In 1998, the consumer products division of Corning, Inc. was sold and reestablished as World Kitchen, LLC, a housewares company who manufactures and markets world-renowned bakeware, dinnerware, kitchen and household tool brands such as CORELLE®, CorningWare®, Pyrex®, Revere®, EKCO®, Baker’s Secret®, Chicago Cutlery® and OLFA®. However, support for the custom-written FORTRAN-based production management system that the company had running on a Digital Equipment VAX system in its Corning, New York plant wasn’t part of the deal. The system provided plant floor information including product counting and quality control. It was time for something new.

World Kitchen currently employs approximately 3,000 people and has major manufacturing and distribution operations in the United States, Canada, and Asia-Pacific regions. Products are sold through multiple channels, including mass merchants, department stores, specialty retailers, retail food stores, and catalog showrooms. An additional channel is the company’s CORNINGWARE/ CORELLE/REVERE Factory Stores located in outlet centers across North America and internationally.

The Corning plant has about 350 people working to manufacture the company’s CORELLE dinnerware, the original “break and chip resistant” glass dinnerware. CORELLE is recognized worldwide for its strength and durability and has been manufactured at the Corning plant since 1970. The underlying “break and chip resistant” technology was developed by Corning Glass Works.