The glass industry traveled to Milan, Italy, last week for Vitrum 2023. The international glass industry trade show ended on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, and featured numerous seminars, workshops and an expo attended by many global companies.
According to Sasu Koivumäki, chief security officer for Glaston Corp., the event provided the perfect opportunity to embrace Vitrum’s theme of sustainable solutions, innovation and automation.
“Vitrum was a delightfully active gathering of customers and partners, and it is always great to meet the industry in person,” says Koivumäki. “Our Glaston team had many days filled with good discussions, new insights and identifying opportunities. Before Vitrum, we claimed that now is the time to focus on energy efficiency, quality and automation with every piece of glass processed. The days in Milan convinced us that this really is the case. We also had the opportunity to introduce our latest technologies, FC Series EVO and ACTIVE’SEALER, to the market, and their capabilities were well perceived by customers.”
Nancy Mammaro, CEO of Mappi International, says she met with more Americans and Canadians than usual and that the quality of booths this year was quite good. She adds that more than 6,500 people registered for the event and 50% were foreigners.
Mammaro says during the event, Mappi presented its MEC (MAPPI EDGE Computing) and new Siemens system, which collects data from furnaces so that customers have better control of production.
Dan Reinhart, president of Salem Fabrication Supplies, says Salem representatives were pleased with the attendance, especially the number of global companies.
“We attended Vitrum on Tuesday and Wednesday and were pleased with the attendance at the show,” he says. “While we saw few attendees from North America, many other countries were well represented as the exhibitor booths were somewhat busy.”
Reinhart adds that diamond tooling companies were scattered throughout the exhibit, showing off the latest technology to grind, drill and polish glass. He notes that Burgalassi Srl and KDrills Srl displayed new products with much interest from attendees.
Additionally, he mentions that “Denver displayed its Advance Elite Vertical CNC Work Center, which has D-shaping capabilities, and the booth was quite busy with attendees observing demonstrations throughout the day. Zafferani Glas displayed multiple machines, emphasizing its mill/drilling machine. Forel had the largest booth on the show floor displaying a full IG line and various other pieces of equipment.”
Chris Cullum, sales manager of the glass division for CMS North America, says this year’s show was smaller than in years past. It comprised only one hall, compared to two or three in the past.
Cullum states that CMS opted for a smaller booth this year, with no machinery on display. Based on his observations, he noticed far more American representatives for the Italian companies in attendance.
