Many glass products can be successfully produced and placed into commercial service at significantly lower article weights, particularly containers. The product will inherently have some dimensions with thinner glass. The advantages to manufacturers include higher fabrication speeds, more containers per tonne and lower manufacturing costs. A glass article's strength is particularly dependent upon the glass thickness, so thinner designs must avoid "thin spots" and assure minimum thickness for adequate strength. Producing thinner glass requires the most uniform and consistent temperature in the glass as it enters the fabrication process. Non-uniform temperatures equate to non uniform glass viscosity and therefore inconsistent results; producing thinner glass requires better instrumentation and real time measurements, as discussed in this article.
