Safety glass specialist, TuffX, recently expanded its manufacturing facility by 6,000ft2, making way for the installation of a state-of-the-art Glaston RC Series furnace. Installed in January, this new addition is the third, and largest, furnace now in operation at the company’s Merseyside premises.
The factory extension, coupled with the arrival of the new tempering furnace, is said to be part of TuffX’s ongoing commitment to increase both throughput and efficiency, whilst still maintaining a keen focus on quality. With TuffX being one of few companies able to process spans of glass up to 4.6m in length, part of the motivation behind recent improvements is focused on increasing throughput of orders for larger glass sizes.
This £750k investment in TuffX’s site in Knowsley, near Liverpool, comes hot on the heels of its large expansion last year when the facility grew in size by almost 50%. “TuffX continues to gear up for growth, and to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to serve the growing market demand for high-performing, quality glass,” said TuffX’s managing director, Graham Price.
“As the UK’s leading toughened safety glass manufacturer, we need to ensure we continually strive to improve the tight lead times and high standards of service our customers have come to expect, and this expansion and investment are part of our ongoing commitment to that.”
Building on 25 years of experience in toughened, oversize and other specialist glass processing, TuffX is also in the final stages of developing an in-house process to produce a new heated glass product. Set to launch this Spring, the glass is intended for use in bi-folding doors, skylights, conservatories, and as a component within tiled roof systems. This innovative product has the potential to replace radiators in rooms where layout is problematic or when wall space is limited.
