Cornwall Gets Creative With New Machinery Collection

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The Cornwall Group has taken another major step in its multi-million-pound investment programme with the installation of new equipment including a state-of-the-art Glaston furnace – at its St Austell manufacturing site.

The installation is part of the Group’s wider £4 million investment across its UK operations over the past two years. The St Austell upgrade alone represents almost £1 million of new machinery, which also includes a new Turomas cutting table, a Skill Glass vertical arrisser and a Skill Glass vertical washer.

Together, these additions significantly enhance capacity, efficiency and quality, ensuring Cornwall Group can continue to deliver to its trade, retail and commercial customers.

“Our customers want reliability, speed, and quality above all else”, explains Mark Mitchell, the chairman of Cornwall Group. “This investment gives us the tools to deliver exactly that – faster turnaround times, consistently high standards and greater flexibility across a wide range of glass products.”

Big glass

The new Glaston furnace is capable of processing glass sizes up to 2400mm x 4800mm, toughening glass from 4mm to 19mm thickness, and heat strengthening 4mm–8mm glass to EN1863 standards. It delivers high output of up to 24 loads per hour while maintaining efficiency across a wide range of glass types, including soft-coated Low-E. For customers, this means not only access to a broader choice of high-performance products but also greater consistency in quality and shorter lead times.

Its energy-efficient design also helps to stabilise operating costs, which ultimately protects customers from unexpected price pressures linked to rising energy markets.

Cutting line

Supporting the furnace, the new Turomas cutting line will bring advanced automation and precision to glass cutting, improving accuracy and reducing waste.

The Skill Glass arrisser provides nine-axis numerical control for simultaneous arrissing, grinding and polishing of flat glass, while the new washer will ensure high-performance cleaning and drying, combining multiple brushes, high-pressure blowers and inspection lighting to guarantee flawlessly finished glass.

Time to invest

“Despite ongoing market challenges, we believe now is the time to invest,” adds Mitchell. “It underlines our long-term commitment to the market and to our customers, ensuring we are in the strongest possible position for the future.”

This installation follows successful simultaneous furnace upgrades at Cornwall Group’s Birmingham and Bristol sites earlier this year, completing a trio of major investments in 2025.

Picture: The Cornwall Group has taken another major step in its multi-million-pound investment programme.

www.cornwallglass.co.uk

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
23rd September 2025

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