Vetropack AG

It's starting to rain when I show up at glassmaker Vetropack's five-story headquarters on the edge of Bulach, a town of may be five thousand inhabitants about ten miles north of Zurich. It's part of a factory complex but most of the factory looks closed. Revenues for Vetropack in 2001 were $264 million with 2,300 employees.

Friendly receptionist Nicole Ryffel makes a call to find out who ended up with my letter of introduction sent a month earlier to CEO Jean-David Cornaz. I'm connected via lobby phone with Cornaz's secretary who goes on to say the letter probably ended up in Corporate Communications but, "he's in a meeting the whole day". I try explaining how this is a one shot visit for me and I wouldn't be able to make it back. It doesn't make a difference with her as she seems to think getting an annual report will pacify me. I explain how I could have stayed in California and called up for an annual report. She couldn't care less about helping me out. I leave disappointed.