Backed by over 30 years of business success, the company reached the point where it needed to increase its toughening capacity. The Glaston RC200™ flat tempering furnace fit the company’s specifications nicely, now enabling Tufwell to work more quickly and efficiently with the additional throughput.
BEST VALUE FOR MONEY
Tufwell Glass Ltd is a long-established glass processing business, primarily specialized in the processing of glass for the office partitioning market. In addition, the company also supplies a wider range of products to the architectural glazing and interior markets, which includes balustrades and mirrors.
Located in southeast England, Tufwell has been fortunately immune to the recent recession and volatility in the market. Business has remained buoyant, and deliveries especially to new projects in London have kept the company busy.
Tufwell is continually being selected for major sites. Recent projects that have built a solid reputation for the company include London’s Shard and Olympic Park.
“Demand for our products has been good,” Andy Maslin, Managing Director of Tufwell, says with gratitude. “By the end of 2014, we had fully utilized our old toughening capacity and were working in three shifts. We realized that we needed to do something to get additional capacity. So we went to the open market to check what was available. We looked at Glaston and also some of their competitors.”
A sister company within the same group as Tufwell highly recommended purchasing a Glaston furnace. The management had been very pleased with the overall quality of the Glaston furnace that had been in operation in their facilities for the past 10 years. They verified through their own extensive experience that Glaston was the best value for money. So Tufwell proceeded with Glaston thanks to the strong endorsement.
CAREFUL LISTENING LEADS TO RIGHT RECOMMENDATION
“We discussed what kind of furnace we should purchase with Steve Brammer, Glaston’s UK representative. He listened very carefully to our needs and then came up with a recommendation of selecting the Glaston RC200™ furnace,” Andy says. “Although we mostly toughen glass from 10–12 mm, the furnace needs to give us the flexibility to also process glass from 6 mm up to 19 mm.”
In January 2015, Tufwell made the decision to purchase the RC200™ furnace. “Steve came back quickly to us with the manufacturing schedule, and delivery was within one week of what was initially stated, which is excellent,” Andy confirms.
“Commissioning went exceptionally well. It took just three weeks to put everything together. Glaston’s lead engineer who took care of the commissioning and acceptance tests was very knowledgeable,” he continues.
“Commissioning of the furnace went exceptionally well. It took just three weeks to put everything together. Glaston’s lead engineer who took care of the commissioning and acceptance tests was very knowledgeable.” – Andy Maslin, Managing Director of Tufwell
PROCESSING IN ONE DAY
“Once commissioning was completed, we were pleasantly surprised that we were processing glass within one day! And we are also very pleased with the glass quality,” he emphasizes.
The lead engineer then provided onsite training for the operators. Glaston engineers are due to come back after one month of furnace operation to follow up with the staff. They will answer any additional questions once the operators have a chance to run the machine for a few weeks on their own.
“We’ve also been pleased with how user friendly the Glaston RC200™ furnace is,” Andy adds. “It’s pretty simply to operate.” What’s also beneficial for the operators is that Tufwell has been able to reach its targets for increased capacity, now all within a two-shift day. As the company moves forward, Andy is hoping to be able to see an improvement in overall energy consumption, as well.
“Once commissioning was completed, we were pleasantly surprised that we were processing glass within one day! And we are also very pleased with the glass quality.”
AFFORDABLE RELIABILITY
The Glaston RC200™ tempering furnace offers affordable reliability and ease of use by combining the right level of technology with simplicity. The furnace has been designed in particular to keep the process simple, while allowing no compromises on the final product quality.
RC200™ offers low operating costs, ease of use with automated furnace functions and high-quality results thanks to minimized iridescence.
The furnace comes complete with the new Tamglass Vortex™ convection system, which provides the best control of glass heat in its class. RC200™ also ensures an easy and safe operating environment with the top-of-the-line iControl Dynamics™ automation system.
“We’ve also been pleased with how user friendly the Glaston RC200™ furnace is. It’s pretty simply to operate.”
DIVERSIFY AND DOUBLE
According to Andy, he hopes to use the Glaston RC200™ to help the company diversify into new areas or by adding exciting new products to their portfolio.
Now supported with additional capacity, Tufwell can continue to pursue its longer-term goal of doubling the size of its business over the next few years.
