We introduced our 2020-to-2023 Strategy & Growth Framework with a focus on capturing opportunities to sell more Corning content through each of our Market-Access Platforms. Our goals included core sales growth at a compound annual growth rate of 6 to 8 percent. From 2019, when we first introduced the new framework, through 2022, we grew core sales at a greater than 8 percent CAGR, even in the face of ongoing external challenges. Over the past four years, we advanced significant strategic initiatives, including fiber-to-the-home and data center solutions in Optical Communications, delivering on our gasoline particulate filter content opportunity in Environmental Technologies, introducing Ceramic Shield with Apple in Specialty Materials and ramping our Gen 10.5 plants to extend our leadership in Display Technologies. In addition, we made major progress on our emerging innovations; we gained significant traction in our Automotive Glass Solutions business; and our pharmaceutical packaging portfolio played a central role in combatting the global pandemic and supported the delivery of more than 8 billion COVID-19 doses. These achievements have helped extend our leadership positions across our markets and pave the way for future growth.
Since 2020, the external environment has been characterized by the impact of the pandemic and its resulting effects including supply chain disruptions, depressed productivity, large swings in consumer spending and inflation. Our 2022 results are a prime example of our resilience in this complex operating environment. Building off a strong 2021, we outperformed our consumer-facing end markets, we captured growth in the solar market and we delivered record sales of $5 billion dollars in Optical Communications.
However, our profitability and cash flow have lagged sales growth as a number of pandemic-driven effects continue to ripple across the global economy. Our core priorities throughout this period were protecting our people and delivering for our customers, and as a result, we operated with elevated staffing and higher-than-normal inventory levels during this period. In addition, persistent inflation added to the cost of raw materials we purchased, the cost to produce and ship our products and the inventory we maintained.
In response, we took a series of actions to improve profitability and cash generation throughout 2022. In the fourth quarter of 2022, we took multiple additional actions, including raising prices across our businesses to more appropriately share inflationary costs with our customers; adjusting our productivity ratios closer to historical metrics without impacting our ability to supply and capture future growth; and normalizing inventory levels.
Overall, we will continue to focus on operating each of our businesses well and adjusting to meet the needs of the moment while simultaneously advancing growth initiatives and capabilities that will drive continued success as the global economy stabilizes. Our focused and cohesive portfolio provides strategic resilience that is evident in our results, even in the current environment. We remain confident in our ability to deliver durable multiyear growth with improved margins and cash generation.