Bent glass products are expensive because they are made manually. They are used in areas such as revolving doors, designer furniture and construction vehicles. As part of a sponsored joint project, the principals of a new glass bending process have been developed. The key feature was to produce bent glass in an automated way, which is faster and flexible in forming shapes as well as being more cost efficient in production. This article describes a process using a flexible mould and a separated local heating system, in a convection oven connected in series with a cooling system, was realised in an industrial prototype machine. Using this technology, a new milestone in the production of bent glass - non toughened as well as toughened - was introduced.
