Getting to work on the future

Back in 2019, Vetropack initiated a comprehensive strategic transformation process. The aim of this is twofold: to open up additional growth potential in the existing business and develop new business models to position the company as a strong market player for the long term and to make a significant contribution to shaping the glass industry.

In 2020, Vetropack defined a process that accompanies the transformation of the company towards 2030. Specific projects were defined for all five strategic directions, prioritised according to the available resources and backed up with clear responsibilities, schedules and metrics for monitoring progress.

Vetropack uses return on operating capital employed (ROOCE) as the key performance indicator for reviewing business development under the new strategy. The focus on the sustainable optimisation of all resources used will help to strengthen the “group first” concept.

The new strategy proved its worth in the crisis years of 2020 and 2021. It has been shown that Vetropack Group not only has a resilient business model, but also has the right culture to act flexibly yet thoughtfully at the same time in times of crisis. This also includes gradually optimising the organisation of the entire company in such a way that it supports the strategy in the best possible way. The strategic directions are also being critically reviewed on an ongoing basis. For example, recent events and social discussions have prompted the Board of Directors and Group Management to give a higher priority to a comprehensive understanding of sustainability under the heading “clearly sustainable” within the five strategic initiatives.

Five strategic directions for success

From the open strategy process, Vetropack derived five strategic directions in 2019 to shape the company’s further development in the next ten years.

• Clearly sustainable
• Expand the core
• Value growth
• Drive innovation
• Leader in quality

Clearly sustainable

Ecology plays a central role, especially in an energy-intensive sector such as the glass industry. That is why Vetropack wants to play a decisive role in shaping the green transformation in the glass industry as a pioneer. In doing so, the company pursues a holistic approach to sustainability based on two main initiatives:

• continuously reducing the environmental footprint of all business activities and
• improving recycling in the value chain (one-way and multi-trip) and securing access to key resources (primarily used glass).

Recycling is high on the prioritisation list of strategic projects. The company sets itself the goal of achieving a cullet (i.e. used glass) content of 70% in production across the entire Group by 2030. Greenhouse gas emissions can also be continuously reduced by modernising the furnaces. The most important environmental indicator is therefore CO2 emissions per ton of glass produced. This is to be reduced by 30% by 2030 compared with 2019. Only «green electricity» is to be used as early as 2025.

In addition, Vetropack wants to make its logistics climate-neutral by 2030. To achieve this goal, investments are needed above all in optimising the supply chain and in converting the vehicles and forklift fleet to alternative drives.

Expand the core

Vetropack‘s strategy is based on further strengthening its dominant market positions in the home markets of its Group companies. In addition, Vetropack aims to expand into selected markets — primarily through acquisitions.

With the acquisition of a glass plant in the Republic of Moldova at the end of 2020, Vetropack took a step towards strengthening its Central and Eastern European business.

Value growth

Vetropack is expanding its fields of activity by entering new lines of business along the glass packaging value chain and supporting its customers from the product idea to the filling of the product. In doing so, the company is focusing on new services that logically expand existing competencies and allow the company to further strengthen customer relationships. This also includes individualised and optimised packaging solutions as well as comprehensive technical consulting to improve existing processes on site. Cross-system connections of IT solutions also contribute to future growth in terms of value and are being consistently expanded.

Drive innovation

Vetropack aims to become a trendsetter in the glass packaging industry and therefore proactively drives innovation. Among other things, this involves process, product and market innovations as well as completely new business models.

The Technology and Production division, which was reorganised in the year under review, is intended to be a key driver of innovation within the Vetropack Group - including via the Innovation Centre at the Pöchlarn site in Austria, which was established in 2020 and went into operation in the year under review.

Leader in quality

Vetropack aligns all activities in such a way that the strategy is optimally supported at Group level. In addition to a holistic “Operational Excellence” approach, this also includes coordinated structures and processes in the areas of sales as well as technology and production. In addition, the opportunities presented by digitalisation are to be better exploited throughout the Group and Vetropack is to be positioned as an “Employer of Choice”.

Vetropack wants to make greater use of the opportunities offered by digitalisation in all areas of the company and developed a digitalisation roadmap as early as 2019. In 2020, the migration of the SAP system to the latest technology was completed. On this basis, various processes were digitised and centralised, for example purchasing and production planning.

In the year under review, Vetropack continued to drive forward its “Employer of Choice” strategy. These efforts bore their first visible fruits with the certification of the Bülach site as a “Great Place to Work^®” and the awarding of the Vetrocademy internal training programme by the Merit Leadership Community.