The process of improving the main technical characteristics of a glassmaking furnace is examined: production capacity, specific throughput of the glass mass, and specific consumption of heat for glassmaking. It is shown that these characteristics are intercoupled and interdependent. The heat balance method is used to investigate the dependence of the specific consumption of heat on a number of parameters of the thermal operation of a furnace. It is recommended that the heat balance method be used at the initial stage of designing glassmaking furnaces.