Talk by Peter White of Qioptic

A fascinating insight into how a local company has established a world-wide reputation for its unique range of glass-based products was provided for members at their meeting at Faenol Fawr. Introduced by President Keith Roberts, guest speaker Peter White, Managing Director of the Bodelwyddan-based Qioptic plant, demonstrated a number of the remarkable products, designed, developed and exported to national governments and exacting major customers across 65 different countries, the USA among them.. Their recognized status as world leaders in so many highly specialized technologies was the result of the creativity first identified in the former Chance-Pilkington and Perkin Elmer plants established at Bodelwyddan over 50 years ago, he explained. Now the enlarged company, with a total of 5,500 highly-skilled and experienced employees around the world with its headquarters in New York, include Airbus and Boeing among its prestigious customers. But he cautioned that with this success came a constant challenge to remain one step ahead of the strong competition that they would inevitably have to keep facing. He said:“We are certainly kept on our toes working to ensure that we sustain our strong position and continue to explore and develop new technologies that will help maintain our products’ attractiveness in the world market-place.” The warm thanks of the club for such a superb presentation were expressed by past President David Davies after members were reminded of the club’s important open annual meeting on July 10 to which wives and friends were cordially invited.