass Plant Waste Heat – Tim Held, Resource Thermionics, Akron, OH USA

To order the Energy Efficiency Workshop CD download the linked order form and email it to Executive Assistant Donna Ransom at: dransom@gmic.org.  (Tel: +1-614-523-3033) or fax it to (+1-614-818-9485).  Cost, including international postage is: $25.00 for GMIC members, and $35.00 for non-members. 

Building a Sustainable Global Glass Industry Workshop - November 3, 2008

Safety - It's Too Important to be Proprietary and Alternative Energies - Addressing Rising Prices and Carbon Constraints - Two Part Workshop -

November 6, 2008

These special workshops preceded and followed the 2008 Glass Problems Conference.  Each CD contains workshop presentations in PDF format.  Click here for details and to information on how to order your CD or visit our Publications page.

Glass Industry Sustainability Study Published

The GMIC, with support from the DOE, has published the results of a survey conducted with U.S. and European glass industry executives.  The “Sustainability Study of U.S. and European Glass Industry – Carbon Constraints and Energy” included input from 7 U.S. and 5 European leaders.  The survey and study were carried out by Dr. Warren W. Wolf Jr., an industry consultant and former Vice President of Technology at Owens Corning and former President of the American Ceramic Society.  It identifies the primary strategic concerns held by some of the leading glass companies on both sides of the Atlantic regarding the likely impact of the climate change factors we are facing and expected increases in energy costs and reductions in availability of traditional fossil fuels.  Similarities and differences are highlighted.  The GMIC is initiating discussions with its counterparts in other countries to consider these issues.  Input from all is welcome!  Our long-term success and sustainability may well depend on our ability to work in concert globally to optimize our operations and our positive impact on the emissions and energy use through increased use of glass products in their many forms. Read more......

Glass Industry People

Javier Gutiérrez Martínez de Compañón of “Director General” of European Glass Maker Vidrala Named

2009 Phoenix Award Glass

Person of the Year

Javier Gutiérrez Martínez de Compañón has been named  2009 Glass Person of the Year in recognition of his lifetime achievements in support of glass. He received the prestigious Phoenix Award at a banquet held in his honor on October 2, 2009 in his home city of Bilbao, Spain.  Mr. Gutiérrez joins a distinguished list glass industry professionals who have been recognized by The Phoenix Award Committee for their contributions to glass and the glass industry.

 Mr. Gutiérrez was unanimously selected for The Phoenix Award® in recognition of the commercial growth and technological innovations of the European container glassmaker, Vidrala.  Since graduating from university, Mr. Gutiérrez has spent his entire career at Vidrala, where he has been Technical Director and is now Director General.  Under his management, Vidrala has gone from a small, single facility container manufacturer to a leading European container group with 6 factories in 4 countries. 

The GMIC is pleased to recognize Mr. Gutiérrez for this great achievement and wishes him and Vidrala good fortune in future years.

Resilient Today, Sustainable Tomorrow - Dr. Joseph Fiksel is Executive Director of the Center for Resilience at The Ohio State University, and Principal and Co-Founder of the consulting firm Eco-Nomics LLC.

The accelerating pace of globalization and technological change means that businesses confront an increasingly complex and turbulent environment. Resilient enterprises seem to thrive on turmoil – they adapt to disruptions, discern opportunities to seize competitive advantage, and consistently build shareholder wealth.  click here to review the abstract

Phoenix Award Committee Announces, John Gallo

2008 Phoenix Award Recipient

Berkley Springs, West Virginia – Phoenix Award Committee Chairman, Paul Guttmann, formally announced that John Gallo, Vice President of Gallo Glass, is the recipient of the prestigious 2008 Phoenix Award.

The Phoenix Award Committee every year selects a person, now living, with a noteworthy career and who has made extraordinary contributions to the glass industry.

The award will be presented to Mr. Gallo at a black-tie award banquet at The Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco, CA, September 26, 2008.

For decades, John Gallo has brought strong leadership to Gallo Glass. He has devoted himself to reinforcing a dynamic company culture where the success of the company is grounded in embracing new technology and in each employee’s commitment to excellence. Mr. Gallo believes in industry wide collaboration and has shared his insights, ideas and his management style with his suppliers as well as other glass manufacturers, and worked closely with them to develop continuous improvements of their processes.

Manoj K. Choudhary - A Profile in Excellence

ACerS has recognized Manoj K. Choudhary, Senior Technical Staff member at Owens Corning Science and Technology in Granville, Ohio for excellence in ceramic science and engineering.  His current focus of work at Owens Corning is developing novel products and processes for thermal insulation and structural applications through materials properties research, mathematical simulation of transport phenomena, and nanotechnology.  Dr. Choudhary has been an ACerS member since 1985 and was elevated to Fellow in 1997.  He is also a Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology.

Dr. Edward N. Boulos - ACerS and Optical Materials Division Recognition

The ACerS Glass and Optical Materials Division recognizes Dr. Edward N. Boulos for excellence in ceramic science and engineering.   Since 2005, he has provided consulting services in glass science and engineering, as an expert in float glass manufacturing, fabrication and applications.   He heads Boulos Consulting in Troy, Michigan.

From 1984 to 2005, Dr. Boulos was a Senior Corporate Fellow and Team Leader in Glass Davison’s, Ford Motor / Visteon Corps.  From 1980-1984 he worked for Anchor Hocking Corp. as a Senior Scientist in the area of ovenware glass tempering, and from 1972-1980 he worked as a research scientist at Catholic Univ. of America, Washington D.C. and the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Elliott  Levine - Receives GMIC Recognition

The GMIC recognized Elliott Levine in the presence of all Glass Industry participants at the Annual Conference on Glass Problems in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 for his significant contributions to the industry over the last 10 years.  Elliott has been the DOE’s Industrial Technology Program’s “liaison” to the glass industry since our council was formed in September of 1998.  In that capacity he has provided our industry with guidance and support that have contributed significantly to our ability to reduce the energy intensity of our many operations around the country.  His management of the ITP’s cost-shared research portfolio with glass has led to the introduction of many significant improvements already in operation or in introduction stages in our plants – technologies such as the Submerged Combustion Melter, Plasmelt, Oxygen Enriched Air Staging, and many others.  Benefits from implementation are difficult to quantify, due to confidentiality concerns, but one thing is certain: Elliott has had a major positive impact on our industry’s energy intensity, and we thank him and the DOE for his efforts on our behalf!

GMIC Newsletter Archives

Available for Download

Technical and Economic Assessment (TEA) Available at GMIC

-October 2004

The long-awaited overview of the glass industry has been published and is available from the GMIC.  "Glass Melting Technology: a Technical and Economic Assessment", was first distributed at the recent Glass Problems Conference in Columbus, Ohio.  Written by Phil Ross and Gabe Tincher, and edited by Margaret Rasmussen, the document outlines the major technical and economic challenges that face the U.S. glass industry.  It provides substantial data to suggest how these challenges might be met to fortify glass manufacturing by addressing broad industry concerns as well as concerns that face individual industry segments.  You can order the TEA from the GMIC by sending a check made payable to GMIC for $15 add $6.50 for shipping n the U.S. and $13 for shipment to non-U.S. addresses. 

You may download the entire document free of charge by clicking here.