16 October 1997: On 4 September, the 1997 Phoenix Award was presented to Mr. Joseph H. Lemieux, Chairman of the board of directors and CEO of the US firm Owens-Illinois, Inc.
At a gala award ceremon…
16 October 1997: On 4 September, the 1997 Phoenix Award was presented to Mr. Joseph H. Lemieux, Chairman of the board of directors and CEO of the US firm Owens-Illinois, Inc. At a gala award ceremony, Mr. Lemieux said, “I am honoured to be recognised by the Phoenix Award Committee, but I accept this award for the company. The people here at Owens-Illinois are proud of what they have done.” The award itself, a Steuben glass sculptured replica of the mythological Phoenix Bird, was presented to Mr. Lemieux by the Phoenix Award Chairman, Phil Ross. In accepting the award, Mr. Lemieux said that the success of Owens-Illinois was due “neither to brilliant leadership, nor to a great strategy.” He went on to explain that at Owens-Illinois, three elements entered into the picture as the glass industry began losing business to the plastics industry in 1978. At that time, there were 30 large national glass manufacturers – today, only three remain. Owens-Illinois is among those three, said Mr. Lemieux, because everyone believed that glass was a viable market product. A second reason the company remained successful was that its foreign markets were established and growing by 10% per year. Thirdly, concluded Mr. Lemieux, “the people of Owens-Illinois responded to the plastics challenge like survivalists…supported the company, went to work fighting for their product, and were loyal.” Joseph H. Lemieux is the 27th recipient of the coveted Phoenix Award, and the third distinguished individual of the Owens-Illinois company to be honored by the Phoenix Award Selection Committee. For further details of the Phoenix award, see the 29 May Weekly World News story: “Phoenix Award: 1997 winner named”.