Dominik Hippel
Quality of Vetropack’s bottles starts long before the finished glass leaves the production line. It begins with the right raw materials, the right glass recipe and people who stand behind the production process. Dominik Hippel is an example of a person who plays an important role in making sure all these pieces come together.
Working as Recycling Team Leader at Vetropack Austria, Dominik connects many different stages of the production process. From monitoring the cullet processing, preparing glass recipes in the control room and keeping a close eye on the furnace system coordinating the team.
“My day starts early in the morning with a round through the department – from cullet unloading and the recycling plant all the way to the control room. That also gives me a chance to speak with colleagues and check if any issues occurred during the night,” Dominik tells us.
From there, his day can take many different directions: organising staff, placing orders, checking stock levels, planning maintenance work or responding to an unexpected problem on the production floor. Although all these tasks may seem challenging, for Dominik this variety is one of the things that makes the job interesting.
“Every day is different, it’s never monotonous. I enjoy the organisational aspects as well as the hands-on work, investigating the causes of problems and resolving them, working as part of a team, and glass as a material in general,” he says.
Still, behind all that is a strong focus on quality. One of the most important parts of Dominik’s job is making sure that processes are regularly checked and that the quality of raw materials (glass cullet) is carefully monitored. The quality of the cullet and the correct glass recipe have a major influence on the quality of the finished glass products, because the consequences of getting it wrong can be significant. What can happen?
“Anything is possible, from defects in the finished glass product to production shutdowns,” Dominik explains. That’s why technical understanding, good coordination and organisational skills are essential in his role.
But keeping production running is not only about technology and processes. It is also about people. Dominik values the good relationship he has with his colleagues because a smooth production process is the result both of technical skills and long-term commitment of people. Even his own journey at Vetropack shows the importance of these two values. He joined the company in 2010, starting in the mould workshop as a turner, but he took the opportunity to complete further training that led him to the role he is in currently.
His story shows that quality in glass is something that starts early in production process and with people who demonstrate competence and professionalism in their work every day for years.