Vetropack Straža celebrates 30 years in the Vetropack Group

21.10.2026: Vetropack Straža d.d. is celebrating its 30th anniversary as part of the Vetropack Group, one of the leading manufacturers of glass packaging in Europe. Since joining on 9 September 1996, the site in Hum na Sutli, Croatia, has grown into a modern production plant that supplies customers across South-Eastern Europe and beyond. The milestone was marked by two events bringing together employees, their families, as well as former and current management.

The celebrations began on 5 September, a couple of days before the actual anniversary of the acquisition, with a Family & Friends Day for employees and their families. The programme included plant tours, glass-making activities, and a presentation of the plant fire brigade’s new fire engine. On 15 October, members of the 1996 management team returned to Vetropack Straža d.d. for a first-hand look at today's plant and to share memories with the current management, Hum na Sutli’s mayor and the Krapina-Zagorje County prefect. They were joined by Vetropack Group representatives Lukas Burkhardt, CEO, David Zak, CFO, and Claude R. Cornaz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vetropack Holding AG.

“Thirty years ago, Vetropack decided to aquire Straža because we believed in the people and in the long tradition of this site,” said Claude R. Cornaz. “Walking through the plant today with many of those who were there back then shows how much the teams have achieved in the meantime. The plant in Hum na Sutli has grown into an important and thriving part of our Group.”

More than 160 years of glassmaking
The glass factory was founded in 1860 by the Bavarian industrialist Michael von Poschinger, who chose the site for its proximity to the mineral water spring in Rogaška Slatina, the plant's first customer. The plant is located directly on the Slovenian border: a bridge links the site to its warehouse on the Slovenian side, and its industrial siding connects to the railway station in Rogatec. Already in 1993, the glassworks entered into a cooperation with Vetropack to improve quality and productivity. In 1996, the Vetropack Group acquired the plant what was then Tvornica stakla Straža and comprehensively modernised the facility.

The broadest colour range in the Vetropack Group
Today, around 700 employees take care about production on three furnaces and twelve production lines which makes Straža one of the biggest plants within the Vetropack Group. Alongside green, amber, olive, cuvée and flint glass, the plant uses a colour feeder to tint flint glass into even more colours – a technique introduced in 2003 to produce a dark blue for Fructal juice bottles. Today, the colour range extends from different shades of blue to UV flint, a clear glass with full UV protection. This gives Vetropack Straža the broadest colour range in the Group and enables it to meet the diverse requirements of customers in segments such as juices, premium spirits and wines. The plant mainly supplies Croatia and neighbouring countries. One of the iconic bottles supplied is Cockta which is a very popular non-alcoholic beverage in the region.

Investing in efficiency and sustainability
Recent investments have further strengthened the plant's production capabilities and environmental performance. Between September 2024 and early 2025, Vetropack rebuilt the flint glass furnace, installed new glass forming machines – including the plant's first servo-electric NIS machine – and added the latest inspection technology at the cold end. The modernisation has increased production capacity and energy efficiency while reducing CO₂ emissions. In spring 2025, the furnace became the first in the Group to be certified as a technological unit under the European Machinery Directive. In the same year, Vetropack Straža d.d. installed its third solar power plant and became the first business unit in the Group to have its environmental management system certified to ISO 14001.

“The past three decades in the Vetropack Group have shaped out plant more than any other period in our more than 160 years of glass production,” emphasised Darko Šlogar, Managing Director of Vetropack Straža d.d. “What we have achieved is above all the work of our employees. Their expertise and commitment, often over many years, are what makes our plant in Hum na Sutli strong. At the same time, we see ourselves as part of the community in this region, and we will continue to contribute to it. Among others, we support volunteer fire brigades, the county hospital as well as schools, local sports clubs and local associations.”