ISSUE 11 • SPRING 2006

ROMANIA RISING FROM THE MISTS OF LEGEND ANNA TSOGA AND NICK VAKALIS INTERVIEWSCELEBRATING THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRIGOGLASS ROMANIAGREGORY TSAMIS A LETTER FROM THE FRONT

Contents

ISSUE 11 • SPRING 2006

A Frigoglass Quarterly Magazine. “between us” is published by the Group Human Resources Function of the Frigoglass Group, 15, Andrea Metaxa str., 145 64 Kifissia, Athens, Greece, Tel: +30 2106165700This magazine is only of general interest to Frigoglass employees and is not published for investment purposes.

Editorial

Editor-in-ChiefDanny Yannaka

Consulting EditorGeorge Levounis

Design & ProductionPeak Advertising

Contributing Editorsto this edition

GreeceLillian Phillips

Costas BovolisFarok Madan

Liana KorovesiSotiris KroussasGregory Tsamis

John AntonopoulosEvangelos Doulgeridis

IndiaAvleen Sachdeva

South AfricaJanine Botha

Glenda Maasburg

3P FrigoglassSebastian Palade

Our Feature Storyarticles were largely based

on data provided byMihaela Opait

Manuela BuntaMihaela Brinzea

Realdo Tocals

Cover page photographyLiam Sharp

4Business News

26Interview

36

40Social Activities

14 Feature Story

30 Frigoglass Romania

38 Beyond Work

43 Find and Win

Our People

Our eleventh edition finds us smiling broadly as we present Romania in

a series of articles that recall the best of the country’s past and beckon the best of its

future. This edition also marks the tenth anniversary of our plant in Timisoara, the first

step in our global journey. Back in 1996, in the midst of adversity and upheaval in the

Balkans caused by the conflict and political instability in Yugoslavia, we decided to invest

in the energy and fighting spirit of the Romanian people, who several years earlier had

proved to the world that curtains built of iron can be melted by the torch of freedom.

Our investment, though risky, proved to be a sound one. Today, 10 years later, the

operation in Timisoara is one of our major manufacturing facilities and a critical hub of

strategic initiatives that drive our growth.

The success of our Romanian plant sends a clear message to all:

To make our vision a reality we must be determined to constantly

improve in terms of speed, efficiency and effectiveness; to become faster

and better in achieving operating excellence; to fully grasp and internalize

the changes required to succeed in today’s demanding business

environment; and, most of all, to look outward and recognize we must

compete and win on a global scale.

Sustained success can never be taken for granted and without constantly adapting to changes even the most

profitable enterprises will ultimately be challenged. Top clubs can never rest on their laurels. Any business that seeks

to have a long-term future has to focus on achieving organic growth by expanding its customer base and increasing

sales per account, extending its geographic footprint via new market entries and capitalizing on its hard-earned

specialist know how and both internal and external synergies to bolster its position in the global market.

That is exactly what we are doing right now, based on a crystal clear, effectively communicated vision, efficient

planning and a dedicated team that cares deeply about our customers and strives passionately to continue

nurturing strong relationships.

These are difficult, though interesting times for everyone at the helm of the corporate world, but I strongly believe

that inspired by Romania’s success story which eloquently unfolds in this stimulating issue, we have the ability,

capacity and leadership required to win the future. As a Romanian friend once said, “the best is yet to be.”

Dimitris LoisManaging Director

Editorial

To make our vision a reality

we must be determined to

constantly improve in terms of

speed, efficiency and effectiveness.

4

BUSINESS NEWS2005 Group Financial Results

Highlights Revenues grew by 14.5% to €389.8m(adjusted* +16.1% to €306.8m) EBITDA rose 13% y-o-y to €67.4m(adjusted* +22% to €60.6m) Strong EAT improvement of 68.5% to €24.3m ROE (after tax & minority interests) rose to 20.7% from 15.3% Net operating cash flow reached €38.4m Sale of holdings in Volos PET Industries for €15m

* not including PET operations (VPI) in Consolidated Sales & EBITDA Managing Director Dimitris Lois noted: It is with pride that we announce a year of strong performance all round. During 2005 a lot of ground was covered towards sus-tained profitable growth and capital redeployment. The consistent and focused implementation of our strategic plans has delivered results as our core businesses continue to grow, expanding our presence in new markets. Innovative products appealed to exist-ing customers, particularly in the Beer sector, while our reputation for high quality attracted new ones in Europe, SE Asia and Africa. Investments in automation as well as capacity utilization and supply chain improvements mitigated the effect of higher raw material prices, while further operational and financial efficien-cies and effective cash management have resulted in significant profitability gains. Following our capital redeployment plan we proceeded with the divestment of our shareholding in VPI, a move consistent with our strategic focus on core activities. Our financial performance will continue to improve as our people are committed to successfully executing our strategy and extend-ing our leadership in new and existing markets.

Our Operations PerformanceCool Operations was the Group’s strongest performer. Fresh demand for our innovative ICMs together with the de-velopment of new markets in SE Asia and Africa and strong sales in Eastern Europe resulted in annual sales of €241.3m, up 24.3% from 2004. New products launched during and since the Athens 2004 Olympics proved to be effective impulse purchase creators, driving customer sales. These ICMs repre-sented 30.6% of Cool Operation sales in 2005, up from the 12.9% in 2004. Furthermore, our Sales & Marketing efforts yielded first time sales to customers in new markets, including Tunisia, Cambodia and Fiji. Demand by breweries remained strong while sales to key customers in India, Indonesia, Ger-many and Africa increased significantly. Cool Operations con-sistently outperformed expectations during the year and its order book continues to be strong going into 2006.

Nigeria Operations sales were broadly flat y-o-y at €64m. The unusually strong performance in the fourth quarter of 2004 was not, as expected, repeated in 2005. In the glass sector, sales to breweries were lower, as demand fell sharply. However, sales of glass containers for wines & spirits, cosmet-ics and pharmaceuticals, as well as exports increased during the year. Sales from other operations representing 55% of rev-enue grew by 15.7%. Most noteworthy was the performance of the Nigerian Cool activity with revenues up 49.3%. Increased efficiency and higher utilization rates, combined with more efficient financing, saw net profit up by 64.6%. It is important to note that utilization levels were higher due to the consolidation of glass production to only two furnaces. The local currency (Naira) was far more stable in 2005 than in the previous year. VPI continued to experience substantial raw material cost pressures and the commodity nature of the market offered little flexibility to compensate by increasing selling prices. Margins were, therefore, depressed and despite a 9% sales increase operating profit fell by 57.8%. In December 2005, Frigoglass announced the sale of its VPI holdings. Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down debt. The Group’s small Plastics business traded in-line with ex-pectations during the year and its focus on cost containment enabled it to record a small profit. Revenues fell year-on-year, reflecting divestments during 2004.

2006 OutlookStronger sales, combined with greater operating efficiency, enhanced Group margins in 2005. Moving on, and taking into account the divestment of VPI, Frigoglass can look forward to a further improvement in financial performance with total group debt reduced by €30m and stronger margins.

A Year of Strong Performance - After Tax Profits up 68.5%

62% Cool Operations

16% Nigeria

21% VPI

1% Plastics

87.5% Cool Operations

9.2% Nigeria

3.0% VPI

0.3% Plastics

CONSOLIDATED NET TRADE SALES

GROUP NET INCOME

5

Business News

Sale of holdings in VPIOn December 15, 2005, Frigoglass announced the sale of its 51% shareholding in VPI S.A. to Selenis Hellas S.A., a Greek sub-sidiary of the Portuguese company Selenis S.G.P.S. S.A., one of the leading European producers of Pet resin and a member of the Imatosgil Investimentos Group. The agreed upon purchase price was €15 million, of which €12 million shall be paid upon

conclusion of the transaction, while the balance will be paid in three equal annual installments by January 2009, provided sales remain at present levels. This sale is consistent with the Group’s strategic decision to fo-cus on its core business, where it can generate high returns and create optimal shareholder value.

Managing Director Dimitris Lois has just announced our new organizational structure, designed to further facilitate the achievement of our strategic objectives. With our Capital Redeployment program well under way, we are completing our withdrawal from the PET Resin and Plastics markets and refocusing our energy and resources on our Ice-Cold Mer-chandisers core businesses, which will drive our Group’s further development through both organic and inorganic growth.

Implementing our organic growth priorities and further enhancing our global leadership position requires redefining our Marketing-Sales-Manufacturing structure and approach.

MarketingDelivering innovation and value to our customer base with the overall quality, product range diversity and pace that the marketplace of tomorrow will demand requires efficient and well-coordinated Product Development & Management. Im-proving integration of all phases of the Development Cycle and successfully aligning the whole process with market de-velopments is the way to win. To deliver such a sustainable competitive advantage, all aspects of our present and future product range will be the focus of our Marketing function. The Product Development function is therefore integrat-ed within Marketing and together with Product Manage-ment, Marketing Communication, Analysis and Proj-ects will be reporting to our Marketing Director Konstan-tinos Vossos.

Ice-Cold Merchandisers SalesA few years back, the creation of Sales Offices decoupled Sales from Manufacturing with tangible benefits across ter-ritories and segments. The functional momentum is now conducive to forming a Global Sales organization by split-ting Cool Operations into Ice-Cold Merchandisers Sales and Ice-Cold Merchandisers Manufacturing. ICM Sales will assume overall responsibility for all sales activities, targeting further gains in the global market.Our Sales Offices, the Coca-Cola Account, our Interna-tional Accounts and the Services & Commercial Devel-opment Department will form the ICM Sales organization that will be headed by Panos Giannopoulos, until now Ni-geria Operations Director.

Ice-Cold Merchandisers ManufacturingIn our pursuit of ‘Manufacturing Excellence’ our experience points towards adopting uniform systems, processes and KPIs that ensure consistent top quality while securing an optimum cost structure. The creation of an organization responsible for both the opera-tion of our plants and their future development through capital expenditure programs and new production techniques will put us on a fast track towards this objective. Tom Aas, who has been heading the Engineering function is appointed ICM Manufacturing Director with Plants, Manufacturing Support and Engineer-ing Projects reporting to him.

Concerning our inorganic growth priorities, we will expand our geographical presence and explore synergistic diversification into other segments of the global ICM market, leveraging our “Cool & Sell” know how.

China ICM OperationsFrigoglass has made a commitment to establish a presence in Chi-na, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies. We aim to gain a substantial share of the local ICM market, expand our Global supplier base and strengthen the competitiveness of our manufacturing base. The significance and complexity of this in-vestment is such that it calls for a dedicated and very experienced team to manage its development. Dimitris Valachis, who has been heading Cool Operations, is appointed China ICM Opera-tions Director and will be leading this effort.

Corporate Development and StrategyLooking ahead to an expanded presence in the world ICM mar-ket entails identifying segments and acquisition targets that fit our plans. Given the importance of the technical and technological considerations involved, Research and Concepts together with Business Development will form the Corporate Development and Strategy function that will be headed by Petros Diaman-tides.

Nigeria OperationsA new team member, Vangelis Apostolakopoulos, has been ap-pointed Nigeria Operations Director. He joins us after several years of international assignments in finance and other operational roles with pharmaceutical and beverage companies. We would like to welcome Vangelis and wish him great success in his new position.

Organizational Evolution

6

BUSINESS NEWSStrong Frigoglass presence in recent business events

Nick Dimellas, Group HR Manager, was invited by KPMG, the international consulting firm, to the 9th Hu-man Resources Conference, held on February 16-17 and attended by over 400 HR Managers and executives from leading business enterprises. During the conference he had an opportunity to pres-ent his insights on the is-sues involved in developing a strong corporate culture within a transnational com-pany, detailing the model Frigoglass Group employs in the staffing of local HR de-partments and the practices adopted to ensure they be-come the main vectors through which our company’s cul-ture is disseminated and developed.

Petros Diamantides, Business Development Manager, represented our company at the Greek Export Managers Forum on February 21st, organized by the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board under the auspices of the Ministry of Econo-my and Finance and aimed at expanding the business activi-ties of Greek enterprises in the rapidly developing markets of Russia, China and India. During the forum he had the chance to make a presentation on our business activities in India, detailing the hurdles and challenges the company had to face during its 7-year presence in that market and how, having accurately evaluated the subcontinent’s economic potential, Frigoglass managed to turn these challenges into productive and profitable business opportunities.

As in the past, our company continues to actively participate in important business events, such as fora, conferences and con-ventions. In these events, senior Frigoglass executives have an opportunity to share and obtain valuable insights and experiences regarding various aspects of our business, sustaining our participation in an ongoing information sharing process and bolstering our company’s image within the interna-tional business community.The following executives participated in business events that were recently held in Athens:

Dimitris Lois, our Managing Director, was invited to the 2nd Conference organized by the Women’s Organiza-tion of Managers and Entrepreneurs and titled “Women on Leadership” that took place at the Yachting Club on March 9th. During the conference, which was attended by leading businesswomen, our MD made a presentation on “Globalization challenges and adaptability” in which he detailed the emergence of China and India as economic powerhouses counterbalancing the mighty US market and analyzed the adaptability factors that will be critical in the global environment of the near future.

7

Business News

Annual Business Plan 2006The Frigoglass Group senior management team met in Timisoara, Romania between November 28 and December 1 to present our company’s Annual Business Plan for 2006. For three full days, the Dunarea meeting room in the town’s Regional Center of Af-fairs hosted this important meeting during which key executives presented our Group’s strategy for the near future.

Managing Director Dimitris Lois opened the meeting, out-lining the Group’s strategic approach for the year: Innovative ICMs and the value we add to our customers will ensure our organic growth, while we aim to extend our geographical pres-ence in regions such as China and the Americas and investigate opportunities for diversification in synergistic and complemen-tary market segments. To ensure our future profitability we shall continue our capital redeployment program, reevaluating non core businesses while carrying on our manufacturing consoli-dation in Cool operations. We will remain dedicated to con-tinuously improving our cost structure through material cost optimization, intense focus on quality, utilization and efficiency while, at the same time, achieving improvements in our working capital and effective tax rates.Cool Operations Director Dimitris Valachis noted the need for a product range redefinition, with the new range, tar-geted for 2008, incorporating new technologies and impulse generating features, as well as a new architecture (cassette) and environmentally friendly refrigerants, and supported by an ef-fective brand strategy. Key priorities for 2006 are growth, driven by range expansion (newly launched ICMs account for over 30% of sales) and by fully capitalizing on all our development capabilities, superior quality of products and services, improved planning -especially focusing on production forecasts, produc-tion plans and lead time- and teamwork by a fully integrated, coordinated and aligned team.Nigeria Operations Director Panos Yiannopoulos under-lined the need to drive quality, mainly trough partnerships with know how providers, additional investments in plant and equip-ment, improved maintenance and continued personnel training, and increase utilization, primarily through better planning and control costs, improving pack to melt and printing efficiencies and reducing working capital requirements.Engineering Director Tom Aas noted that the Engineer-ing Department will pursue product development focusing on quality and efficiency issues, making the new structure fully op-erational and training newcomers. Our R&D team will continue investigating alternative cooling technologies and methods to improve energy consumption and air-flow, while Manufacturing support will concentrate on developing systems, focusing on quality and preventive maintenance. Marketing Director Konstantinos Vossos emphasized the importance of a TCCC and Breweries specific product range, with priority given to single and double GDMs, and underlined

the need for improved vertical and horizontal distribution, addi-tional geographic expansion, innovative environmental programs (such as eCool), consistent team development and improved corporate communications.Group Finance Director Panos Tabourlos outlined the key priorities for Finance which include working capital, tax planning and investor relations, as well as integrating new entries, capital redeployment (USA, China), treasury operations and cash flow management. The key tools to be used include the CapEx pro-cess along with improved costing, management reporting, cus-tomer relations management (CRM) and Baan automations.Group HR Director Nick Dimellas underscored the need to enrich and assist our Group’s organizational development through the use of specific systems and tools, design and imple-ment a Group-wide Recruitment & Selection Policy and a Ca-reer Development & Succession Planning system, improve the current Performance Management system, formulate a Reward Strategy and identify and adopt new internal communication tools, systems and practices.Pool Purchasing Director Dimitris Kouniakis noted that as part of our ongoing effort to improve the quality of our prod-ucts, services and processes we must prioritize the improvement of our cost structure and competitiveness, enhance the ICM concept, support the Group’s expansion and optimize the acqui-sition of fixed assets.

Timisoara was not chosen at random since, in addition to host-ing the 2006 Annual Business Plan presentation, Frigoglass Ro-mania celebrated its 10-year anniversary. To commemorate the occasion along with the upcoming holiday season, a party was organized at the Hotel Boavista on November 28 with all partici-pants and local administrative staff attending. Entertaining music by a live band, good food and high spirits following a good year all contributed to making this a very successful event. Manag-ing Director Dimitris Lois and Operations Manager Vassilis Soulis delivered brief but stirring speeches thanking everyone for their contribution, and the evening’s highlights included gifts all around and a giant cake in the shape of the Frigoglass Romania plant (see The story of Frigoglass Romania, p. 32).

8

BUSINESS NEWSProduct Launch

In late February 2006, our Marketing Central Function or-ganized a product launch for the Piccolo, Easyreach and Frostwell 500 models, three brand new ICMs targeting the non-CC sector. The launch was held in Athens for a total of 50 participants from the Sales Offices of Asia, Af-rica, West and East Europe and our International Key Ac-counts team. Participants were split into two groups and the launch presentations were repeated for each group to ensure effective and interactive communication.

The three products launched were: The Piccolo, a compact countertop ICM mainly

aimed for the bar and café trade channels and tar-geting customers from the brewery, alcopop and energy drink sectors.

The Easyreach, an open front unit that proved highly successful for Coca-Cola and is now available with differentiated aesthetics for other key customers, including breweries and Pepsi.

The Frostwell 500, an ICM which maintains beer at subzero temperatures. Subzero ICMs are a new concept in the brewery sector which is slated to be part of the marketing strategy of our key cus-tomers, such as Heineken and Inbev. Some con-sumers prefer colder beer because it gives them a smoother taste. The breweries would like to increase their sales using this concept to attract younger target groups.

The launch of each product included a commercial pre-sentation by the Product Manager, followed by a technical presentation by a Product Development Manager and a service drill demonstrated on physical samples.

Following the launch presentations an exciting quiz was conducted with the participants split in 5 teams competing against each other.

At the end of the Product Launch the Regional Managers presented a market activation plan relating to the 3 prod-ucts for their respective regions. This consisted of their ac-tion plan for each of the key customers they will target with these products.

It was the first launch ever at Frigoglass where all prod-ucts launched were exclusively focused on our brewery, cola, alcopop and dairy customers. Introduction of these products supports our strategic priority of organic growth through vertical and horizontal distribution to this sector.

9

Business News

Competency Based Interview Training

Based on our commitment to syncHRonize our HR practices throughout the Frigoglass Group, a “Competency Based Interview Training” program was organized in Athens on March 7-10. The program’s objective was to support the alignment of Group-wide recruitment methods through the use of a common Recruitment & Selection policy and corresponding procedures and tools (such as personality and ability testing methods). The training sessions took place at the Hotel Pentelikon and were conducted with the valuable contribution of the Response S.A. consulting company and its staff. Participants included Glenda Maasburg, Avleen Sachdeva, Gabriela Micu, Valerie Ekperigin, Wale Adediran, Sotiris Kroussas, Manolis Souliotis, Constantinos Bovolis, Alexandra Komi, Alexandros Maniatis, Karolina Szmidt and Leonardos Papagiannoulis.

As a Group intent on securing long-term, prof-itable growth, one of our primary goals is to meet our customers’ needs and exceed their expec-tations. To realize this all important and very chal-lenging objective we have to consistently support, strengthen and develop

our sales force working in our Sales Offices around the world and at our International Accounts function. One way to do this is to offer them regular training courses that hone their skills and keep them at their best performance. As part of this ongo-ing effort, a training program on Key Account Management

and Advanced Negotiation Skills took place in Athens in late November. Organized by Kostas Bovolis and Alexan-dra Komi from our Group HR function, the 4-day program took place at the Hotel Pentelikon and was conducted with the valuable contribution of Huthwaite International. Due to the considerable participation, our 27 sales people attending were divided into two groups, which included:

Group 1: Evangelos Doulgeridis, Henrik Olsen, Lim Soeyan-tho, Olaf Usluk, Oystein Andreassen, John Bolger, Sakis Ga-nos, Marios Kyprianou, Camino Sanjuan, Nicola Nisko, Pop Florian, Nikos Vakalis, Danny Sukardi and Andrej Revkov. Group 2: Rico Usluk, Piotr Gesla, Stefan Plappert, Nikos Alexopoulos, Yianna Karamitsa, Ryan Ultan, Mark Lewis, Katarzyna Dasbrowska, Teresa Guranowska, Tommy Seger, Marcus Wecht, Noel Breslin and Gwenola Le Daniel.

Supply Chain Management TrainingAs part of our effort to align policies, processes and procedures across our organization, improve communications and strength-en our common culture, a 3-day Supply Chain Management training program was provided to staff members from our IT, Logistics, Planning and Purchasing Departments in December 2005 in Athens. The training was conducted by Management Center Europe (MCE), with valuable support and guidance provided by Chris Jones, a faculty member and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply with over 39 years experience in the field of procurement and supply chain management both in the public and private sectors. Our ongo-ing personnel training program throughout the Group aims to provide participants with advanced skills, tools and know how that will allow them to contribute to our efforts to optimize operations, reduce costs and improve Group-wide results.

The Supply Chain Management training program was at-tended by the following colleagues: Eleni Tzentzera, Har-ry Patsos, Maria Paraskevopoulou, Nikos Doumas, Sofia Georgakopoulou, Thanos Svoronos, Vana Tatsi, Diamantis Antoniou, Sadeli Lauw, Eliza Krawczyk, Robert Mitura, Radu Cotuna, Claudia Popa, Alina Bogdan, Nikolai Voklov, Olga Gareeva, Michael Karampelas and Daniel Gatea.

Strengthening Our Sales Force

BUSINESS NEWS

Business News

Gateway to new markets

As Russia is one of the territories we wish to grow our business in, co-sponsoring the Russian Food and Beverage Fo-rum, which took place in Moscow on November 14-17, gave us an ideal opportunity to show-case some of our most innovative and trendy ICMs. It also provided a chance to meet with current and potential customers and listen to discussion panels made up of major players in the Russian food & bev-erage industry regarding market shares, consumer trends, growth potential of various segments, regional dynamics and merchandis-ing strategies for maximum sales. Over 350 executives from some of the world’s largest food and beverage companies gathered together for 4 days at the Marriott Grand Hotel to take part in an ex-tensive information-gathering and networking event of the highest level. The conference speakers provided an excellent overview and insights into the latest activities and strategies for success of most companies active in Russia’s food & beverage sector.Companies that attended the forum included the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, ECR-Russia, Eastern Europe-McDonald’s Subway, Sun Interbrew, Shvydko-Ukraine, Yum! Brands International, Russia-Nestle Foods, Russia-Kraft Foods, Baltika, Bistroff, InBev, Danone, Dia-geo, Russia-Heineken International, Efes Breweries Inter-

national, Coors Brewers Russia and Carlsberg. As one of the major sponsors, we had the opportunity to achieve a high profile presence by exhibiting a selection of our customized ICMs. On top of that, Frigoglass was mentioned in all the forum’s publicity materials. Showcas-ing branded customised units, we succeeded in capturing the interest of many individual attendees who made very positive comments about our ICMs, mentioning not only their cooling abilities but most importantly their signifi-cant role in impulse creation.Following this very positive response, we are convinced that the market now knows that we do not simply pro-duce coolers but design, develop and manufacture cut-ting edge Ice Cold Merchandisers that consistently in-crease customer brand awareness, boosting cold sales and profits.

Russian Food & Beverage Forum

Environment

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS

Battery recycling at the Kato Achaia plant

Keeps all the hazardous metals in one place The metals reclaimed are reused and put back into the manufacturing process to build more batteries The plastic is recycled to be used again The cost of landfilling the batteries is saved Establishes good environmental policy Saves natural resources Protects the future of our planet Conserves for future generations

By recycling batteries, we adhere to current environmental regulations, manage our waste stream properly and set a good example for everyone to keep our environment healthy.

Benefits of Battery Recycling:

More than 3 million tons of electronic waste ends up in landfills each year. Nearly 350 million personal computers will become obsolete in the next 5 years. Many people discard computers every 3 to 5 years. Only 22 percent of redundant personal computers are recycled. Mobile phones will be discarded at a rate of 130 million per year by 2005, resulting in 65,000 tons of waste. TVs and computer monitors can contain up to 4 pounds of lead as well as other potential toxic metals like chromium, cadmium and mercury.

Did you know...

Electronic Equipment Recycling at Kato Achaia

Savings: By donating working equipment you save on disposal costs. Social Benefits: Donating electronic products extends their useful life and affords individuals or organizations that could not buy new equipment the opportunity to make use of second-hand equipment. Divert Material from Disposal: Computers are bulky items. The disposal of these devices drives up the rate at which landfills will reach capacity. Conserve non-renewable resources: Recycled computers can be used as a source of precious metals found in circuit boards, power supplies, etc. Products made from recycled materials often use fewer resources and require less energy to produce. Protect the environment: recycling or safely disposing of obsolete computer equipment protects the water, land and air by keeping toxic metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury out of landfills.

What are the Benefits of Recycling or Reusing Computers?

As part of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System ap-plied at the Frigoglass Kato Achaia plant, a special battery recycling bin was installed on the premises by the licensed recycler. As a result, all batteries used by electric and electronic appliances, such as calculators, cell phones, portable scanners, etc. will not end up in landfills poisoning our environment but will be deposited in this bin and subsequently recycled. Plant employees were also urged to collect and bring in any used batteries from their home appli-ances.This proactive initiative, though small in scale, reflects the efforts our people in Kato Achaia are making to participate in our overall environmental protection practices. By adhering to international regulations and demonstrating a commitment to a safer and cleaner environment, we safeguard earth’s precious resources and ensure a better future for us and our children.

In another environmentally friendly initiative stemming from the Group’s environmental prac-tices, the Kato Achaia plant safely and securely recycled one and a half tons of obsolete office equipment (including computer monitors, PCs, printers, copiers and telephone equipment) that had accumulated in its warehouse. After contact-ing Appliances Recycling, the only licensed col-lective take-back and recycling scheme for both business and household Waste Electric and Elec-tronic Equipment (WEEE) in Greece, the plant was able to dispose of this waste at a minimal cost and without burdening our precious envi-ronment. The project was supervised by Hara-lambos Kondoyiorgos, a member of the plant’s IT staff.The accumulation of significant volumes of obsolete office and home electronic equipment is an inevitable consequence of their short life cycle due to the vast amount of new technol-ogy flooding the market each year. Until recently only a very small percentage of this equipment was recycled, with most of it ending up in landfills or illegal dumpsites, poisoning and disfiguring our environment.Following EU Directive 2002/96/EC and Greek Presidential Decree 117/2004, Appliances Recycling, licensed for the alter-native management of electric and electronic equipment, han-dles the collection, transportation, temporary storage, repair and recycling of WEEE or their component materials. As a re-sult, some of the equipment ends up in the secondhand mar-ket while the rest is recycled for reusable materials (metals, plastics) that re-enter the production stream, thus conserving some of our planet’s non-renewable resources.

12

CAREER MOVESMARCUS WECHTSales Office Manager - Central European Sales Office

Marcus was born in Vienna, Austria in 1968 and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration. He started his career at Varioform as Sales Manager and then joined Heineken/Brau Union in Vienna as Export Manager and later Business Development Manager. In 2006 he joined the Frigoglass Central European Sales Office in Germany as Sales Office Manager. Marcus is married to Astrid and they have two small children, Luis aged 4 and 7-month-old Anja. In his spare time he enjoys many sporting activities including water-skiing, alpine skiing, mountain biking and, of course, spending time with his wife and children to recharge his batteries so as to sustain his professional performance at the highest level.

YANNIS LEOUSIS Head of Services & Commercial Development - Frigoglass Cool Operations

Yannis was born in Athens in 1961. He holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Athens and an MBA from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. His started his professional career 19 years ago, initially in Production Management and MIS. Later on he ran his own IT Company and for the last 6 years he managed the Procurement Services and B2B Commercial Agreements at Vodafone. Yannis joined Frigoglass in 2006 as Head

of our Services and Commercial Development Function. His goals include adopting a uniform global commercial policy, developing common systems & tools, setting up best practices in Group logistics and leveraging the launch of services packages globally in cooperation with the Region Managers. Yannis is married and has two children. His favorite hobbies are photography and diving.

SLAWEK DUBISZHead of Manufacturing Support - Engineering Group Function

Slawek was born in 1959 in Poland and holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Warsaw. He started his career in the auto industry, working first in Poland and then in Canada, and later moved to

consumer goods working for Gillette in various positions including Program Manager, Operations Manager and Value Stream Manager in both the USA and Europe. He recently joined Frigoglass as Head of Manufacturing Support in the Engineering Function. Slawek is married to Marta and they have two children, 21-year-old Dorota and 16-year-old Michal. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis, skiing, windsurfing and traveling.

STEPHEN KIGWA MURIITHI Sales Manager - Kenya Sales Office

Kigwa was born in Kenya in 1976. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology and a diploma in computer operations. After graduating he worked in different sectors and acquired a broad experience in sales

and marketing. His last position was Accounts Manager with an online recruitment firm. He joined Frigoglass in late 2005 as Sales Manager-Kenya and his professional objective is to develop and implement strategic marketing programs aimed at enhancing business growth. Kigwa is married to Caroline and they are blessed with a 19-month-old son named Dikiosyne. In his free time he enjoys playing the guitar and writing (he has already authored three books!)

13

Career Moves

Steven was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1974 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounts and Business Management from Daystar University. He started his career at AAR Health Services as Account Executive and then moved to DHL Express as Key Account Manager. He joined Frigoglass in late

2005 as Sales Manager East Africa. Steven is married to Kalekye and they have a 3-month-old baby boy named Mumo. His hobbies include football, golf, driving and weight training (though, according to him, currently he’s “very unfit”).

Evangelos Doulgeridis, previously Customer Service Manager, was appointed Sales Office Manager of the West Africa Sales Office and will also oversee the South Africa Sales Office.

Marios Kyprianou was appointed Sales Office Manager of the North Africa & Middle East SOs and will also oversee the East Africa SO. He will continue handling the coordination of the Coca-Cola Account in Africa.

Manolis Souliotis moved from HR Manager at Frigoglass Romania to HR Manager of Frigoglass Eurasia, responsible for both the plant in Orel and the Moscow Sales Office.

Yun Primawan Pardikan assumed the position of Customer Service Manager at Frigoglass Indonesia in January 2006. Yun joined Frigoglass Indonesia in 2002 as Sales Supervisor.

Imam Prakoso joined Frigoglass Indonesia in November 2005 as Quality Manager. Previously he had been with GM Indonesia for 10 years acquiring extensive experience in production and quality control.

Prasetyo Kisnomo assumed the position of Technical Service Manager in January 2006, mainly responsible for the Production Support and Maintenance Depts. He joined Frigoglass Indonesia in 2002 as Production Support Supervisor.

DIMITRIS SYNANIDIS Technical Services Manager - Frigoglass Greece

Dimitris was born in Montreal, Canada in 1963 and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Concordia University. Having accumulated considerable experience in a number of production-related positions, the latest

of which was Production Manager at S.C. Johnson Hellas, he joined Frigoglass in 2006 as Technical Services Manager of our Kato Achaia plant. Dimitris is married to Athina and they have four children, Panagiota (21), Petros (20), Andreas (19) and Ekaterini (3). His hobbies include music and sports.

Spot NewsSTEVEN MWENDWA KIALAHSales Manager - East Africa Sales Office

Rising from the mists of Legend

ROMANIA

“If you have never felt sorry for not having wings,

so you wouldn’t hurt the nature around us with your cruel steps,

it means you have never loved this land.”

Emile Cioran

Feature Story

The landRomania’s territory features splendid mountains, beautiful rolling hills, fertile plains and numerous rivers and lakes. The Carpathians, known in ancient times as “Corona Montium”, are the second largest European mountain chain and occupy a third of the country’s territory. Though not as high as the Alps, they are equally picturesque and spectacular. Arch-shaped, the Carpathians consist of three mountain ranges (Oriental, Southern and Western Car-pathians), each with its own particular beauty and distinct landscapes. Forests cover over one quarter of the country and the indigenous fauna, which includes bears, deer, lynx, chamois and wolves, is one of the richest in Europe. The legendary Danube River ends its journey through eight European countries at the Black Sea, forming the Danube Delta, one of the biggest and most interesting wetlands in the world. Situated in eastern Romania, Moldavia is a historic region of extensive forests and hills. In the northeast, the province of Bucovina is renowned for the beautiful exterior frescoes on the walls of its monastery churches, many of which have been designated as world heritage sites by UNESCO. Acclaimed as masterpieces of Romania’s Orthodox reli-gious art and architecture, they are in perfect harmony with their surroundings and unique in the world for their painted exteriors, depicting historical sagas and biblical tales for the illiterate faithful. These richly decorated hous-es of worship with their high-pitched roofs have survived the elements since the 15th century, representing a real

Official NameRomania

CapitalBucharest

Largest CitiesConstanta, Brasov, Timisoara, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, Galati, Craiova, Ploiesti

Population22,235,000 (55% urban 45% rural)

Population Density97-persons/sq km

Area237,500 sq km

Highest PointMoldoveanul (2,544 m)

“Each time I discover this land, each time I feel it in my heart and not under my feet, the stars that I look at melt in my blood, and my blood forgets the skies. You can look to whatever heights you wish, you will always miss the bitter-sweet embrace of this land that you despise in the dust of your shoes, through the journey that you call life.”

These words belong to the Romanian philosopher Emile Cioran, a man who spent more than half of his life in exile, and offer an insight of what Romania means to its natives, wherever they are and whatever they do. If you ask a Ro-manian today to name one of his defining features, he will probably smile and answer that he is unique just because he is a Romanian. We shall try to understand this unusual and rather arrogant attitude by making a journey into the country’s geography, history and culture.

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Official NameRomania

CapitalBucharest

Largest CitiesConstanta, Brasov, Timisoara, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, Galati, Craiova, Ploiesti

Population22,235,000 (55% urban 45% rural)

Population Density97-persons/sq km

Area237,500 sq km

Highest PointMoldoveanul (2,544 m)

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triumph of post-Byzantine art. The Voronet Monastery Church in Bucovina, founded in 1488 by Stephen the Great, is known throughout Europe as “the Sistine Chapel of the East.” The Sucevita Monastery complex, set in a beauti-ful green valley, is fortified like a citadel with watchtowers at its four corners. Legend has it that the artist commis-sioned to decorate it fell off the scaffolding and was killed, so it remained undecorated. Striking shades of red, blue, yellow and brown characterize the monumental scene of the “Siege of Constantinople” on the exterior walls of the Moldovita church, built in 1532 by Prince Petru Rares, while inside 16th c. furniture including the prince’s throne-like seat still survives. The country’s northernmost region, Maramures, is pro-tected on all sides by mountains. Featuring picturesque villages and spectacular scenery, this is a land where life has changed little over the centuries. In late afternoon, old women sit outside their homes coaxing coarse wool onto spindles, many still wearing traditional costumes. Hardly a village lacks its own small wooden church dating from the 17th or 18th centuries. Maramures is renowned for its fine woodwork. Homes are trimmed in elaborately carved wood, wooden gates and even fences are intri-cately carved. Historically, these gates reflected a family’s status - the more elaborate, the more important the fam-ily. No trip to Maramures is complete without a look at the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta. Here, colorful folk-art pictures and witty words carved onto wooden headstones immortalize the foibles, occupations or family problems of the deceased (see relevant article). To the south of Maramures, in the center of Romania, lies Transylvania, by far the most romantic and inspiring of Romania’s provinces, surrounded by the mighty Carpath-ians. Deriving its name from the Latin word “transilvana”, meaning over the forests, Transylvania has lured travelers for centuries through a unique combination of history, myth and eerie surroundings. Its very name brings to mind visions of mountain peaks rising up to the sky above wooded valleys and sparkling streams, visions of high-roofed wooden churches, legendary castles and a troubled history. Almost untouched by time, the region

features pristine medieval towns, lively traditions and land-scapes that seem to spring from the past. Traces from the Middle Ages abound: murals, towers, bridges, ramparts, narrow streets and squares, fortifications built by the Tar-tars, the Turks and other invaders. The region’s 200 fortified churches and Saxon strongholds are unique in Europe. In the heart of Transylvania, Sighisoara is one of the world’s most beautiful and best preserved medieval towns. A military and political stronghold for several centuries heavily influenced by German architecture, Sighisoara boasts of many significant landmarks, including a 14th c. Clock Tower (Council Tower) with seven foot thick walls used for storing ammunition, food reserves, archives and the city’s treasures. To the southwest, the town of Sibiu, also Saxon in origin, features picturesque cobbled streets and pastel colored houses, as well as Bruckenthal Palace, Transylvania’s finest art museum, a great example of late Vi-ennese Baroque architecture, built between 1778 and 1788,

with a somber exterior that bears little resemblance to its rich interior and extensive art collection. Further away, near Deva, stands Corvinesti Castle, the greatest Gothic castle in Romania, rebuilt in the 15th cen-tury by Prince Iancu Corvin, who gave it an impressive Knights Hall as well as towers and buttresses reminiscent of the Chateaux de la Loire. Peles Castle, considered by many one of the most beautiful castles in Europe, is a mas-terpiece of German new-Renaissance architecture. Com-missioned by King Carol I in 1873 and completed in 1883, the castle is an opulent display of elegant design and hous-es important historical artifacts. Its 160 rooms are adorned

with the finest examples of European art, Murano chan-deliers, German stained-glass windows, walls covered with Cordoba leather, Meissen and Sevres porcelains, as well as ebony and ivory sculptures. Another fine example is Bran, a fortified medieval castle, often referred to as Dracula’s Castle, which was built in 1377 and is home to a rich col-lection of Romanian and European art and furniture from the 14th to the 19th centuries.Wallachia, the southernmost region stretching between the Danube and the Black sea, was formed as a feudal state in the 14th century following the union of the Oltenia and Muntenia provinces. This historic region was inhab-

THE FIRST JET

Before Leduc, before Heinkel, before even Whittle, Romanian aviator Henri Marie Coanda designed and built a jet-propelled biplane, which flew under its own power in 1910, just seven years after the first powered flights by the Wright brothers.Born in Bucharest in 1886, Coanda at-

tended Military School, graduating as an artillery officer. Fascinated by technical problems, especially those re-lated to flight, in 1905 he built a “missile-airplane” for the Romanian army. He then attended the Tech-nische Hochschule in Ber-lin, followed by the Science University in Liege and the Superior Aeronautical School in Paris where he graduated in 1909.Coanda designed a biplane with an engine that was years ahead of its time and produced thrust by ejecting high pressure burning gasses, which he termed a reac-tion motor. On December 16th 1910, Coanda transport-ed his prototype aircraft to Issy-les-Moulineaux out-side Paris. He later recalled: “I had no intention to fly on that day. My plan was to check the operation of the engine on the ground. I concentrated on adjusting the jet and did not realize that the aircraft was rapidly gaining speed. Then I looked up and saw the walls of Paris approaching rapidly.

There was no time to stop or turn round and I decided to try and fly instead. Unfortunately I had no experience of fly-ing and was not used to the controls of the aeroplane. The aeroplane seemed to make a sudden steep climb and then landed with a bump. First the left wing hit the ground and then the aircraft crumpled up. I was not strapped in and so was fortunately thrown clear of the burning machine.”Following this episode, the public dismissed Coanda’s cre-ation as a folly, and he abandoned his experiments. How-ever, during his short flight, Coanda observed that the burning engine gasses hugged the aircraft’s sides and

seemed to cause a fire. He spent many years re-searching this effect, known today as the Coanda Effect, and in 1935 he designed a flying machine that resem-bles a “flying saucer.” Coan-da considered this his most important contribution to future aviation.

In 1967, at a symposium organized by the Romanian Acad-emy he said: “These airplanes we have today are no more than a perfection of a paper toy. My opinion is we should search for a completely different flying machine, based on other flying principles. I consider the aircraft of the future that which will take off vertically, fly as usual and land vertically. The idea came from the huge power of the cyclones.” As Gustave Eiffel once remarked of Henri Coanda “this boy should have been born thirty years later.”

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ited as early as the Paleolithic age and many old customs are still practiced today. The town of Horezu is not only a well-known center of traditional pottery but also the hometown of Constantin Brancusi, the forerunner of modern sculpture. Wallachia boasts of many attractions, from picturesque mountain landscapes to natural spas along the Olt Valley. It’s most impressive natural wonder is the famous Danube Delta that extends over a network of channels, lakes, reed isles, tropical woods, pastures and sand dunes and covers nearly 2,200 sq miles. This amazing wetland, which shelters over 300 species of birds, countless species of fish and 1,150 kinds of plants, has been designated a “Reservation of the Biosphere” by UNESCO.The capital of Romania, Bucharest, is a charming and ro-mantic city, where still tangible shadows of the past en-twine with a dynamic present. Known for its wide, tree-lined boulevards and glorious Belle Époque buildings, Bu-charest was once known as “Little Paris.” Legend has it that the city was founded by a shepherd named Bucur, meaning ‘joy’, whose flute playing dazzled the locals while his hearty wine from nearby vineyards endeared him to the local traders, who gave his name to the newly-founded town. Remodeled in the late 19th century by French and French-trained architects, Bucharest even features its own Arch, the Arcul de Triumf, on Soseaua Kiseleff, an elegant boulevard longer that Paris’ famed Champs-Elysees. Com-munist rule interrupted Bucharest’s cosmopolitan days. Many years after the overthrown of the communist re-gime, the “House of the People” -the world’s second largest building after the US Pentagon- is a stark reminder of the communist era. Renamed Palace of Parliament, this magnificent building of 1,000 rooms reflects the work of the country’s best architects and artisans.About 130 km northwest of Bucharest, Curtea de Arges is a town with a great past and a place of pilgrimage for many Romanians. Here stands a legendary 16th century church. According to local lore, when the church was be-ing built, whatever was erected during the day fell apart during the night. To overcome the curse the builders were told that they had to build someone dear inside the church walls. The person chosen to break the curse was the wife

The merry cemetery of Sapanta

The Dacians –ancient in-habitants of Romania, be-lieved that death was not the tragic end of human existence, but only a pas-sage to another, better life. Therefore, rather than mourning their dead, they celebrated their acces-sion to heaven.Two thousand years later, in Sapanta, a village in Maramures county, in northwest-ern Romania, this vision is witnessed by the strange and unique Merry Cemetery, built to express death as a moment of relief and transcendence to a higher state of human existence. Wakes last for two or three nights, and participating relatives do not mourn, but drink and make merry. They sit by the coffin and tell stories about the life of the departed, celebrating his or hers passing to heaven.In 1935, these wakes inspired the wood carver Stan Patras to start making wood markers bearing a carved likeness of the deceased, to which he added an epitaph explaining the circumstances of the death. Usually in verse, it was written in the first person, with an optimistic or ironic content, a last message from the dear departed to be remembered by. One of the more than 800 markers reads: “You stay there and read/ And here I lie, dead / How much I’d like YOU to lie and ME to read instead.”This unique cemetery keeps alive the collective memory of a village, while the age-old pines that surround the church of Sapanta, release from their heights something like a whisper of laughter, a time-defying echo from distant Dacian ancestors who had no fear of death.

A VISION OF LIFE IN DEATH

At the exhibition of one of his masterpieces, The Magic Bird Maiastra, Constantin Brancusi was asked by a journal-ist about the meaning of this bird sculpture. He simply answered: “I do not carve birds, but flights.” Indeed, the ingenious art of Brancusi reflects a restless search to cap-ture the pure essence of things and beings.Born on February 21, 1876 in Hobita, Romania, Brancusi was a world famous artist who pioneered modern abstract sculpture. During his childhood he did not attend school. Instead, he tended his family’s flock of sheep and learned how to carve wood, using the traditional patterns Romanian peasants used to decorate their houses and household items. Later on, his astonishing works would always echo these patterns and reveal his roots. As a young man, Constantin, having learned to read and write on his own, entered the School of Arts and Crafts in Craiova and in 1898, with the help of a lo-cal industrialist was admitted to the Na-tional School of Fine Arts in Bucharest. Curious about the artistic movements abroad and revealing a real talent, he went to Paris in 1904, where he was in contact with master sculptor Auguste Rodin and in 1909-1910 worked with Amedeo Modigliani.Brancusi’s early works were influenced by Rodin and by the Impressionists, but after 1908 his distinctive style rap-idly evolved. He found inspiration in African and prehistor-ic sculpture and, with the basic intention of laying bare the underlying nature of an image, he sought extreme simplifi-cation of form. His early works included such masterpiec-

es as The Kiss, Bird in Space, The Beginning of the World and Mademoiselle Pogany and revealed his fascination with two elementary shapes, the egg and the elongated cylinder. During the period between the World Wars he returned to Romania and created a sculptural ensemble of three pieces in the city of Targu Jiu, The Table of Silence, The Gate of the Kiss and The Endless Column, originally intended as a tribute to the Romanian soldiers who died in World War I.

The Endless Column, a succession of geo-metrical segments built on top of each other and vertically oriented to the sky, represents the quintessence of the artist’s creative conception, his aspiration to in-finity, inspired by the symmetrical pillars of peasant houses. It is an allegoric image of his native land as a never-ending story. The Gate of the Kiss glorifies death-defying love, its two human forms signifying fer-tility, while the Table of Silence recalls the round shaped Dacian sanctuary of the Sun in the ancient capital of Sarmizegetusa. This sculptural ensemble is one of Bran-cusi’s greatest achievements and one of

Romania’s national symbols.Constantin Brancusi died and was buried in Paris in March 1957 having gained worldwide recognition for his superb craftsmanship and revolutionary artistic vision. By concentrating on pure form, he freed sculpture from 19th-century realism and prepared the way for 20th-cen-tury abstraction. In May 2002 his Danaide (1913) achieved a world record auction price for a sculpture, when it was sold by Christie’s for US$18,159,500.

of the head builder. Nowadays, the story goes, if you listen carefully, you can still hear her cries from inside the wall.

HistoryRomania’s history has been marked by its location at the crossroads of Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Bal-kans, belonging to none but sharing with each their draw-backs and achievements. First inhabited by the Daci, it be-came part of the Roman province of Dacia in 107 AD. By

integrating into the Roman Empire, Dacia reached high levels of material and spiritual wealth, while the local popu-lation was thoroughly Romanized, which left lasting marks in the country’s language, name, identity and culture. In 256 AD, the Goths drove the Romans out of most parts of Dacia. Yet, most of the population, consisting of Roman peasants and Romanized Dacians, remained. These Daco-Romans subsequently became what the great Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga named “popular Romanies”. Today,

CARVING THE ESSENCE OF LIFEConstantin Brancusi

the Romanians are the sole descendants of the Eastern Roman world and their Romance language - along with Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian - is one of the ma-jor offsprings of Latin. From the Middle Ages to the modern era the Romanian people lived in three neighboring self-dependent princi-palities: Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania. The powerful neighboring empires (Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian) opposed the unification of these entities and even occu-pied, for varying periods, Romanian territories.In the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire expanded into the European continent, conquering the entire Balkan Pen-insula. Unlike other peoples of Southeastern Europe, Romanians were the only ones who maintained semi-independent during the Middle Ages, retaining their own political, military and administrative structures. Continuous population movements from one province to the other, as well as close economic, political and cultural ties, fostered the idea of ethnic unity among the Roma-nians living in the three provinces. This development helped Prince Michael the Brave in 1599-1600 to unify all three territories inhabited by Romanians for the first time. The uniting of the three principalities was short-lived, but planted the seeds of aspirations towards national unity.At the end of the 17th century, the gradual weakening of the Ottoman Empire and the increasing power of the Russian and Austrian Empires, created a new interna-tional situation in Southeastern Europe. In an effort to fend off the growing influence of Russia, the Ottoman govern-ment established the so-called Phanariot system. Mol-davia and Walachia were ruled through Turkish-appointed hospodars (lords), usually members of Greek families from the Phanar district of Constantinople. Many Romanian nobles, allied themselves with ruling Greek families, and Greek became the official language. Though subjects of the Sultan, these Phanariots introduced many reform policies, nurtured the development of a Neo-Hellenistic culture and set the foundations for progress and growth.In the middle of the 18th century, the disintegration of the feudal structures in the Romanian territory brought about developments that would lead to the establishment of a

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Martisor

The word “martisor” stands for the first day of March (or for the whole month). It also refers to an amu-let symbolizing spring, which, tied by a red and white string, is worn by women in Romania during the first two weeks of March, as well as to the custom of cel-ebrating the coming spring and the rebirth of nature. The Romanians inherited this very old custom from the Romans: on the first of March men offer women small decorative objects, which they pin to their blous-es. It is believed that the “martisor” brings luck and health and protects the wearer from evil spirits.In the old times the “martisor” was made of two woolen threads, a white and a red one, symbolizing the two main seasons – winter and summer. Women who made this braid tied it on the wrist or neck of their children. The custom was kept differently from area to area: in some places the amulet was worn for 9 days till All Saints’ Day, in others until Easter. Young girls used to throw their amulet towards the sun to get rid of freckles. As most Romanian customs, this one is based on a legend: the legend of old Dochia, an ancient Romanian agrarian deity, who dies on March 1st and is reborn on March 9th (the spring equinox according to the Julian calendar and the new agrarian year). Dochia is associat-ed with the Roman goddesses Diana and Juno. The first day of spring also represents the beginning of the so-called “nine days of the old women”. Women choose one of these days and their luck (or disposition) is sup-posed to be similar to the weather on that day. In other areas of Romania the “martisor” is worn until the cher-ries bloom. Then the braid is tied on a branch and if that tree gives fruit, the one who wore the “martisor” will be lucky. Nowadays the “martisor” comes in all shapes and sizes, yet it still remains an eternal symbol of the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth, where luck (or hope) keeps us looking forward to tomorrow.

SYMBOL OF ETERNAL SPRING

market-based economy and the creation of the modern Romanian nation. In the first half of the 19th century the Romanian principalities began to distance themselves from the Ottoman world and tune into the spiritual space of Western Europe. Ideas, currents, attitudes from the West were more than welcomed in the Romanian territory, which was undergoing an irreversible process of modernization. The awareness that all Romanians belong to the same nation was generalized and the union into one single independent state became a common ideal. Following the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War, the great European powers (France, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia) recognized the need for national unity, a process that was eventually completed in 1918. During this period the independence of Romania was recognized, first by the Sultan (1861) and later by the European powers (1878) and Prince Karl Eitel Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Sigmarin-gen, who took office in 1867 as Carol I, was proclaimed king in 1881. Following the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), the kingdom of Romania became the largest Balkan power. During World War I, the kingdom remained officially neutral until 1916, when it joined the Allies. As a result of the post-war settlements, Romania more than doubled its area and the aspirations of all Romanians to a single nation-state came true. In 1918, the Grand National Assembly proclaimed the Union of Transylvania with old Romania, marking the completion of the political unity of the Romanian people. In 1940 German forces occupied Romania. The loss of about one-third of the country’s area and population caused a serious crisis which resulted in the abdication of King Carol I in favor of his son Michael and the coming to power of a military ruler. Crippled as it came out of the WW11, Romania, along with other countries in Central and Eastern Europe came under Soviet domination. In 1947, King Michael abdicated under Communist pressure, and the government proclaimed Romania a people’s republic.During the post-war period the Soviet model was stringent-ly applied, leading to the nationalization of all industry and the forced collectivization of agriculture based on centrally planned economic policies. In the 1950’s the entire Roma-nian political and cultural elite had practically been elimi-

Although it bears a French name, this salad is entirely Romanian. The French prepare a similar dish but use only vegetables and a different sauce, and call it Macedoine, while the Romanians add beef to it. The Germans add meat, pickles and boiled vegetables and call it Berliner. The Slavs call it A la Russe and they don’t use any meat. So, here is the original Romanian Salata de Boeuf (serves 6):

Ingredients 700 gr. beef 700 gr. potatoes 300 gr. pickled cucumbers (in vinegar not brine) 500 gr. carrots (or peas) 3 pickled bell peppers 500 ml mayonnaise salt, mustard, oil

PreparationBoil the meat until it is tender. Also boil the carrots, potatoes and peas (if not canned) separately until they soften a bit. Peel the potatoes and let the vegetables cool.Cut the meat, cucumbers, bell peppers, potatoes, and carrots in very small cubes. In a big bowl, mix all the ingredients with 3/4 of the mayonnaise, a tablespoon of oil, 2 tablespoons mustard, some lemon juice (to taste), salt and pepper. Place the mixture on a large serving plate and level it to look like a birthday cake. Spread the remaining mayonnaise over it and use your imagination to decorate it with pieces of hard-boiled egg whites, olives, pickled red bell peppers, parsley, etc. Note: Instead of beef you can use chicken, turkey or whitefish (not salmon). You can also mix in a couple of tart apples, as well as mushrooms (fresh or canned) or hot spices.

Usually served as an appetizer accompanied by a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.

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TRADITIONAL ROMANIAN RECIPESalata de Boeuf (Beef salad)

The fame of the small town of Bran has spread well outside Romania’s borders. Located close to the city of Brasov, Bran owes its reputation to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The local castle, now known as Dracula’s Castle, was never home to the bloody prince, but nevertheless the legend has persisted to the delight of myriads of tourists. In spite of all that we know about Vlad Dracula (or Vlad the Impaler as he was called after his death), he is still somewhat of an enigma. Not only are there unsolved mysteries about his life and death, but also much speculation about the exact nature of the connection between Vlad and the vampire count in Bram Stoker’s famous novel. The name “Dracula” is linked to the Romanian word “drac” (derived from the Latin “draco”) which means both “dragon” and “devil”. The general consent among historians is that Vlad adopted it as a sobriquet, deriving it from the Order of the Dragon to which his father, Prince Vlad II Dracul of Wallachia, was inducted in 1431.The whole Dracula phenomenon in Romania begins with Vlad himself. Was he a hero or a true tyrant? He seized the throne of Wallachia in 1456 and during the following six years, while resisting both the Hungarians and the Ottoman Turks, he ruled through terror, publicly impaling thousands of his people (reportedly vagabonds, beggars and thieves). He also liquidated the boyars (nobility), seized their property, and passed it out to his supporters, thus creating a new loyal nobility.

By contrast, Romanian folk narratives present a very different Vlad: a supporter of the peasants against the unfaithful boyars, a defender of law and order and a brave protector of his small principality against the mighty Ottoman Empire. Several Romanian writers consider Vlad a symbol of independence and nationhood, presenting him as one of Romania’s national heroes, fighting against the Turks, the boyars and the “legions of evil.” Interest in

Vlad the Impaler among Romanian historians and fiction writers continued well into the 20th century, with some maintaining the sympathetic image of Wallachia’s prince and others struggling with the conflicting accounts of his turbulent life and bloody deeds.In 1897, the Irish writer Bram Stoker published Dracula, using Vlad the Impaler as a source of inspiration and in the process making the prince famous worldwide. In fact, Stoker’s Dracula is not a prince of Wallachia but a Transylvanian count living in a mysterious castle where he lured his victims. There is no doubt whatsoever that latest interest in Vlad Dracula is directly connected with the popularity of Stoker’s novel, attracting thousands of tourists wishing to visit the ruins and other sites in Transylvania related to the “bloodthirsty” count. Yet Vlad is much more that just a name associated with the famous fictional vampire. To the Romanians he remains a significant historical figure as well as an icon of heroism and national pride.

nated from public life while all social and cultural institutions were forcibly reorganized to conform to the Soviet model.From the early 1960s on, Romania began to exercise a con-siderable degree of independence from the Warsaw Pact. The communist party leadership after 1967 was dominated by Nicolae Ceausescu, who pursued independent policies, often opposed to those of his Soviet mentors, and sought closer ties with the West. Domestically, however, Romania re-mained one of the most backward and repressive countries in the Eastern bloc. Extreme repression became the norm, with the state apparatus controlling all aspects of public and

private life, even forcing the registration of all typewriters in the country, while talking to foreigners without police permis-sion was expressly forbidden. In the 1980s, Romania was beset with severe shortages of food, fuel, and electricity, as Ceausescu used virtually all of Romania’s hard currency reserves to pay off the nation’s US$11-billion foreign debt. Under these circumstances, the spark of a bloody revolt was lit in Timisoara in December 1989 and rapidly spread all over the country. The Romanian army turned against Ceausescu and he was forced to flee Bucharest with his wife, Elena. They were

DRACULA BETWEEN FICTION AND REALITY

both captured and tried secretly, and executed. Romania was the first Eastern European country to mount a successful armed insurrection against communist tyranny, marking an extraordinary moment in history, the beginning of the end of communism in Europe. The first months of freedom were for Romanians a period of enthusiasm and euphoria. The declared aims were a return to multiparty democracy, a free market economy and Romania’s re-integration in to the European political and cultural space. In the 1990s, Romania faced persistent political and labor unrest as well as economic and ethnic instability. During this inevitable period of adjustment, the social reforms and austerity measures mandated by various governments aim-ing to integrate Romania within Europe resulted in high inflation, high unemployment and lower disposable incomes which led to repeated mass strikes and demonstrations. Nevertheless, Romania persisted through these adversities and, having normalized relations with most of its neighbors, was officially declared a EU candidate member in 2005.

EconomyFor many centuries Romania’s economy was based on ag-riculture. In the 1930’s, as one of the main European pro-ducers of wheat, corn and meat, Romania was called the “breadbasket of Europe.” In the 1970s, there was a dis-tinct shift towards heavy industrial production but agricul-ture remains economically important and employs about one-third of the country’s workforce.Romania produces coal, natural gas, iron ore and petro-

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leum but most raw materials used by the country’s large industrial infrastructure are imported. Prominent industries include chemical (petrochemical, paints and varnishes), metal processing, machine manufacturing, industrial and transport equipment, textiles, manufactured consumer goods, lumber and furniture.

CultureRomania has a distinct culture, the product of its geographic position and historical evolution. Situated at a crossroads of civilizations, Romanian culture is largely derived from the Roman, with strains of Slavic, Magyar (Hungarian), Greek, and Turkish influence. Poems, folktales, and folk music have always held a central place in Romanian culture. Romanian literature, art, and music attained maturity in the 19th century. Although Romania has been influenced by divergent Western trends, the culture remains fundamentally indigenous. The rural architecture, national costumes, dances and folk songs are almost the same as those 2000 years ago. Despite hav-ing experienced numerous invasions, the Romanian people have managed to preserve their faith and culture, remaining a pocket of Latinity in a largely Slavic area. Romanian art and literature reached their peak during the 1800s, but, due mostly to their ethnocentric nature, they had limited appeal beyond the country’s borders. It was not until the 20th century that major literary and artistic figures, such as the playwright Eugene Ionesco, the Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel and the Romanian-born French sculptor Constantin Brancusi (see relevant article) met with universal acclaim.

Often named the city of flowers, Timisoara, the capital of Timis County, is located in western Romania, on the Bega River. The city consists of a formerly fortified inner town and several suburbs separated from the inner town by parks. The name Timisoara comes from “Castri de Thymes” (defense works built at the beginning of the 11th century for the surveillance of fords and roads), preserving the old Daco-Roman name of the river Timis.Strategically placed and of ancient origin, the city became a part of Hungary in 1010. During the 16th century it was captured by the Ottoman Turks, and in 1716 recaptured by Eugene, Prince of Savoy. The Treaty of Passarowitz formally restored it to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1718. In 1920 it finally passed to Romania in the Treaty of Trianon. Throughout its history Timisoara proved to be a progres-

sive town. In the 19th century it quickly adopted techno-logical developments that improved urban life. Telephone lines were installed in 1881 and a power plant generating electricity was built three years later. Timisoara became the first city in Europe to use electricity for street lighting. In 1895 the city started paving its streets with asphalt and in 1899 the first electric tramline was inaugurated. The old wood bridges were reinforced with metal supports (one of them rebuilt by Gustave Eiffel himself) and in 1908 the first cinema opened its doors to the public.One of the city’s most beautiful landmarks, built between the two World Wars, is Victory Square. Dominated by the National Theatre, built in the Neo-Byzantine style, and the Roman Orthodox Cathedral, a fine example of traditional Romanian architecture, the square is surrounded by mon-umental buildings and grand palaces erected by the city’s prominent families. In the middle of the square stands a statue of Mother-Wolf, a gift from the city of Rome (1926) symbolizing the Roman origin of the inhabitants.After WW II, Timisoara stagnated under the communist regime, suffering severe material shortages, as well as moral and spiritual oppression. In December 1989, a very

important page in the history of the Romanian people was written in Timisoara. Mass demonstrations in the city led to the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime and to the fall of communist rule in the country. With Timisoara once again at the forefront as the first free city, Roma-nia restored democracy and began its reconstruction as a free country. Today, after many years of hard work, the city proudly reveals to its visitors the precious legacies of her past, combined with modern architectural developments and economic success.If a single word could define Timisoara it would be coex-istence. The old city fortress walls coexist with modern bank and multi-story office buildings, in a striking archi-tectural mixture. An 18th century castle in the city center houses the Banatian Museum and its precious collections, while the Bastion, part of a well preserved old fortress, hosts modern art galleries, bookstores, restaurants, and even a casino and a night club. Everywhere in Timisoara, one can find this strange yet beautiful combination of past and present. Although the majority of city’s population of 350,000 is Romanian, Timisoara has always been a gathering place for many cultures and its buildings clearly reflect that. The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral, the Hungarian Catholic Cathedral, the Serb Church, the German high school, the Jewish synagogue, the Italian consulate, a Greek restau-rant, a Hungarian Baroque Palace – all these can be found within one square mile. As one of the most important university centers in Ro-mania, each year Timisoara attracts more than 24,000 stu-dents The campus sustains the city’s cultural characteris-tics: Romanian, Arab, Greek, Hungarian and Serb students live together, learn together and have fun together. Many of the young people who come here to study decide to stay and live in Timisoara, maybe because it is so close to major European cities like Budapest or Vienna and offers many career opportunities and a modern way of life. The Bega River flows right through the heart of the city and gives life to four parks that surround the inner town, each one with its own story. The Rose Park contains more than 800 different species of roses; the People’s Park was favored by Mihai Eminescu, the greatest of Romania’s modern poets, and has been hosting concerts by the city philharmonic since the 18th century; the Central Park com-memorates WW II heroes, while the Botanic Park, with its lush vegetation is an oasis favored by families and young couples in the warm days of summer. On a peaceful Sun-day morning, while having coffee at a riverbank café, chat-ting with an old friend and watching people walking by, this otherwise bustling city seems like an urban heaven.

TIMISOARAGateway to the West

ANNA TSOGABorn and raised in Greece, Anna is an excellent com-municator with a charming and outgoing personali-ty. She tends to smile a lot and is easy to talk to. But don’t let her easy-going style fool you! During our interview it became quite evident that she is also a driven and strong-willed “can do” person that gets results, which also explains why her career has been on a fast track since she joined Frigoglass. After only two years with our Group she was recently appoint-ed Plant Manager of our Cool Operations plant in Romania, bringing with her youthful fervor, a solid academic and professional background, and the will to succeed in a challenging environment.

face any difficulties (specially in the beginning) but in almost all cases it eventually developed into a creative and fruitful profes-sional collaboration.

With rapid profitable growth being our strategic objec-tive, do you feel that you and your team are ready to deliver?

I am confident about my team and myself and we are cer-tainly committed to a consistent effor t to grow and de-velop our business while improving our skills. Of course, the obvious prerequisites are clarity of vision and good planning.

Is your team familiar with the concept of ‘quality-driv-en efficiency’ and if so, how is it being applied at your plant?

The management team is certainly familiar with and commit-ted to that concept and altogether we are working on making it so for our entire workforce. This is not an easy task since it involves changing the work mentality of the people, which isn’t happening overnight. What we do is to insist on “doing it correctly in the first place”. The process that we apply in all areas is: Initial identification and monitoring of weak points in our process or in our workflow → breakdown analysis of the faults → identification of the underlying causes → cooperation with all departments involved to find solutions → seeking the help of specialists (inside and outside the plant or the Group) → evaluation of possible solutions → application and strict follow up.

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Frigoglass Romania is located on the outskirts of Timisoara and the company’s facilities cover an area of approximately 18,800 sq m. The Frigoglass Romania plant produces a range of coolers, including the CE, S10, FVS 1200, FV 650, FV 500, RETRO, ICM 2000 and FV 650 RDC models, which are sold in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia, Fyrom, through our Romanian Sales Office. Major clients include Coca-Cola, SAB, Heineken (Brau Union), Danone, Carlsberg, Interbrew and Friesland. As of this year the plant has a total workforce of 630, of which 273 are permanent staff. Having put together a strong team focused primarily on quality as well as continuous growth and develop-ment, Frigoglass Romania has evolved into an ideal business partner and one of the most profitable companies in Romania, repeatedly receiving performance-based awards from both local and national authorities.

Anna holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engi-neering from the University of Thes-saloniki and a PhD

in Material Science from the University of Patras. She started her career as a postdoctoral researcher and continued as Project Manager and Technical and Quality Manager with different com-panies. In 2003 she joined Frigoglass Ireland as Technical Manager and in 2005 she moved to Frigoglass Roma-nia as Technical Manager. In 2006 she assumed the position of Plant Manager. Anna is very fond of Greek music and also likes gymnastics and traveling.

ANNA TSOGAPlant Manager

Mihai holds a Master’s de-gree from the Polytechnic Institute in Ti-misoara and

has been with Frigoglass Romania for 8 years, holding various posi-tions including that of Produc-tion Supervisor. In 2006 he was promoted to Production Man-ager. Mihai’s goal is to improve his leadership abilities while achieving the plant’s objectives in cooperation with his colleagues. He is married to Ruxandra and his hobbies are interior design, traveling and reading.

MIHAI ADAM Production Manager

FRIGOGLASS ROMANIA

What are the main difficulties you have to face as an ex-patriate single female living and working in Romania?Missing the people I love and homesickness are always in the background when I am not busy. And my hometown’s view of the sea, that’s another thing I often miss. Was your previous experience helpful when you moved to Romania?Absolutely. Exposure to different working environments and the experience you gain allow you to see where changes and improvements can be made, even in the case of a business that’s established and well run.

Many of the men that work under you are older and more experienced. Has that been a problem?In my career I have always had to deal with my subordinates being men older and more experienced. I can’t say that I didn’t

Interview

doing it correctly in the first place

Having graduated from the Univer-sity of the West in Timisoara with a degree in Econom-ic Sciences and

with a significant career in the field of finance, 36-year-old Caius, whose last position had been Economist and Chief Accountant at Radiotel Vest Motorola, joined Frigoglass Romania in 1999 as Assistant Finance Manager and since 2000 holds the position of Finance Manager. He is married to Laura and they have a little boy, Ser-ban, who is almost four. Caius loves sports but also reads a lot to always stay up-to-date.

CAIUS DINU Finance Manager

Gabriela gradu-ated from the University of the West in Timiso-ara. She started her career as an

authorized English translator and then entered the field of Human Resources, joining Frigoglass Ro-mania as HR Manager in 2006. Her professional goal is to gain a wide experience in her field so that she’ll be able to coordinate our Group’s HR activities in several countries. Gabriela is married to Adrian and they have a 10-month-old daughter, Roxana-Laura. Her hobbies include traveling, cooking and shopping.

GABRIELA MICUHR Manager

Born in 1967, Dan-iel holds a degree in Chemical Engineer-ing from the Technical University of Timisoara. He started his profes-

sional career with Frigoglass Romania in 1998 and by 2005 had reached the posi-tion of Production Support Supervisor. In 2006 he was appointed Technical Services Manager. Ever since he joined our Group his goal has been to continuously improve and become the best in his field, ready for any future challenge. Daniel is married to Lucia-Corina and they have a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Anca. Art and history are some of his hobbies, while his motto is: ”If you have to do something, do it well!”

DANIEL JENEI Technical Services Manager

Radu joined Frigoglass Romania as a foreman in 1997, and was then gradually promoted to Production Supervisor, Techni-cal Manager and finally Supply Chain Manager, the position he holds at present. He is married to Andrea and they have a 7-year-old daughter, Roxana-Ma-ria, and a 3-year-old son, Paul Andrei. In his free time he en-joys fishing and playing tennis.

RADU VASILE COTUNASupply Chain Manager

Many of our Group’s pilot programs are first tested at your plant. How does this affect your production plan-ning and actual production?The fact that Romania is the first place where a lot of our company’s pilot projects are tested makes us proud of the trust the Group shows in us and gives us the strength to face the challenge. By making sure that each new project is well planned and organized we avoid any negative effect on our production. On the contrary, I would say that in most cases these projects result in significant benefits for us in terms of quality and efficiency.

Was the BaaN system difficult to implement and how well is it running compared to when it was first intro-duced? Are there any persistent problems and what will it take to resolve them?The BaaN project was as difficult as the implementation of any ERP system. The workload increased in the beginning without people seeing any obvious benefits, plus they needed to change the way that used to work. Stabilizing the system was not easy and a lot of resources were allocated to secure data accuracy. I believe that the progress achieved last year was significant and, if I might say so, probably unexpected. The key to that was the commitment all our personnel showed in making sure that all transactions went through the system. Now that the system is fully operational and people have gotten used to it we enjoy its benefits, which should increase in the near future. There are still some minor problems but I don’t consider any of them to be critical or persistent since we now know how to resolve them and feel confident that we can do it.

Was the new bar coding system easily integrated into your day-to-day operations? Was it well received by the different teams affected, considering that people are usually resistant to routine-braking changes?

Except for a few infrastructure issues that came up, I would say that the bar code system for finished goods was easily imple-mented and totally and immediately accepted by the whole team. Today we consider it as a given and wouldn’t want to live without it. Bar Code phase II (for raw materials and semi fin-ished goods) is currently in the design stage and will be imple-mented this year at our plant. Very careful planning is again a prerequisite. We expect multiple benefits and certainly a quali-tative upgrade of our plant.

What are your professional plans for the future? Are you considering returning to Greece at some point in your career?

I am ambitious and like to improve myself continuously, gain-ing experience and exploring new professional opportunities. There will come a time when I will return to Greece, since that’s where I want to live for the rest of my life, but it’s not that time yet and I’m still very much “on the road” searching for the next challenge.

doing it correctly in the first place

NICK VAKALISFollowing two very successful years in Marketing, Nick was appointed Manager of our Sales Offices in Romania and Greece in September 2005. This is a challenging posting that requires a strong con-stitution, unceasing effort and considerable tenac-ity. Nick has repeatedly proven that he has what it takes and can offer much more, especially in light of the fact that, together with his wife, he is also rais-ing a wonderful boy.

How would you rate your team in Romania in com-parison with the Greek team and what are your ex-pectations for the future?My colleagues in both Romania and Greece are young peo-ple, eager to take the initiative and able to excel at what they do. What I have asked from both teams is to adopt and implement my motto: “professionalism is to live and do, whatever you do, with great passion. My wish and intent is that in both Romania and Greece the next Sales Office man-agers will evolve from these teams. What are the basic differences between the Greek and Romanian markets? In the sales territory SOR is responsible for, besides CCHBC, we have a number of large brewery customers, mainly mul-tinationals that market both local and international brands, as well as a larger concentration of multinational dairy com-panies. In Greece, on the other hand, there are but a few multinationals in the brewery sector, and ICMs are mainly placed to penetrate new market segments. What’s more, in Greece we have a large number of local accounts in terms of CSD and dairies that require a larger sales team.In terms of merchandising, Timisoara is one of the most ad-vanced cities in Europe in outdoor placement. For example, there is a street in Timisoara that has tens of local & tradi-tional shops and kiosks in a row, one after the other, and each of them has three to six ICMs placed outside, most of which are Frigorex FV650s & FVS1200s. In the heart of winter they

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Has your previous marketing experience been helpful at your current position?It has indeed, especially my stint with our Product Manage-ment Department. Two things are necessary for sales to grow: thorough understanding of the market and in-depth knowledge of your product. Coming from marketing, I had already acquired the second. I had the inside track on what a salesman needs to know in order to select the right product for his customer. What’s more, being familiar with the pro-cesses and time required to develop new innovative solu-tions (e.g options), I was able to effectively filter our requests to Marketing. As far as knowledge of the market, that is an ongoing and never ending process since the market evolves continuously. In marketing you tend to follow an analytical and comprehensive approach. In sales you live the market on a daily basis. You are running two very dynamic sales offices in Greece and Romania. How do you manage it?I travel a lot and I spend at least one week every month in Timiso-ara. I also travel throughout the SO Romania territory with my team to meet customers. In the first and last quarter of each year my travel schedule becomes really hectic, due to the increased num-ber of sales that have to close dur-ing those periods. All that makes for an unbelievable work schedule with looming deadlines and lots of pressure. How well do I manage it? You tell me.

Interview

Serban was born in 1977 and holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of the West in Timiso-

ara. He star ted his career in 1999 as a customer care representative at Orange and in 2004 he joined Frigoglass as part of our international trainee program. In 2005 he was ap-pointed Key Accounts Supervisor at Frigoglass Romania, responsible for sales in the Romanian territory. Ser-ban likes to stay in close touch with customers and feels ready to meet the challenge of his position.

SERBAN RIPAN Key Accounts Supervisor

Nick was born in 1959 and holds a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Food Science from the Universities of Io-annina, Greece and Leeds West Yorkshire, England re-

spectively. He started his career in 1988 holding positions in Customer Services and R&D with a leading company in the Balkans and in 1996 he moved to commercial flexible packaging materi-als. He joined Frigoglass in 1999 as Commercial Manager at 3N and was later promoted to Gen-eral Manager. In 2003 he became Head of Prod-uct Management in our Marketing Function and in September 2005 was appointed Sales Office Manager Romania and Greece. Nick is married to Mary, who is also a chemical engineer and they have an 8-year-old son, Angelos.

NICK VAKALISSales Office Manager

live and do, whatever you do, with great passion

are an amazing sight, all covered in snow and yet they’re all operating. Proof positive of how extremely well the Frigorex models are built. How would you rate the growth prospects of RSO’s markets and what are your near-future sales tar-gets?RSO’s growth prospects are positive. In 2006, our interna-tional key accounts, that is big breweries such as Heineken, SAB, Inbev and Carlsberg, will seek to maximize their ice cold availability and brand awareness. At Frigoglass we offer our customers innovative solutions enabling them to pen-etrate new distribution channels and cover new consumer occasions. We also offer a broad product line that can help our customers attain their marketing objectives. What are the key market needs you have to meet and what, in your opinion, are their long-term pros-pects?The key needs we have to meet in our territories are very similar to those in Central Europe. Using our products, our customers want to establish ice cold availability and boost impulse creation. To positively af-fect impulse buying, our ICMs have to provide customized merchandising solutions, ensuring differentiation among our customers, and meet the requirements of new strategies aimed at attracting customers and increasing ice cold sales, as our open front and open top models do.

In your opinion, how will 1-2-1 sales and the marketing of refurbished units affect results in the markets you are currently handling? Our customers want to focus on producing, distributing and promoting their products. Consequently, I would say that Frigoglass can become more useful to them and strengthen customer loyalty by offering the added value of one-to-one placement, refurbishment and post-warranty services, what we call the total service concept. Our refurbishment service strengthens the ties with our cus-tomers, considering that the service life of their assets (ICMs) is extended at a cost that is significantly lower than the pur-chase price of a new ICM.

As a family man, the constant commuting between Athens and Timisoara must be hard on you. What are your plans for the future?The company has entrusted me with this position and, to tell you the truth, I find change quite reviving. The traveling doesn’t tire me, but my main concern is losing touch with my family. I would like to share more things with my son, who’s almost a teenager, and my wife who, I must say, has greatly supported me in this effort, taking on extra duties as far as our home and raising our son are concerned.

Born in 1969, Marian graduated from the Technical University in Timisoara and has more than 10 years experience in sales.

Between 1995 and 2005 he worked for Caterpillar as Sales Manager both in Romania and Canada. In 2005 he joined Frigoglass Romania as one of our Key Accounts Supervisors, responsible for non-Coca-Cola customers in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. His target is to develop the territories he is responsible for so that sales match those in Romania. Marian has some interesting and unusual hob-bies, including flying planes and driving locomotives and sports cars.

MARIAN PATAC Key Accounts Supervisor

Although a graduate of the Technical University in Timisoara and a systems engineer, Leila chose to work in sales because she likes the human interac-

tion and challenging environment associated with promoting actual products. She started her career in 1997 at Coca-Cola where she held several positions, including business analyst, marketing researcher and supervisor. In 2002 she joined our sales administration office in Romania and since 2004 holds the position of Coca-Cola Accounts Supervisor, responsible for our Coca-Cola customers in Romania, Hungary, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bul-garia, Serbia and Moldova. In her spare time, Leila enjoys traveling with her daughter.

LEILA AHMET Coca-Cola Accounts Supervisor

Born in 1967 in Timisoara, Marius graduated from the Technical University in Timisoara as a Mechanical Engineer. He started his career in 1988 while still a

student, first as a customer service represen-tative and later as an engineer with several local companies. In 1994 he moved to Coca-Cola where he held positions as sales agent and regional asset coordinator and in 2002 he joined Frigoglass Romania as a supervisor in the customer service department. Since 2005 he is supervising all SOR territories and is proud to be a member of the first team in the Group to offer customers our complete service package (one-to-one [1-2-1] placement, refurbishment, customer service).

MARIUS MOISA Customer Service Supervisor

live and do, whatever you do, with great passion

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Romania produced a total number of 27,900 standard units, 150% more than in 1996. In 1999, the Russian crisis and the war in former Yugo-slavia had a negative impact on sales. However, year-end results were improved by reorienting sales efforts towards low impact markets and by broadening the product mix with the inclusion of a freezer line. After two years the plant managed to recoup and become one of strategic importance to the Frigoglass Group.Benefiting from the Group’s consistent investments in people and fixed assets, the plant expanded, focusing on quality and efficiency, and continued to boost capacity, offering high quality products and services. As the com-pany grew, systems and procedures were established and certified under ISO 9002, strengthening our cus-tomers’ confidence, while the Group’s environmental policy led to ISO 14000 certification in 2000.Growth was accompanied by innovation, with Frigo-glass Romania pioneering the development of a post-warranty service network and also running pilot pro-grams for one-to-one (1-2-1) placement and rentals. In a short span of time the plant developed from a small facility assembling single-brand coolers to a full blown

Frigoglass Romania was founded in November 1994 as a Frigoglass Group investment aimed at meeting the growing demand for quality products and services in Central and Eastern Europe. The plant is located on a 60,000 sq.m. site near Timisoara and its production area, initially 6,000 sq.m., was extended in 2005 to 23,712 sq.m. (including production and auxiliaries).Though initially small in terms of production capacity (830 STU/year), people (135 employees) and custom-ers (Coca-Cola), Frigoglass Romania grew and devel-oped considerably in the past 10 years. At present, more than 700 people work in a plant that produces over 650 standard units/day and sells worldwide. In the 1990s the plant was assembling kits (FV 650 and FV 400) from parts manufactured in the Kato Achaia facility. Today, it has three production lines and turns out nine models, six of which exclusively (CE, S10, ICM, Retro, FV 650 RDC and FV500 Frostwell).Since 1996, when the first product was sold, Frigoglass Romania has served various territories, including Hun-gary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Moldova, Bosnia & Herzegovina, FYROM, Russia and Romania. Year after year, following significant investments as well as the sustained efforts of all employees, the plant increased its production capacity significantly. In 1998, for instance, Frigoglass

ANI

Vassilis Soulis, Operations Manager Europe,made a significant contribution to the successof Frigoglass Romania.

The story of Frigoglass Romania

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Anniversary

Victor MihuDinu Caius

Ion Mallinger

Cornel Moisiuc

Viorel Nechita

Petru Moisiuc

Neculai Chelaru

Livius Cadarean

Florian Pop

Neculai PopaGabriel CadareanDan Moldovan

Gabriel Szucs

Gabriela Dejica Ion Indricau

Goran Raicov Ludovic Vavra

a process of continuous evolution, development and progress in more than a usual way“

“

learning that in order to be competitive one of the most important things is quality“

“

an opportunity to work in a professional environment“

“

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manufacturing operation producing multiple products and possessing an infrastructure able to offer total service to our customers.Initially, management underwent many changes un-til a point in time when the focus shifted to build-ing a strong team able to successfully lead the plant’s growth. Investments in the development of our people through management training programs were very productive and resulted in many internal promo-tions to managerial positions. Today, the plant’s first line management consists entirely of young Romanian professionals. Frigoglass Romania and the entire Group are very proud to have such a loyal group of people working with them these many years, including Dinu Caius (Finance Manager), Florian Pop (Key Account Man-ager), Victor Mihu (Manufacturing Support Manager), Viorel Nechita (Quality Controller), Neculai Popa (Line Operator), Dan Moldovan (Maintenance Su-pervisor), Gabriel Szucs (Service technician), Gabriel Cadarean (Maintenance Technician), Gabriela Dejica (Warehouse clerk), Ioan Repede (Quality Controller), Ion Mallinger (Production Supervisor), Petru Moisiuc (Quality Controller), Cornel Moisiuc (Line Operator),

Ion Indricau (Line Operator), Valentin Radulescu (Line Operator), Andric Stoika (Line Operator), Goran Ra-icov (Foreman), Ludovic Vavra (Quality Controller), Neculai Chelaru (Refurbishment), Ilie Cioboata (Pro-duction Support Engineer), Ioan Tarau (Line Opera-tor) and Livius Cadarean (Line Operator). For them these 10 years meant: “a process of continuous evolu-tion, development and progress in more than a usual way”, “experience in a multinational company”, “learn-ing that in order to be competitive in the market one of the most important things is quality”, “career development and overall achievements”, “opportunity to work in a professional environment”, “to witness the growth of the company and be part of one of the departments that manage to satisfy the most de-manding customer needs.”The continuous effort and dedication of our people throughout the years has led the company to out-standing performances. There will always be chal-lenges to face and problems to solve. What is more important is to rely on our strengths, trust each other and to keep working together to improve ourselves and contribute to our extended family, the Frigoglass Group of companies.

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Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Frigoglass Romania

Managing Director D. Lois cutting the plant’s10-year anniversary cake along with V. Soulis

The story of Frigoglass Romania

33

Anniversary

Evangelos Doulgeridis, a key player at Frigoglass Romania during the late 1990s was kind enough to share with us some of his memories from that chal-lenging period.‘‘My years in Romania were quite eventful to say the least. I was initially hired in April 1999 as Sales Manager for East-ern Europe, based in Timisoara, and stayed until April 2001. When I arrived the plant had already been operating for two years with a single shift and a workforce of about 100 to 120 people, generating good results overall.That year two major developments in the region hit the plant real hard. One was the war in Yugoslavia, which obviously had a very negative impact on the Balkan mar-kets. The other was the collapse of the Russian market, which in the previous year had absorbed 70% of the plant’s produc-tion. What’s more, a new production line for freezers had just started operating. So, when I arrived, the plant was idle and there were 5000 coolers stacked in the yard awaiting delivery to a customer in Serbia, which had just been declared a war zone. There had been time for only two truckloads to be delivered and they had arrived on the day the war started. As a result, one of my first projects was to sell those coolers. It was a model that’s been phased out but in those days it was a top seller in Romania. In the coming weeks I vividly remember the faces of my fel-low coworkers and plant employees in the morning when I went to work, who anxiously enquired about new orders, fearful of their jobs and livelihoods. Though we didn’t get any orders for a few months, the company stood by its people, keeping everybody busy with plant maintenance projects. No one was fired. The first new order, from Coca-Cola Bulgaria, came in in October.During the war, traveling, something we sales people do very often, was not easy and could prove hazardous (as it did in some cases). Despite that, the sales team was always

on the road, logging thousands of km to get the job done. I remember I did 70,000 km in eight months, many times driving through Serbia, because that was the only road there was.When I first arrived, the plant had no customer service department. Mircea Cotuna, on his own initiative, had started setting up something in this direction but, not speaking the language, in the beginning I could only offer my wholehearted support. It took me three-four months before I started speaking some basic Romanian. By that

time, Constantinos Yiorkadjis, then Regional Manager, had talked to me about setting up a service department. I thought it was a great opportunity that shouldn’t be missed, a good change that could only improve things. That’s how I presented it to Mircea and that’s how the first customer service network was set up in Romania, becoming an early model for what’s by now a Group-wide reality. Looking back on all that’s hap-pened, I am sure Mircea, who despite his objections met the challenge full force, must feel very pleased today, now that

the efforts he initiated have been proven so successful.When it first started operating, the plant had a few experienced engineers and a young (average age was 25-30) but ambitious workforce. When I left, it had a well organized Sales Office and a pioneering customer service department. Today, the plant has grown four-five times, employs 650 and is on the forefront of the Group’s strategy.I miss my friends and colleagues of that time who I re-member fondly. I also miss rowing every day, as well as traveling through this marvelous country and meeting its wonderful people. Nevertheless, I am very happy to see Frigoglass Romania grow and prosper, and become a ma-jor hub in the Group’s global organization.’’

Evangelos Doulgeridis

Memories of a ‘road warrior’

Evangelos Doulgeridis, at the timeSales Manager in Romania

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Iasi (Jassy), also known as “the town of the seven hills”, is the most important political, economic and cultural center in the region of Moldavia and one of the oldest cities in Romania. Situated in Northeastern Romania on the Bahlui River, it used to be a crossroads of trade routes that linked Moldavia with Poland, Hungary, Russia and Constantinople.

Iasi’s roots are lost in prehistory, as attested by numerous archaeological finds. However, the beginnings of Iasi’s urban life are traced back to the second half of the 14th century, with the city being mentioned for the first time in a document by which the Moldavian ruler Alexandru cel Bun granted commercial privileges to the Polish merchants of Lvov in 1408.

Romania’s Cultural Capital IASI

Established in 1993 to meet the strong demand for quality packaging in the Romanian market, the plant is located in the city of Iasi, in Romania’s province of Moldavia.Strategically located near developing Eastern European markets, the 3P plant produc-es plastic crates for the agricultural, brewery, soft drink, mineral water and household sectors, as well as injected and extruded plastic items for our Cool Operations (30% of Net Trade Sales), garden furniture and other household items, and plastic pipes and profiles mainly for the construction industry. Major customers include the Coca-Cola Company, Tuborg, Brau Union and Pepsi.3P Frigoglass started out under adverse conditions, with limited exposure to free market requirements. To become competitive, both nationally and internationally, and contribute to Group results, the company’s main asset, its people, underwent consid-erable training that focused primarily on work ethics, productivity and quality assur-ance in a highly demanding environment. As a result, the plant’s current workforce of 70 employees comprises an effective and dedicated team able to implement Group policies and meet the challenges of an evolving global market.

Gabriel was born in 1965 in Braila, Romania and holds an Engineering Diploma. His pro-fessional experience spans over 17 years, 13 of which he has spent at Frigoglass, which he

joined in 1993 as Plant Manager of 3P Romania, Crown International and Tic-a-Plast. Currently he is coordinating the activities of 3P Frigoglass in Iasi. He strongly believes that people are the company’s most important resource and he continuously tries to improve their performance. His hobbies include reading all kinds of work-related articles as well as traveling throughout the beautiful mountains of Romania.

GABRIEL ANTOHIGeneral Manager

3P FRIGOGLASS

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Many of Moldavia’s cultural milestones are linked with the city of Iasi. In the 17th century -“the golden age” of Romanian culture- great scholars, such as Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin and later Ion Neculce wrote most of their works in the city or not far from it, while the great scholar Dimitrie Cantemir also linked his name to the former capital of Moldavia. At the start of the 19th century, the multi-talented scholar Gheorghe Asachi laid the foundation of the national Romanian language school and in 1829 he published the first newspaper in Romanian. It was also here that the first institution of higher education in the country, the Mihaileana Academy, was founded in 1835. The oldest and most prestigious Romanian university was founded in the city in 1860 during the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (and named after him) and in 1867 the newly-issued literary review Convorbiri Literare published works by Ion Creanga and Mihai Eminescu. The reviews Contemporanul and Viata Romaneasca appeared in 1871 and 1906 respectively and contributed greatly to the city’s cultural scene. Another cultural highlight is the splendid neo-gothic Palace of Culture,

which houses four museums including the Art Museum and the Moldavian History Museum.Aside from being the country’s cultural capital and a popular student town, Iasi, as the seat of the Orthodox metropolitan region of Moldavia and of a Roman Catholic archbishopric, is also a historic religious center boasting, among others, of two 15th-century churches and seven monasteries within city limits. Moreover, many architecturally noteworthy buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Traian Hotel designed by Gustave Eiffel, contribute to the city’s unique charm and character,Iasi is not only a city of tolls, hills, monuments and indescribable sunsets, but also the town with the highest density of poets and museums in Southeastern Europe. Immortalized in stamps and paintings, Iasi flows slowly into the conscience of the world. Thus, the year 1647 finds Bandini comparing it to a “new Rome”.Iasi,“the city of great loves”, represents a symbol of Romanian history about which Nicolae lorga rightly said, “there should be no Romanian who does not know it”.

Florin is 39 years old and has been with Frigoglass Group since 1994. He was initially hired by Crown

International as a mechanical engi-neer and was soon promoted to supervisor in the R&D Department. In 1999 he was appointed Technical Manager of 3P Romania where his previous experience as a teacher helped him motivate his colleagues towards achieving company objec-tives. Florin is married to Elena who is a high school librarian, and he pre-fers spending his free time going on picnics with his wife or going fishing with his friends.

FLORIN MOCANU Technical Manager

Mihai holds an Engi-neering Degree from “Gheor. Asachi” Tech-nical University in Iasi and a Law Degree. Having worked as a

production supervisor he joined Frigo-glass in 2000 as a Quality Control Su-pervisor and contributed to the imple-mentation of the Quality Management and Environmental Management sys-tems at 3P. In 2003 he was appointed Quality Assurance Supervisor and his responsibilities include environmental management and workplace health and safety. Mihai is married to Laura, who is a magistrate in Iasi, and they have a 3-month-old baby boy named Cosmin with whom they spend most of their free time.

MIHAI HATMANU Quality Assurance Supervisor

A Military Academy graduate, Marius joined 3P in 2002 as Supply Chain Man-ager. He considers himself a dedicated

team player and spends much of his time on promoting cooperation and coordinating team-building efforts among his colleagues aimed at im-proving the company’s results. Marius is married and likes to spend his free time staying updated on developments in the IT field or “escaping” daily rou-tine by going on long walks with his wife in Iasi’s beautiful parks.

MARIUS FERENT Supply Chain Manager

Sebastian was born in 1981 in Iasi and holds a Business In-formation Sys-tems Diploma.

Upon his graduation in 2005 he joined the 3P Frigoglass team as Human Resources Supervisor, a position he considers very chal-lenging because it involves hu-man interaction in a teamwork environment. His hobbies include reading and traveling as well as listening to music - especially fla-menco, which he classifies as “the art of living and feeling”.

SEBASTIAN PALADE HR Supervisor

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OUR PEOPLEANNA PITSILIFrigoglass Head Office

Born in Athens in 1968, Anna took courses in Executive Secre-tarial studies and started her career in Administration at Swatch Headquarters in 1988. She joined Frigoglass in 1998 as Assistant to the Cool Division Director and in 2000 was appointed Ex-ecutive Assistant to Group Managing Director Dimitris Lois. She considers her current position very challenging, since it offers valuable knowledge and motives for self-improvement and involves strong emotions. Anna is married to Alberto, a Greek/Italian forester who enjoys working as a movie theater projectionist as a hobby. Since she literally adores dogs, in her free time she likes to take care of her own, named Andria, as well as stray ones. She is also an excellent cook and loves trav-eling and joining her husband in winter sports.

ANTONIS KYRIAKIDISFrigoglass Head Office

Antonis was born in Athens in 1975 and holds an undergraduate and a graduate degree in Eco-nomics from the Uni-versity of Bristol and the University of Cambridge respectively. He started his career in Manage-ment Consulting with Planet Ernst & Young, where he gained signifi-cant insight into a variety of business sectors and managerial challenges. Having decided to change his professional orientation and solidify his business knowledge, Antonis pursued the INSEAD MBA program in France, which he completed in 2005. He sub-sequently joined Frigoglass Head Office in 2006 as Planning and Reporting Supervisor.Antonis is engaged to Christina and his primary interests in-clude theater (ancient Greek drama), history, strategy video games and multinational food & wine “exploration”.

EMIL CONSTANTINEFrigoglass Romania

Emil was born in Costesti, in 1969. He came to Ciacova, a vil-lage close to the plant, initially because he worked for Shell

as a driver. He joined Frigoglass in 2002 and is working his way up. Currently, he works on the final assembly FV line and loves his job because he deals with electrical and mechanical matters. He handles various problems and finds so-lutions on a daily basis. He is married to Corina and they have a 9-year-old daughter, Larissa, who’s in the third grade and wants to be a teacher. Emil loves the land and in his free time he grows corn and barley.

MARIT JOHANNESSENScandinavian Appliances

Marit is 37 years old and holds a Bachelor’s degree in marketing and a Mas-ter’s degree in leadership from the IHM Business School in Stockholm. After 15 successful years in Sweden’s capital, she decided to move back to Norway and joined Scandinavian Appliances in 2004 as Sales Supervi-

sor. Today, she is our Nordic Key Account Manager, focusing mainly on the Swedish market. Marit lives with Stig and in her free time she likes redecorating her house, horseback riding, and spending time at her summerhouse with family and good friends.

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Our People

HELENA TANSKANENScandinavian Appliances

Helena is 36 years old and has a diverse pro-fessional background, having worked for the Finnish tile manufac-turer Pukkila as a store- and district manager, and for IKEA Finland as a kitchen designer. She joined Scandinavian Appliances in 2005 as Key Account Manager in Finland. Helena lives

in Helsinki with her husband and two children. In her free time she is mainly engaged in her children’s activities, but also plays ice hockey and enjoys outdoor activities, such as gardening and fishing.

PER ERIK GJELSTADScandinavian Appliances

Per Erik was born in Norway in 1970 and has worked for insurance and phone companies and as a kitchen store manager. He joined Scandinavian Appliances in 2005 as Key Account Manager for many Norwegian cus-tomers. Per Erik lives with his son and daughter and in his free time he loves joining them in their vari-ous activities. He is also a

dance instructor, teaching swing and rock ’n roll, and has a genuine interest in cars.

HARALD ANDERS NORDSAETERScandinavian Appliances

Harald was born in Norway in 1975. He worked as a chef for a couple of years before joining DHL where he held many posi-tions in various lo-cations over a pe-riod of ten years. He joined Scandi-navian Appliances in 2005 as a Key Account Manager. Harald lives with his girlfriend Jan-nicke, their 2-year-old son Noah and newly born baby 35 km south of Oslo. He likes to spend his free time with his family and when he has some time alone he goes off-road biking.

LISE-METTE RIISScandinavian Appliances

Lise-Mette is 29 years old and holds a double BS/BA degree in Marketing and Economics from Hawaii Pacific University. She started her career working as a sales representative for an advertising company before joining Scandinavian Appliances in 2004 as Sales and Marketing Coordinator. Lise-Mette is married to Henning and they have a newly born baby. In her free time, she likes travel-ing, swimming, and doing aerobics, as well as enjoying the company of her family and good friends.

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BEYOND WORK

G. Tsamis with K. Kotsaftis... and with A. Tsingiras

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Beyond Work

Letter from the FrontDear readers, I am writing this letter from the “trenches” of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy where our innovative Frigoglass products are being tested and showcased to the world. Kostas Kotsaftis and Antonis Tsingiras, both Customer Service technicians from SO Greece and I, have been here on the “front” since January 15 making sure our ICMs stay in excellent working order throughout the Games.As you all already know, our company pioneers new, en-vironmentally friendly technologies. Our green technol-ogy program and especially our CO2 technology have strengthened our company’s position as one of the leading players in our industry, making us a preferred supplier to many customers with specific needs. One of these cus-tomers is Coca-Cola.Coca-Cola entrusted Frigoglass with supplying coolers for the Olympic Games in Athens two years ago and did so again this year for the 20th Winter Olympics in Torino, with CCHBC Italia ordering 900 of our FV650RDC coolers with C02 technology. To support our customer’s choice, Frigo-glass sent us, an experienced 3-member after sales techni-cal team, to help CCHBC Italia in servicing and taking care of this new technology and also to gather useful informa-tion about it during real time operations in the field.We stayed in Torino for a total of 45 days, which included the preparation period and the actual Games. During this time we were based in two locations: one in the city of Torino that hosted 12 venues for indoor games and one in the Alpine mountains where outdoor games were held at 11 venues.One of the biggest benefits for our company was that not only the Olympic community but also thousands of fans

from around the world saw and used our environmentally friendly ICMs on a daily basis. At the same time, our team and 220 Coca-Cola people from 21 countries worked to-gether as “one team”, getting to know each other and learn-ing more of what we do and how we do it. What’s more, we gathered useful information that will help our company make further improvements and introduce more ground-breaking technologies. I would like to thank the people back at the office for their support and, of course, Kos-tas and Antonis for both their excellent technical work and great companionship during this project, which I think was absolutely successful. I salute you all and feel proud to say ‘mission accom-plished’.

Gregory Tsamis After Sales Supervisor

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SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Children’s joyFor millions of people around the world, Christmas re-presents the most expected holiday of the year, a time when they are willing to for-get about their worries and join their loved ones in a joy-ous celebration. Every year at Christmas, 3P Frigoglass tries to orga-

nize a special occasion for all employees and their beloved children who represent the future and the way to understanding and peace. This year’s venue was the local McDonald’s and the children succeeded in making this an unforgettable party. Both parents and children had a great time playing games, reciting poems and sing-ing songs. Santa was there too, giving out gifts to every one together with precious pieces of advice.And so, in a setting full of joy and magical tales with rein-deer, the people of 3P Frigoglass saw another year to its close looking forward to the challenges of a new one.

Young starsOn a sunny Sunday in mid-December all the children of our HQ personnel gathered at the Mabrida Estate & TV Studio at the foothills of Mt. Hymettus on the outskirts of Athens to celebrate Christmas. The location was ideal for a party since the indoor areas are set up as studios where children’s TV shows are made and offer many fun and skill-based play fa-cilities, while its well cared for outdoor space can be used as an ‘edutainment” playground where our young ones can play, horseback ride and get in touch with nature.Both children and parents were fascinated by this imaginative little tot-town, full of bright colors and endless games that re-sounded with the laughter and joy of the happy participants. For a few hours they all had a chance to explore the world of television and star in their own fun-filled party that included aerial relay races, rope bridges, aerial basket ball games, obsta-cle handball and much more. As a closing surprise Santa rode in, not on a traditional sleigh drawn by reindeer but on a cute little donkey named Pepe and handed out presents to all! Everyone left with the screams of joy of children in action and the laughter of parents at team play with their young in their heart and in their mind, wishing that the coming year will be as good and as happy as the last one.

Puppets and jugglers and choirs!As in years past, on December 18 our Frigoglass Kato Achaia plant in Greece organized a Christmas party for all personnel and their children. In a beautifully arranged hall, filled with the joy and laughter of children and parents alike, everyone enjoyed entertain-ing performances by a puppet theater, a group of jugglers and a children’s choir. The guest of honor, the spirit of Christmas -repre-sented by Santa- let no one leave without a wonderful gift.

A fun-filled children’s daySanta came earlier last year for the children of our Frigoglass Romania employ-ees, arriving on the 17th of December on his sleigh, which he “parked” in front of Park Place- the club hosting the annual Children’s Day organized by the plant. As usual, there was music and dancing, and a lot of fun for all the people present at the event. The highlights of the party included not only Santa’s presents for the kids and beautiful balloons flying all over the place, but also a huge white chocolate cake blazing with fireworks.It was the first Christmas event in mid December and, though it took place a bit early, it happily marked the beginning of the winter holidays.

Social Activities

The best gift is a message of love and hopeOur commitment is to supporting local communities wherever and whenever needed. With a presence in Africa that spans over 65 years, the continent is much more than just another geographic territory to us. It’s home to the largest Frigoglass work force. Therefore, our people and their communities encounter the challenges that Africa is facing on a daily basis. According to statistics, the biggest threat facing Africa’s development and future is HIV/AIDS; everyday 8,500 Africans die from this pandemic and 11,500 get infected! In recognition of this challenge, we decided to offer aid to programs fighting against the HIV/AIDS virus across Africa by contributing $2 per Ice Cold Merchandiser sold across Africa to a recognized organization throughout 2005, and extend an invitation to our partners, customers and associates to participate in this humanitarian effort and share in our conviction that this is the best possible gift for this holiday season.

New Year’s Party Heavy workloads, frequent travel, looming deadlines and lots of stress are part of the day-to-day reality faced by most of our HQ staff. Yet from time to time, on special oc-casions, we all need a break to recharge batteries, calm the nerves, change environment and relate to our coworkers socially, strengthening the ties that bind us and gathering strength for the next big push, the next major project.In early January everybody started looking at calendars, searching for a date when no key appointments were scheduled. The year just gone by was a good one and ev-erybody felt they deserved a fun and relaxing occasion to celebrate.At last, January 18 was determined to be a suitable day for the party and everybody agreed that the Head Offices wouldn’t do this year. There’s always a phone ringing, or someone walking in unexpectedly with work, or a project with details to be taken care of. The HQ staff settled on El Pecado, an Argentinean place with lively music, exotic food and a dance floor. It ended up being a great party. Together, staff and senior management, they all enjoyed a great eve-ning, dancing the night away and exchanging wishes for the coming year. Before parting they all promised each other to do this more often. After all, it’s these occasions that bring us closer, bond the team and drive success. A team that works hard should also party hard!

A great Family Day celebration Once again our India plant was very successful in organizing a wonderful celebration for all em-ployees and their families. Kudos must go to the organizing team who made sure this ended up be-ing a fantastic event and a lot of credit is also due to the Business Development team, who took the lead in terms of coordination, successfully organizing the tents, banners and orchestra. With the help and cooperation of all those involved and the hearty participation of our employees this proved to be a most enjoyable occasion. The day included many cultural programs and games. Major hits included a music and song game named Antakshari (organized by the Product De-velopment team), in which three 5-member teams competed, a game of tambola, in which all attendees participated, and a drawing competition for the children who took part with great enthusiasm and were very happy with the drawing kits they received! All employees and their families enjoyed the delicious snacks and lunch provided and, after the festivities, made sure to thank those responsible for making this an unforgettable experience.

Supporting bio-art in the 21st centuryOur company recently supported a biotechnology art exhibition organized by ARTOPOS and the School of Fine Arts in Athens titled “In vivo in vitro”, which ran from February 9 to March 12. Bio Art is a relatively new art form, in which artists use technology and biotechnology to comment on the cultural, social and political reality at the start of the 21st century, a century that seems to herald the dawn of the “biotechnology era”. A cross-scientific art form, bio-art is involved with the building blocks of life, initiating a discourse on the consequences of man’s newfound knowledge regarding the human genome following the decoding of the human DNA sequence. As part of the convergence of art, science and technology, bio-art uses key developments, including computing, robotics, digital technology and the Internet, to revisit archetypal and modern myths, such as the chimera, the centaurs and the mermaids, or even Frankenstein and Robocop, that involve issues like gene modification, cloning and alternative life forms. With science fiction coming perilously close to science fact, bio-art questions the rapid develop-ment of biotechnology, a science that, by manipulating the basic building blocks of life will probably have a significant effect, hopefully beneficial, on the future of mankind.

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QUIZ WINNERS

We would like to thank all of you who participated in our “Find and Win” section.

We received 251 correct replies to our previous quiz from our colleagues who are film buffs. To determine the winners, the

magazine’s draw committee met on February 28th and verified the correct entries and drew the lucky ones. The Grand Prize

went to Anatoli Voulgari from our Sales Office Greece, who won a Sony Playstation2 game console with an 8 MB PS2

memory card.

The 10 runner-up winners (listed below) will each receive a pair of binoculars with built-in digital camera.

Anand Vats Kato Achaia plant, Greece

Theothoros Niforas Kato Achaia plant, Greece

Adesetan Ademola Cool plant, Nigeria

Ifeanyi C. Ayiam Crown plant, Nigeria

Paul Atunu Delta plant, Nigeria

Efe Odanibe Delta plant, Nigeria

Pius Adigun Guinea plant, Nigeria

Rares Hojda Frigoglass Romania

Sergej Uskov Frigoglass Eurasia

Bennet Monyebane Frigoglass South Africa

The correct answer for quiz no. 10 was:

Ben Kingsley won the Oscar for Best Actor

in a Leading Role for the award winning film Gandhi (1982)

I never thought I would be that lucky, since no one else from

Head Office has won a grand prize before. It’s really an enjoy-

able prize.

Thank you “Between us“ and good luck to all my colleagues

(especially in Sales Office Greece - no offence) in future quizzes.

Best Regards

Anatoli Voulgari

Note from our Grand Prize winner

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Find and Win

FIND AND WIN

In what year did Sir Edmund Hillaryand the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norkay reach

the summit of Mount Everest?

a. 1953 b. 1958 c. 1962

Find the right answer and you may wina North Face Mountain 25, 2-person expedition tent

[Grand Prize] or a high quality sleeping bag[10 runner-up prizes].

Contest winners will be determined by draw. All entries must be received by June 2, 2006. Fill in the answer slip provided.

Travel with us to Germany,

uncover its thick layers of history

to discover an amazing country

that gave us Gutenberg, Beethoven and Goethe

and meet the people of Frigoglass