The main disadvantage of the majority of types of glassware is the low mechanical strength. Special methods of treatment (ion exchange, dealkalization by acid gases and others) have been worked out for glass strengthening. But such kind of approach is not effective for mass production of glassware.

The aim of the undertaken work was to reveal the factors that influence the glass mechanical strength with the help of system analysis. From the position of the system analysis the mechanical strength is a system of correlated factors. In order to establish the factors that influence the glass mechanical strength the author considers that three main blocks of factors have to be assigned: 1. Characteristics of glass and glassware, 2. Raw materials for glass production and 3. Glass interaction with environment. Every block consists of several groups and sub-groups of factors. For example, the group of State of glass surface consists of sub-groups of factors Surface geometry, Characteristics of defects and Structure of the surface layers.  The next stage reveals the influence of each factor on the glass strength. Then the arrangement of the factors according to the degree of their importance is carried out. So the integral idea of the factors that influence glass mechanical strength can be obtained with the help of the system analysis. Such an approach allows optimization of the production of glassware with high mechanical strength.