Tyne and Wear-based Zytronic (www.zytronic.co.uk), which develops and manufactures touch-technology products for a wide variety of applications, has recently spent £350,000 upgrading the glass-processing and storage equipment at its manufacturing facility in Blaydon on Tyne to streamline its operations and increase the range of products and design features that it can offer.

Sales and marketing director Ian Cosby said: “Customers come to Zytronic because the flexibility of our in-house manufacturing allows us to produce exactly the touch-screen that they require in low, medium and high volumes.

"With this further significant investment in our Newcastle site, we have enhanced the capability and capacity of our glass-processing machines, increasing the variety of products we are able to create.

“We can now produce more-complex shapes than before, including more-curved touch-screens for which there is a growing requirement.”

Zytronic (www.zytronic.co.uk) has installed a new five-axis CNC glass profiler to supplement two existing three-axis profilers.

The extra machining capability will enable the company to offer additional features and profiles on its touch-screens, such as complex holes and slots, finger dimples and grooves.

Another significant element of the investment is a semi-automated system for handling and holding full sheets of glass before processing.

This provides faster access to the required sheet, along with a safer working environment.