‘Glass Company of the Year’ accolade crowns anniversary year for Saint-Gobain Glass

More than 600 guests heard how judges praised the company for “a culture of excellence and professionalism, empowering staff across all facets of the business, resulting in this company being recognised as a world-class manufacturer.”Steve Severs, Managing Director for Saint-Gobain Glass Industry UK, said after receiving the trophy with colleagues from comedian Jason Manford at the event: “This is a fantastic achievement and recognises the hard work of our 200-plus dedicated employees in the UK.We are driven in our pursuit to be our customers’ first choice and their support has helped us to deliver a strong business result.”

The company’s submission for the awards highlighted a number of key factors that has seen it stand out from its competitors, including a strong profitable financial performance and reinvestment in the business; innovation driven by customer intimacy which has led to market share growth and new market opportunities; and operational excellence, with best in class performance that minimises the company’s cost-base and adverse environmental impacts.

Over the past year the business has transformed its product range with 13 new products launched and now nearly 50% of turnover is generated from products not available 5 years ago. Customer focus and support has been enhanced through new appointments to the team including a Head of Sales, Customer Experience Manager and Technical Support Manager. Further progress has also been made through a renewed focus on architects and specifiers, which has resulted in growth in volumes of solar control product volumes of 52% year on year, enabling further strengthening of the specification support team.

The company continues to focus on its sustainability and, following the attainment of BES6001 accreditation in 2014 – the only UK glass manufacturer to be accredited – the company recently became the first of its kind to achieve the ISO 50001 accreditation, marking another major step in the company’s long-standing commitment to environmental responsibility and its vision of sustainable habitat.

Saint-Gobain was also awarded The Derek Bonnard Award for Excellence in recognition of the Group’s anniversary of 350 years in business and shortlisted as finalist in the Commercial Project of the Year and Customer Care Initiative of the Year categories.

The award comes as a grand finale to a year of celebrations as Saint-Gobain marked 350 years of innovation with major events in cities all over the world. In the UK, that included not only corporate and charitable events but also a number of special community days at its Eggborough site.