Shaping a sustainable and competitive industry
IOCCO took part in the conference session “Environment and Sustainability: Innovations and Developments” at the international exhibition Vitrum. Our Technical Director, Mr. Ludovico Iasci, delivered the talk “Designing for Sustainability: AI and Digital Twin as Enablers of ESG-Oriented Energy Optimization.”
Key Takeaways
- Energy & CO2 reduction: ~25–35% energy savings versus conventional approaches.
- Process stability & productivity: advanced heating modules, intelligent controls, and AI-driven tuning improve yield and quality.
- ESG by design: full process data traceability (Digital Twin) and safer, more ergonomic operations.
Highlights from Mr. Ludovico Iasci’s Talk
- ESG as transformation: sustainability is a continuous, organization-wide change across technology, culture, and governance.
- Beyond melting: while melting/refining is energy-intensive, innovation in secondary processing (lamination, tempering) is crucial to decarbonization.
- AI + Digital Twin: model-based control and virtual commissioning stabilize processes, cut scrap, and enable end-to-end traceability.
- Measured impact: energy reduction ~25–35%, higher stability, lower scrap, and safer, more ergonomic workplaces.
- Data-driven governance: KPIs and dashboards align production, maintenance, and quality with ESG objectives.
- Open innovation: collaboration across industry and research—see H2GLASS and Furnace of the Future—accelerates adoption and risk sharing.
- Actionable roadmap: baseline energy mapping → Digital Twin deployment → closed-loop AI control → operator training → governance dashboards.
Institutional Participants
Chair: Nicolaas François Fouché — Senior Editor
- Walter Da Riz, General Director — Assovetro · The path to decarbonization of production processes
- Carlo Pirrone, Secretary General — FEVE – European Container Glass Federation
- Bertrand Cazes, General Secretary — Glass for Europe
- Christian Ballabio, Sales Manager — OCMI-OTG · Sustainability on glass primary packaging
- Simone Tiozzo, Head of R&D — Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro · Horizon Europe H2GLASS Project: First industrial scale H2 combustion trials in the oxy-fuel furnaces of Steklarna Hrastnik and Owens Corning
- Federica Carimati, Group Product Manager — Saint-Gobain Glass
- Nicolò Padoan, Sales Director — NSG Pilkington Italy
- Ludovico Iasci, Technical Director — IOCCO Group · Designing for Sustainability: AI and Digital Twin as Enablers of ESG-Oriented Energy Optimization
Open Innovation for Decarbonization
Decarbonization targets are best achieved through collaboration between companies, universities, and institutions. Projects such as H2GLASS – Hydrogen for Decarbonized Glass Production and Furnace of the Future demonstrate the potential of this shared approach.
Slides & Further Reading
Download the full presentation shown at Vitrum:
Explore IOCCO solutions:
Thanks to the Community
We thank speakers, institutions, and attendees for their engagement and constructive dialogue. IOCCO will continue investing in ESG-oriented technologies to help build a more sustainable, competitive, and responsible industry.
