GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF THE GLASS INDUSTRY Michael Greenman, Executive Director, Glass Manufacturing Industry Council 600 N.

Cleveland Ave., Suite 210 Westerville, Ohio, 43082, U.S.A. Tel: +1-614-818-9423 Fax: +1-614-818-9485 E-Mail: mgreenman@gmic.org Web: www.gmic.org Abstract Glass industries have developed independently around the world over the centuries, as market and society needs have justified the creation of national companies. Large players have led to common elements: furnace designs, forming processes, raw materials, but we have all basically evolved separately, with limited interaction. Today, with improved communications, common challenges, and many opportunities for evolution and growth, the global glass industry, with the encouragement of the International Commission on Glass, is beginning to work together in common purpose to improve our industry from top to bottom. Glass products make a major contribution to society and the environment, but are largely unrecognized. This presentation will describe some of the activities that are currently moving forward internationally to contribute to our industrys long term global success and growth. Opening Slide Its a pleasure to be with you at this 19th ABIVIDRO Technical Conference! I have always enjoyed my trips to Brazil over the years, as early as 1945, when I moved with my family from the United States to Argentina. In those days, the DC-3 we flew in made many stops so my parents saw many Brazilian airports! I didnt see much - I was only 2! Many years later, and after business visits to Brazil with Caterpillar, John Deere and more recently the glass industry, this will be the first time I have a few days to actually see some of your lovely country. I am looking forward to the total experience of being with you here today and knowing Brazil a little better later this week! The Glass Manufacturing Industry Council is the association based in the United States that represents glass companies and glass industry suppliers, researchers, consultants as well as universities and individuals with interest in our industry. We were formed in 2008, but until last year a glass company could only be a member if they had manufacturing operations in the United States. Last year, because our members recognized that if our industry is to prosper, we must have better communications with other glass companies all around the world, and begin to work together rather than in competition with each other, they removed that restriction, and today we have several Mexican members, as well as European suppliers and technical firms.

What is interesting to me is that, as we changed our membership requirements, glass associations in Europe and elsewhere, have begun to reach across the globe as well, seeking to collaborate, to share concerns and ideas so as to bring benefit and improved opportunities to the whole industry. We have recognized that, while there is competition between individual glass companies, the real competition is with other products and that our opportunities can be tremendously improved by working together to make the entire industry more efficient, environmentally responsible, responsive to market needs, varied in our product offerings, with improved products and broader markets. This is not a zero-sum-game. In our case, the saying: a rising tide raises all boats is really true. As we improve our product and our industry, we will find new, added value applications for our products such that opportunities for all will grow. International Collaboration I would like to give you an update on developments in the global glass industry that have taken place just in the last few months that will have implications for many years to come. I will describe the International Commission on Glass; progress that is underway to develop an international glass technical roadmap. There are international activities to discuss and to improve glass industry sustainability; the opportunities we will experience if we are able to increase the strength of glass, and the importance of developing a better image for our industry as a product that, in its many forms, brings benefits to society and the environment. With these in place, as an industry, we may wish to combine all these elements in the creation of a strategic plan for the entire global industry what we might call a long term glass industry Strategic Roadmap, but might end up being a global glass industry compact something like a Vision for the Age of Glass. International Commission on Glass First, the International Commission on Glass, in which ABIVIDRO is a member, has, until now, limited its members to national organizations in glass science and technology. In the United States, the American Ceramic Society is the official member. Their primary activity is to promote cooperation between glass experts. They work through technical committees focused on: Basics and Properties; Glass Melting; Surfaces and Interfaces; New Applications; and Information, Communication, Education and History. Participation in these Technical Committees is primarily from university professors, with only a few glass company engineers and researchers contributing their knowledge to the discussion. They have long felt that this detail reduces the impact of their work because the practical furnace and plant engineers usually have little involvement. During the ICG Annual Meeting in Trencin, in the Slovak Republic, attended by Mr. Balmonte and myself, the organization decided to open up membership to a much

broader audience. As the details are worked out, glass companies, and other interested in participating, as well as other types of organizations and even individuals will be able to join the ICG. They expect this will substantially increase the areas of interest that members will be able to work together to improve. Technical Roadmap The GMIC, as one of its first activities, working through member committees, developed a Technical Roadmap which identified areas where research would be needed to meet objectives the glass industry had set for itself in a Vision document. We created committees who focused on Production Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Issues and Innovative Uses. We published the roadmap in 2002, but it was based on information from 1997, so today, its clearly out of date. During the Trencin meeting, I participated in a discussion of a new roadmap initiative that was started last year within the ICG. The German Glass Association is working with the University of Kassel to develop a new roadmap. After we reviewed their format and plans, we asked if we could participate in developing this new tool so that it might identify global technology needs, rather than only the specific needs of a single country. This was agreed to, and so, in the United States many of our members are now completing the questionnaire and the information will be included in the Kassel roadmap. I believe it is possible to include other countries input if there is a wish to participate. Some other countries in Europe will provide input, and the questionnaire has been sent to Asia as well. The new roadmap includes a number of Clusters or focus areas that are important to glass technology. Responses are then gathered in a path that identifies technologies that need to be developed in the short term (by 2010), medium (by 2015) and long term. The results can then be studied both by individual companies, national associations and the larger group represented by the ICG to identify the best paths to move our industry forward. Glass Industry Global Sustainability We can surely identify our needs to continue to improve the technological aspects of our glass making process and of the products themselves, but we are operating today in a globalized market and we are facing new challenges that we have never had before: New economies developing and growing in many areas of the world, such as your own, right here in Brazil that is seeing unprecedented growth. Along with this, everyone is seeing increases in energy costs, whether its electricity or natural gas or other sources. As our concerns relating to climate change increase, we are facing already, or will in the

near future, restrictions on Green House Gas and other gaseous and particulate emissions that will require us to change our processes. As an industry, we are beginning to address these issues and making plans to develop actions that will permit us to continue to improve and increase our products and our market success in spite of, or even because of these new considerations. The first of these is a conference that will take place in Columbus, Ohio, on November 3, 2008 titled: Building a Sustainable Global Glass Industry. This is a joint program organized by the GMIC, the ICG and the Dutch research group: TNO. Speakers from Europe and The United States will address energy costs, environmental issues, globalization and the technical challenges we face and seek agreement on how we can best work together to ensure our industry continues to be successful into the future. We are inviting executives of glass companies to attend who have responsibilities for ensuring their companies can continue to prosper in spite of or perhaps, because of, new challenges. It is scheduled so that many attendees will stay on for the Annual Conference on Glass Problems that follows on 4 and 5 November, as well as another GMIC workshop on Alternative Energies on Thursday the 6th of November. Glass Strength Glass has been a vital part of our society for over 5,000 years. Its value and its uses have grown enormously, particularly in the last 100 years. However, we have one major challenge that limits its value and use significantly: it can be brittle, and it breaks! Yet, glass is theoretically one of our strongest materials. Our scientists advise me that the intrinsic strength of the Oxygen Silicon bond is 2,000,000 PSI (pounds per square inch). Yet it operates typically at a maximum of 1/10th of that amount, and typically at 1/200. This chart illustrates typical strengths of various types of glasses. Glass scientists and marketers all around the world are recognizing that 1) the opportunities for new glass applications would be enormous if significant increases in strength can be achieved, 2) that this has not been a focus of our industry, and 3) that it is time to start actively pursuing methods for making glass that will be substantially stronger than our current products. If we can achieve 50X strength increase, we will open up enormous possibilities in all areas of our lives! So, the industry is underway. Work has begun, and Ill address this topic in more detail this afternoon when we discuss glass industry innovation. Image of Glass Glass is an amazing material. I think we all can agree on that! It is made from readily available materials (in most cases); it is chemically inert; it is usually transparent; most glasses can be fully recycled into a glass furnace to make exactly the same product, or others, with no reduction in properties, and, when we do this, it reduces the energy

requirements to melt glass. But, one of our problem is, perhaps, that we are too diverse, and are frequently component parts of other products that people think of by that products name. When asked to name glass products, most people will say, without hesitation: windows, bottles, tableware. Then they stop! They dont think of the amazing variety of other products that surround them every minute of every day as glass: cars, trucks, planes, boats; fiber optic wire; Computer memory; CDs; light bulbs (including the new highefficiency compact fluorescents); beautiful art, and many others. Theyre not aware that glass products contribute significantly to energy savings and emission reductions in our society, not to mention energy generation: insulation fiberglass, solar energy cells and mirrors; blades of wind powered electric generators; Low-E automotive and residential windows; and on and on! The glass industry has concluded that we suffer from not being known by both the public and by government officials as a material that contributes enormously to society and to environmental issues, and that it is time to correct that situation. The ICG has created a new Technical Committee TC 12 Glass, Society and the Environment, which will be creating materials to demonstrate the value glass has for society and the environment for us to use with government officials, educational institutions and industrial partners. We will quantify the benefits from using glass in appropriate applications; the reduction in energy and emissions that will result from the correct use of multiple layer or coated windows; the correct R-value of fiberglass insulation; Strategic Roadmap So, the areas Ive covered are all in motion, organizations, individuals, committees, teams are pushing them forward. They all will contribute in their own way to improving the long term viability of our products: with new markets and applications, reduced energy use and environmental impact, higher value and profit margin as well as the bright image of a product that contributes enormously to society and the planet. But theres still something missing! So far, they are all moving forward as more or less independent initiatives each with their likely benefits. How can we bring all these elements together so as to imagine and bring into being a strong presence and a global path forward? In your business you develop a strategic plan at the level of the board of directors that represents all the varied interests and expertise of your companies. The same must happen here: A conference is proposed for November of 2009, possibly in conjunction with the Glass Problems Conference, to bring together executives from glass companies and others from around the world to develop a strategic plan of cooperation and collaboration to ensure the continued and growing success and value of our products to the future of

society and the environment so that, within this century, we see the recognized birth of the successor to the stone, bronze, iron and steel, and even information ages the Age of Glass, as the strongest, most versatile, most widely used and respected material all around the world. Thank You!