Changing approach to the glass supply chain, planning more in the long term, creating partnerships rather than supply relationships with reliable companies, generating continuity and guaranteeing orders with timelines and better management.
Glass Group, the first independent group of flat glass manufacturers, draws the guidelines for the coming months, in the face of a scenario in which the flat glass converting industry has absorbed well the 2020 crisis and is recovering rapidly, forecasting in the 2021 a growth of 8.9 percent compared to the previous year.
Demand is driven by restart of investments in the construction sector, while the furniture sector is struggling to restart. However, prices and availability of raw materials could slow down the recovery and negatively affect the profitability of companies in 2021, according to market research on the flat glass sector in Italy. The flat glass market in Italy (to industrial and final customers resident in Italy) was worth around 790 million EUR in 2020, slightly down compared to 2019 when it reached 838 million EUR.
Daniele Predari, President of Glass Group, said, “The particular economic period we are experiencing sees, on the one hand a boom in demand and, on the other hand, scarcity of raw materials with consequent skyrocketing prices. The current situation of availability of glass provides for a change in the approach to the supply chain, planning for the long term, creating partnerships with reliable companies to give continuity and guarantee orders through more managerial management. This is why purchasing management with Glass Group has come into operation, with long-term strategic planning for both production and consumption. In 2020 we managed the purchases for this year, asking for guarantees on the supply of materials, even if availability of materials will be lower because such significant growth was not expected.”
Synergies and planning
Also in this perspective, the number of Glass Group affiliates rises to 20: the first completely independent Italian group that brings together leading glass companies with decades of experience in the transformation of high quality insulating glass around its brand. New entries, at the end of the second quarter of 2021, are the OmniDecor glassworks in Sant’Angelo (TE) and Vetreria Pistillo in Barletta (BT).
“Glass Group’s goal is to ‘create a system’, through strategic synergies and partnerships such as those activated with our Main Partners Pellini, Fenzi and Technoform, with Business Partners Aluvetro, AIGO, glassAdvisor, Sapiens and with the glass factories, effectively designing a large supply chain hub,” explained Predari “We are pleased to welcome the new affiliates OmniDecor and Pistillo to the group, hoping that joining the group will be an opportunity for growth for them and enrichment in terms of know-how for all of us.”
In this perspective of innovation and development, the group was established thanks to the aggregation of 5 founders (Mornagoglass Srl, Predari Vetri Spa, Vetraria Pescini Srl, Vetreria Romagna Srl, Vetreria Valfon Srl) and today boasts 15 affiliates (Aluvetro, Vetreria Lucana of Vetromat Srl, Vetreria Deserto Srl, Vetreria Biava, Podda Vetri Srl, Termovetro Sud Srl, Vitrum & Glass Srl, Vetreria Tacca Srl, Vetropadana Srl, Guidi Glass Srl, Cappelletti & Roleri, Glastebo, Quidam and – precisely – OmniDecor and Pistillo).