In 2003, we purchased and moved into a purpose-built 4,000m2 facility in Manchester, UK. This facility is split into different glassblowing processes in order to streamline our work flow:
- Good in/out & stores
- Cold-working & machine zone
- Acid rinse area
- Dedicated drying room
- Laser cutting station
- Hot-working lathe and bench room with dedicated extraction
- Annealing ovens
- Inspection room
- Dedicated packing area
- Mezzanine floor for in-house tool machining and additional storage
We specialise in the hot-working processes such as precision bench welding, joining of plates, and small, medium, and large lathe working (up to Ø400mm). Our laser cutter is a key part of our production process, and many of our methods are developed in order to make best use of this piece of equipment. We have a shot-blasting chamber in order to offer parts with either a shot-blasted or clear finish. Finally, at the end of the line, our high end inspection equipment enables us to measure parts down to accuracies of 0.005mm.
Despite the high level of gas and energy consumption that come hand-in-hand with any glassblowing activity, we continuously strive to reduce our carbon footprint. One example of this is the large investment we’ve made to install 176 Kyocera 245 W solar panels on the roof of our facility, giving us a total power rating of 43.12 kW. As well as making us more self-sufficient on our electricity requirements and lowering our energy overheads, this also gives us the opportunity to explore the possibility of generating our own H2/O2 gases using electrolysis.
This remains a long-term vision for our facility.
