Basic Question: Should we share our glass knowledge and ideas?

Hello and Welcome to the July 2023 Newsletter.

Better late than never, this month has been a very busy one but I have been mindful about the newsletter and finally decided on the exact topic. Something I have spoken about with glass friends, but never written about.

What I am about to present here in this Newsletter is something that is perhaps one of the most commonly debated issues in glass companies, at all levels of the organisation.

It is the question as to whether we should share our knowledge and ideas in glass manufacturing.

When I first started out as an apprentice in glass I worked in the technical side. The engineering knowledge there was all about how to keep the equipment running and repair it quickly when it fails. That is when I was first subjected to this dilemma about sharing knowledge.

I noted that many of the 'technicians' in the department I worked, would keep the knowledge to themselves in the belief that it made them more valuable and protect their jobs or gave them opportunity to earn more money (mostly from call-outs arising from out of hours breakdowns).

I had a dilemma. Should I follow them or should I take a different stance and decide to freely share my knowledge. In my case I went for the latter and have always freely shared my ideas. Of course, there has been restrictions on that when I have had to keep confidentiality agreements, but apart from such agreements and general company confidential matters, I have been happy to share what I can share.

The thing I found with this is that in fact I am not always right! Funny that eh?

We might have ideas we are confident about but when we share we find out others can challenge us and make us think more deeply. The result, in some cases, is we gain more knowledge by realising we were wrong.

I think this is perhaps one of the biggest secrets there is... sharing knowledge to our advantage! Not only our advantage, but to others who take education from it as well.

The idea of sharing knowledge was the reason that I set up the group for Glass Container Defects and Production Matters. Although I say it myself, I think this has been hugely successful in getting different glass plants and industry experts to help each other as an industry. In that way, we strengthen the fight against the alternative packaging materials. I appreciate it is a delicate subject to perhaps help your 'competition' but on some of the matters posted I think if such problems are not resolved and created an issue in the marketplace, it would affect all involved in the industry (critical defects for example).

Finally, to lay the foundation for future support of the offerings of new technology from other great companies, I am reminding you that I have created a place where my glass equipment and services reviews can be accessed easily. Even though these are still on LinkedIn, I have added a domain name to the link so it is easy to remember whenever you might want to go there and see who has been added. Link is www.meet-the-guys.com

I hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter and look forward to seeing you in the next edition.

• Peter J Firth M.Sc.