Two major furnaces—Şişecam’s TR9 float glass furnace and energy glass furnace—have been successfully commissioned at the company’s Tarsus facility. With this scale, the site stands among the world’s highest-capacity float glass production facilities.

Within the scope of this strategic investment, GTR executed the refractory erection of both furnaces, completing approximately 17,000 tons of refractory installation for the float glass furnace and 11,500 tonsfor the energy glass furnace. The project scope extended beyond erection to include Furnace Heat-Up Preparation & Support, contributing to the controlled, safe, and on-schedule commissioning of the furnaces.

In this high-volume, time-critical project, a total of 297 skilled site personnel were coordinated under a single operational structure. GTR coordinated a multicultural workforce across multiple regulatory environments, maintaining consistent execution standards and quality throughout the project. Through its project execution approach, GTR played a key role in ensuring rapid and accurate responses to on-site technical requirements and the alignment of refractory processes with the overall project schedule.

The scale of the project also defined the equipment and methodologies used on site. As conventional lifting systems were insufficient for furnaces of this size, a custom-engineered solution was required. GTR designed and implemented a 3.2-ton capacity monorail crane system for horizontal and vertical handling operations during regenerator installation. This approach—applied for the first time in Türkiye—provided a significant time advantage while minimizing occupational health and safety risks, enabling the refractory erection to be completed in a controlled and timely manner.

With over 25 years of field experience in industrial furnace projects, Altan Zaza, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of GTR, commented on the monorail crane system developed under his leadership:

“In projects of this scale, standard equipment and methods are often insufficient; developing site-specific engineering solutions becomes essential. The monorail crane system was designed as a direct outcome of this approach.

At GTR, we combine our engineered solutions with operational flexibility and a disciplined project management approach. This enables us to respond rapidly to evolving project requirements and ensure continuity in execution.

Through the technical solutions and field execution developed throughout the project, GTR played a direct value-adding role. This project further reinforces GTR’s technical capability in large-scale glass melting furnace projects and once again demonstrates its position as a reliable and strong partner on a global scale.”