With a long history of supporting education in the UK glass manufacturing sector and recognising outstanding industry achievements, the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London was proud to continue its sponsorship of the prestigious Rising Star Award at the recent Glass Focus 2024 event in Leeds.
Staged by British Glass, several members of the Company were among a distinguished audience that witnessed Glass Sellers’ representative Liveryman Paul McLavin reveal the Rising Star Award winner as Jack Harper, Process Optimiser at Ardagh Glass Packaging in Knottingley where he is undertaking the Ardagh Management Development Programme and Certificate in Supervisory Management.
This years shortlist reflects the diversity, creativity, and dedication that continue to drive glass industry forward. We are proud to recognise these individuals and organisations for their remarkable achievements,” said Nick Kirk, British Glass Technical Director, ahead of the winners being announced.
Dave Fordham, Glass Sellers’ Ambassador to British Glass, added “Recognising talent and paying tribute to outstanding achievements is crucial to nurturing and retaining the skilled workforce needed for the glass manufacturing sector to flourish. The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers was delighted to again support British Glass in acknowledging significant accomplishments from up-and-coming talent and sincerely congratulates Jack Harper and all shortlisted entrants.”
2024 winner
The jury were impressed by Jack Harper’s enthusiasm for delivering process improvement and impactful results. Achievements in projects Jack has championed include reducing job change time by 29%; reducing AGP-Knottingleys technical downtime KPI by 44%; and coordinating AGP-Knottingleys ‘Step Up’ cost savings, delivering over £1m in real savings and additional productivity contribution.
Jack has continued to impress managers, colleagues and customers with his technical ability, enthusiasm and strong work ethic.
Shortlist recognised
Commendations were also given to other entrants shortlisted, including:
– Faiz Davenport
Having joined Encirc as part of a three-year Graduate Training Programme, the jury noted
giant strides made by Faiz in a short period of time.
Faiz started working in the Cold End Engineering department where his ability to analyse and interpret data into actioning changes for the benefit of the business led to him joining the Continuous Improvement team. Faiz is now supporting various parts of the glassmaking process to successfully develop and implement improvement projects across the Elton plant.
– William Law
William was nominated by Pennine Industrial Equipment because of the significant impact he has made with the conveyor chain manufacturer in the short time since joining the glass industry from university. William has travelled far and wide to assist glassmakers with improving efficiency and productivity, and has quickly progressed from a sales rep role to the new upcoming face of Pennine.
– Isaac Reece
With a focus on the technical and glass technology side of the business, Graduate Engineer Isaac was shortlisted for his achievements at Stoelzle Flaconnage. Benefitting from a grounding across various departments, Isaac has since worked extensively on Environmental and Energy projects whilst still expanding his knowledge and skills around the
furnace and batching areas.
Isaac’s achievements include having a key role in assisting, implementing and maintaining ISO14001 accreditation, undertaking successful energy projects and coordinating Stoelzle’ bid with Glass Futures for IETF funding to assist with the building of an all new fully electric melter that he will project manage in the future.
Previous winners
Formerly known as the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ award (also sponsored by the Glass Sellers), Rising Star winners over the past ten years include:
2023: Beata Zalinska, Saint-Gobain Glass
2022: Dana Godfrey, Beatson Clark
2021: Will Ruane, Saint-Gobain Glass
2020: Erin Miller, Encirc
2019: Joe Boyd, Saint-Gobain Glass
2018: Gareth Owen, O-I
2017: Samantha Coolledge, Saint-Gobain Glass
2016: Tom Bagley, Ardagh Glass Packaging
2015: Tom Cross, Encirc
2024 Awards
Other winners at Glass Focus 2024 included:
– AEGG (SME member of the year award)
– Ardagh Glass Packaging (Health and safety action)
– Encirc and Armstrong B2B (Marketing impact)
– Pilkington UK and Zytronic (Innovative solution)
– Pilkington UK, C-Capture and Glass Futures (Sustainable practice)
– Pilkington UK (Strengthening business through people)
– Saint-Gobain Glass UK (Flat design of the year)
– Stoelzle Flaconnage (Container design of the year)
– Stoelzle Flaconnage (British Glass company of the year award)
www.glass-sellers.co.uk
www.britglass.org.uk
Rising Star 2024 recipient Jack Harper (left) with Glass Sellers Liveryman Paul McLavin.
Rising Star 2024 contenders [l-r] Jack Harper, William Law, Faiz Davenport and Isaac Reece
with Glass Sellers Liveryman Paul McLavin.
Glass Sellers in attendance at Glass Focus 2024 included [l-r]: Freeman John Agnew (Glass
& Glazing Federation), Liveryman Paul McLavin (formerly O-I), Liveryman Dave Dalton
(British Glass) and Liveryman Dave Fordham (Glass Futures).
