Thomas Taylor Bowls may look like a small cottage industry in the city's East End, but inside, it is a superpower in the world of lawn green and crown green bowls.
MATTY SUTTON went behind the scenes at the 200-year-old family firm to find out what makes it tick.
THE noise and the smell of machine oil are the first things to hit you as you walk in.
Workers swarm around machines, pulling out brightly coloured palm-sized rounds, shaping them, polishing them and rolling them down ramps.
Although there are lots of black bowls on racks, what draws the eye are brightly coloured sets in delicious-sounding shades including 'mulberry', 'raspberry ripple' and then there's 'flame'.
"It is like walking into a sweet shop," says Anne Dunwoodie, Glasgow bowls star and the sales and PR manager at the factory, "like someone has opened a tube of Smarties and it exploded everywhere."
The factory, in Bernard Street, Bridgeton, was founded in 1796, by the Taylor family and the current owners – the Heron's – bought it in 1992.
They have made it their mission to insert a colour into an otherwise monotone bowling world.
Grant Heron, 37, is managing director and took over from his dad, Alex, 69.
Formerly a mechanical engineer, he takes a very hands-on approach to the business, and was able to demonstrate how all the machinery works.
He said: "We feel a sense of history and a responsibility to keep as much industry in the UK as we can.
"I am proud of the engineering history of Glasgow and I want it to continue."
More than 12.8million variations of bowls are produced in the plant employing 52 staff, most of whom have worked there for decades.
In 1998 they began producing coloured bowls, though their main market Australia, banned them. But, after the Scottish team playing over there refused to use any other bowls, the ban was lifted and they are used worldwide.
The first stage in manufacturing is 'compression moulding' where the plastic- like melamine used in coloured bowls arrives in powder form in brown bags weighed out and heated until it melts.
This is then packed into moulds heated to 130C and pressed under a 150 tonne weight.
Each bowl then cools for 12 hours then, at the shaping stage any rough edges left from the mould are sanded off on a computer-controlled lathe.
A sanding machine, using diamonds to abrade, makes indentations for the grips.
The bowl is then weighed and tested, by rolling it down a ramp onto a slate bed to check the bias, which is determined by the shape.Any alterations are made by hand and staff can shave as little as 10,000th of a gram off.
The bowls are then washed, polished and inspected for defects.
They are then engraved with one of 4500 different emblems and stamped with Made in Scotland.
They all receive the trademark World Bowls bullet stamp, before being painted by hand, inspected again and packed.
A set of four coloured bowls sells for around £200, and are shipped to 97 countries.
matty.sutton@eveningtimes.co.uk
TIMESFILE
:: The factory runs 20 hours a day, producing between 600 and 700 bowls.
:: Biggest output in one day was 1200 bowls.
:: They make 12 different types of bowls.
:: They have 14 different colours, as well as the traditional black ones.
:: The factory can make special edition bowls for players and events.
:: Bowls run at different speeds on different grass around the world.
:: Original material, lignum vitae, is not suitable for hot and dry climates.
