The sustainability of the glass industry is a much-debated topic. As a result, the glass industry is one of the most scrutinized industries in the world. Since custom glass companies are one of the key players in the glass industry, we will explore some market trends and challenges these companies face in this article.
Understand the Custom Glass Company Market Scenario
Some market trends in custom glass industries are as follows:
Custom Glass Companies See Growth In Demand For Glass
The various health and environmental hazard allegations associated with plastics have resulted in the popularity of glass products. Rational consumers are ditching plastics and are trying their best to avoid incorporating any form of plastic into their lifestyle. As a result, the customers who used to create demand for plastic are slowly moving towards Glass. Glass products are reusable, much more sustainable, and easily recyclable than plastic products. Glass is also safe to incorporate into everyday life since it doesn’t contain harmful chemicals like BPA in plastics. All these factors combined make glass a better alternative to plastic.
Thus, custom glass companies are seeing demand growth because the market trend is gradually shifting from plastic to glass.
Custom Glass Companies Are Facing Skilled Labour Shortage
The increase in demand for glass has forced the customer glass company to meet the growing demand by increasing its supply. However, increasing the labor supply is not in the manufacturer’s hands. As a result, the custom glass company faces a labor shortage like every other industry. Similarly, getting skilled in glass work is very risky and demanding. Due to this, only a few people aspire to work in the custom glass company, so the lack of skilled human resources is the primary concern for glass manufacturers.
Thus, custom glass companies are facing labor shortages due to the ever-increasing demand for glass and the challenging nature of the job.
Custom Glass Companies Are Moving Towards Automation.
Custom glass companies are mainly using automation as a tool to fulfill the ever-growing skilled labor shortage in the glass industry. To balance the demand and supply, the custom glass company use various software, robots, machinery, etc. Similarly, the ever-increasing market for glass is also why custom glass companies must embrace automation. Automation is one tool that has replaced many jobs in the 21st century, and the custom glass company is no exception.
Thus, custom glass companies are experiencing market growth towards automation due to its numerous advantages.
Custom Glass Companies Are Getting Complicated Orders
Apart from its functional use, glass is also used for decorative purposes. Glass exteriors are common scenarios in New York and Dubai skyscrapers. Similarly, abstract glass decorative pieces are also trending, requiring complicated procedures. This extreme popularity of glass structures calls for exotic and complex glass designs. Modern architects and interior designers are also responsible for the growing popularity of complicated glass designs. Custom glass companies can only expect this trend to grow in the future.
Thus, the custom glass company trend is growing toward complicated glass designs.
Custom Glass Company And Environmental Challenges
Apart from the ever-increasing market demand for custom glass products, the custom glass company faces numerous challenges in the environment sector.
Custom Glass Companies Face Recycling Myth
We have frequently heard that glass is sustainable, eco-friendly, and 100% recyclable. What if I tell you that most of the glass never gets recycled? When a glass is broken, people’s first instinct is to throw the pieces in the dumpster. No one cares enough to recycle those small pieces; as a result, most glass waste ends up in landfills. Small glass waste from multiple households will eventually make a huge mess.
Similarly, the technology and infrastructure used to recycle glass are not widely popular. These technologies are only exclusively available for developed countries. A least developed country will find glass recycling not urgent since there are so many other things for a least developed country to take care of. This lack of technical know-how will make glass recycling difficult. So, glass recycling is a distant thing for most of us.
Finally, glass recycling requires a lot of energy. The energy needed to recycle a glass bottle is greater than that required to recycle plastic bottles. Similarly, glass recycling is only possible in places with electricity access. Amid all these challenges faced by custom glass companies, let’s ask ourselves a very important question. Is glass recycling a sustainable option?
2. Custom Glass Company Face Impracticality Challenge
Glass might have many advantages over plastics, but let’s face it, glass could be more practical. The fragile nature of glass is the major contributing factor to the impracticality of glass products. No matter how good a glass is, it will never be able to replace plastics when it comes to the food and beverage industry. Can you imagine chips coming in glass packets instead of plastic packages? No? Not me, either. Glass packaging will also be a real pain during shipment and transit.
Similarly, glass is so much more expensive than plastic. So if a custom glass company decides only to use glass packaging for their product, the cost of goods and services will increase. From a practical point of view, paying more for a product just because of its packaging is absurd. Rational consumers will end up buying the cheaper alternative, i.e. plastic. Hence, the manufacturer selling glass products at higher prices incurs losses.
Most of us like to justify our glass utensils shopping by their durability factor. But glass and durability? Seriously? The entire personality of glass is fragile. They do not last long and are not meant to last long. Sooner or later, the fate of glass is to break. Thus, one challenge haunting custom glass manufacturers is the impracticality of glassware.
