Technology investment has been a key element of a programme aimed at ensuring manufacturing survives at Waterford Crystal. Peter Minchin describes a major furnace rebuild undertaken as part of this process. Waterford Crystal has, in the recent past, experienced a difficult trading environment, through a combination of rising inflation and a weakening US dollar, SARS, 9/11, the Foot and Mouth crisis, and the war in Iraq. That brief list begins to give the picture of just how difficult times were for the company. During this period of constant adjustment to each turn of events, strategies were being developed that would help to stabilise the manufacturing business and create a base from which to expand.
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