New glass furnace up and running at World Kitchen

A new, $50 million glass furnace was unveiled Monday at World Kitchen’s Pressware plant, which manufactures Corelle dinnerware.

The project – which took 14 months to complete – will increase the production capacity of the Corelle line by 50 percent, allowing the company to meet demand both in the U.S. and in rapidly growing international markets, especially Korea, China and India, explained Joseph Mallof, World Kitchen’s president and CEO.

More than 40 percent of Corelle sales are now overseas, according to Mallof. The Corning plant is the only World Kitchen facility where Corelle is made.

The project has also helped World Kitchen add more than 50 workers at the plant, which now has a staff of 510, including 439 union workers from the United Steelworkers of America Local 1034.

Company executives gave media and local officials a tour of the cavernous 375,000-square-foot plant, which sits alongside the Chemung River, near the east end of Tioga Avenue.

The new furnace is a massive piece of machinery, built around an 11-by-21-foot glass melting tank.

It’s one of three glass furnaces now in operation, surrounded by finishing and packaging lines. They operate around the clock, producing 325,000 items per day.

Another product line, CorningWare Simply Lite baking dishes, is also made at the Pressware plant.

The plant dates back to 1938, when it was built to manufacture Pyrex for Corning Glass Works.

It later made television glass and appliance glass, and began producing Corelle in 1970. World Kitchen, based in the Chicago area, acquired the plant from Corning Inc. in 1998.

“It’s an impressive facility and this is a tremendous investment in our area,” state Sen. Tom O’Mara, R-Big Flats, told World Kitchen officials after the tour.