Isopipe heating method

Aspects according to the present invention provide a method, control system and computer program product based on measured material properties and computerized stress analysis that predicts before any heating has begun whether a proposed heating schedule meets the steps of allowing a substantially non-uniform thermal strain gradient only after a threshold temperature had been reached during heating of the isopipe; ramping up the substantially non-uniform thermal strain gradient slowly so that the maximum thermal stress never gets too close to the failure strength of the material; and minimizing the heating time so that glass production is not unnecessarily delayed.