LEADERS
BLOWN AWAY
WET DOG GLASS - UNITED STATES
Wet Dog Glass is the largest U.S. producer of high-end, custom equipment for glassblowing and ceramics studios – with a staff of fewer than 15. The company added a cost-effective LaserTWO laser cutting machine for big gains and full process control.
Owners Eddie and Angela Bernard are passionate about the business they founded in 1996 and have invested in production technology to build a thriving company that designs, builds and ships glassmaking machinery and tools around the world from a 1,950-square-metre facility in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Owners Eddie and Angela Bernard
Small but mighty
“Even at our small size, we are the largest producer out of only four U.S.-based companies who do what we do,” says Eddie Bernard. “Our practice of testing machines completely, shipping on time, providing very timely and thorough technical support, adds huge competitive advantage for us.”
Wet Dog Glass offers gas and electric glass furnaces, annealing ovens, casting kilns, custom studio ventilation consultation and combustion systems. Customers are private glassmaking shops, factories making custom lighting or tableware, museums, public access shops, high schools and universities.
“Our goal is to produce the best glass studio equipment money can buy,” says Bernard. “One of our highest priorities is to R&D new, more energy-efficient systems.”
Cutting in-house
For 17 years, Wet Dog Glass used a plasma cutting table to cut components for its products. At the time, fiber laser cutting technology was costly and hard to justify.
When the COVID pandemic and subsequent company relocation caused the business to drop from 13 to 5 employees, Wet Dog Glass began outsourcing to a local laser cutting firm.
“Their service gave us the ‘good and cheap,’ but not the ‘fast’ we often need,” reports Bernard. “We realized with the price point of the LVD LaserTWO, we could bring our cutting costs into line with outsourcing to a faster local cutting firm. Now we are back to having the in-house immediacy of parts we had with our old plasma table, but with higher accuracy, less noise, better air quality, and no slag to chisel and grind off.”
Hot points
For Wet Dog Glass, the 6-kW LaserTWO in a 5 x 10-foot format, single-table configuration with local covers, fit the company’s production space, manufacturing goals, and budget.
Bernard explains: “The price point for an industrial quality machine was a big factor. We had seen lower cost machines, but they were more in the high end-enthusiast realm, and I wasn’t confident in those brands.”
With low-cost laser cutting systems flooding the market, a reputable brand was important to Bernard. Before the laser, Wet Dog Glass replaced a 30-year-old LVD press brake with a new PPED 80/25 and so felt confident in LVD.
Compounded advantages
To date, the biggest benefit of LaserTWO is bringing the cutting process back in-house.
“Our hope was it would be a wash financially compared to outsourcing, but that we would gain the convenience of immediacy,” shares Bernard. “Compared to plasma cutting, our costs are lower due to the elimination of secondary processes.”
LaserTWO also gives Wet Dog Glass the freedom and capacity to improve design and function of certain units, develop new systems, and 3D-modeled custom fabrication for specialized needs.
“The machine has allowed us to be more creative, and experiment more than we used to,”
explains Bernard.
“As a result, some subassemblies have been completely reconceived to save assembly and fit-up time, multiple parts being consolidated into single parts, and several parts have had mating features refined.”
Melt furnace
Annealing oven
“We are a small team. Technology and efficient processes have enabled us to grow production while making the best use of our talented crew.”
Open for opportunities
Investing in a laser cutting machine was a big step for a small shop, but LaserTWO is proving its worth. So much so, Wet Dog Glass is also open to new opportunities, including subcontracting work.
“The word is out that we have this machine, and we have done a few small projects outside of our own production items, and welcome more of that work,” shares Bernard.
For Wet Dog Glass, efficient manufacturing technology and processes, creative designs and a commitment to the art of glassblowing means there is no glass ceiling.
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