TECO 100th Anniversary
Bird's eye view of the lighting furnace

We didn't watch glass history. We designed it.

Nobody gets to a thousand furnaces by being timid. You get there by being right, over and over, in the hottest room in manufacturing. Since 1927 TECO has been the company glassmakers call when the melt has to be bigger, cleaner, longer-lived, or simply possible.

What follows isn't a scrapbook. It's a record of the industry's problems and the Toledo company that keeps solving them first.

Engineer of record. Engineer of what's next.

One Hundred Years at 1,500 degrees.

1900's
1900's
1900's

Toledo Engineering Co., Inc. was founded in 1927.

TECO began designing and building annealing lehrs and glass furnaces for the booming glass industry in Toledo and abroad. By the early 1950s, TECO was designing and building many recuperative furnaces, which replaced direct-fired furnaces.

1960's
1960's

TECO designs and builds the first recuperative e-glass furnace. TECO also partners with Elemelt, Ltd., now Tecoglas, Ltd., to provide electric melt furnaces in North America.

TECO designs and builds its first cold top electric melter for insulation fiber glass at Owens Corning, Santa Clara, CA.

1970's
1970's

Low NOx burners are first offered in TECO furnaces. Many fiberglass manufacturers converted their furnaces to efficient TECO electric melters. TECO was awarded several electric furnace design patents during this time.

TECO patented the SUPERFLUE®, which is a special flue system that improves regenerative furnace performance and efficiency, while prolonging the life of the regenerator.

1980's
1980's

TECO first performs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of glass furnaces to better design for long life and high-quality glass.

TECO acquired Elemelt, Ltd. and formed TECO Europe. TECO Europe broadened its capabilities and scope and is now involved with glass furnace applications of all types, now known industry wide as Tecoglas, Ltd.

1990's
1990's

TECO formed ENVITCO for the purpose of designing/building vitrification systems for encapsulating hazardous waste.

In 1994, TECO acquired the assets of KTG Glass Works Technology, now known as KTG Systems, Inc. (KTGSI) in the U.S. as well as KTG Engineering (KTGE) in the U.K.

2000's
2000's

TECO designed/built its 43rd cold-top electric-melt furnace for the fiber glass insulation industry. The unit was installed at Knauf Fiber Glass, Shasta Lake, CA.

ZEDTEC joins the TECO Group of companies.

In 2005, TECO received its 5th order from Cardinal FG, which was for a turnkey float glass plant located in Winlock, WA.

2010's
2010's

TECO continues to work worldwide, with customers located on every continent except Antarctica and – as always – we’re constantly looking for new ways to innovate and grow. As part of that mission, EAE Tech was incorporated in 2014 to provide industrial control solutions. EAE Tech’s management and key technical personnel have been working together in the glass industry for more than 20 years before they joined the group and they brought a wide breadth and depth of experience to the glass making process. TECO has always stressed that the goal of its engineers and designers is to supply TECO’s customers with the highest value for their capital expenditures. This means process flexibility and Lowest Total Cost of Ownership powered by hot end design and project management expertise.

The next furnace is the one that matters

Let's Build What's Next

A century of glass innovation doesn't end here. If you're planning a furnace, a forehearth, or a whole new line, our engineers are ready to put the next hundred years to work for you.

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