Ceramicx infrared heating investments pay off
21 December, 2009
Leading international heating systems specialist and manufacturer Ceramicx has won a number of new orders this month for bespoke heating systems, based upon its new machining and metal fabricating facilities. The new business at Ceramicx ranges from infrared heaters for saunas to thermoforming heaters for plastics packaging production lines to equipment for constructing clean room technology to oven systems for materials coating and curing. Managing Director Frank Wilson attributes much of this new infrared heating work to the success of Ceramicx capital investments over the past twelve months: ‘At Ceramicx we take great pride in the quality and superiority in our standard lines of infrared radiant heaters, ceramic heaters, quartz heaters, and ceramic elements.’
However, much of what do here is to engineer bespoke solutions and systems for new customers. Each of these infrared heating solutions needs designing and testing before full production. And because we made the investment in CAD, CAM, metal fabrications, milling and tooling, we have been able to upskill our workforce.’Frames, reflectors, mounting and ancillary equipment; ‘all of these,’ says Wilson, ‘need designing, testing, machining and fabricating and constructing together with the ceramic, electrical and quartz elements. And then the likely process and in-service parameters must be predicted and factored in.’ For this purpose Ceramicx recently invested in two new Safan metal sheet and metal folding machines, together with a Nisshimbo punch press and a Hurco milling station. The Safa M-Shear has a 3.1m cutting length and up to 6mm cutting capacity. It can cut up to 80 strokes a minute and has a programmable touchscreen interface. The Safan E-Brake folding press also has a folding length of 3.1m, has a 1000kN pressing force, a 290mm stroke and a programmable touchscreen interface. ‘Some new design and programming skills for the digital age have been learned – and the results continue to fuel the business,’ says Wilson.’ The new metal fabricating systems at Ceramicx not only offer failsafe accuracy, the fact that they are programmable ensures identical repeatability of the job, regardless of scale, and also allows the business to machine parts at volume with no loss of quality. And thanks to the investments, the speed and throughput of each new bespoke job has been greatly increased – as has the consequent time-to-market. Wilson says that ‘it gives me immense satisfaction to say to our new customers that “we make it here”. Not only are we independent from the changing fortunes of the sub-contracting market, in this way we guarantee our design, quality, innovation and our speed of delivery.’ The Hurco VM1 milling machine at Ceramicx has a 760 x 355 mm working surface with a spindle speed of 8000 rpm. The working travel distances are 660, 335 and 455mm. The Hurco is essential in making the tooling and the hardware to the specification needed for infrared heating performance. ‘In heating manufacture, it’s not just desirable to have the right machine tools for the right quality – it’s fundamental and necessary,’ says Wilson. ‘We have invested a quarter of a million euros in these capabilities and every day sees the spending justified. We continue to innovate and develop solutions for customer’s specific needs.;
21 December, 2009
Leading international heating systems specialist and manufacturer Ceramicx has won a number of new orders this month for bespoke heating systems, based upon its new machining and metal fabricating facilities. The new business at Ceramicx ranges from infrared heaters for saunas to thermoforming heaters for plastics packaging production lines to equipment for constructing clean room technology to oven systems for materials coating and curing. Managing Director Frank Wilson attributes much of this new infrared heating work to the success of Ceramicx capital investments over the past twelve months: ‘At Ceramicx we take great pride in the quality and superiority in our standard lines of infrared radiant heaters, ceramic heaters, quartz heaters, and ceramic elements.’
However, much of what do here is to engineer bespoke solutions and systems for new customers. Each of these infrared heating solutions needs designing and testing before full production. And because we made the investment in CAD, CAM, metal fabrications, milling and tooling, we have been able to upskill our workforce.’Frames, reflectors, mounting and ancillary equipment; ‘all of these,’ says Wilson, ‘need designing, testing, machining and fabricating and constructing together with the ceramic, electrical and quartz elements. And then the likely process and in-service parameters must be predicted and factored in.’ For this purpose Ceramicx recently invested in two new Safan metal sheet and metal folding machines, together with a Nisshimbo punch press and a Hurco milling station. The Safa M-Shear has a 3.1m cutting length and up to 6mm cutting capacity. It can cut up to 80 strokes a minute and has a programmable touchscreen interface. The Safan E-Brake folding press also has a folding length of 3.1m, has a 1000kN pressing force, a 290mm stroke and a programmable touchscreen interface. ‘Some new design and programming skills for the digital age have been learned – and the results continue to fuel the business,’ says Wilson.’ The new metal fabricating systems at Ceramicx not only offer failsafe accuracy, the fact that they are programmable ensures identical repeatability of the job, regardless of scale, and also allows the business to machine parts at volume with no loss of quality. And thanks to the investments, the speed and throughput of each new bespoke job has been greatly increased – as has the consequent time-to-market. Wilson says that ‘it gives me immense satisfaction to say to our new customers that “we make it here”. Not only are we independent from the changing fortunes of the sub-contracting market, in this way we guarantee our design, quality, innovation and our speed of delivery.’ The Hurco VM1 milling machine at Ceramicx has a 760 x 355 mm working surface with a spindle speed of 8000 rpm. The working travel distances are 660, 335 and 455mm. The Hurco is essential in making the tooling and the hardware to the specification needed for infrared heating performance. ‘In heating manufacture, it’s not just desirable to have the right machine tools for the right quality – it’s fundamental and necessary,’ says Wilson. ‘We have invested a quarter of a million euros in these capabilities and every day sees the spending justified. We continue to innovate and develop solutions for customer’s specific needs.;
