Page 55 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 5-2019

important part of the total turno- per year over the past ten years, pany REFRATRADE, made up
ver, in a range of 20-25 per cent which positions us really well as of a series of area managers who
and almost all glass factories in suppliers for large groups world- each take care of their geographi-
Italy are regular customers. wide. cal market sectors.
We have also widened our What’s more, almost all our
market in Europe and started to products are included in the GMP&A: When you say large
work with the Vetropack Group Global Approved Supplier List of groups, do these include impor-
this year. O-I, who have recently approved tant names such as Verallia and
At the same time, each year we our high alumina channel blocks Ardagh for example?
are contacted by a series of new - trademark A 95 V. SIGMA – Mandelli: Certainly.
clients who are, however, fur- SIGMA – Mari: … which is We have been working constant-
ther and further from Italy. We the only bonded high-alumina ly with O-I, Verallia, Bormioli,
are now supplying for example approved by O-I and which is Zignago, Vetrerie Riunite,
Orora Group in Australia with an important strong point to Saverglass, Stoelzle… for more
over EUR 1 million of refractory SIGMA. than 20 years, which has enabled
materials. SIGMA – Mandelli: Last year we us to gain an important share of
We are also active in a num- supplied high alumina channels the market. We are also grow-
ber of areas such as South (O-I for three lines in O-I Brisbane, ing with regards to Vidrala and
plants in Peru and Colombia) and we will soon be supplying Ardagh, even if more slowly, as
and Central America (O-I, Vitro to O-I Sydney and O-I Rio de well as BA, where we have an
and Saverglass Mexico) as well Janeiro, important advantage thanks to
as the Far East – China for exam- our Bulgarian unit!
ple, where we sold products for GMP&A: How are your sales The US market, which is one
EUR 1 million in 2018. carried out – with agents or of the most difficult markets for
In Central America, we are directly? companies that do not have an
working with Grupo Modelo on a SIGMA – Mandelli: We do still office or direct contact there,
supply for almost USD 2 million. have some agents, in areas such is also opening up for SIGMA,
We have, in fact, been report- as China and Latin America, where we are supplying Libbey
ing an increase in group turnover but sales are usually carried out and Gallo Glass.
in a range of 10-20 per cent directly by our commercial com- SIGMA – Mari: We can certainly

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