VICRILA INDUSTRIAS DEL VIDRIO S.L.U.- VICRILA, was incorporated in 1890, and has been producing glass ever since, making it one of the oldest companies in the Basque Country. Various types of glass and other products have been made at the company's facilities, though at the outset it made mainly flat glass and carboys. In 1971 it was taken over jointly by the French groups ARC INTERNATIONAL and SAINT GOBAIN and began to make table glass. In 1981 it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ARC INTERNATIONAL group, and acted as the group's main production plant for the Spanish and Portuguese markets, though it also supplied other European and American markets. Late in 2009 the company ceased to belong to the French group and became 100% Spanish-owned. It is now the biggest Spanish-owned maker of table glass. VICRILA currently has 350 direct employees and is indirectly responsible for many more jobs, as it is the biggest industrial company in its area of influence. It is a modern company and has won numerous awards and recognitions for its innovative management and industrial safety systems. It holds ISO 9001- ISO 14000- OSHAS certificates. Its management format of mini-companies, its deployment of objectives and its processing system have all been studied by various business schools and have earned the company the Silver Q for management excellence under the Europe-wide EFQM excellence model.