This has been an exciting year for SmartMelter, as our customers have helped us develop new ways to solve problems with our furnace health monitoring programs. We were able to share some of these developments at the Glass Problems Conference, where we demonstrated the ability to monitor the erosion over time on a furnace bottom for the first time in the history of the glass industry.

As the applications for our technology have grown, the global demand for our furnace health monitoring programs has increased. In response to this demand, we have expanded our locations and added new staff to better serve our customers. This month we welcome Satoshi Okura as our new Director of Sales and Operations in Asia. Satoshi will be based in our new Japan office and will help us serve our growing base of customers in the Asia region. Satoshi can be reached at satoshi.okura@paneratech.com.

We would also like to introduce you to Umut Akdemir, our Chief Software Architect and part of our technical engineering team in Turkey. Umut and his team are the heroes behind SmartMelter’s comprehensive software solution. You can read about Umut in our latest team spotlight.

Finally, we are looking for a candidate in Europe who has experience in the glass industry in a technical sales manager role. The location where this representative will be based is flexible, although central Europe is preferred. Please contact me if you have interest or a recommended candidate for this position.

With this expansion, we continue our commitment to high-quality, responsive service.

I wish you a productive 2018.

Sincerely,
Yakup Bayram | CEO