"North America has become something like BENTELER's second home."

Dear Mr. Bifulco, Dear Mr. Hartschuh, BENTELER Glass Processing Equipment is participating in GlassBuild again this year. Can you briefly describe what makes this show a special event?

Adriano Bifulco: GlassBuild America is the most important and largest industry gathering in glass production and glass processing for the entire North American continent. This year, more than 450 international exhibitors are expected. The show takes place once a year every year. It is organized by the National Glass Association (NGA), the largest trade association in the industry in the USA.

Jacob Hartschuh: For BENTELER, GlassBuild is of course a must-attend event. Here we can present our innovative glass processing solutions and exchange ideas with our customers. In other words: make new contacts and maintain existing contacts. In addition, there is an excellent supporting program with expert discussions, panels and seminars - which means that new technologies and trends will certainly be presented again, for example, also developments in sustainable products and processing solutions.

How important is the North American market for BENTELER Glass Processing Equipment? Can you say something about the development in recent years?

Jacob Hartschuh: The last two years have brought us strong growth in terms of sales of our machines and systems. But it is not only the recent past that has shown: North America is the second home market of BENTELER Glass Processing Equipment. On the one hand, the many partnerships in the automotive glass sector should be highlighted: Our customized, integrated solutions for windshields, side lights and roof glass as well as our washing and laminated glass lines were much in demand. On the other hand, there were many deals in the field of architectural glass: Here it was mainly coating washing systems, washing machines, fabrication and laminating glass lines from BENTELER that attracted the interest of our customers.

Let's venture a look into the future: What trends can you identify with regard to the North American market?

Adriano Bifulco: I think that in addition to automotive and architectural glass, the area of technical glass will play an increasingly important role and there are good growth opportunities here, for example with regard to glass for solar and photovoltaic systems. We are also already well positioned in this segment in North America and have been able to expand our customer base. There is definitely a solar boom here, which we want to participate in with our processing lines for technical glass. In addition, automated solutions are becoming more and more important as well as the integration of different processing steps into a complex, efficient and customized solution - topics in which BENTELER has been able to nail for a long time. I am convinced that thinking ahead and innovation are unbeatable arguments and will prevail.