It has been announced by Mexico“s Vitro SA, the third largest producer of glass containers in the world, that Alfonso Gomez Palacio has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Anchor …
It has been announced by Mexico“s Vitro SA, the third largest producer of glass containers in the world, that Alfonso Gomez Palacio has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Anchor Glass Container Corporation in addition to his responsibilities as president and chief executive officer of Vitro Envases, Vitro“s glass container division in Mexico. Mr. Gomez replaces James R. Malone, who has been named chairman of Anchor. Mr. Gomez said: “It is important for our company to enhance our service to our customers on an integrated basis. Anchor serves many of the same customers in North America that Vitro Envases serves in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. We have state-of-the-art technology available throughout Anchor and Envases and are ready to quickly and efficiently serve our customers“ needs. Our challenge is to work together to capitalise on our demonstrated strengths to develop more customers, particularly in the beer (including micro-breweries), food, cosmetics, wine and liquor, personal care and pharmaceutical sectors in North America and in the regional markets of Latin America where glass use is growing. Alfonso Gomez Palacio, 53, became president of Vitro Envases, the Vitro Glass Containers Division, in 1994. He joined Vitro in 1985 as glass containers sales director and he was appointed executive director of the division in 1992. Previous to joining Vitro, Mr. Gomez had 15 years of extensive experience in the packaging industry, including working with Coca-Cola and A.J. Heinz. The Vitro glass container companies include: Anchor Glass Container Corporation, headquartered in Florida, US; Vitro Packaging, based in Dallas, Texas, and Vitro Envases, headquartered in Monterrey, the leading glass container producer in Mexico. Anchor Glass Container Corporation and Vitro Envases also announced in January that they had reached an understanding in principle for a long-term strategic alliance and supply agreement to provide glass containers to Bacardi companies throughout the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA). The long-term understanding should generate approximately US$ 350 million in sales through to the year 2000. With the closure of its Cliffwood, New Jersey manufacturing facility and its Houston, Texas manufacturing facility, glass container production will be split primarily between the Anchor Glass facility in Jacksonville, Florida, and a Vitro Envases production facility in Mexico City. The strategic alliance will encompass the following countries: the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.