Product development

Description of product development process in Deco-Glass

Each product, produced in Deco-Glass starts its existence in the Art Room. To be more specific, in designers minds, who invents a new idea of shape and its decoration and creates firsts sketches. After details are refined polystyrene foam shape is made. It helps a lot to correct the mould imperfections, and eliminate those elements that might occur to be too problematic while product production stages (technological aspects). After that Styrofoam model is shown to a certain workgroup for final analysis and appraisal. After a project is accepted it goes back to the Art Room, for precise counter drawing making. It often happens that more similar products are designed. If they are in similar measures, shapes or collections they might create an interesting collection. When a counter drawing and its specification is ready it goes to the Deco-Glass production departments in order to gather opinions about a level of production difficulties and time efficiencies. Those opinions are necessary for pricing. Finally, a documentation goes to the people that make a final acceptance and quote a price. After this stage a product can be implemented to the regular production.

After a new product is implemented, a mould making necessity occurs. Mould project is created on the basis of a Styrofoam sample and a counter drawing, by the Traffic Department. First of all, using a special computer program a 3D mould project is created. In case of more complicated shapes, all necessary documentation is given to a company that produces moulds. If the shape is not too complicated this documentation goes to the company's Mould-making Department, where a mould is made. After a mould is ready it's forwarded to the Forming Department. After conducting some preparations (ex. Heating), product forming can be started.

Goods are formed manually in most cases. Blower gathers molten glass portion from a scoop on a blow pipe that is used to make certain operations with this portion. Blowpipe is a tool, through which a blower blows the air in order to make a post from a glass portion. After this operation blowpipe goes to a gaffer. This workman gathers next glass portions from a scoop, which are necessary for forming a product. This operation might be repeated depending on a type and size of a product. Glass layers may have a different color or decoration.

After a final post is prepared, gaffer places it in a mould and blows the air inside till a molten glass fills it and takes on a product shape. Physics is a knowledge that helps to achieve this. The air that is blow into a hot post heats, spreads and stretches the post.

On the same time glass cools-down and after opening a mould and taking it out, it keeps mould's internal shape. However it's still very plastic and needs to be cooled-down by spinning it properly. The target is to achieve the temperature when a product doesn't become distorted, but still doesn't brake. A product is stuck to the blowpipe. After a final forming and cooling-down the product is chipped off from the blowpipe and taken by another gaffer who puts it in the annealing furnace.

Annealing furnace is a specific kind of furnace. It's dozen or so meters long. There is a conveyor belt placed in the inside. It relocates items with a very low speed through a whole length of the annealing furnace, where there is a different temperature in different parts. Temperature differences are to eliminate stresses in the product. Stresses appear because of not too smooth cooling-down. Glass is a good heat conductor, what means that external layers cool-down faster. Because of this different glass layers have different temperatures, what causes strong stresses between them. This may effect product explosion just after touching it. Stresses never pass unassisted. That's way the product is put in the annealing furnace, where it's heated to the temperature when the stresses disappear and then cooled-down very slowly to avoid stresses appearing. Annealing time depends on how thick the glass is. This process may last even for 4 hours. After annealing product can be used safely.

Further stage is to remove a moil. Moil is a glass excess that gets out from a mould during the forming process a through which a product is stuck to a blowpipe. It's removed by a burning-off machine. Worker uses a special blade to mark a place, where there will be product's edge. After that a product is put on the burning-off machine's whirl. Gas flame heats the item around on the height of the scratch. This causes stresses again, and a product brakes in the heated circumference. After a moil is removed a product goes to Mechanical- Work Department, where the edges are cut and polished.

Some goods have their moils removed before annealing. Then a formed product is put in a hot cut machine, which spins it and heats with a gas flame a place where there will be an edge. Worker that operates the machine, pulls the moil in order to remove it from a product. After the moil is removed, flames still heat the edge to make it regular and rounded. After this operation item goes to annealing machine, and after annealing it doesn't need to be mechanically- worked anymore.

There is one more method to remove a moil from the product. Mechanical-Work Department does it. Moil is simply cut by a buzz saw. After this operation edges need to be cut and polished.

Goods are often decorated. Decoration can be applied using very different methods. They are made in different factory departments depending on the decoration type. Cuts and polishing in made in Mechanical- Work Department, and all of the painted elements are applied by the Painting Department.

Properly finished product is ready to be packed and sold. Before that it is cleaned and dried and transferred to the Quality Control Department, where it's checked if there are any defects. Controllers inspect the glass if the defects are in the area of acceptation, and do not worse esthetical view. Controllers have to know all of the types of molten glass defects that appear during each stage of the production process (forming, annealing, finishing, decorating and cleaning) in order to catch those defects that might be missed by each stage control.

Finished and checked goods are packed. They have to be properly packed to avoid the risk of breakages during the transportation and distribution.