Tecsiglass is an Italian construction company for the glass industry based in Genoa. Dr Francesca Zanchi* outlines the creation of the company.
Established at the end of 2018, Tecsiglass's operating centre is based in Genoa.
Tecsiglass specialises in design, planning and construction of glass furnaces and factory plants.
The company is fully organised for the management of turnkey projects (including refractory supplies) and for maintenance and hot repairs of glass furnaces. As well as other industrial furnaces by means of its sister company, Tecsiglass Montaggi Refrattari.
Its focus is on sustainability and environmental protection. The company is actively working in research fields such as energy saving and emission reduction through its experts in co-operation with some relevant industrial companies.
Tecsiglass managers, technical experts and partner companies have over 25 years of experience, equivalent to approximately 100 furnace reconstructions for the vast majority of the glass makers in Italy and abroad.
Dr Francesca Zanchi, responsible for VP Sales and Overseas Marketing for the company, discusses the company’s journey in more detail.
1. Can you tell me when you were formed, where are you based and what is your role in the glass industry?
Established at the end of 2018, the Tecsiglass operating centre is based in Genoa, in Northern Italy.
The core activity is the design and supply of glass furnaces, or parts (equipment, refractories, carpentries).
2. What was your motivation to start up the company? How many of you were involved in the initial set up and, if you have expanded since, how many staff are there now?
The company was started by a pool of technical/sales managers who had been working in the glass industry for more than 30 years.
The development of revenues grew by four times in the last four years. The original team was composed of 6 people, and it reached 12 in 2022.
3. What markets do you serve geographically?
All the projects are located in Europe, with 90% in Italy. The aim of the company is to achieve at least two projects out of Europe on a yearly basis.
4. Before you started the company, did you have much experience in the glass production industry? What is it about the industry that motivates you?
All of our employees had been working in the glass industry since the beginning of their career, with the exception of myself who joined the market in 2018. I have 30 years of experience in the steel industry.
5. Your main core of activity is furnaces. Can you describe some general trends in the furnaces sector at the moment?
Tecsiglass’s activities developed towards the best ratio between energy efficiency and furnace duration, with main focus on the insulation efficiency.
We believe that only a few improvements can still be done with regards to this topic without affecting furnace performances.
6. There has been a lot of discussion about energy costs in the sector at the moment. Is this something Tecsiglass can provide advice on?
Another view for decreasing production costs is increasing glass quality, therefore decreasing the scrap ratio. Tecsiglass engineering aims to achieve the maximum yield of good glass by working on the forehearths and furnace efficiency.
7. You also describe yourself as fully organised for turnkey projects. Can you describe further and provide the benefits of turnkey projects?
We have just finalised at Bormioli Pharma plant of San Vito, which demonstrates that Tecsiglass can engineer the whole line from the batch to the gob.
The benefits of such a package are: 1) optimisation of plant layout 2) optimisation of all the equipment interfaces 3) reduced number of counterparts on customer’s side.

8. Could you describe some of your sustainability initiatives?
We have developed a recycling system for hydrogen and nitrogen gases at the tin bath of float glass (see right).
The system has been in operation at a Saint-Gobain plant for more than 20 years and can now be put on the market. Recycling efficiency reaches 70%.
9. Could you describe some of the collaborations you are involved in the industry?
We co-operate with University of Genoa. We are creating a data bank of exhausted furnaces by means of laser scanner measurements.
These data are cross checked with the operating parameters, glass quality, furnace drawing, etc. so to analyse how they impact on the furnace performance and duration.
*VP Sales and Marketing Overseas, Genoa, Italy