Vetropack : Foundations of success 2023 (2 MB)

Foundations for success

1. Foundations for success
2. Business model

1. Strategy 2030

1. Risk management

1. Stakeholders

1. Organisation

Foundations for success

The central basis for our business success is our business model, which was redefined and given a sharper strategic focus in 2023. We aim to use this model to present our corporate purpose transparently to all our stakeholder groups, and to maintain our successful positioning in the glass industry going forward.

Vetropack's business model is based on glass as a raw material. Glass can be recycled an infi­ nite number of times without any loss of quality, and it is re-usable - attributes that make it an in­ tegral element of the circular economy. Glass affords protection for beverages and foods, and makes it possible to preserve them. At the core of our business model is our corporate purpose: 'We make it possible for everyone to enjoy food and beverages in the most elegant, safest and most responsible way.'

So we can continue developing our business successfully through to 2030, we are focussing on five strategic thrusts. They define our identity, and they help to ensure that Vetropack will play its part in shaping the glass industry's long-term development. The right organisational structure helps us to implement the strategy.

Thanks to systematic risk management, we act with foresight and we are able to plan and imple­ ment the necessary measures.

Another key foundation for success is interaction with our stakeholder groups. By interacting with them, we learn at first hand what is required and expected of us; we know which trends impact our business, and we come to understand where our strengths lie and where we could have po­ tential for improvement.

Foundations for success

Business model

The Vetropack Group numbers among Europe's leading manufacturers of glass packaging for the food and beverage industry. Headquartered in Bülach, Switzerland, the Group has around 3 800 employees.

Vetropack has state-of-the-art production facilities as well as sales and distribution centres in Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Croat­ ia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Italy, the Republic of Moldova and Romania.

At Vetropack, we make it possible for everyone to enjoy food and beverages in the most elegant, safest and most responsible way. We view glass as the most sustainable packaging solution - and the perfect material to ensure that food is packaged safely. Our holistic Service plus+ ap­ proach helps our customers to optimise their value chains and guarantee consumers' safety. Close, long-lasting relationships are the hallmarks of our collaboration with partners. Guided by our understanding of environmental responsibility and cost efficiency, we aim to minimise our car­ bon footprint throughout the supply chain, and we are committed to recycling as the key to opti­ mising product life-cycles.

You can find detailed information about our organisation and locations on our website.

We protect your enjoyment.

We are partners throughout the entire product life cycle

1. Recycled glass accounts for the largest proportion of raw materials we use to manufacture our products. We also use quartz sand, soda, lime, dolomite, feldspar and other minor com­ ponents to produce glass.
2. We are committed to modern manufacturing processes, and we prioritise energy-efficient and customer-oriented production.
3. We value quality and innovation: one exampleEchovai, our reusable bottle that is more re­ sistant, lighter in weight, and more sustainable.
4. We ensure proximity to our customers with nine glassworks in eight countries and a maxi­ mum delivery radius of 400 km.
5. We offer technical customer service solutions - for example, to solve problems during the filling process.
6. We also collaborate with our customers to develop personalised glass colours and designs for distinctive products.
7. Our goal: to make it possible for everyone to enjoy food and beverages in the most elegant, safest and most responsible way.
8. We promote the circular economy with our reusable and recyclable glass bottles.

Circular economy - the foundation of our business model

Our business model supports the transition to a circular economy - because it is based on natural raw materials and because glass is almost infinitely reusable. Vetropack was already a pioneer of glass recycling back in the 1970s and nowadays, we collect used glass for recycling in all the countries where we operate glassworks. In many countries, we collaborate with special-purpose associations (e.g. the European Container Glass Federation FEVE) and maintain our own cullet treatment plants to promote high glass collection rates. We are also driving the development of returnable bottles ahead: these are made in part from resource-efficient lightweight glass, so they are even easier to handle.

We supply safe glass packaging of high quality to the food and beverage industry

Vetropack produces glass bottles and wide-neck jars in close collaboration with our customers. On request, we develop individual customised glass packaging based either on our own designs, our customers' ideas, or concepts devised by externally commissioned designers. Our focus is al­ ways on the quality and safety of our products.

Glass packaging to meet the highest standards

No matter which foods or beverages our customers want to package - be it jam, mineral water, wine or beer - Vetropack offers around 2,500 different glass packaging designs, both standard and customised, for a huge variety of products. You can find our product portfolio and reference stories on our website.

Foundations for success

Strategy 2030

Our Strategy 2030, which comprises five initiatives, is intended to shape and drive the development of our business until 2030. Strategy 2030 supports us with tapping potentials for growth in our existing business, and helps us to develop new business segments. We are suc­ cessfully implementing Strategy 2030 thanks to our culture and our val­ ues, and on the basis of clear structures and responsibilities.

In 2019, Vetropack launched a comprehensive transformation process based on five strategic initiatives. Projects relating to all five initiatives have been undertaken at our locations since the process began. The five main axes indicate the business development we intend to achieve by 2030; our aims are to enable Vetropack to position itself as a strong player on the market in the long term, and to play a key role in shaping the glass industry.

Flexibility and stability

Our mature corporate culture gives us the flexibility we need to respond to unexpected chal­ lenges. Strategy 2030 has proven its worth in this regard - particularly in the last few years, which were dominated by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Credit for this is al­ so due to our business model, which is resilient and therefore robust.

Five strategic initiatives - the basis for Strategy 2030

Below is an overview of our five strategic initiatives.

Clearly sustainable

Vetropack pursues a holistic approach to sustainability with the aim of becoming Best in Class in Sustainability in our industry by 2030. Within our Clearly sustainable strategic initiative, we focus on careful use of resources, development of our employees, and legally compliant business practices.

Expand the core

Expand the core defines a strategy that will enable us to maintain and consolidate our posi­ tions in thehe home markets. By doing so, we will move even closer to our customers and position ourselves as a high-quality partner and a full-service provider. Expand the core also includes the expansion of our proven products and services into selected markets.

Value growth

With the Value growth initiative, Vetropack is broadening its proven areas of expertise. We will enter new business sectors and launch new services throughout the value chain for our glass packaging. This will help us to strengthen our customer relationships and generate value.

Drive innovation

As part of the Drive innovation initiative, Vetropack is strengthening its position as a trendset­ ter in the glass industry and opening up new business areas with new product and market innova­ tions

Leader in quality

As a Leader in quality, Vetropack gears all its activities towards providing optimal support for the strategy at Group level. This includes a holistic operational excellence approach as well as corresponding structures and processes in sales, marketing, technology and production. Vetropack is taking advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalisation and positioning itself as an Employer of Choice.

Corporate purpose and values

We have defined a process to provide a framework for the fundamental transformation of the company and its business model over a period of ten years. As well as the strategy, with thecor­ porate purpose, the transformation we seek to achieve embraces the structure - in terms ofor­ ganisation and responsibilities - together with the culture, which also includes our values.

Our corporate purpose is as follows: 'We make it possible for everyone to enjoy food and bever­ ages in the most elegant, safest and most responsible way.' We create unique, high-quality prod­ ucts and services.

Based on a tradition in the food and beverage industry that dates back many years, we under­ stand the needs of our stakeholder groups and we endeavour to offer products of high quality. Glass is an elegant material; 'elegant' also means offering individual, customised products. The most important requirement that our products must meet is safety: glass comes from natural origins and has an inert structure, so food and beverages are packaged safely in it. 'Responsible' high­ lights the fact that glass can be completely recycled an infinite number of times, so it protects the environment.

Our values convey our convictions and principles. They guide our day-to-day work, and the way we relate to one another and to our stakeholder groups. These are our values:

• Ensuring accountability
• Navigating safely together
• Guaranteeing leadership in quality
• Anticipating change
• Generating trust and confidence
• Exercising environmental responsibility

Foundations for success

Risk management

The Vetropack Group's risk management serves the purposes of identi­ fying and assessing material risks, and of addressing them strategical­ ly. The risk matrix and the measures resulting from it are updated each year by the Management Board and approved by the Board of Direc­ tors.

Identifying and assessing risks

Vetropack identifies and assesses potential risks on the basis of a standardised process which is not only essential to our long-term business success, but is also intended to raise awareness. All our employees are called upon to deal with risks responsibly in the course of their daily activities. The company takes account of opportunities as well as risks.

Vetropack classifies risks as follows:

• Financial risks
• Strategic and geopolitical risks
• Operational risks
• Organisational risks

Management draws up a risk matrix for the Vetropack Group each year. This matrix classifies the material risks according to the potential extent of loss or damage they could cause, and the likeli­ hood of their occurrence. Vetropack uses these four levels to assess risks:

• Worst-casescenario: existential risks
• High risk: major impact on business objectives
• Moderate risk: disruption of important business processes
• Low risk: minor impairment of individual business processes

Risk management measures

Following consolidation and assessment of the risks, we develop measures and strategies to min­ imise them in cases where identified risks cannot be tolerated. Implementation of the measures is monitored continuously on a systematic basis.

Approval of the risk matrix

The risk matrix drawn up for the entire Group, with the strategies and measures identified to min­ imise the risks, is validated each year by management and submitted to the Board of Directors for approval.

Sustainability risks

In 2023, Vetropack also devoted particular attention to sustainability risks and their impact on business performance. Vetropack's Sustainability Manager was also involved in this process. In addition, a comprehensive risk analysis of environmental and social aspects in the supply chain was undertaken.

As in previous years, energy prices presented a critical business risk in 2023. An appropriate en­ ergy procurement strategy enabled us to optimise our planning processes and improve our ability to anticipate the development of energy costs.

Some Swiss companies will be obliged to report in accordance with the requirements of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) as from the 2024 fiscal year, and climate- related aspects are proving to be increasingly relevant for Vetropack. For both these reasons, the Board of Directors approved a roadmap for the systematic integration of physical and transitory climate risks into our risk management at the end of 2023.