Kitemark for cornwall, South West Glass processor’s state of the art investment

A commitment to quality improvement by a family owned Cornish manufacturing business has been rewarded with the British Standards Kitemark approval. The EN 1279 symbol of quality will now be displayed on insulated glass units produced by Cornwall Glass & Glazing Ltd at its St Austell factory.

The £2 million purpose built new factory was opened in 2004. Housed within its 17,000 square feet is a high-speed glass cutting equipment, a robotic sealed unit production line and a toughening plant.

‘We have invested substantial resources in order to achieve Kitemark status. It reflects our commitment to continually improving our products.’ Said Mark Mitchell, Managing Director. ‘We are delighted to be producing the highest quality insulated glass units, that surpass all relevant standards, here in Cornwall.’

‘Wider reach’

Gaining the kitemark is helping the company expand and widen its reach, this is reflected in the opening of the Exeter Glass centre in late 2005.The business has successfully developed from its beginnings in 1998 and initial complement of 11 staff. Its next ambitious project, the imminent opening of a new branch in Exeter, will see staffing levels reach 100.

Cornwall Glass & Glazing Ltd operates a total of nine branches – seven in Cornwall and two in Devon.

The Exeter Glass Centre, which opened during November 2005, is the ninth branch of the South West’s largest family owned company. Exeter Glass Centre, housed in spacious premises at the Sowton Industrial Estate, is easily accessed from Exeter and a stone’s throw from the M5. The branch will supply the groups own BS EN 1279 compliant and BSI kitemarked sealed units and new range of high performance conservatory units. Exeter Glass Centre will also offer extensive processing facilities, both in-house and within the group, drilling, sandblasting, straight and shaped bevelling to name a few services (see www.exeterglass centre.co.uk).

Product range

Cornwall Glass & Glazing has close working relationship with Saint Gobain Glass and offers sealed units containing the full SGG range of products including soft coat, self cleaning and solar control glass. A new range of units aimed at the conservatory market has just been launched.

The Siesta-T sealed units offer a versatile range options that include SGG Cool-lite ST150 glass.

Equipment

New machinery for the St Austell factory includes:

From Efco: A tempering furnace with a 4000mm x 1750mm load area. Capable of producing 4 to 25mm thick high quality clear, tinted and Low E hard and soft coated toughened glass to customers in architectural, commercial and industrial markets.

From Bystronic Glass UK: Half Jumbo Automatic Cutting Table with auto edge deletion and loading system – 3210mm x 2550mm;

Full Insulating Glass production line for unit sizes up to 2.30m x 3.50m – incorporating automatic sealing robot for Polysulphide sealant;

Swiftgas filling unit – conforming to EN 1279; Spacer bar bending machine.

From Triulzi: A flat bed glass washing machine.

Statistics

During the first year of production Cornwall Glass & Glazing has used 1800 tonnes of glass, 30,000 production labour hours, half a million lineal metres of bendable spacer bars, 2,000 arising belts, 2,500 ‘Smash’ test pieces of glass. The company has made 13,000 deliveries.