Sanjay Tiwari, the illustrious Managing Director and CEO of Sri Lanka’s only glass manufacturing company PiramalGlass Ceylon PLC (PGC), was given a grand farewell by the company at a glittering ceremony on Thursday evening at the Taj Samudra hotel. Tiwari will leave Sri Lanka’s shores after a 13-year stint, with his wife Savita and their daughters Anushka and Aanya on 30 July, to assume duties as Chief Executive Officer of Piramal Glass USA Inc. He arrived in Sri Lanka in December 2005 to head the then Ceylon Glass Company and proceeded to spearhead a turnover growth from Rs. 1.2 billion to over Rs. 7 billion with exports reaching the Rs. 3 billion mark. The company achieved the status of “Best Performing Company” within the glass business of Piramal. He ensured that PGC consistently paid its dividends, payback on all investments, and steered the relocation of the manufacturing plant from Ratmalana to Horana, which was an enormous undertaking. His last year in Sri Lanka saw PGC completing yet another challenging year with its highest-ever export turnover and the overall turnover crossing the Rs. 7 billion mark. In addition, he tripled production capacity, increased the production lines from three to six, and initiated the investment on the second colouring forehearth. Since 2006, the company has invested over $ 50 million in their facilities in Horana and Nattandiya. Tiwari pioneered PGC’s digital journey by launching gamification in manufacturing whilst achieving “Level 3 of Manufacturing Excellence” for the company. Moreover, he doubled the capacity of the silica processing plant in Nattandiya, as he innovated a crushing process whereby all the waste silica was utilised and further installed an additional polythene plant. He obtained the best ratings at the Group Employee Engagement Survey, established the lowest employee turnover ratio, as well as many other achievements too numerous to chronicle. Under his leadership, the company installed Sri Lanka’s largest rooftop solar plant of 3 MW at their facility at Horana. During his tenure, the company’s performance and contribution to the country have been acknowledged by chambers, associations, the Export Development Board, and Government by way of several awards including the prestigious Presidential Export Award (Gold) for several consecutive years. In June 2013, Tiwari assumed the added responsibilities of Chief Operating Officer of Piramal Glass (Pvt.) Ltd., India, but continued to be based in Sri Lanka. Tiwari was one of the co-founders and the first President of the Indian CEO Forum (ICF), is an active member of various associations, and is the President of Sri Lanka Ceramic & Glass Council (SC&GC) since 2017. He is also the Chairman of the Centre of Technical Excellence in Ceramics (CENTEC), which is a joint venture between the Industrial Technology Institute of Sri Lanka and SC&GC). He represents the Indo Lanka Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka as its Vice President and is an active executive council member of the Industrial Association of Sri Lanka (IASL), Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging (SIP), Sri Lanka Waste Recycling Association (SWRA), etc. Tiwari will manage the total US operations of Piramal Glass, but will also continue to oversee his second home, Sri Lanka. Sanjay Jain, a mechanical engineer who has experience of over 29 years in marketing and manufacturing, took over from Tiwari recently.