The combinatorial methodologies have been studied to automate the process for the determination of glass-forming region. The glass batches were prepared automatically and were melted simultaneously by applying various heating techniques, followed by cooling to room temperature to get the melt-quench samples. In this study, the combinatorial methods for the preparation of batches and the melting in the crucibles have been developed. The apparatus for the preparation of glass batches (automatic batch preparation apparatus) has been developed firstly in the world. The apparatus can prepare 24 different glass batches at one time in a 4-component system. The furnace designed for melting some glass batches simultaneously (automatic batch-melting apparatus) has been developed. The automatic batch-melting apparatus can work on the melting of 10 glass batches and the casting of the 10 melts onto the metal plates. The other possible methods for the determination of glass-forming regions have been discussed to develop the further advancements of the combinatorial methodologies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.