This free principle of ideas applies of course to both good and bad ideas – and timing is also everything. Some developments are ahead of their time and will alas be still-born while others wait too long, and opportunity then passes them by.

The trick is to have time and tide meet at just the right moment: And, to date, our new Irish Centre for Manufacturing Research (ICMR) is showing all the signs of a successful launch that is steadily gathering steam.

Barry Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer, is steering the ship and our HeatWorks V Magazine issue contains a full interview with him about the goals of the new ICMR organisation and the progress made to date.

What pleases me most about the new ICMR is that is committed to a long overdue awakening of all the natural innovation and manufacturing talent that is already under our noses here in all corners of Ireland: Barry’s terms for this activity include ‘mapping tacit knowledge’ and ‘encouraging translational research’.

In other words, our manufacturing companies ‘know much more than they know’. Our new ICMR project now gives us the opportunity to unleash the power of this know-how and to communicate it to all our manufacturing enterprises, large and small.

As said – an idea really doesn’t care who owns it: Performance metrics and continuous improvement techniques such as Six Sigma, Kaizen, Can-Ban, OTIF, OEE and many others are available for successful translation into businesses at any time. Ceramicx, of course, is a founding member of the ICMR.

In particular we feel we have a clear role and talents to use helping bring the message to small to medium enterprises (SMEs); helping them to understand and apply the power of ideas; some of which will play out in quite a different way to the process in larger enterprises.

It’s a two way street: SMEs are more than capable of generating original first principles and great new ideas that can be of valuable worth to larger organisations. After all, everything started out small once.

Our new ICMR now gives our manufacturers a dedicated place in which to communicate and share the power of ideas to a point of optimum use and take-up. At Ceramicx – the infrared heat consultants – we are committed to advancing this work. Indeed, we look forward to seeing it catch fire over the coming months.

More than ever, today’s global supply chain requires expert and qualified suppliers who offer failsafe delivery and who have all manufacturing matters in hand. The fact that we make it all here is provides much reassurance. We set great store by it – and are winning new business as a result every month.

A newly installed Hurco TMM8 bar fed lathe with C-axis and 50mm chuck has now given the Ceramicx machinery and fabrication shop some greatly increased capabilities for our growing order book in applications engineering.

Our new machine investments will assist us further in making a large variety of component; platens and heat systems for plastics thermoforming machines; rigs for plastics-to-metal bonding; surrounds and reflectors for use in domestic heating and many other applications.

Increasingly, Ceramicx is taking on responsibilities in total infrared systems supply. Not only are we making and supplying world-class standard ceramic elements; quartz heaters and other components we are also investing in technology to supply all bespoke infrared heating applications.

These new investments are all part of our continuing focus on the price/performance ratio of our products and are also part of lowering the carbon footprint of our products: Last year’s investments in automated quality systems – and in ‘thumbprinting’ the features and actual performance data for every ceramic component made – has given us yet another strand of customer service and assurance.

It is often said in business – and no less true for that – that if you’re not going forward in business, the opposite applies. Ceramicx Infrared Heat Consultants are very pleased to report plenty of forward motion in plant investment and in many other aspects of our business as it grows and goes forward in the coming months.

Full details on the evolving Ceramicx machine shop are featured on pages 20-21 of the new HeatWorks magazine – just ask us direct for a copy.

In today’s world, however, time on such pleasures is increasingly short lived.
Having just riffled through the pages of the fifth issue of our HeatWorks magazine I am aware that new issues and contributions are already needing attention for the next issue – due out in March 2012.

Success breeds success – ditto for good communication. For example, the next issue of HeatWorks magazine will have plenty more to say on the science and impact of infrared heat upon the human body; what heating comfort means and how to most effectively apply.

With Ceramicx exhibiting at the triennial US plastics exhibition in Orlando Florida, April 1-5, we shall once again be reporting on the evolving markets for IR heating in the reviving US manufacturing economy.

Two weeks later Ceramicx is exhibiting at Chinaplas 2012 in Shanghai: We shall therefore be using HeatWorks magazine to communicate about our work there and in the upcoming market of China. We shall have more IR case studies to come from our friends and associates in Germany; on best manufacturing practice in Ireland, as well as updates from our own manufacturing plant, new products and new processes.

With all that in mind – and knowing how time flies – I wanted to sound just a quick note here in sincere appreciation of our the partners, customers and stakeholders who – in this completed package of HeatWorks magazine  – have helped us build the infrared heating message – as well as the business itself.

If you – our readers – have an interest in any aspect of Infrared Heating we extend an open invitation to you to join in this community of interest and to join in this work of communication. Our door is always open to you.

Copies of the latest HeatWorks magazine – fifth edition – are available directly from the company  – just order the latest from Ceramicx direct and get yourself on the mailing list.

Whatever the commentators might say – and their guess is as good as yours – it is clear as day that the Asian economic juggernaut just keeps on coming. Ceramicx intends to be in the thick of it: Our infrared heating products will also be featured two months earlier in Delhi at Plastindia 2012 on the stand of our Indian partner, Elmec. Ceramicx will continue to affirm a commitment to these important export markets, which are the life blood of our company.

Ten days before Shanghai we will be back from Orlando, Florida where we will have exhibited at the USA’s premier National Plastics Exhibition (NPE) with our US Partner, Weco International. Truth to tell, the US economy is still the largest in the world and US manufacturing has shown a lot of fighting spirit through 2011. Ceramicx intends to do our very best by US industry – supplying innovation and profit-making through infrared heating solutions.

Speaking of size, I now read that Brazil has overtaken the UK as the sixth largest economy in the world. No shame there – the pace of Brazilian expansion has been at a quantum rate and the UK in any case is set to overhaul the French within the next three years

The South American situation is sitting up nicely for our new recruit, Patrick Wilson, who is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, who has travelled extensively and resided in that continent and who is keen to hit the sales and marketing trail once his production and manufacturing apprenticeship has completed.

In the meantime, however, our energies are much closer to home: We have a kiln to fire up; further plans to complete for our alternative energy generation; a new Innovation Partnership to kick start – and many other projects of the day to progress and complete.

Flexibility and balance come to mind already as watchwords for 2012: Successful businesses – from anywhere – will be able to ride the trade winds of global manufacturing only and as long as they have their house in order; have innovation on their side, together with a competitive offering. Those are the features that Ceramicx will be demonstrating to our markets throughout 2012.

Our HeatWorks magazine – fifth edition – will be on its way to our readers this month. If you missed out on our last issue – and want to get onto the circulation or have a story for our Spring 2012 issue – just order up from Ceramicx direct and get yourself on the mailing list.

On the home front, we are delighted to be giving pages to the ongoing story of the  Ceramicx Innovation Partnership with the University of Limerick (UL). A large vote of thanks for the success of this project is certainly due to the enabling presence of Enterprise Ireland.

Ceramicx has been fortunate in the guiding presence of Enterprise Ireland, especially in the persons of both Dr Tom Bannon and Paul McCloskey. I know that it may break with some protocols to mention the role of individuals. But business is a thing conducted by people, between people. And besides, protocol-breaking is a large part of my job.

Furthermore, the model of the EI Innovation Partnership is the correct way forward for industry; not only for Ireland but in general: As I have said time and again, there is little to no use in science or engineering that has no use – that has no customers or applications. Enterprise Ireland has helped developed a method that keeps both the creative IP of the Universities and the dynamism of the manufacturing sector in service, and in train with each other.

We consequently have very high hopes and ambitions for our new Innovation Partnership with the University of Limerick. We now see it as helping deliver nothing less than world-class performance and leadership for Ceramicx in the manufacture of infrared heating systems.

The deft match-making skills of Enterprise Ireland have been key to this process and have helped and encouraged us to hold this bold forward vision.

True, not all matches are made in heaven – and most partnerships need work in order to work: A skilled match-maker, however, is able to anticipate and smooth over difficulties in custom and practice – as well as provide ‘translation’ services wherever needed.  All this we have benefited from.

Let me say here that Ceramicx very much hopes to extend and deepen our relationship with Enterprise Ireland as we pursue our goals. The quality of its people and the service given has been outstanding and yet – even so – we feel the best is yet to come.

‘Machinery, manpower and materials’ has lately given us another handy three-fold reckoner for our manufacturing needs. And our new Hurco CNC lathe arrived – last month to join our machining centre – and it has again given us a definite boost in the first named category.

From the get-go the Ceramicx strategy and philosophy has been, wherever possible, to keep hold of our destiny and to manufacture everything in-house.

Consequently Ceramicx continues to supply complete infrared heating systems; domestic and industrial.  Not only are we designing, manufacturing and supplying world-class ceramic elements, quartz tubes and other components, we are also investing and upskilling in all the requisite machining and engineering for all bespoke infrared heating applications.

Our new Hurco machine is indeed a substantial investment. Investments are as much about capability as about jobs on the slate this week and the new Hurco has been sourced with the mid to long term future also in mind.

The new machine will be involved in making a large variety of componentry; platens and heat systems for plastics thermoforming machines; rigs for plastics-to-metal bonding; surrounds and reflectors for use in domestic heating, components for terminal blocks and many other applications.

And thanks to the skills of Ceramicx designers and engineers, many new kinds of infrared heaters and infrared heating products have been created this year – where none existed before. The new Hurco will further enhance these capabilities in the months to come.

I therefore urge all of our customers and associates to talk to us about all the detail of their infrared heating needs; including bespoke and custom fabrication; new product ideas; research and development and other ideas.

Infrared heating is an advancing and increasingly popular solution. At Ceramicx we can make it all here – it’s as simple and beneficial as that.

Key among the forthcoming pieces is a contribution written by Dr Tony Robinson, based at Trinity College, Dublin.

Tony’s article will pick up the baton in relation to the fundamentals of infrared heating technology. We always aim to enhance the commercial and technical pieces in the magazine with some more general and educational material on the vast and untapped potential within IR heating.

Our last issue of HeatWorks, for example, included an article that described and discussed the beneficial effects of IR heating on the human body.

In our next issue, Tony will look at the fundamental science and behaviour of IR heating in 3D space. His department at Trinity is doing great measurement and prediction work in that area. It is my hope that this research at Trinity will have profound implications for the way we think and plan our comfort and heating – specifically in the way we design and build heating systems for homes, shops, factories, offices and the built environment: Infrared heating is extremely accurate in the way it can target particular zones and spaces. And a relatively small input of IR heating in the right zone of a building can deliver a very large payback in terms of overall saved energy cost.

In truth, the infant science of infrared heating needs many more champions such as Tony Robinson in order to make explicit and realise the benefits of the technology. HeatWorks magazine, in its own way, is doing its bit.

And I simply encourage all IR practitioners to step forward and share with us your best articles and views for consideration throughout our publishing schedule next year. With the right communications campaigns we can all work for IR development and growth together.

It would be a poor show indeed if Ceramicx itself were unable to walk this talk.  It therefore gives me great pleasure to be allowed the opportunity to be lecturing at Trinity College this Thursday in order to share the IR industrial perspective and to communicate the best of our IR know how to the engineering student audience.

For all interested I will this week be delivering an open lecture on the subject of Ceramic Infrared Emitter Production. The lecture will take place on Thursday December 01 2011: 15:00, Parsons Building Seminar Room 2, Trinity College Dublin. I hope to see you there!

At Ceramicx we have great opportunity to fast track our people development and to give our talent the opportunity to become true practitioners in all aspects, namely research & product development; engineering; production; quality control; sales and marketing.

We are therefore delighted to be ringing the changes on a couple such moves this month: We know that it will serve the individuals and, ultimately, we know it will serve the net wealth of the company and the service given to the customer.

Padraig Courtney

Padraig Courtney has made a success of his day-to-day role as production manager – overseeing the entire process – from clay to complete and finished parts.  There are very few situations on the Ceramicx production line that Padraig has not been party to. He is therefore ideally placed to join our new Infrared Innovation Partnership team; now working alongside other researchers from the University of Limerick in our new two-year innovation partnership project funded by Enterprise Ireland and Ceramicx. As part of this Pádraig will earn a Master Engineering Degree that will be focused on “Novel manufacturing engineering and cost analysis modeling for process optimization in an SME setting”. At Ceramicx we are creating an explicit and scientific matrix involving all chemical, mechanical and electrical inputs and outputs of our process. There can be none better than Padraig to help the Partnership team with all the empirical facts of the matter.

Patrick Wilson

Meanwhile Padraig’s role has been taken up by new recruit Patrick Wilson. A graduate of Business Studies from Trinity with a Diploma in Management earned as part of a graduate management program with Kerry Group with several languages at his disposal, including Spanish, Portuguese and French, Patrick has spent the last number of years working for Kerry Group first leaving the company as a production Manager to join us Ceramicx Infrared Heat Consultants last month. Patrick might have seemed destined straightaway for our international sales effort. We believe, however, that his Ceramicx apprenticeship is best served from the start by bringing the skills and experience that he has gained in his role as a production manager for Kerry Group to bear on the Ceramicx production processes. This will allow him to gain an intimate knowledge of the product and the production process and allow any Sales in the future to be carried out from position of production understanding.

We raise a glass to our new practitioners and to their new horizons and to new successes at Ceramicx.

Slainte!

Last week our partners in Turkey, Ser Rezistans, had a very successful participation in the 21st International Istanbul Plastic Industries Fair. Plasteurasia is fast becoming the gateway event to the important Turkish market and beyond. International participation continues to grow, as do a number of Turkey’s leading OEM markets; in automotive, construction, white goods and high-volume packaging.

Ceramicx products on show at last week's Plasteurasia exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey

Hasan Duman of the company tells us that the high level of business at Plasteurasia includes much interest about Ceramicx Infrared capabilities and products. Ser Rezistans inquiries also included orders from makers of two thermoforming machinery companies who need machines building for new clients.

By any standard, Turkish manufacturing is clearly buoyant. Annual Turkish plastics industry growth is generally reckoned to be about thirteen percent and the flavour of this year’s Plasteurasia was very much about the country further selling its features and benefits into the international market places. (We feature more in depth material on the Turkish market in our current issue of HeatWorks magazine – just contact us direct for your copy.)

In truth, and very much despite the current EU shenanigans – there is currently much vitality in many parts of Europe – especially on the outer fringes and within the Central European manufacturing renaissance.

A new technology business like Ceramicx is always looking to couple our infrared heating expertise to that new manufacturing growth and vitality wherever we find it. And fortunately, we are continuing to succeed in searching out new territories.

On that note we now look due south to Barcelona, Spain. Later in the month that country’s trade exhibition, Equiplast, Nov 14-18, is set to be partnered by a brand new event and conference – Eurotec – led by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE).

Last year’s SPE President, Ken Braney – previously featured in our HeatWorks Magazine – spearheaded this move and we wish Ken and all his team all the best for this bold new venture.

Europe – a patchwork of cultures and opportunities – continues to be of central importance to business and the world economy. Ceramicx for one remains committed to finding and partnering all the positives within that changing picture.

Our interviewing process for the project team is going well.  Map making – fundamental research – is a funny thing and researchers into scientific fundamentals are also a rare and interesting breed.   In truth – since there is no path to follow – the investigative skills needed for our project will be 90% measurement and science based.

However, the research discipline also requires more than a touch of intuition and common sense – not least to help us not waste time and resource in blind alleys. Good detectives always back their gut instinct in knowing where and where not to look.

Like the map-makers and investigators of old our intent at Ceramicx is to create a new world of infrared heating knowledge so that we and others may follow through with it. Incredibly, although infrared technology was discovered over one hundred years ago, much of the work in heating applications still remains approximate and inexact.

Our fundamental project aim therefore is to collect and verify enough data and process measurement in the infrared production process so as to be able to scientifically engineer and produce what once belonged to a craft process. Added to that, our project will also enable us to make this engineering process robust, repeatable and scaleable – to produce as little or as much as needed.

Frank Wilson, Ceramicx MD and Dr Mark Southern, University of Limerick discuss the next steps in their Innovation Partnership

There will be many twists and turns along the way from here, but from the outset – and together with Dr Mark Southern’s team from the University of Limerick – we are confident of creating the map from the terrain.

As we create our scientific IR knowledge base we shall use this and other communications channels to keep you informed of our discoveries. It promises to be an exciting two years ahead!

A full report on the project – its aims and scope – will be carried in the next issue of HeatWorks magazine. If you missed out on our last issue – just order one up from Ceramicx direct and get yourself on the mailing list.

View of the Messe entrance to Fakuma 2011

In my view the Fakuma exhibition in Friederichshafen, Germany this week provides some timely material in this vein: Fakuma is the annual domestic trade fair for Germany’s plastics manufacturing industries. From Day One, visitor attendance was high; buyer interest was keen and most machinery based exhibitors reported another year of record sales growth.

In part, of course, this may be due to worldwide manufacturing industry restocking and recovering from the credit crunch of 2008/09. Regardless of that, however, the recent facts are impressive. Euromap, the organisation which represents plastics machinery companies and which is dominated by German-speaking producers, now reports that European plastics machinery production volumes increased by 27.3% to 9.78 billion Euros in 2010 – and are also set for 10% further growth in 2011. Germany is by far the world’s biggest exporter of plastics machinery to all the nations of the world with a healthy 23.7% of global market share – nearly double that of its nearest rival, Japan.

The Friedr Freek stand at Fakuma

Ceramicx – helped in Germany by our good friends at Friedr Freek – is doing its bit to support and stay with this expansion in plastics machinery. We continue to aim to increase our share of the market; specifically by supplying quality infrared heating systems for thermoforming, blow moulding and other parts of the plastics sector.

Selection of Ceramicx components at Fakuma 2011

And since Ceramicx business is truly worldwide, we find much to applaud and appreciate in the way that Germany engineering companies continue to create new markets; reaching further into Eastern Europe for example and Russia. It all makes quite a contrast to the main headlines in Western Europe where political leaders fumble with the Euro and fiddle with the money supply.

Aside from reaffirming some business confidence and intelligence, this week’s Fakuma reminds me of three things:
a) always moderate your diet of mainstream media with some first-hand news from somewhere real.
b) some good business is always happening somewhere
b) never underestimate the particular powers of place

On that last point – and here you might see me signing off here with a small commercial – Ceramicx believes that our own West Cork location continues to offer manufacturers a truly positive environment for creativity, technology and manufacturing. Several trends point to a continuing investment and growth in manufacturing technology here – and not least from ourselves.

Our latest HeatWorks magazine contains articles on these opportunities in detail. Please don’t hesitate to contact myself directly to chat about any ins and outs at first hand. Many thanks again.

Who could that be? The riddle about this paragon refers to the company website of course. At Ceramicx we believe it to be true and we therefore back our top sales resource to the full with ongoing investment and quality support.

Great competence in one area such as this pushes the envelope; raises the bar and asks questions of other parts of the business. And rather than levelling down, there is a tendency for other areas to rise to the challenge – in production; in service and in people skills.

This has certainly been happening for Weco International, our US friends and distributors. The current autumn edition of Heat Works magazine contains the full story of our partnership developments stateside.

In a nutshell – and against a background of US industrial uncertainty – Weco has this year managed to expand both its sales activities and to further grow its US territories through the forging of skilful partnerships in the infrared heating industry.

How has it done this? According to owner Brett Wehner, through some powerful core principles and through working with and through the right people. The Weco manifesto is based upon Persistence – Determination – Integrity – and via these guiding lights the company has this year opened up fresh markets in the New England states and also – looking Southward -  in Tennessee.

This is a remarkable achievement: What it tells me is that in an era of unlimited information and seemingly endless online time there are, in addition,  some special challenges and rewards for those that are able to raise their person-to-person game in the way that Brett and his team have managed.

It is essential of course that your best sales guy stays at his post 24/7 in the manner already described. But creativity; deal making; relationships; innovation – all these other things have been greatly liberated in recent years. Pay equal attention to these factors and business success can be greatly assured.

Among other things, this autumn sees us looking ahead to a season of exhibitions and shows for the plastics sector – in the UK; in Turkey and in Germany.

The UK’s triennial Interplas 2011 exhibition in Birmingham last week reminded me why Ceramicx continues to emphasise energy useage, energy cost and energy efficiency in our promotion of infrared heating in plastics manufacturing.

Once upon a time – perhaps twenty years ago – plastics manufacturing began to pay some attention to the cost of running machines. Buyers saw energy monitoring and efficiency as a ‘nice-to-have’ extra for production. The function was mainly to provide production information for management.

But energy is fundamental now; energy tariffs are inevitably rising and energy useage is much more than an interesting story for businesses. Last week’s discussions around the NEC stands at Interplas made it clear that the energy-use rating on any machine purchase will now play a key part in the purchase or not of that machine.

A thermoforming machine at today’s price can and will give at least twenty years of valuable production. But what size of energy bills will your company face next year? In three, five, ten years time?  You’ll have spent your capital sum and with no going-back you might then come to regret the ongoing energy costs that you’re shackled up to.

Manufacturers need to take a step back and consider their energy-consumption futures.  If not able to invest in a new machine you might want to spend a much smaller sum on an infrared-heating overhaul that can save you money from the get-go.

No fundamental concerns the plastics industry as much as its energy bills – and rightly so. Heat Works Autumn 2011 edition contains two special features that highlight tips and savings in plastics thermoforming and also in plastics blow moulding.

Read more about that here in the coming weeks – or get your magazine copy directly from us.

GCAE stands for Guangzhou Cerami Automatic Equipment and is located in Guangzhou city, the economic centre of South China’s coastal areas. GCAE now has a special remit to promote Ceramicx in China and with ambitious plans to become Ceramicx’s biggest worldwide agent/distributor.

We hosted the GCAE team here in Ireland this spring and were extremely impressed with the professionalism, commitment and know-how of the company.

Together with our new partner, Ceramicx now has a unique role to play in the servicing of much high-quality manufacturing in China and in spreading the infrared heating message there. In addition to the rapport and understanding between the two companies, we believe that GCAE chose us for three main reasons:

1. High quality infrared heating products; this includes energy savings, evenness of heat quality and performance, temperature control precision, long life time

2. Advanced Infrared-based technology – with applications in many kinds of industries

3. Breadth and variety of the Ceramicx product line; including long-wave, middle-wave and short-wave IR products.

GCAE currently has eight employees and plans a further 50% growth by the end of this year – embracing all technical, sales and logistics functions.  Guangzhou Cerami Automatic Equipment will firstly work in promoting Ceramicx products to customers; provide technology supports and infrared education. Our new partner will also help resolve all kinds heating difficulties and work to the goal of lower customer’s production costs.

In common with most places in the world, Chinese infrared technology is beginning from a limited base. But as Chinese industry continues to develop, infrared technology will have wider and wider applications. The current heating alternatives to infrared are hot air, hot oil, gas, traditional electrical resistance heating.

However, as elsewhere, there is great pressure in China to build energy-efficient and environmental heating equipment – which clearly favors infrared. Infrared demand in China will be huge – and GCAE and Ceramicx are one in our intention to be the best infrared brand in China.

You can read more about our new venture and the Chinese market in the next edition of Heat Works – out later this month. Simply contact us direct for your copy.

Another mantra getting a lot of air time at Ceramicx these days is Science – Engineering – Applications.

Customers, customer needs and ideas and uses for technology (applications) provide the drivers for the engineering that is needed to make the products actually work. And science and scientific laws provide the necessary foundations for engineering work.

As experienced Infrared Heating Consultants this trinity of values can be found in all the infrared heating work that we do. The past 18 months has seen shuttling back and forth between the constituent parts. And as customers come to us with more variants for IR useage, so we need to be pushing the boundary of all three frontiers in order to get results.

So much so that the time has now come for a further quantum shift in our IR development – underscored with the formality of a new project and expansion of activity here at the factory.

Ceramicx is now embarked upon the second phase of our Innovation Partnership together with the University of Limerick (UL) and Enterprise Ireland. A brief pause for thanks is due to our friends and associates Mark Southern, Paul McCluskey and Tom Bannon for all their help in framing the project scope and in lining up the terms of reference and the resources.

We are now getting down to realising the new project aims and making things happen. New recruitment of the UL team is underway and over the next two years a detailed series of scientific-based road maps will be created in order to describe the inputs and outputs in the complex manufacturing mix of materials; humidity; temperature and electrics that combine in the manufacture of ceramic-based IR heaters.

Our ambition is nothing less than to create an unequalled matrix and underpinning of scientific know-how for IR heating manufacturing matters; all based on empirical measurement and on proveable and repeatable scientific theory and engineering.

Our first phase of the Innovation Partnership with UL brought us world-class results in terms of our product definition, its measurement and automated quality control. Our appetite to continue on is more than whetted. We are more than relishing the opportunity to go forward at Ceramicx with the help of Mark Southern and his UL team.

As ever, you will be able to read more about this topic in more depth in the next issue of HeatWorks magazine – out next month.

Simply contact us direct for your copy.

Our technologies include infrared for indoor and outside space heating; infrared heating for petcare and creature comfort; a variety of food cooking techniques using infrared and also various infrared heating products for the medical and healthcare industries.

To experience infrared heating at first hand is to know that there is a real and qualitative difference in kind between it and other heat sources. The expression often used is that ‘it really gets into your bones’. It’s not just humans. A number of IR heating applications are being developed on the petcare and livestock front.

There are clearly some deeper issues involved with the IR preference that we at Ceramicx would like to explore further. And so – in keeping with the rest of our programme and product development – we will be casting a scientific-based eye over this part of the infrared spectrum.

The next edition of HeatWorks – out in September 2011- will therefore take a first look at this end of the infrared radiation spectrum, sometimes known as Far Infrared Radiation (FIR).

The article will be jointly created between ourselves and leading UK-based practitioner and innovator Simon Lea and will pay particular attention to the relationship between human physiology and that part of the IR radiation spectrum.

True, we can take for granted that infrared heating provides comfort and health for humans. But – as I never tire of saying – we have yet to determine exactly how and why. The world today has barely scratched the surface of the potential for infrared useage and technology.

The human body/infrared radiation interface is new territory. If – in this and other areas – we can use good science to make proveable roadmaps of cause and effect, then we will be able to open many new doors that will profit all.

The land that invented fast food, food service packaging, and many other innovations in packaging has extensive and accompanying needs for volumes of thermoformed goods. Many thermoforming operations in the US are therefore both large scale and demanding in terms of quality. And as the world economy shifts we will undoubtedly see similar operations of scale and sophistication emerging  – in China, India, Russia and other areas of large population.

Meantime, Brett Wehner and the team at Weco in the US are growing the infrared network throughout all the states in America.  One recent job saw Weco doing great work for a leading international producer of disposable packaging with sites around the world. Weco’s client in this case needed a complete upgrade on one of its principal thermoforming lines for beverage food service.

The Weco team was required to upgrade the existing heating arrangements and ovens and to replace them with a more effective infrared-based solution. Ceramicx were in attendance through the project from start to finish in the design and supply of infrared thermoforming platens.

As part of its work, Weco engineers succeeded in halving the overall oven length at the client – a move that resulted in immediate energy savings. And cycle times – shots per minute – were also increased by a substantial 15.2 to 23.4.  Weco’s Client  Line 1 became the fastest; not only within the factory but also within the client organisation as a whole. Substantial engineering work was also carried out in the machine control area – including ethernet communications; automation work and computing interfaces.

As Brett said to me after the job completion – ‘Imagine the ability to make over 50% improvements in your productivity and run it on just half the energy of previous!’ Most plastics thermoformers would take that, wouldn’t they?

However, it takes more than a shot of courage to truly innovate; to commit to those first steps in plant design and improvements – to take a step back and see the future in a new way. Successful thermoformers are doing just that – and unsuccessful thermoformers, however, are not. The latter group continue to ignore the signs; continue not to measure their energy useage or  their equipment performance – until it’s too late.

By the skin of its teeth, the US Government has lately stepped back from an avoidable conflict and disaster. At Ceramicx, we believe that good science, engineering and technology can help many companies do the same. A little foresight and cool reflection can go a mighty long way.

* Weco International features in the latest edition of Ceramicx HeatWorks magazine. Contact Ceramicx direct for your free copy of the magazine.

Ceramicx is no exception – and UK and Irish customers are the first to be able to order parts and components over the Internet in this way.

Amanda Murphy of Ceramicx explains how easy it is to dial up your infrared heating needs.

Whatever your working schedule, the Ceramicx online shop remains open 24 hours a day seven days a week.

UK customers are enabled to go onto the Ceramicx website; select the shop icon and then they select the infrared heating product that they are interested in eg element type, wattage figure, voltage, colour and quantity and then add the items to the cart.

Customers can pay by credit card and then we receive the confirmation e-mail to our sales account, sales@ceramicx.com.

Once the order is received it is then printed. We ensure the payment has been received, check our stock, and delivery dates to the customer, if in stock it goes straight to packing and if not into production.

For the shop orders we have two types of transport, either by Post (An Post) or by special delivery methods.  We also ship by Air Ocean or road, larger boxes, pallets or containers depending on customer’s location and orders.

A variety of environmental and economic packaging is used. This depends on what is being shipped and we place a great deal of importance on getting the packaging right so it arrives safe and sound. Ceramic elements are typically packed in cardboard boxes.

This package is then placed in a further outer box with more padding and Styrofoam sheets placed on the bottom and top to prevent shock to the elements.

We handle a great variety of UK enquiries through the shop: Replacement parts for machines – eg ceramic, quartz tubes, bulb heaters – are currently highest on the list. There is no minimum order but we advise that a shipment of ten pieces is the most economic way to go.

The very largest of orders are normally negotiated with the Ceramicx sales team. We estimate that this type of order will normally come out over 30kg in weight.

All Ceramicx infrared heating products – except engineering solutions and be-spoke projects – can be ordered through our on-line shop.  We can also sell you our own leading brands of infrared heaters into the bargain – ideal to warm your office and/or factory!

At the beginning of July, for example, we opened our doors to host the board meeting of the new ICMR Technology Centre that was announced and launched by the Irish Industry Minister just a few weeks ago.

Joe Foley, Factory Manager of Intel Ireland and chairman of ICMR board in full flow of thanks to Jim Lawler of Enterprise Ireland (seated). Jim retires this month - but is expected to stay abreast of the ICMR and its forward activities.

Managers and directors from some of Ireland’s largest manufacturers – Intel, Pfizer, EMC and officials from Enterprise Ireland and IDA – toured our plant and our expertise in infrared heating and then sat down with us around the Ceramicx boardroom table with more dialing in remotely. We discussed the fastest and most effective ways of rolling out best manufacturing practice and energy-efficient production through Ireland and we made plans to deliver those changes and benefits over the coming weeks and months.

It was a very good meeting; a coming together of company cultures, minds, and expertise – both technical and commercial. In every sense, our new technology centres are also tapping into the best traditions of Irish community and enterprise – referencing the successful traditions of meitheal and the ‘work done with neighbour’ – on which I have spoken before.

The new industrial agenda and the new tasks set out by the Minister are extremely challenging: There is no doubt that this is a tall order – and the road ahead is steep.

But at the same time – and make no mistake -  great opportunities are available to us if we succeed here – and we will. What is on offer is the prospect of boosting not just our energy-based technologies; but also our general manufacturing competences; our small manufacturing companies and our business culture generally.

These are key issues – and not just for Ireland. Manufacturing practice around the world is ever changing and, in every corner, must now also address the ecological and the social dimension. Cheapness in every sense is no longer an option. Becoming more competitive in these areas and in every means becoming world-class. This prospect means a lot of hard work, but the outcomes, however, will be more than rewarding.

It might seem a piece of common sense – but not that common, as the saying goes – to remember that achievements such as the new ICMR centre are created by people. In this case Jim Lawler of Enterprise Ireland had everything to do with this new work and with the great potential ahead.It was therefore our pleasure at the meeting to be able to help pay a small tribute to Jim’s vision, energy and networking expertise.

The truth is that manufacturing businesses in Ireland – from the largest to the smallest – are very well placed to tackle opportunities in these sunrise manufacturing industries; to network together and to learn from each other.

I hope to keep you updated with all the positives that emerge from this work in the coming months.

We know that most of the daily media feed is often not worth the trouble to digest. But now and then something – usually in the fields of science, technology, commerce or social studies – a real piece of information comes along; and we know that that the world is getting ready for a game changer.

Our own Ceramicx magazine HeatWorks – now preparing for its 4th edition – continues to fly the flag for the much misunderstood science and technology of infrared heating. HeatWorks Edition III is now signed off and posted – containing all our recent news and information.

We have pieces on the lively manufacturing scene here in West Cork Ireland, on the efficiency of ceramic-based technology, on new developments in product design; energy efficiency and many other aspects of Ceramicx business and the Infrared heating scene.

And, after the publication of each HeatWorks issue, Ceramicx is getting accustomed to a batch of new activity and new business dialogue.

I am pleased to report that every HeatWorks issue thus far has raised at least three new enquiries that have taken this company into pioneering science and technology territory.

You could call it the shock of the new, or the shock of the news. In simple terms, we dish some news out and we get some news back – from companies who can envision new horizons for their use of infrared and who need a partner to take them through a new horizon and the practical technology steps.

The fact is, despite its discovery over 100 years ago, the heat work science in infrared is still in its infancy. There is still a wealth of opportunity for us, our readers and our new clients yet to realise.

Despite this prospect, my point is that real news – and real change – is not always comfortable. It contains a ‘wake up’ element that is often a call to action. In business it often brings an invitation to explore new commercial ground. Such an invitation – away from the tried and tested comfort zone – always contains novelty and real risk.

At Ceramicx, however, we are delighted to continue to prime the pump and foster dialogue with HeatWorks magazine.

If you’re not on the HeatWorks circulation – just call us today to receive your copy. We look forward to hearing from you.

I guess that it’s mostly all our own fault – seeing as we asked for this shock of the new: Our recent marketing efforts and our new magazine HeatWorks have gone down a storm. The appetite of many industries and customers, old and new has been whetted for the benefits of the infrared heating approach. We’re now in the business of faster-delivery designs and systems.

When we launched the Ceramicx Online Shop with many of our infrared elements depicted in 3D graphics I noted then that ‘seeing is believing’. The same principle is at work with our new customers and new infrared systems. The customer wants to see – as soon as humanly possible – an approximation of what his/her new product, new design might look like.

And thanks largely to information technology the world has become much smaller – and much faster. Customer expectations for viewing initial results have been raised. As an innovator and supplier, we stand in need of a package that can provide a ‘fast and dirty’ product modelling system with most dimensional and engineering features settled, but with room for quick changes and adaptations. We need the design to be open – not just to the CAD department – but to input from all corners of the business. Many engineers are calling this the establishment of the Release to CAD milestone. For project managers it makes a lot of sense.

Against this dynamic background, the relatively sedate world of the Computer Aided Design (CAD) package – then interfacing with Computer Aided Manufacturing – is under stress.

Many Engineering CAD packages were developed back in the day for the needs of their host industry – automotive or aerospace. Like mobile phones or media systems, no common platform or architecture was developed or agreed and many tool designers were required to buy system after system in order to be able to compete in various markets.

CAD Product design those days was, to be sure, ‘computerised’ and somewhat ‘automated’ but in many ways remained a black art – and at most stages only accessible and visible through a  specialised CAD design department. Nowadays, the appetite for product innovations means more visibility of process and more transparency of design. Traditional 3D CAD based on the Feature History paradigm has proven itself to be too cumbersome for day-to-day engineering at the customer interface.

At Ceramicx – and particularly in recent months – our engineers have been investing in a product modelling approach which is better – for available time and resource – to investigate options of geometry and stress and so forth before the release to CAD stage. This approach removes the Feature History mode in favour of Direct Modelling and so allows a faster and more flexible design before the CAD proper stage.

Ceramicx doesn’t ordinarily do testimonials or product placement – but our new direct modelling abilities have been greatly enhanced by deploying software developed by leading US-based innovator SpaceClaim.

You can see the evidence for some of this work in the next issue of our HeatWorks magazine – 3rd edition

If you aren’t receiving a copy just go through the website to get one.

Happy designing!

One of the bonuses in working for a small and successful company such as ours is that the fruit of your own work and efforts comes straight back to you. In a sense this magnifies all contributions and allows a very fast and exponential rate of career progress.

Infrared heating – no question – is a growth industry. And if people can excel in their related engineering, electrical and design strengths, Ceramicx will really give them the headroom to go forward. It’s a fast track in all sorts of ways for the right candidates.

In large and international companies the focus – especially in technical or engineering departments – may be an inch wide but a mile deep and job descriptions may become very specialised very early on. This is great for specialisation and specialists but The Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) tends to mix and match a whole spread of functions and responsibilities from the get-go. The idea is to be able to handle and balance a whole range of engineering and commercial factors – live and in the marketplace – so that you become self-reliant in handling and delivering a range of custom-built solutions.

And if you have a taste for all these elements then – who knows – you could be learning to drive your own design and manufacturing business one day. Our fast-paced environment will certainly give you all the breadth of experience that you need for your CV.

Right now the focus at Ceramicx lies in expanding the range of applications engineering for our various infrared engineering projects. We think it more than likely that we’ll need to see some heavy evidence of electrical engineering ability – probably backed-up with diploma-level qualifications and two to four years experience already.

We envisage that you experience may include control panel building for high power applications; possibly with CAD/CAM design and your programming skills will most probably include PLC, SCADA and HMI interface.

Attitude plays more than a part with us. We expect risk-takers rather than conservatives. We don’t expect perfection and you have to learn how to fall as well as climb.

So if you feel that you have a good electrical skill-set and that you also have what it takes to succeed in commercial manufacturing, then we invite you to take your best shot.

Please contact me direct at Ceramicx for further details and an opportunity for interview.
Cathal Wilson, Project Manager, Ceramicx

Good morning Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen………

At Ceramicx we make a variety of infrared heating solutions for a great number of markets and applications; industrial and consumer. We turn over some 2 million Euros a year; provide employment for some 38 people directly – and rising – and we export 98% of our infrared heating systems and components to over 68 countries.

Last year was a very big year in our 19 year history and this year we are building on those same gains. Together with a fresh push in research, engineering and innovation we expect to achieve the same growth or greater than 20%.

We – and the new centres – now need to inspire a generation of business leaders and companies who are prepared to put their heart and soul into what they do – who are prepared to create value and wealth.

Good manufacturing ideas – implemented by people who are skilled, focused and courageous create wealth. Taking opportunities creates wealth.

Our primary focus through the work of the Infrared Compentence Centre Development therefore remains the creation of prosperity and increase in jobs, sales and profit through the application of best industrial practive and optimum energy workand, into the bargain, help deliver a strong and stable economy.

We are perhaps gifted with foresight in that we have chosen two areas of engagement – two channels – that are high in opportunity and potential for Irish Industry and for Ireland.

When it comes to our work on energy we are fortunate in that there is a lot to do in the world – and thanks to dwindling resources, soon and in short order.

For all the talk most manufacturers throughout Ireland and indeed the world have yet to make a serious impact upon the issue.

Attitude is all – and change is challenging. And when it comes to energy questions, most people and businesses – would rather focus on the negatives around the ‘how?’ rather than the why. Most feel defeated by the power of the utilities; the cost of machinery adaption; the cost of workplace awareness; the risk in innovation; the price of oil and the instability in world affairs. But we can change this attitude and many other things with good science and with examples of competence.

Our second centre and area of focus lies in raising our manufacturing effectiveness in order to improve our order winning capability with more profit dropping to the bottom line.

The good news is that much of Irish manufacturing is in fact already world class or on the way there – thanks in part to a lack of industrial baggage and the benefits of launching many things from a 20th Century green field site.

These two centres will indeed equip Irish businesses to claw back and take gains from all the pre-emptive and efficiency improvement and low carbon actions that we can muster.  All of us – small and big – can contribute and all of us can gain.

We are accustomed to seeing the ‘Made In Ireland’ brand deliver in spades in a number of key areas – perhaps more in the consumer areas.

We should plan and believe that our new centres can help carve out a reputation and performance that will deliver a great manufacturing brand for Ireland in the same way.

“Made In Ireland” products are capable of showing the world what truly green credentials mean. Our Centres will help lead the way with applied science and with world-class business practices.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh!

On more pedestrian levels, the successful enterprise is indeed trying to bottle up various ideas and practices. A good business will be continually ferreting out and strengthening what works for it – and getting rid of what doesn’t.

At a shop floor and operational level, this means a continual eye on absolutes such as quality; cycle time; inventory; and performance in an ever more effective manner while also analysing and eliminating areas of dead time and space.

In sales, the 80:20 rule might apply: We let our successful patterns of business alone and we focus mainly on our challenges and most difficult orders – which usually provide the key to the most future success.

And for serious levels of growth and innovation we have to be prepared to fully open our world – and take our communications work seriously. Sometimes this activity might go by a marketing kind of name – but great communications is the essence of what’s actually in the bottle.

The word communication – naturally enough – comes from the same root as community. Without a community, constituency or shared area of interest, communication is a difficult thing.

When we launched out HeatWorks magazine in Autumn 2010 our hope and aim was to help bring forward a community: We believe that our continuing investment in HeatWorks is helping all the while to create the shape and location of that community and to help answer its needs.

Our communications work at Ceramicx has come to be, in essence, a tool that helps us define new corners and new boundaries in our marketplaces and in the infrared heating world.

HeatWorks magazine has also helped us learn again that effective communication and effective business is a two way street: In other words, there is no successful communication without a community, and there is no successful communication without listening. Successful applied science and successful engineering only arise when the supplier has listened thoroughly – and communicated back to the customer the essence of his/her need.

In that spirit I invite you to communicate with us at Ceramicx – to let us know your infrared heating issues and needs and let us listen and perhaps help communicate them further.

Your taking part will certainly help energise a community of interest that has more growth, more potential and more business success available than it currently realises.

The fragility of man’s built environment has once again been contrasted to the power of nature and – for a spell at least – there has been a pause to reconsider the wisdom or folly of nuclear power. A number of other countries – some as landlocked as Germany have ordered a review of their energy strategy and nuclear power programme.

Part of the side effect of these events has been to revive the pall over the popular  – ie negative – image of radiation. The theory and science of radiation is a key part of our work at Ceramicx in infrared heating. Its ultimate nature is derived from the driving power for our planet – the sun, the ultimate source of life on earth.

Despite this fact, and despite the undisputed curative powers of radiation -  dating from its discovery by Marie Curie – the discovery and application of the technology has proceeded slowly – including infrared applications. Radiation treatment – in cancer treatment for example -  although necessary and effective hardly inspires positive connotations.

At Ceramicx, however, we believe that  – for industry and our world – this is about to change.  Thermal radiation technology – including infrared -  is in fact a sleeping giant; capable of delivering enormous social and economic benefits in a number of areas.

Thermal radiation – developed considerably since Curie’s discovery 116 years ago – has become lately embedded in our world for the design and production of various engines and combustion devices; for space and satellite technology; solar technology of course; for manufacturing and uses of silica, glass, crystals and other materials; for applications in nano-technology; applications in gas technology.

These are cutting edge developments to be sure but hardly household scenarios.

At Ceramicx we believe that our particular brand of thermal radiation has many broader applications closer to home – for the consumer and for industry alike; for the food industry; in laboratory, husbandry and animal care; in mass-market plastics technology and in painting and coatings applications and in printing  – to name but a few instances. We call these areas of opportunity the ‘low hanging fruit’ and although the opportunities are well within reach, in truth there is much work to be done. One hundred years on, and the theory and practice of thermal radiation remains much misunderstood and under-used – in Universities and in industry.

Consequently we are working forward with a number of other industrialist and researchers  – most notably Dr Phil Harrison – of the University of Huddersfield – in an effort to break new ground. We are seeking to establish the everyday good practices, science and benefits of radiation in a new centre that will be a resource and inspiration for the future of the industry.

The Marie Curie Fellowship and other related bodies are a key part of this new territory landscape and we are liaising closely with them to get our new work off the ground.

If you care for the progress of thermal radiation, please don’t hesitate to join us in our efforts.  A full account of our proposed research and activity in this area is detailed in our latest magazine HeatWorks, pp 4-5. To get a free copy – simply contact us direct for one. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you.

A plethora of schemes and incentives and a continuing supply of environmental news and innovation does not appear to be working. Indeed, many of these messages are beside the point.

For those of us manufacturing goods, the first sum is simplicity itself: just add up your monthly output of products and components and then divide by your total monthly energy costs – utilities bills; electric, gas and so forth. What have you got? A quick and easy sum/ratio for your factory’s energy/output – a ratio or % that you can track each month.

It costs you to make something, right? And your energy use is a key part of that cost.  If your products are of a uniform nature you may be able to come to a ballpark figure of how much energy-per-part you, the manufacturer, have invested in your product. You can then subtract that energy cost and content from the basic value of the product. And that’s where your value-added to the customer begins.

The sad news is that if you have paid top dollar for the power and utilities you have invested in your product and you therefore begin your sale with a smaller value added figure….you have only yourself to blame.

The good news, however, is that you can do something about it. But why should you – some may still ask? Here comes the next step….Please follow closely….Your energy reduction is about saving your business – not about saving the planet. Your energy awareness, measurement and reduction is about making your existing production more profitable.

There is absolutely no need or requirement to invoke or involve any environmental issues when focussing on the effectiveness of your production. Your primary goal in reducing energy is to increase margin and profit for your business. The undoubted environmental benefit happens to be secondary.

Step 1 – as I never tire of saying – is to measure. To manage is to measure and vica versa. Consider this: How many manufacturing operations today can show effective and ongoing measurement of their energy consumption? How many machines – presses – furnaces – can tell the user what their actual consumption of energy is? Per hour, per week, per month?  How many production machines have the simplest miles-per-gallon (mph) chronometer fitted, or preinstalled, when it comes to energy use.  Let’s be honest – for all our lip-service to environmental issues – we know full well the overwhelmingly negative character of these results to these questions.

Attitude is all – and change is challenging. And when it comes to energy questions, most people – businesses included – would rather focus on the negatives around the ‘how?’ rather than the why. Most feel defeated by the power of the utilities; the cost of machinery adaptation; the cost of workplace awareness; the risk in innovation; the price of oil and the instability in world affairs

A happy few are doing better. Some, a lot better.  We know, because Ceramicx core business is infrared heating. We are therefore right in the red zone of this issue – energy saving and energy management issues.

A key number of our clients  – typically heavy energy users with repeatable and identical process across a fleet of machines are working with us and with infrared heating primarily in order to get some relief from their large and increasing energy tariffs. We prove the concept on one machine – and then roll it out onto several identical others.

In truth though, there’s no need to wait until an unwanted energy bill forces a bank overdraft. Whatever your business size, take action now. Start to measure – and then reduce. The rewards will be considerable.

If you or someone you know has extensive experience of PLC programming, SCADA programming and HMI Interface then this is an opportunity not to be missed.

Download the job spec for further details: Engineering Job West Cork

Please contact cathal@ceramicx.com with your application and CV.

David Russell

Ceramicx is accordingly delighted to report on a pioneering company that is offering yet further ways to advance the process and the products made.

‘David Russell,’ says Wilson, ‘is doing revolutionary work in many thermoforming areas – not least in his campaigning for high pressure forming methods and also in the progress made with the T-Sim mould simulation software.  As suppliers of perhaps the most important part of the thermoforming process – the thermo/heat – we at Ceramicx are looking forward to combining our talents with him and taking the predictive expertise and accuracy of the process to new levels.’

David Russell responds that ‘the future of thermoforming has to be infrared-based. Not only for its cost-effectiveness but also for the great accuracy and directional control it offers in service. I look forward to working with Frank and the Ceramicx team in order to offer a number of new and improved solutions to the market.

Another key strand to Russell’s work in thermoforming is use of simulation software. ‘Compared to practices in the injection moulding world this is not as well known in thermoforming as it should be,’ he says. ‘Not only does greater quality and accuracy result – but thermoformers can save time, materials and money through using bespoke programmes such as T-Sim.

T-Sim is a simulation software package, which predicts the final wall thickness distribution of a thermoforming – before any moulds are cut. The package also quickly predicts the effect of design improvements. T-Sim designs and costs can be optimised for thermoformers and toolmakers on the computer within a few hours, start up times can be reduced and the minimum materials and cycles can be used from Day One.

Russell notes that the European continent is leading the way in embracing this technique and cost-saving measure. ‘The scientific route to design and cost management is always ultimately the most effective.’ Two European thermoformers of Russell’s acquaintance used simulation software on existing jobs and reported savings of 9% and 16%. ‘A 9% cost reduction,’ he notes, ‘multiplied by thousands or perhaps millions of mouldings, is a substantial amount of cash for a company to generate for themselves without the time and cost of shop-floor experimentation.’

Moreover – in simple terms – the T-Sim software lets designers, processors and engineers see – with a high degree of accuracy – what the product will look like before it is made. Russell adds that ‘the programme’s ‘what-if’ capability allows fast improvements to design and processing conditions to optimise the product — long before tools are cut.’

The latest version of T-Sim software for thermoforming offers something moulders have long awaited – automatic optimisation of plug design for best material distribution. T-Sim also gives 3D colour maps of thickness, temperature, stress and extension. 3D cuts allow investigation of thin areas for design modification. The results can be exported for structural analysis to Ansys, IGES, DXF, Cosmos/M, Patran and LS-Dyna files.  T-Sim can also pre-distort images for the in-mould decoration process.

the programme’s ‘what-if’ capability allows fast improvements to design and processing conditions to optimise the product -- long before tools are cut

Frank Wilson summarises that ‘It’s time – both technically and commercially – for thermformers to step up to ‘state-of-the-art’ practices and to compete at the highest levels. Many OEMs and buyers have no prejudice or even interest in how their plastics parts are made – just as long as they make the grade. With David Russell, we hope to be building thermoforming systems – bespoke and standard – that lack for nothing in terms of quality and fitness for purpose.’

Frank Wilson M.D. of Ceramicx

Ceramicx founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says that ‘this year’s K 2010 exhibition confirmed to us that a large part of the industry is ready for the message and ready to look at their heating methods and energy useage. The part that isn’t ready, will get left behind.’

Wilson says that ‘it still amazes me to note the number of thermformers who see no need to measure the energy consumption on their  machines. The ‘thermo’ and energy efficient needs in thermoforming are critical to the profitability of the whole operation.’

Ceramicx believes that upgrading the heating systems and platens to infrared-based technology in the coming year will be one of the smartest moves any plastics thermoformer could make. “Short term, replacing a whole machine may not be possible or even desirable. But for a very low outlay an upgrade to a fixed and expensive capital asset can be supplied. Not only can a new heating unit for itself within months but  also make the user 40% more margin on the production output.’

Wilson adds that ‘one typically never hears of mechanical issues in thermoforming – it’s all to do with the heat operation – issues of burn out; with electrical faults and with problems with older style and non-directional heating where the thermoforming operator is being continually forced to ramp up the power and the input electricity in order to try and maintain a temperature.’

Wilson says that a host of other factors will contribute to thermoformers wanting to realise more margin and more money via infrared from their fixed production, including:

• Major reduction in capital equipment wear and tear
• Like-for-like infrared for tubular replacements
• Elimination of ‘hot box’ tubular problems
• No need for changes in control or instrumentation
• Poor performing infra red to be replaced with superior platens
• Savings in directional heat
• Better resultant product quality
• Improved set up time and tool change time
• More complex parts possible
• Cooling requirements also reduced
• Matching of heating controls to polymers being processed
• Improved environment for operators

Wilson says that – judging at least from the feedback at K 2010 exhibition – 2011 should see many thermoformers making good New Year’s resolutions that throw out these wasteful old practices and ring in new modern methods of heating.  ‘Even installing a simple energy monitoring device – an energy ‘mileometer’ as I call it – is as good place a place as any to get some awareness of the energy issues.’

All further details of Ceramicx thermoforming infrared platen systems from Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.  www.ceramicx.com Tel. +353 2837510 Fax + 353 2837509    frank@ceramicx.com

Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Founder and Director says that ‘Ceramicx is delighted to be working with Elmec – a company which not only has a sales network throughout all of India, but which also offers the most complete heating product lines for the industry there. Elmec Heaters is one of the most sought after brands in India and it is now also positioning itself well in the global markets. ’

Elmec has more than one million heating designs and projects on file, to which will be added the Ceramicx expertise in infrared heating; including ceramic elements

Elmec business development director, S.Sundarraj explains that the plastics focus of the Plastivision exhibition in Mumbai will give India’s plastics industry an excellent showcase to try the Ceramicx infrared heating products: ‘India’s plastics thermoforming industries, for one, now have a first hand opportunity to see for themselves how they can make their products with even less energy – thanks to the energy-saving ceramic elements made by Ceramicx – and now supplied all over India by Elmec.’

The Indian manufacturing economy continues to show some bright spots within a cautious global manufacturing outlook. A tradition of smaller family-run manufacturing businesses now shows many more medium to large manufacturing businesses across the Indian continent. ‘The current experience is that our economy is booming,’ says Sundarraj. ‘especially from 2008. As well as increasing in scale, Indian manufacturing is also fast taking on all the disciplines and benefits of cost and quality improvements – including ISO schemes, JIT and Six Sigma work practices, CE and TUV marketing and so forth.’ Sundarraj adds that ‘the Ceramicx product – fully traceable – is completely in line with this trend to higher quality. The energy and cost saving of the Ceramicx product will also be very appealing to all kinds of buyers in India.’

Frank Wilson says that ‘Elmec will help us reach many of India’s growing band of enterprising manufacturers. At the Plastivision show in Mumbai, for example, we hope to meet many thermoformers who are still working hard to keep up with India’s growing industries – in automotive, telectronics and white and brown goods. We feel that the Ceramicx expertise in heat work and platens for large plastic thermoformed parts will be particularly welcome in the growing Indian market.’

S.Sundarraj comments that ‘we are very much looking forward to working with Ceramicx and to getting our first key Ceramicx sales in plastics at the Plastivision show next month. Throughout 2011, we predict that Elmec’s nationwide sales network and experience with infrared heating will work very positively with the superior Ceramicx infrared products. We look forward to updating Indian industry with all our news as we and Ceramicx go forward together.

Plasteurasia Exhibition

Leading international infrared heating specialist and manufacturer Ceramicx has made a successful debut with its new Turkish partner Ser Rezistans at Turkey’s annual Plasteurasia plastics exhibition this month, December 3-5.

Now in its twentieth year, Plasteurasia continues to grow and also to reflect Turkey’s status as one of the world’s most dynamic and growing plastics economies and locations for plastics processing. Ceramicx and Ser Rezistans used the show to present the company’s infrared heating portfolio to the Turkish markets and to aim the products directly at the country’s expanding thermoforming businesses.

The distinctive Ceramicx logo was hung in plain view of the entrance to the Plasteurasia exhibition and Hasan Duman of Ser Rezistans reports a very positive reception for the company. ‘We offer a very wide range of heating products for the plastics sector. The addition of Ceramicx expertise in infrared technology and in heating for thermoformers gives us a very commanding position in the marketplace.’

Ceramicx founder and director Frank Wilson says that ‘it’s important for Ceramicx to have a solid presence in one of the worlds most expansive manufacturing economies. We are really looking forward to developing

Hasan explains that ‘Ser Rezistans is one of the fastest growing supplier company in the Turkish market – not least because of our commitment to values of hard work and integrity. This year’s PlastEurasia exhibition showed everyone the strength of our plastics industry relationships worldwide – from America to Ireland, Italy and Middle East region. Some of biggest Turkish names in brown and white goods production visited our stand this year – wanting to know more about how our heating solutions could help their production.’

Hasan add that ‘the Turkish infrared market is hungry for products that can demonstrate very good quality and show an excellent performance/price ratio. With Ceramicx now in our portfolio, our Ser Rezistans sales opportunities are very much expanded. And – on a personal level –  I very much admire the Ceramicx full traceability system for its infrared products. It gives its partners and associates much confidence and I sure that it is leading the way – in Turkey and elsewhere.’

Following the success at Plasteurasia, Hasan says that ‘one of our primary aftermarket sales targets will be producers of thermoforming machines in Turkey. Also included in our marketing will be anyone who uses plastic thermoforming machine in their manufacturing process –  especially Turkey’s packaging industries. The Ceramicx quartz and halogen heater series will also give us some good sales and marketing opportunities in the areas of textile; printing, paint drying, curing and other operation.’ Hasan points out that the overall Turkish marketplace has much diversity and opportunity. ‘Turkey has the fourth biggest plastic industry market in the world –  and Turkey GDP continues to outpace most other economies over the last eight years,’

Ceramicx is preparing to gear expanded output to a range of international markets for 2011. Wilson says that ‘Ceramicx technology can help  - in particular for all kinds of plastics thermoforming – in relation to engineering; curing and heat processing of many materials and products  - to the highest temperatures – and in relation to all domestic heating markets through our Comfort IR range of heaters. Developing local consumption, downstream industries, new grades and applications and providing process optimisation for all this work is now the order of the day for many markets throughout the world.’

Last month’s triennial K exhibition – best ever for Ceramicx – saw the company receiving a rising volume of applications engineering enquiries for infrared know-how; products and expertise. Wilson expects a number of projects to emerge from Turkey via Ser Rezistans: ‘Turkish manufacturing is in a positive place – with open opportunities for its understanding and application of infrared heating,’ says Wilson, ‘The K exhibition showed us that there are large numbers of innovators in plastics – all seeking places to produce. Turkey is fast becoming a plastics processing location of choice.’

Director and Founder Frank Wilson says that ‘the Arab Plast exhibition in Dubai, January 8-11 will herald the start of the Ceramicx campaign in the Middle East region, in order to establish our infrared heating expertise; plastics industry expertise and all kinds of applications engineering for infrared technology.’

Frank Wilson spent much of his childhood years in Libya  – growing up with the development of the oil and gas industries in the Middle East and getting to know various neighbouring countries.
‘My own personal experience is grounded in the commercial and cultural traditions of the region. And our practice here at Ceramicx is very much in tune with the need to deliver quality, service and value for money. We learnt last month at the K 2010 exhibition that many countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Libya, Kuwait, Bahrain and others are fully intent on developing their local industries and not just supplying polymer to the world. Successful Middle Eastern economies will use 2011 to continue to invest wisely in downstream plastics and industrial infrastructure.’

Ceramicx is now therefore inviting local agents, resellers and distributors to join the effort in spreading best heating technology throughout the region. The Ceramicx industrial range including Ceramic heaters, Quartz heaters, Quartz Tungsten heaters, Reflectors, PAS’s, dust press components and systems. For plastics, the Ceramicx solutions are focused primarily on the thermoforming industry, both for cut-sheet and inline.

Wilson points out that ‘right now there are good opportunities for agents/distributors already selling process heating components to the plastics and rubber markets. We also know that the Middle East countries have many opportunities in the paint and applications engineering areas. Ceramicx works for a large number of industries throughout the world in a wide variety of climates and conditions and the correct Middle Eastern distributor can take advantage of all our international experience in supplying solutions.’

Ceramicx supplies the full range of infrared heating option. Free training on infrared will be offered in Ireland along with sales/marketing support and with content  ‘Key distributors have a full sales and marketing role to play – not least through our new magazine HeatWorks which will also be distributed through the region.’

Ceramicx has much to offer emerging and growing industries in plastics processing – also heating solutions for new and developing industrial infrastructures; jobs and technology for Middle Eastern home markets. Wilson says that ‘Ceramicx technology can help  – in particular for all kinds of plastics thermoforming – in relation to engineering; curing and heat processing of many materials and products  – to the highest temperatures – and in relation to all domestic heating markets through our Comfort IR range of heaters. Developing local consumption, downstream industries, new grades and applications and providing process optimisation for all this work is now the order of the day in many countries here.’

Wilson adds that ‘right now, many Middle Eastern economies are preparing themselves with the means for quality standards, manufacturing and learning; principally for plastics production and manufacturing. It is only a matter of time before the Middle East becomes a net exporter of plastics goods as well as polymer. Now is the perfect time for these markets to equip themselves with the best heating sources for their production needs.’

Last month’s triennial K exhibition – best ever for Ceramicx – saw the company receiving a rising volume of applications engineering enquiries for infrared know-how; products and expertise. Wilson expects the same from the Middle Eastern markets: ‘The manufacturing world still has far to go in its understanding and application of infrared heating,’ says Wilson, ‘but we were very pleasantly surprised at the numbers of innovators – high-end research and development and mass production – that had discussion time with us at the K show. We expect a similar pattern of enquiry in Dubai next month.’

The K exhibition also confirmed and supported the Ceramicx ideas and plans for energy-content-per-part being measured on thermoforming machines. Ceramicx’s Frank Wilson believes that this energy monitoring benchmark is shortly set to separate the quality machine producer from the poor-quality producer and that distributors can play their part in communicating the message.  In many ways the Middle East has the opportunity to make a fresh start without having to clear out inefficient and energy-wasting production. We look forward to meeting distributors at Arabplast in order to help spread that message throughout the region.’

All further details from

Frank Wilson
Managing Director
www.ceramicx.com
Tel. +353 2837510
Fax + 353 2837509
frank@ceramicx.com

Lynda und Amanda

We at Ceramicx would like to welcome the new staff, who have joined the team this year. First we would like to welcome Amanda Murphy a recent Business Administration graduate from CIT. Amanda is apprenticed to Gráinne and will be working with our customers to process your sales and organise logistics. She may also be handy for a few tickets come September as she holds 4 all-Ireland gold medals in senior ladies football for Cork.

We would also like to welcome many new staff to our production team this year and are also delighted that Lynda Whelton has returned after her maternity leave on a part time basis to work in quality and production development.

We would also like to welcome Mossy who will be handling customer complaints, security, and waste disposal and just generally making a nuisance of himself. He is a 12 week old Boxer pup owned by Frank. He currently enjoys chewing on shoes, peeing in the corner of the office and eating everything.

Mossie

Frank Wilson - Founder and managing director of Ceramicx

It gives me great pleasure to share with you that for the past few months Ceramicx has been working with several blue chip manufacturing companies in the service of Ireland’s new manufacturing ICMR competence centre funded by Enterprise Ireland.  Businesses such as Intel, DePuy, Bombardier and Boston Scientific have been helping create a framework that will better serve our manufacturing and industrial future. Needless to say, the events of recent days have made that need all the more compelling.

The ICMR and indeed I2E2 has been an interesting experience for us all – brought all the more sharply into focus by the fresh challenges that the nation now faces. In some ways it has been a privilege for me to be the only small to medium sized manufacturing company at the table, in other ways it is a sadness, and a caution.

At the risk of being contentious it seems no accident to me that the strongest and most successful economy in Europe – Germany – has by far the largest number of owner-occupied manufacturing businesses in its economy. Owner occupied businesses hold their destiny more closely in their hands – make decisions in a different way and are more likely to remain closer to the ground, to the communities and the national ground in which they grew up in.

Part of our current challenge in Ireland involves creating conditions for SMEs to thrive, take risks, and back themselves to make the hard yards. Business skills within large multinationals tend to become very specialized. From what I have learned in the competence center, multinationals have the resources to put people in careers and allow them to drill down vertically for miles and miles, amassing very detailed knowledge, specialization and building residual value in one or two subjects. People who work in a small to medium sized company need, very quickly, to become expert in ‘horizontal drilling’ – looking across the horizon and the environment in order to find solutions faster. They may not always have the very best solution but often the attitude “the enemy of very good is better” has to be taken so the next project or situation can be dealt with.

The ideal business I believe has a mixture of both the specialization and the flexibility. This is a very difficult balance to maintain however, without tipping specifically in one direction or the other. It is my hope that through the competence center we at Ceramicx will be able to learn more about specialization and drilling down into a manufacturing process in order to build specialization and residual value into our company for the long-term. Truth to tell, a successful company that lasts the test of time involves both approaches -  the drill-down approach of multinationals to process and manufacturing structure – but also the flexibility of SMEs in relation to markets, sales and general outlook.

In these difficult times I would suggest that our economy, the businesses in it – and the Government agencies as far as they can -  need to increase communications work with each other and challenge every small to medium business to do better and build long term value into their companies. Remember that the small to medium enterprise most often has no other place to go but Ireland. We should make the health of Irish SME manufacturing a key focus of our manufacturing revival from this moment on.

The Ceramicx team (right) and Freek team (left) on their joint stand together at the K 2010 plastics exhibition in Dusseldorf this Autumn

Leading international heating systems specialist and manufacturer Ceramicx enjoyed its best ever K plastics exhibition in Dusseldorf earlier this month.

Over three hundred enquiries were received from all corners of the global plastics market; the company’s new magazine Heat Works sold out from the stand before the end of the show and the Ceramicx infrared heat testing rig for plastics saw plenty of action throughout the eight days of the triennial show.

The bulk of enquiries for Ceramicx products and services were related to the company’s infrared heating technology for the thermoforming of plastics. Ceramicx founder and director Frank Wilson says that ‘it’s still early days, but the international plastics thermoforming community appears to be waking up to the news that energy-per-part produced will be a defining benchmark for manufacturing and consumers from now on. Tomorrow’s heating systems will need to become measurably more efficient and deliver on that score. We at Ceramicx are doing our part by producing the most efficient infrared heating elements and systems available.’

The K plastics show attracted 220,000 visitors – a figure that was 10% up on the numbers expected by the Dusseldorf show organisers. The Ceramicx exhibition experience reflected general global trends in the industry: ‘The internationalisation of plastics manufacturing continues to grow,’ says Wilson. ‘We received increased interest from Far Eastern manufacturing – China and Korea in particular and India currently is clearly a growing force in global manufacturing. The German economy also continues to recover strongly from the credit crunch.’

Ceramicx also received a good spread of applications engineering enquiries for infrared know-how; products and expertise. ‘The manufacturing world still has far to go in its understanding and application of infrared heating,’ says Wilson, ‘but we were very pleasantly surprised at the numbers of innovators – high-end research and development and mass production – that had discussion time with us at the K show. We hope to share news of plenty of new infrared projects in the course of the coming months.’

Machinecraft a good quality family owned Indian Thermoforming Machine producer has been a valued customer of Ceramicx for over twenty years. At K 2010 Machinecraft was very interested to hear about the Ceramicx energy-content-per-part ideas. Machinecraft will now begin to examine the possibility of taking up this energy monitoring approach in the manufacture of their own equipment.

Ureatac Co Ltd a leading thermoforming machinery producer from South Korea was located in a stand close by to Ceramicx and partner Freek. Uretac has been a prime customer of Ceramicx in recent years. Uretac focus mainly on the production of a quartz-based thermoforming machine and again were very receptive to the idea of energy-content-per-part being measured on their machines.

Ceramicx received many good applications engineering enquiries at the K exhibition from companies around the world with significant interest received from India and Germany. Project ideas ranged from industries as diverse as energy conservation, energy production, plastics, food, steel, textiles and many other sectors.

The K exhibition confirmed and supported the Ceramicx ideas and plans for energy-content-per-part being measured on thermoforming machines. Ceramicx’s Frank Wilson believes that this energy monitoring benchmark is shortly set to separate the quality machine producer from the poor-quality producer – ‘and also the quality infrared heater manufacturer from the poor quality infrared heater manufacturer. In our view that day can’t come soon enough.

All further details from Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.
www.ceramicx.com Tel. +353 2837510 Fax + 353 2837509    frank@ceramicx.com

Infrared heat at K-Show 2010

Tadhg Whooley (red shirt) left explains some of the finer points of infrared heating of plastics to visiting delegation to the Ceramicx stand at the K show. The testing rig has been a central talking point this week – able to prove directly to customers which kinds of infrared heating are most suitable for the thermoforming of their plastics.

Founder and director Frank Wilson believes that his company’s ceramic elements now lead the world – ‘for quality, for product traceability and value for money. Anyone who purchases an element from us is secure in the knowledge that they have also purchased the heat performance metrics for that exact product – and that those product performance metrics are open and available to the customer – online and at any time.’ Ceramicx will be showing the workings of this new QA facility in full on its stand at the K 2010 international plastics exhibition in Dusselfdorf next week. (Hall 11 Stand A01).

And the Ceramicx elements thus produced are currently being reviewed this week as a part of a peer group review of infrared heating elements. The study is being conducted by University of Duisburg Essen in Germany.

‘We are extremely optimistic as to the outcome of this latest Duisburg review – so much so that we are hoping to make the review results part of our sales and marketing strategy at the K 2010 show next week,’ says Wilson. ‘These factors of product reliability and quality are essentials in the infrared heating world,’ adds Wilson. ‘We at Ceramicx intend to consolidate our position of leadership and dependability throughout our world markets.’

The core of the new quality assurance (QA) work centres on developing systems of more closely specified nominal wattage tolerances for the ceramic and quartz electrical elements through the range of Ceramicx products.
The semi automated validation system with closed-loop process-control is now both guaranteeing the product quality – and assigning and recording performance characteristics for each part as it is produced.

Four key validation stages are now part of the new Ceramicx QA system:

The Flash test: This QA test allows the electrical integrity of the insulating materials to be verified and is designed to catch manufacturing defects that could otherwise lead to exposed electrical heating elements and wires.

Nominal tolerance: This QA test will establish the degree to which the actual wattage of a given product deviates from its rated wattage and can assist in reducing large variations.

Load test: For this test, the product is energised with high-voltage electrical power to rapidly elevate its temperature. The measured temperature reached within a given timeframe then allows the functionality of the product to be assessed.

Thermal analysis: After reaching the target temperature, IR images of the product are then recorded in order to provide for a visual inspection of the heating element within. These images are unique for each product tested – are matched to that product’s serial number – and are traceable. These images will also be statistically analysed by the test software to determine the heat distribution across the product – and identify hot or cold spots. And for models with built-in thermocouples, the integrity, operation and placement of these thermocouples will also be validated.

‘We have succeeded in creating a transparent quality and product traceability process here,’ says Wilson, ‘and we are now already setting our sights on other kinds of manufacturing targets and future technical developments.’

Ceramicx and the University of Limerick have been aided by Enterprise Ireland as part of the Innovation partnership program. The work has provided ‘win-win’ outcomes for both organisations. The University has been enabled to take its research and project expertise into the manufacturing and commercial marketplace. Ceramicx has been able to leverage the University’s in-house competencies to research, identify and measure current process variations.

All further details from Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.
www.ceramicx.com | Tel. +353 2837510 | Fax + 353 2837509  |  frank@ceramicx.com

Ceramicx Infrared Testing Rig

Leading international heating systems specialist and manufacturer Ceramicx has this week completed an infrared heating test rig that will be able to immediately characterise the process heat performance for plastic sheet and film materials. The infrared heat testing service will be available free of charge at the Ceramicx stand for the K 2010 exhibition.

Ceramicx Founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says that ‘the time is right for many energy and cost conscious plastics processors to make the change to infrared heating of plastics. Many processors will be scouring K 2010 exhibition for heating solutions – and here therefore is a way for them to bring their own sheet and film into us for a free test trial.’ The Infrared heat testing will tell the visiting client what the material is capable of -  in terms of its heat absorption, reflection and transmission.

The K 2010 infrared heating test rig comprises of three sections in order to get the most out of the visitor plastics across three infrared heat sources; ceramic-based; quartz-based and halogen tungsten based. These offer long-wave, medium-wave and short-wave radiation wave lengths respectively – and the effects on the visitors plastic can be witnessed within 90 seconds or so of testing.

All three heat sources will be applied in parallel to three separated plastics test pieces. The Ceramicx K infrared heating test rig is particularly suitable for processors who are changing to an infrared heating source. The most interested parties are likely to be thermoformers needing more performance from their machines – and also needing to reduce energy cost and utility bills. Various factors such as pre-heating; test time and operating temperatures will be able to be set and defined by the visiting user to the Ceramicx K 2010 stand.

Ceramicx is also keen to encourage producers and processors of newer bio-materials and plastics recyclate to approach the free test service with their new materials. Frank Wilson says that ‘we know that K 2010 will be launching some significant new ‘natural’ polymers from the biggest materials players in the industry – and we fully intend to offer our infrared heat testing services to those new biopolymers. In addition, we are here to help those who are make 2nd life polymers from whatever source – helping them to further define what king of effective heat processing polymer recyclate needs in order to enjoy a useful 2nd life as product. In plastics processing, the more process information one has – the better.’

Client samples should ideally be supplied to the Ceramicx stand in a sheet or film thickness range of up to 4mm thick; and 85mm wide and 250mm long.  Plastic cutting and shaping facilities will be available on the stand.

Ceramicx believes that K 2010 is going  to be remembered for its focus on energy efficiency and for other ecological  processing solutions. Many future developments at the company are being prepared with this in mind. Frank Wilson of Ceramicx says that ‘a low carbon future is simply an inevitable direction in manufacturing worldwide. Many of the companies that Ceramicx  wants to meet at K 2010 are those that see energy-useage and monitoring as a major factor.’

Ceramicx routinely promotes  the measurement of  energy content in its own work and also through the encouragement of energy  monitoring ideas throughout plastics thermoforming – including measuring part-energy content.

For further information on Ceramicx and Freek at the K Show  please see www.kshow2010.com

All  further details from Ceramicx, Frank Wilson, Managing Director.  www.ceramicx.com , Tel.  +353 28 37510, Fax + 353 28 37509, frank@ceramicx.com

The 18th K international plastics exhibition takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany from October 27 to November 3, daily from 10.00am to 6.30pm. Ceramicx and Freek will be jointly exhibiting in Hall 11 – Stand A-01.

As with most things, you just have to scratch the situation just a little and the picture can then look a whole look different.

Most commodity plastics today are a by-product of the oil and gas industry. The leading companies – suppliers of materials – in both sectors, are often related to each other. And by no stretch of the imagination could they be said to have effectively done a good job of work – either with the environment – or in communicating with the public.

We all can see that alternative energy – hybrid cars – alternative fuel and power sources – is on the rise and rightly so. It seems simply a matter of time – albeit it decades – as the planet reduces a dependence on oil based fossil fuels.

However, and that said, we can only start from where we are: The past few years have seen many misconstrued and knee-jerk measures applied in relation to plastics. These reactions have happened mainly in order to curry favour – votes or money – with the buying public. The measures include plastic bag taxes and much of the fossil fuel energy itself expended in attempts to boost mechanical recycling. Only this month has it become apparent, for example, to supermarket Tesco that it needs to call a halt to the lightweighting of its checkout bags – since the customer shopping is simply just falling through onto the floor.

It never ceases to amaze me that politicians, producers and consumers never want to recall that a ten mile ride in their car is equivalent to one whole year’s supply of checkout plastic bags. Somehow, foregoing the use of the car – to the supermarket – never seems to compare with flaunting a so-called ‘bag for life’ at the checkout.

And looking at the larger picture, plastics and packaging have made possible some large scale and positive resource savings possible in recent years: To look at but one sector – agriculture. Like it or not, the sight of a hay bale wrapped in sileage film is a commonplace. We can be sure that the development is saving the industry resources and money. Wider examples are commonly quoted. For example, it is estimated that some 40% of Russian agricultural output would be wasted, were it not for plastics packaging. And there is nothing more wasteful than the scrapping of finished produce or product.

The truth is that – notable exceptions notwithstanding – the world of industry and commerce is a pretty good taskmaster when it comes to not paying for goods and services that it doesn’t need. That includes packaging – plastics packaging and over packaging.

At Ceramicx, however, we believe that the best is yet to come, and we are playing our part in helping industry to further reduce its scrap and its faulty packaging so that it is truly fit for purpose.

We also believe in stopping energy wastage at source: The less energy – carbon footprint – you put into making a product, the less expensive it will be on the environment and on all of us. One of our key skills – through the art and science of infrared heating methods – is to help manufacturers further reduce the energy content of that packaging.

At the end of October we will be exhibiting these skills at the world’s leading plastics exhibition, K 2010 in Dusseldorf, Germany. We hope to inform and educate the plastics industry gathered there that there is way of making their essential products with less energy.

Meantime, spare a thought for the humble plastic bag. Like all of us, it’s trying to do a good job of work – often taking on more, with fewer resources.

The new Ceramicx video was shot in High Definition on location at the Ceramicx main factory in Gortnagrough, West Cork and was produced by London-based Ossian TV. The main thrust of the narrative emphasises the features and benefits of used infrared technology and heat sources in various kinds of industrial production – with special emphasis on plastics thermoforming.

The Ceramicx video runs for a total of three minutes and 18 seconds;  is now beginning to ‘chart’ on youtube.com; takes pride of place on the Ceramicx company website,  and is already drawing positive reaction from customers and the trade generally.

The new video will also be a feature of the Ceramicx stand and exhibiting presence at the world’s triennial plastics fair in Dusseldorf at the end of October 2010.:Ceramicx will be promoting its infrared expertise there together with German heating experts Friedr Freek in Hall 11, A-01.

Ceramicx founder Frank Wilson says that ‘we live in a multi media world – and at Ceramicx we realised the need to establish a presence in this area with a crisp and concise production. We decided to create something that not only tells the Ceramicx story but also relays the increasing power of infrared heating technology. Ossian TV have more than fulfilled our brief – being both creative in their vision of the project and extremely professional in their execution of the various tasks involved; on budget and on schedule.’

Wilson adds that ‘the K 2010 plastics exhibition show for sure  – coming but once every three years  – has been the catalysis for our new video. We have a great deal to offer the plastics manufacturing markets worldwide and the new video – together with our new company magazine  – Heat Works – will help get that marketing job done in Dusseldorf and beyond.’

The company’s new magazine Heat Works –now available on request from the company – has also been launched by Ceramicx in good time for the K exhibition which opens its doors on Wednesday October 27th. ‘We wanted a means.’ says Wilson, ‘of communicating infrared heating issues and topics in a compelling and colourful way. We found a lack of precedent in this regard and so we decided to take the opportunity to create Heat Works fit for the task.’

The launch issue of Heat Works runs to 28 pages – including covers – and features articles on the US, Chinese and German markets as well as pieces on the K show, Ceramicx and infrared heating generally. An important part of the magazine is the Ceramicx product catalogue section which lays out in detail the various arrays and combinations of ceramic, quartz, quartz tungsten heating products now available from the company.  A significant part of the launch print run will be sent to existing and potential customers; inviting them to visit Ceramicx and K 2010 and to reference the product catalogue for future ordering purposes. UK and Irish customers will also be able to do this online.

In the foreword to the new magazine Frank Wilson notes that ‘during the course of our work it often seems remarkable to us that the modern world often continues to look back when it comes to heat science and heat technology.  At Ceramicx, for example, we see many who are still baffled by the tried and tested methods of Infrared heating: The list may surprise you – it includes blue-chip international companies; university educators, industrial engineers and the general public.

The times we now live in, however, and the increasing urgency of the energy-conscious social agenda mean that a change is on its way:  Ceramicx is part of that change  – as illustrated here in the pages of this magazine; on our website and in other parts of our daily work. The bottom line for all is that a better understanding of the use of energy and heat resources can only be beneficial for everyone. The world now needs low-carbon products and low energy manufacturing – period. Necessity will increasingly be the mother of invention in conforming to the new standard. We all have no option but to work better and get more from our power, heat and other precious non-renewable resources.’

Ceramicx is now busy preparing its live plastics heating demonstration rig for the K 2010 show: This will give provide visitors with a live materials testing system that will  demonstrate the infrared heating effect and its parameters on different kinds of plastics using different  heaters. ‘Ceramicx and Freek challenge anyone worldwide with a moulding or thermoforming or plastics heat processing issue to come to us at the K 2010 show – have the material sample worked with -  and get the best heatwork advice available.’ says Wilson. ‘Many many plastics  processors, for example, have still yet to appreciate the difference that  different infrared sources can make to their operations – and many new  materials producers – particularly in the new biopolymer area are still  searching for optimum processability.’

Ceramicx believes that K 2010 is going  to be remembered for its focus on energy efficiency and for other ecological  processing solutions. Many future developments at the company are being prepared with this in mind. Frank Wilson of Ceramicx says that ‘a low carbon future is simply an inevitable direction in manufacturing worldwide. Many of the companies that Ceramicx  wants to meet at K 2010 are those that see energy-useage and monitoring as a  major factor.  Ceramicx is right at home  with the new energy agenda. We promote the ideas through the measurement of  energy content in our own work and also through the encouragement of energy  monitoring ideas throughout thermoforming – including measuring part-energy content.’

For further information on Ceramicx and Freek at the K Show please see www.kshow2010.com

All  further details from Ceramicx, Frank Wilson, Managing Director.   www.ceramicx.com
Tel.  +353 28 37510, Fax + 353 28 37509, frank@ceramicx.com

All further details from Freek, Stefan Düllmann, Marketing &  Development. www.freek.de
Tel +49 2373  9590-16, Fax +49 2373 959030, s.duellmann@freek.de

The 18th K international plastics exhibition takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany from October 27 to November 3, daily from 10.00am to 6.30pm. Ceramicx and Freek will be jointly exhibiting in Hall 11 – Stand A-01.

Heating solutions for plastic thermoformers will be central to the Ceramicx exhibition at K 2010

Leading  international heating systems specialist and manufacturer Ceramicx has  finalised its exhibition details with German heating experts Freek for their joint exhibition stand in Hall 11, A-01 at the  prestigious K 2010 triennial plastics industry exhibition. K 2010 runs at the  Dusseldorf Messe, Germany, from Wednesday October 27th to Wednesday November  3rd.

Ceramicx founder Frank Wilson says that ‘we realise full well  that much of the plastics sector has been waiting until K 2010 in order to  review the latest that plastics technology can offer. We hope to raise more  than a stir in the worldwide plastics thermoforming industries where our  infrared heating solutions and machine retrofits in that regard are putting  back the profit for thermoforming processors.’

At K 2010 Ceramicx will  accordingly provide an extensive range of infrared heaters:  And thanks to  pioneering work just completed at the company’s main plant, all of these now  come supplied with complete traceability and operating information that  exceeds anything else available on the market. ‘Every single one of our  heaters is now traceable and its performance available for analysis on an  individual basis – online, anytime,’ says Wilson. Ceramicx will be  demonstrating the power of this traceability and the heating performance data  live on screen at the show.  All of the company’s products and services  will feature in a newly commissioned HD digital film that will be viewable at  the show.

Says Wilson, ‘the international character of the K 2010 show  always suits us very well. Our visitors are always very pleased to find out  that we provide a service and delivery time to anywhere in the world that  always exceeds expectations’  Ceramicx is also fast becoming a world  leader in providing infrared applications engineering know-how for the largest  blue-chip manufacturers in the world down to the smallest ‘heat work’  applications.

K 2010 will see the plastics industry able to  purchase a range of ceramic heaters, quartz heaters and, quartz halogen/quartz tungsten  heaters from the Ceramicx/Freek stand.

The Ceramicx/Freek stand will  also provide visitors with a live materials testing system that will  demonstrate the heating effect on different kinds of plastics using different  heaters. ‘Ceramicx and Freek challenge anyone with a moulding or thermoforming heat processing issue to come to us – have the material sample worked with -  and get the best heatwork advice available.’ says Wilson. ‘Many many plastics  processors, for example, have still yet to appreciate the difference that  different infrared sources can make to their operations – and many new  materials producers – particularly in the new biopolymer area are still  searching for optimum processability

Ceramicx’s exhibiting partner  Freek will have most heating bases covered when it comes to issues of  injection moulding heating, hot runners and other systems. Freek’s extensive  product range at K 2010 will include Nozzle Heaters (HotMicroCoils); Cartridge  heaters; Tubular heaters; IR elements; flat heating elements (panel heaters)  in mica, silicon (incl. drum heaters), polyester and kapton and thermosensors  and temparature controlers. Freek also plans to bring its notebook based TIM  IR camera system in order to help show off the benefits of heating  generally.

Nozzle heating innovation from Friedr Freek at the K 2010 exhibition

Chief among the Freek new products at K 2010 is the  company’s revolutionary patent pending nozzle heater design (please see attached picture) .
Freek director Stefan Kaiser explains that ‘our recent patent application here has been necessary in  order to emphasise our product difference and superiority to various kinds of  rogue copies already on the market. The simplicity and effectiveness of our  design will appeal to all of those mould makers or hotrunner manufacturer  visiting the K 2010 show. The newest addition to the Freek nozzle heater family is a classic illustration of our development philosophy -  “simple is best”.’

Kaiser adds that ‘our innovation principles are testament to the enduring success of our simple reflection tube heating systems.  We believe that these still represent the benchmark for the industry – versatile, current and cost-effective.’

Freek will also show some of its work in its shape  memory alloys, ThermoLock and ThermoDrive. ‘This is a long term project’  says Kaiser. We want to  be totally sure that the alloy keeps its attributes in a steady state under  high-temperature working conditions. To gain more security in regard to  high-temperature operation we are participating in a funded SMA network  bringing together producers, processors, users and research  institutes.

Both Ceramicx and Freek are well aware that K 2010 is going  to be remembered for its focus on energy efficiency and for ecological  processing solutions. Frank Wilson of Ceramicx says that ‘this is an  inevitable direction in manufacturing worldwide. The companies that Ceramicx  wants to meet at K 2010 are those that see energy-useage and monitoring as a  major factor in equipment construction of any kind. Ceramicx is right at home  with the low carbon future. We promote the ideas through the measurement of  energy content in our own work and also through the encouragement of energy  monitoring ideas throughout thermoforming – including measuring part-energy  content.’ The differences in energy savings between the ceramicx product and  other similar/competing products on the market, ceramic products in particular  are significant.

For its part, Freek is firstly looking forward to  greeting the hotrunner manufacturers visiting K 2010. Says Kaiser, ‘they need  heating solutions from back to front: bushing heaters, channel heaters and  nozzle heaters – especially the latter. The injection moulders themselves are  also a key audience. Part of the appeal of the K exhibition is the great  diversity of industries and applications that use process heat. Within  polymers – and in addition to thermoforming and injection moulding – there are  a multitude of heat processes, such as sealing, welding, labelling, drying who  could all find solutions on the stand we share with Ceramicx.’

Both  companies are optimistic about the future of plastics processing and about the  centrality of the K exhibition in driving the industry forward. Ceramicx has  seen a general surge in demand for its quality-based infrared engineering and  products. Freek also has posted growth figures this year and sees the general  expansion for plastics continuing. Freek characterises the low-carbon  industrial future as one of “resource saving” – ‘a mega trend,’ says Kaiser,  ‘that focuses on both energy and materials. It also explains the  miniaturization trend in our industry.  Miniaturization has been one of  two major impacting developments at Freek. The other has been what we call  “Xtreme Development”. Examples include: Hotcoil heaters for 400V supply,  Hotcoil heaters 1250V load tested and HighPower Hotcoils 1800 mm long.

Freek’s latest miniature heating production includes a tubular  heater of diameter. 3,3 mm and 3×3 mm. ‘This product was presented at the end of last year’s  Fakuma show,’ says Kaiser, ‘yet is also a high potential product in our this  years K show exhibition. It’s available in stainless steel and nickel and made  for miniature hotrunner channels.’  Kaiser says that ‘Freek still makes  the smallest compact heating available in the market – and with appealing  price-performance ratios to match.  The Freek Microcoil dia. 1,3 mm and  the 1,0×1,6 mm are now produced with the same process routine and reliability  as the bigger size standard dia. 1,8 mm resp. 1,3×2,3 mm.  significantly.

Wilson and Kaiser agree that the industry has much to look  forward to in Dusseldorf in late October. ‘For anyone involved in processing  and heat work,’ says Wilson, ‘our joint stand will be big on practicality and  provability: Between both companies there isn’t much that we don’t know about  the heat forming of plastics – and we hope to show those skills in depth to  the visitors at K 2010 in Dusseldorf this year, October 27-November 3.

For further information on Ceramicx and Freek at the K Show please see www.kshow2010.com

All  further details from Ceramicx, Frank Wilson, Managing Director.

www.ceramicx.com , Tel.  +353 28 37510, Fax + 353 28 37509, frank@ceramicx.com

All further details from Freek, Stefan Düllmann, Marketing &  Development.

www.freek.de Tel +49 2373  9590-16, Fax +49 2373 959030, s.duellmann@freek.de

The 18th K international plastics exhibition takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany from October 27 to November 3, daily from 10.00am to 6.30pm. Ceramicx and Freek will be jointly exhibiting in Hall 11 – Stand A-01.

A view of the new Weco/Ceramicx oven platen at santa fe custom skylights

Leading US building products manufacturer Santa Fe Custom Skylights has been reaping the benefit of a successful changeover to infrared-heating thanks to expertise supplied by Weco International and infrared heating manufacturer Ceramicx.

The Santa Fe, New Mexico-based plastics thermoformer has recouped all of its infrared investment within a twelve month period and at a rate of 30% savings on energy. Over this period cycle times have been reduced, energy bills and scrap rates have been lowered as has downtime. Moreover, the retrofit design of new heating system -  control design, zone layout and ceramic emitter selection – has been done in modular fashion and has allowed Custom Skylights to use multiple tools and material types within a single thermoforming line.

Custom Skylights owner Jeff Apodaca says ‘we bought a gas oven a year before switching to Infrared technology via Ceramicx and Weco. We put  a lot of money into it and it didn’t work: we had hot and cold spots, there was no way to control the temperature,  as we needed to continually use it throughout the day. The oven simply kept getting hotter and hotter and we therefore ended up burning a lot of plastic. In addition there was no way to adjust the temperature for heavier gauge acrylic. After a year and day of burn outs, replacement parts and an expired warranty we decided that enough was enough’

Apodaca says that Custom Skylights needed to make a radical change in its heat sourcing.  ‘We knew that we needed a new oven and so we decided to attend a thermoforming conference organised by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and educate ourselves before making another costly decision. At the conference we spoke to several oven manufacturers, and they all leaned towards the IR option for our application. However it was Weco’s ability to test our product samples; provide data analysis and designs that convinced us to buy from them.

Apodaca adds that ‘with this new IR oven we have not had a single day down since it was installed, and it runs 8 hrs a day we can now easily dial in the temperature required and cook different gauges of plastics knowing that our products will come out right the first time, it has cut our production time by 2/3 compared to our old cal rod and gas system, it has greatly reduced the energy consumption and eliminated the plastic loss due to un proper heat distribution.

Weco International Vice President for Technical Sales, Ted Rosingana, points out that incoloy-based heating – eg cal rods, metal sheaths, tubes – are inefficient over their lifetime and provide little directional energy to the material at hand.

‘Emissivity – as opposed to temperature – is the key criteria,’ he notes.  ‘An Incoloy-based emitter’s emissivity – ie  – the ability of a surface to emit infrared energy compared to that of a black body at the same temperature and with the same area – typically starts its life at 70%. However, after 6-12 months of runtime this reduces down to 35-40%.  A Ceramicx brand Hollow Ceramic element, however,  begins usage at 96% emissivity – and at end of life remains at over 70%.’

Expressed another way: 100 watts of energy going through a used incoloy emitter produces only 35 watts of energy as infrared directional energy compared to 96 watts from the Ceramicx element. The remaining energy is convection (rising heat energy) and light energy.  In the Custom Skylights previous production situation which allowed for top side heating, the material was absorbing little energy from the old incoloy heating system and much of the energy was lost to convection. Directional energy (IR) is especially important when heaters are located above the target.   Without moving air it would be impossible to utilize the convection energy of an incoloy-based heater when it is above the target.  The convection energy rises and is lost to the surrounding environment. With infrared heating the directional energy is “directed” towards the target and absorbed – thus effectively using the energy the customer is paying for in each electric bill.

In terms of physical size, incoloy heaters are typically long, spanning the width of an oven sometimes in excess of 50 -60 inches. This provides very little zone control.  The heaters are typically slow to reach set temperature and the surface temperature will vary significantly across its entire length.  A ceramic-based heater has a much smaller surface area and can be individually controlled or grouped to create multiple heat control zones within the oven. At Custom Skylights, the parts required more energy absorption in specific areas to allow the material to form/move without showing defects in the finished product.  The 96 x 100 inch thermoforming heating system was designed with 12 individual control zones.  The entire oven and control system was pre-tested and shipped to the Custom Skylights.  The oven was installed with predetermined mounting locations, power was landed to the control enclosure and the system was running.

Ceramicx founder and director Frank Wilson says that ‘this case study is a far from isolated story – and shows us that infrared technology is on the brink of presenting thermoformers worldwide with the most amazing opportunities for profit gain: Plastics thermoforming is a mature industry that has reached a crossroads in this regard and infrared heating offers a quantum step towards increasing margin and reducing energy cost and carbon footprint. It is in fact fair to say that most thermoformers who run incoloy emitters will continue to run the oven at higher output to achieve the same result.  In most cases, the heat work part of these thermoforming systems is running at nearly 100%.

Wilson points out that ‘this way of working actually wastes energy: elements fail faster; more down time is needed to replace them; and convection heat increases the overall temperature in plant, which causes very hot working conditions, and further wear and tear and inefficiencies.  The new Ceramicx-based heating that we installed for Custom greatly increased energy input to the plastics sheet material thus reducing cycle times.  Less energy was used per part; thus making a sizeable reduction in cost per part.’

The Custom Skylights job also presented Weco and Ceramicx with the challenge of a  limited 208V 200 amperage power supply. A standard WECO/Ceramicx oven design of this size would use 600 watt elements and  require 400 Amps to power all the heaters.  ‘The challenge for us,’ says Wilson, ‘was to design an oven that would still provide enough energy to maintain the customers production quotas and reduce energy costs. A typical oven design of 96” x 100” would normally use 600 watt elements and require over 400 amps to power all the heaters.’

WECO and Ceramicx therefore chose a 300 watt hollow Ceramic emitter mounted in polished aluminized steel reflectors. The aluminized steel reflector provides better strength than aluminum, comparable reflectivity and a higher tolerance to heat than stainless steel. When overheated stainless steel will blacken and without proper maintenance will absorb the IR instead of reflect as originally intended.  The overall design provided the best directional energy for Custom Skylights application.  The 300 Watt hollow ceramic emitter stayed within the power requirements, the amp draw of the whole system was kept below 200 amps, and the new system provided the maximum directional energy to the material.

Custom Skylights products are designed to allow transmission of visible light. The clear and transparent material can pose difficulty in absorption of energy.  Every material absorbs energy at a different wavelength, and Weco and Ceramicx were mindful to best match the IR wavelength to the given materials.   Short IR wavelengths in this case were found to provide very little energy absorption and therefore a longer wavelength emitter, the Ceramicx brand Ceramic emitter would provided the maximum absorption for his range of polymer materials.

All further details from

Brett Wehner – Weco International – www.wecointernational.com
Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.
Tel. +353 2837510 Fax + 353 2837509    frank@ceramicx.com

Ceramicx warehouse

Ceramicx upon returning from their summer holiday have undertaken a major reorientation of its finished goods warehouse. This reorientation will gain for Ceramicx an additional 40+ pallet spaces in the same warehouse area.

This additional warehouse space will service Ceramicx’s current growth and enhance Ceramicx’s already significant reputation for customer service and as one of the leading infrared heater manufacturers globally.
We keep stocks of finished goods so we can respond to our customers needs world-wide allowing those with expensive capital equipment to get up and running in as little time as possible.

Frank

Looking forward to seeing live on our website…

Sláinte,

Frank

Fresan press machine

Ceramicx in June has purchased a new Fresan 20 Tonne Eccentric press with a decoiler. This press was purchased from Rafela distributors in Poland. This press was purchased to improve productivity in the face of increasing demand for Ceramicx Ireland products.

This press is focussed on producing items such as the springs and clips for the mounting of ceramic and pillared quartz infrared emitters.

This fits with the Ceramicx policy of backward-integration: manufacturing all parts with as much productivity and flexibility as possible in order to provide our customers with the solutions they need -  and all this through our ability to innovate and adapt to their needs.

This program will undertake an operational review of all aspects of the production of the Quartz Medium wave element looking for significant time savings in its production.

The aim of the project it achieve time savings of up to 8% in the productivity of each piece to meet the increasing market demand for this product.

Looking forward to keeping you posted…

Frank

Infrared heat treatment binds the polymer to the concrete

Hameln-based BM Anlagenbau has for many years been supplying merchants in the building and construction sectors with film and paint-protected building products. These specially treated concrete and stone products resist wear and tear; hold their aesthetic through the product lifetime, as well as being graffiti and vandal proof.

The technology is increasing in popularity since it can resist weathering and other aspects of ageing and thus extend product life and service life; reducing efflorescence and guarding against tyre abrasions, food, oil and chemical contaminations.

In production, most of the BM Anlagenbau product range is typically treated with polymer paints and then needs to dry before being packaged and shipped. Infrared heating has a key role to play; firstly in preparing the concrete and stone surfaces before the polymer paints are applied. As with plastics thermoforming, infrared preheating improves the surface readiness and also the penetration of the coating material into the concrete. This makes for better adhesion and for better long-term protection of the concrete product. Pre and post-spray infrared heating also eliminates the tendency for a developing film surface to ‘bubble’ and crack the surface of the coating. With two heat applications the material firstly evaporates from the substrate and then from the top.

The overall effect of the plastic film on concrete is a silk-like finish to the concrete and stone. This is often referred to as the ‘wet-effect’ and increases the depth of colour in the case of concrete – making the product much more visually appealing.

Water and chemical resistance are a key part of the finished product

Ceramicx Founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says that ‘Infrared technology has an amazing potential for all industries that is still largely untapped. Thanks to the innovation of BM Anlagenbau this part of the construction industry is feeling the benefit – consumers and our environment also. Ceramicx learned a great deal from being part of this project – in designing the right array of elements and infrared emissions to suit – as well as engineering the infrared reflectors to provide exactly the right kind of heating for the concrete and give the whole system the right price/performance ratio. In this case,’ Wilson adds, ‘the high speed infrared heating also allows the client to adjust the overall heating systems in a modular manner –minimising space; helping changeovers, reducing production costs and improving competitiveness.’

Stephan Dullmann for Freek says that ‘we were delighted to be able to help BM Anlagenbau engineer the heating system; producing a fault-free job at an optimum price. Heat systems service and know-how have become synonymous with the Freek company reputation and this project, we are please to say has been no exception.’

BM Anlagenbau director Dirk Matyschiok says that ‘the quick response and the precise control of infrared heat work have been the keys in perfecting our system. Furthermore, the heat applications can be fully implemented into a comprehensive control system, which reduces overall costs significantly. This – combined with the modular system – allows for easy up and down-grading. In addition, the “oversized” integral fans allow for compact ovens without extra blowers .The project has clearly shown the benefit of trusting in the expertise of development partners playing a leading role in their sectors. No need to say who the partners will be for further heat work projects to come.

Ceramicx and Freek are both exhibiting their plastics and polymer know-how together at the prestigious triennial plastics industry exhibition in Dusseldorf this Autumn. Both companies will share an exhibition space at the K show 2010, which runs at the Dusseldorf Messe, Germany, from Wednesday October 27th to Wednesday November 3rd.

Ceramicx Founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says ‘that we are delighted to be teaming up at K 2010 with a company of such quality as Freek. Last Autumn, Freek already wowed the plastics sector at the Fakuma show with its innovative all-in solutions for nozzle heating and SMA clamping systems “ThermoLock” and “ThermoDrive. The Freek developments in miniaturisation of  manifold heaters were also extremely impressive and many more heating innovations are set to be unveiled by them and by ourselves at the Dusseldorf show this October this year.’

Freek manager Stefan Düllmann says that ‘Ceramicx is the only company on the market which manufactures the complete range of infrared heaters – long, medium and short wave. The elements are perfectly developed for each application, reasonably priced and available on short notice. Furthermore,’ adds Düllmann, ‘Ceramicx has gained a huge knowledge on all details of infrared heating. Superb technical support is always guaranteed.

All further details from Ceramicx, Frank Wilson, Managing Director.
www.ceramicx.com ,
Tel. +353 28 37510,
Fax + 353 28 37509,
frank@ceramicx.com

All further details from Freek, Stefan Düllmann, Marketing & Development.
www.freek.de
Tel +49 2373 9590-16,
Fax +49 2373 959030,
s.duellmann@freek.de

For further information on Ceramicx and Freek at the K Show please see www.kshow2010.com

The project has deployed the Rhino 3D software programmes and is a successful world-first in bringing infrared technology and ‘heat work’ design straight to the viewer and specifier.

Founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says that ‘one of the keynotes for our visual times is the phrase – “seeing is believing”. This is as true for specifiers and engineers as it is for people watching the news or going to the movies.

Accordingly,’ says Wilson, ‘we have invested in solutions that immediately show the complete picture of all our products – in three dimensions – on the Ceramicx website.

Not only will the sales appeal of our products be enhanced, it will also be much easier to envisage the specifying and engineering of components and how to order them.  Any manufacturer with infrared heating systems to design and make can now simply go online and map the Ceramicx 3D image into their processing systems in order to evaluate if it will be fit for purpose.

The consistency of product design and the increased level of detail on the Ceramicx website will further enhance the application characteristics of the  infrared emitters. The quartz medium wave radiation characteristics can also be further defined and understood.

Wilson adds that ‘all our customers – from OEM names to engineering projects to high-speed plastics thermoformers – need to be able to measure and visualise their product and purchases as far as possible when looking to buy.’

Ceramicx customers are now able to ‘tour’ a variety of products in three dimensions – while accessing a variety of data in digital form. Earlier this year, Ceramicx installed new systems of quality assurance and product traceability which the new 3D capabilities will complement.

Part of the customer benefits of purchasing Ceramicx products online will include sets of fully scaled and specified drawings that the customer will then be able to use and manipulate in three dimensions on their own CAD systems. The new 3D control will further enable Ceramicx to provide a fuller and bespoke service in regard to infrared specialist heater design. Ceramicx customers will be better able to realise their solution

Ceramicx are also preparing for future needs of parametric design. Customers will be asked for specific information and the design and drawings of ovens and platen systems for thermoforming machines will be entirely produced on-line.

Frank Wilson, Ceramicx MD pictured here outside Chinaplas 2010 with Xu Shan of Ceramicx's Chinese distributorship

Founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson – pictured here with Xu Shan of Ceramicx’s Chinese distributorship – dodged the volcano ash travel crisis to spend a very profitable three days at China’s annual plastics exhibition in April.

Wilson says that ‘Ceramicx and its products were very warmly received in China – and at Chinaplas 2010. We were marketing our excellent ceramic and quartz infrared products- and at the right price. In addition, our Irish industrial base and pedigree gives us a very good entrée into the Chinese market. We have comparatively little history there to date – and therefore less supposition and prejudice.’

Wilson points out that the sheer scale of Chinese industrial production has to be witnessed at first hand. ‘In the Shanghai area alone, there are nine thermoforming machinery builders. In the adjacent economic region of China there are also a further nine machinery builders. The volume of production and demand is simply of a different to the rest of the world.’

Ceramicx exports its infrared heaters and heating systems all over the world. The company’s infrared heating systems form the core of many plastics thermoforming machines worldwide and the plastics sector accounts for some 60% of total Ceramicx sales.

Far Eastern markets continue to gain international market share.  ‘There’s no doubt that China represents a massive market for us,’ says Wilson, ‘and, as I discovered in Shanghai, the Chinese plastics industry is raising its performance year on year. Chinese thermoformers and thermoforming machine builders show a very keen demand for components that offer them improved quality and durability. This fits perfectly with Ceramicx’s superior product performance and volume capability.’

Wilson says that he distributed all 80 Ceramicx infrared product samples to interested buyers at the show and also spent time in discussions that are set to establish agencies and distributorships throughout the country.

Ceramicx, for example, is delighted to have been featured in the recent business consulting blog by Una Coleman.  Una’s piece gives a good insight into part of our marketing story to date – highlighting some of the ways in which we have used modern online and media marketing methods to expand the business. More importantly, for us, Una’s blog serves to spread the Ceramicx word. Communities of whatever kind – management, technical, marketing – are increasingly international – and so Una’s story about us reaches her peers and customers all over the world.

Other than sparing my blushes at being describe as an engineer (I understand engineering and engineers – though have no formal qualifications in it) I can recommend the blog to you as an example in miniature of the new marketing technology assessing and describing itself at work.
http://bloggertone.com/global/2010/04/26/do-you-blog-for-international-business/

I have no doubt that we shall see more marketing delivered in this vein for all companies in time to come and we aim to keep the world informed about our Infrared Heaters.

Ceramicx Founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says ‘that we are delighted to be teaming up at K 2010 with a company of such quality as Freek. Last Autumn, Freek already wowed the plastics sector at the Fakuma show with its innovative all-in solutions for nozzle heating and SMA clamping systems “ThermoLock” and “ThermoDrive. The Freek developments in miniaturisation of  manifold heaters were also extremely impressive and many more heating innovations are set to be unveiled by them and by ourselves at the Dusseldorf show this October this year.’

Freek manager Stefan Düllmann says that ‘Ceramicx is the only company on the market which manufactures the complete range of infrared heaters – long, medium and short wave. The elements are perfectly developed for each application, reasonably priced and available on short notice. Furthermore,’ adds Düllmann, ‘Ceramicx has gained a huge knowledge on all details of infrared heating. Superb technical support is always guaranteed.

Managing Director Wolfgang Kaiser urges customers of the plastics industry – such as thermoformers, packagers and others using heat-forming to attend this year’s K exhibition. ‘The world’s plastics industry and business world will be visiting Düsseldorf this Autumn. Of that there will be no doubt and Freek is looking forward very much to working the exhibition together with Ceramicx.

For some fifteen years, both Ceramicx and Freek have been part of a European network in industrial heating systems called EUCOPET – raising the bar for product quality and creating price competitiveness throughout the European industry. Freek reaches its 60th anniversary this year and a strong showing at K Show 2010 with Ceramicx will provide the perfect celebration.

Both companies have recently expanded: Ceramicx most recently has been working with the University of Limerick on new quality assurance and testing technology that will see the company create new markets for its industrial clients and also enable Ceramicx to develop infrared heating innovations for new consumer markets this year.

Over the course of the next few months, and via the resources of the Internet, Ceramicx will be able to put this QA database online – for the benefit of all its customers, present and future. Ceramicx believes that this is a first for the industry – and will be showing many elements of the process and benefits at the K Show 2010.

For further information on Ceramicx and Freek at the K Show please see www.kshow2010.com
All further details from Ceramicx, Frank Wilson, Managing Director.  www.ceramicx.com
Tel. +353 28 37510,
Fax + 353 28 37509,
frank@ceramicx.com
All further details from Freek, Stefan Düllmann, Marketing & Development. www.freek.de

Tel +49 2373 9590-16,
Fax +49 2373 959030,
s.duellmann@freek.de

Infrared energy is naturally occurring from the sun, travels to the earth in wavelengths and is absorbed by all objects. Every object emits and absorbs infrared naturally without harmful effects.

2.    Infrared radiation is heat – wrong.

Infrared radiation is electromagnetic energy that can be used to generate heat.

3.    An Infrared System is only concerned with heating– wrong.

There are three considerations when dealing with infrared: (1) Absorption (2) Reflection (3) Transmission. Infrared systems emit electromagnetic energy. An infrared emitter produces wavelengths with mechanical properties which have to be absorbed, transmitted or reflected. An effective infrared system will deal with these 3 issues as efficiently as possible.

4.    To control temperature is to adequately control an infrared emitter – wrong.

Radiation is generated by source temperature. The adjustment of temperature changes the infrared wavelength hence the reason systems operate within a waveband output and not a wavelength output.

5.    Infrared Absorption of a target material is dictated by a single spectral analysis at ambient e.g. 20degC – wrong.

The spectral analysis and spectral absorption characteristics change as the target material temperature changes. It is therefore important to consider the use of waveband rather than wavelength to ensure the infrared output from an emitter or system is capable of meeting the spectral absorption characteristics of the material.

6.    Emitters can be set at full values without thermocouple watch control – wrong.
There is a significant difference between starting the emitters (heaters) at an ambient temperature e.g. 20degC and starting emitters in an ambient temperature of 400degC. Turning on the heater at higher ambient values could result in burn out of the emitter.

7.    The design and manufacture of the oven, oven controls and the application variables are separate, independent, components of an infrared system – wrong.

All of these are important elements/components, and are essential to each other in order to create effective and successful heat work process.

8.    Temperature control systems can typically set the performance of infrared systems – wrong.

This method of operation is a poor way to control radiation because temperature and % control are not developed with radiation in mind. However, these are the current and typical choices available – but should be used advisedly.

9.    Infrared emitters can be used like furnace elements – wrong.

The materials used to build effective infrared emitters do not lend themselves to being used in a furnace like environment. Transmission, absorption, reflection and the resulting directional qualities imparted are not being adequately dealt with which will lead to heat up and burn out of the emitters if used in a furnace like capacity.

10.    Radiation can be treated in a similar fashion to conduction and convection – wrong.

Under no circumstances are conduction and convection comparable to radiation in any way.  These are three separate methods of heat-transfer that do not relate to one another.

11.    Environmental conditions such as weather have no impact on the use of Infrared – wrong.

These have a huge impact. The conditions of the surroundings will have a big effect on the transfer of infrared radiation e.g. humidity.

The Ceramicx infrared-in-thermoforming campaign is primarily aimed at international plastics processing manufacturers – a good percentage of which will be visiting Ceramicx’s exhibition stand at the worldwide triennial plastics K 2010 fair in Dusseldorf, Germany this October.

Ceramicx founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says that ‘infrared platen upgrading and control has to be one of the thermoforming industry’s best kept secrets: For a very low five figure sum a sophisticated upgrade to a fixed and expensive capital asset can be supplied – and not only pay for itself within months but  also make you 40% more money on the output which you were having to make anyway. Not only that but the move will significantly prolong the life of your fixed machinery.

Wilson asks ‘how many typical thermoforming machines encountered regular issues or problems in their mechanical movement? Hardly any.’

Much more likely, says Ceramicx, are processing problems in the heating area – with burn out; with electrical faults and with problems with older style and non-directional heating.’ Wilson cites tubular and magnesium filled heating solutions; black rod heating and other kinds of non-infrared sources as contributing to inexact systems of production and – above all – to a waste of energy and electricity cost. ‘In a completely enclosed system or oven, this kind of heating becomes uncontrollable,’ he says, ‘and the thermoforming operator is being continually forced to ramp up the power and the input electricity in order to try and maintain a temperature.’

Wilson points out, however, that ‘for effective plastics thermoforming, the energy inputs have to be properly measured and then specifically applied.’ And Wilson adds that ‘as a long as a company’s financial and engineering departments remain separate, there will be precious little awareness of the issue – or a need to change it. The fact is, however, that the standard emissivity of an infrared element is rated at 0.96 compared to 0.60 of tubular heating – as referenced against an ideal of 1.0.’

The Ceramicx man reflects that the thermoforming industry may be reaching a point akin to the automotive market, where ‘gas guzzlers’ are simply no longer becoming attractive.

Wilson says that a host of other factors will contribute to thermoformers wanting to realise more margin and more money via infrared from their fixed production, including:

• Major reduction in capital equipment wear and tear
• Like-for-like infrared for tubular replacements
• Elimination of ‘hot box’ tubular problems
• No need for changes in control or instrumentation
• Poor performing infra red to be replaced with superior platens
• Savings in directional heat
• Better resultant product quality
• Improved set up time and tool change time
• More complex parts possible
• Cooling requirements also reduced
• Matching of heating controls to polymers being processed
• Improved environment for operators

Wilson’s view is that ‘most thermoforming companies spend their time unnecessarily contemplating the expensive prospect of a new machine to make them more money some time in the future when they could be making more money now  – with an infrared platen system upgrade,’ says Wilson. ‘The industry will do far better making best use of what it already has. This does not mean thrashing and over-riding its heating systems at 100% despite the energy bills and the component failures. It means finding the ‘sweet spot’ of the existing thermoforming system using controlled systems of infrared heating,’ he adds.
Frank Wilson

Ceramicx is a world leader in infrared heat technology for plastics. The greater part of the company’s output goes into heaters and platen systems for plastics thermoforming machines. The client machines and the plastic processor needs vary greatly and the heating systems and expertise must provide both for fast cycling thin walled containers and also for the thermoforming of the largest of components.

At the helm of the company is founder and managing director Frank Wilson; supported by a talented core team of players that includes his son Cathal Wilson, an engineering graduate, currently completing a doctorate in business studies. A wave of Ceramicx expansion on a broad range of fronts is planned for the next five years.

Wilson says that ‘at Ceramicx after twenty plus years of investment and development we are confident that we have created the best kind of ceramic heating element for the thermoforming industry – period. Our view is that the world will continue to strive to build a better thermoforming machine – and our ‘heat work’ and our engineering will be featured as the best among the best.’

Wilson says that ‘Ceramicx is now kitemarking and badging all our heaters and elements as indicators of true quality for the plastics thermoforming industries. We intend to have 75% of our output identified as such by the time we exhibit at the K 2010 plastics exhibition in Dusseldorf this October. We now have a formidable body of proprietary know-how that needs more protection -  and we also need to communicate its existence more completely to the 63 countries that we export to worldwide.’

Ceramicx was set up in 1992 and in 1994 moved into its new premises in Ballydehob, Ireland on a site previously owned by Infrared Internationale. The current wave of Ceramicx developments and expansion includes higher value jobs supported by increased levels of automation and production know-how. Ceramicx also aims to harness and factor alternative energy sources into its production mix – driving down energy cost and also – critical in today’s environment – the carbon footprint of all its products.

Manufacturing the best products and systems is one thing – but delivering them on schedule – worldwide – is another. The company’s trade and logistics abilities are the envy of many and Ceramicx co-founder Grainne Wilson delivers this service to customers.

Says Grainne, ‘the Transport and Logistics industries are always in development. At Ceramicx we are duty bound to stay on top of all the trends and get the best from a constantly changing picture.’

Every day Ceramicx ships its goods to many different locations and by different methods – from the smallest carton of around 6kgs to full pallets and containers. The company ships by road, sea and air and the requirements vary greatly for different countries: Destinations outside the EU for instance require import documentation such as movement certificates and export documents, Certificates of Origin, Invoices and other documents.

Ceramicx pays great attention to the packaging and safety of its goods in transit. Says Grainne,’All Ceramicx goods are very carefully wrapped and packed. Most of our production is made from ceramic and glass and has to survive the handling throughout the route. This can mean being loaded and unloaded several times until final destination – and so our packaging is of the very best quality and function.’

Ceramicx design and manufactures all of its products and bespoke systems in-house. Over the past five years the company has invested in a large machinery shop, with Hurco CNC milling machines and Safan metal cutting, shaping and finishing machinery in order to ensure the continuing independent manufacturing success of the company –‘no dependence on outsourcing,’ points out Wilson, ‘and full control of the innovation and materials used.

Much of what do here,’ says Wilson, ‘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 heating processes and in-service parameters must be predicted and factored in.’

The new metal fabricating and milling 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.

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 machine builders or to thermoformers of plastics 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.’

Wilson says that the quality of the resulting products has been extensively validated in the company’s marketplaces worldwide: Ceramicx infrared products have been tested by independent laboratories in Europe and in Asia and also by builders of plastics thermoforming machinery equipment worldwide. The feedback shows that Ceramicx leads the pack in terms of product performance, reliability and quality.

‘This international feedback is something that we intend to make more of – and raise the standards bar for the industry generally.’

One current project – joint with the University of Limerick  – is therefore seeing Ceramicx integrate a failsafe system of quality assurance and product identification that will have each individual heater both traceable -and with the data for its actual heat performance available online from Ceramicx.

The core of the new quality assurance (QA) work centres on developing systems of more closely specified nominal wattage tolerances for the proprietary-designed ceramic and quartz electrical elements.

Wilson says that ‘we have decided that our thermoforming machine builders and all our thermoforming processors need the security of this data and also full systems of product traceability. This will include infrared performance parameters that can be accessed numerically and visually – online and offline – via the serial numbers on the heating product.’

The Ceramicx concern for the thermoforming industry extends well beyond delivering superior heating products and services at best prices. Wilson notes that the industry can often be its own worst enemy when it comes to managing issues of what he calls ‘heat work’.

‘Heat work’ for plastic thermoformers

‘Any thermoforming production system,’ says Wilson, ‘has its areas of opportunity and weakness  -  high-speed packaging lines even more so. Thermoformers often forget that the thermal systems installed are the engine of production. Without maintenance and without sufficient analysis, production output and quality will suffer.

One area commonly neglected, says Wilson, is the temperature and humidity of the sheet plastic feed before it’s even loaded onto the line. All thermoformers should ensure, wherever possible, that this material is not just brought out from a cold store and deployed into production straightaway. However it is achieved (and a period of days may be necessary since plastics is such an unconductive material) the material feed should be established at the room temperature of the production line.’

Wilson explains that ‘in typical thermoforming production, systems of preheating serve to even out temperature across the raw sheet feed before it enters the main heating system proper. Infrared preheating systems are preferred, owing to the greater degree of temperature control possible. The goal at preheating is the complete elimination of temperature variation later in the processing cycle. An effective heat ‘soak’ will also pre-empt flaws such as finished difficulties appearing in the form of pearlesence on the finished product or lack of gloss.’

And when it comes to the main heating phase in thermoforming, the build and quality of the infrared platens have a decisive part to play.  Given this, Wilson says that ‘it is somewhat strange that the principles of Infrared heating are so little understood by its users in packaging and thermoforming production.’

According to Ceramicx, the essence of Infrared heating involves a ‘Holy Trinity’ of three factors – absorption; transmission and reflection. The misunderstanding of these principles can lead to the misuse of the thermoforming equipment and the consequent expense in energy, cost and capital plant.’

The key to a good infrared heating system is one in which incoming electrical wattage is converted into infrared output more quickly and efficiently. In plastics thermoforming, for example, a number of infrared ceramic heaters are then mounted on reflectors which are then arrayed upon a platen – or two – which is part of the production line; typically after pre-heating and before the ‘trauma’ of part forming and then sheet cutting prior to product stacking at the end of line.

The performance of the background reflectors -  their material composition – and the performance of the platen in general is vital in directing the infrared heating to its the target material – namely the sheet plastic.

According to Wilson, many thermoformers end up all too often fighting the demands and design of their machine in order to get some efficient heat work done.

‘For example, stainless steel is not an adequate material for use in infrared reflection work. It will absorb a high percentage of the emitted energy and will therefore over time cause burnout of the electrical wiring behind the reflector. Polished aluminum on the other hand is in most cases the best reflector for ceramic infrared heating but > 500 C it also will start to fail. The business of thermoforming thin and clear plastic sheet needs some installation of passive ceramic tiles in the base of the platen in order to reflect back the heat.’

The Ceramicx experience is to note that as a thermoforming platen system starts to discolour and degrade under use – with dirt and process plastic and other materials – so the reflectivity will be compromised and the machine operator will then typically be involved in a vicious circle of increasing the temperature in order to achieve the same performance. Regular review and maintenance could pre-empt the bother; the increasing lack of control and the extra cost.

Wilson says that ‘we see time and again that a 30-40% improvement in operational efficiency of most packaging thermoforming systems can be achieved through this single and simple step of reviewing and renewing the infrared heating platen. The ideal control for this situation is to mount a thermocouple on the existing reflector system – keeping a temperature watch. When this starts to rise – taking more and more energy – the user should be alerted to take action.’

The packaging and thermoforming industries could do a lot worse than to review their use of heat – infrared systems in particular – and understand the principles a little better. It could improve savings and overall performance no end.

Infrared – underused and misunderstood

In truth, however, the misunderstanding of infrared heating technology is not something simply confined to the plastics or thermoforming industries.

‘The IR knowledge gap in industry generally is actually very wasteful,’ says Wilson. ‘Most new projects for us usually begin with a search for a foothold on some IR expertise within the client company and then we can create some common ground of understanding – and some solutions. The problem and the issue leads back to the IR teaching – or lack of it – within universities and within engineering generally. IR is like a toolbox of options but unfortunately most engineering departments don’t know how to open the box – let alone use what’s in it.’

Frank Wilson points that infrared radiation is a lot closer than we think: Beginning with our solar system, infrared radiation (IR) is emitted from all everyday objects in our world – ‘in fact,’ he says, ‘from anything with a temperature above absolute zero.  Infrared radiation has many uses in everyday life but at Ceramicx our focus is on its ability to heat objects without direct contact with the heat source.’

In scientific terms, Infrared is electromagnetic radiation, similar in nature to light but in a longer wavelength range. Infrared elements are generally classified into three categories according to their peak energy or peak emission wavelength. These are : Long wave: Ceramic elements; Medium wave: Quartz elements; and Short wave: Quartz Tungsten elements.

All of these elements offer an immense range of heating types and heating performance: Ceramicx makes Ceramic and Quartz emitters which range in surface temperature from 150°C (302°F) to 730°C (1346°F) and the Ceramicx Tungsten bulbs are capable of reaching in excess of 2400°C (4352°F).

That’s a pretty broad palette of heating options – and part of the Ceramicx success has been to mix and match these in the best interests of the customer. Outside of plastics thermoforming, key applications for Ceramicx infrared know-how include curing of various resins via ovens and ambient systems; industrial non-contact drying, spot heating, warming food, infrared saunas and numerous other industrial processes.

Wilson says that ‘at Ceramicx you will find a company that is not satisfied with the established standards for the industry. We have developed many new products that better fit the needs of today’s manufacturer who has no choice but to be reliant on process heating.

In the case of plastics, we work hard to give our thermoforming customers – processors or machine builders – the quality, repeatability and the cost savings that they need.’

Frank

Founder and Managing Director Frank Wilson says that ‘the areas where East meets West are always interesting places – technically, socially, culturally. At Ceramicx we are looking forward to sharing our European-based infrared heating know-how in a number of manufacturing sectors – and particularly in plastics where our infrared systems for thermoformers have a guaranteed quality for both machine builders and plastics processors.’

Frank’s first April stop will be Korea. ‘Korean manufacturing is still very dynamic – driven on by the likes of Samsung, LG and others. As well as infrared, Ceramicx will be offering its process control know-how to these OEMs and their suppliers.’

Next stop for Ceramicx will be China: ‘The Far Eastern team at Enterprise Ireland have been invaluable in helping the Ceramicx preparation for the outward mission,’ says Wilson. ‘Alan Buckley, Cathy Houlihan and Xiaojing Yue at Enterprise Ireland have all helped us immensely in the desk research and contact work needed for this project. Markets as specific as resin curing, infrared oven drying, thermoforming and others really are of a different scale and structure in China and the Far East.  We have spent a lot of careful time identifying our likely audience – and ways to reach them in China – and at Chinaplas this year.

Wilson is clear that a major part of the Ceramicx Far Eastern offering will be the product and component quality and traceability offered by Ceramicx. ‘An advanced process such as infrared heating requires a corresponding guarantee of product quality and assurance – something we believe will have a premium attraction in these markets. As European audiences may know already, we have been working with the University of Limerick on manufacturing systems that not only identify and quality assure infrared heating components – but also make the heating performance of every component supplied available to the customer – online and offline. Wherever they are in the world, all thermoforming machine builders and all our thermoforming processors need the security of this data and also full systems of product traceability.’

Frank Wilson will also use the opportunity of the Far Eastern trip to educate and inform about the potential for infrared heating technology generally. ‘Worldwide, the knowledge gap in industry about infrared and infrared heating is actually very wasteful,’ he says. ‘As far as we can tell – that infrared knowledge gap includes the Far East.  Most new projects for us usually begin with a search for a foothold on some IR expertise within the client company. Then we can create some common ground of understanding – and some solutions.’

After China and Chinaplas, Wilson returns to base via Antwerp where the SPE annual thermoforming conference takes place, from April 22-24.

All further details from Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.

www.Ceramicx.com

Tel. +353 2837510

Fax + 353 2837509

frank@ceramicx.com

http://twitter.com/ceramicx

http://ie.linkedin.com/in/ceramicx

Chinaplas 2010

In terms of plastics – since Bakelite in the 1930’s and the first commodity polymers of the 1940s and 50s the plastics industry has grown from strength to strength worldwide. The USA was the proving ground for many early applications up until the 1980’s and 90’s when Europe got on level terms. And now we have a region that is set to outstrip them all. Which is why I am preparing to take the Ceramicx ‘heat work’ expertise message to a number of Far Eastern destinations in April. My trip will culminate in a two day visit to this year’s Chinaplas, held in Shanghai. April 19-22.

Wherever and whoever you are in today’s plastics manufacturing world, the Far Eastern dimension has already impacted on you – there’s no avoiding it -  in terms of price; in terms of quality, competition and all sorts of other issues. And as the Chinese were the first to show us – their hieroglyph for ‘crisis’ is the same picture as that for ‘opportunity’. In other words there are many positives to learn from the increasing role of Plastics China in all world markets.

The Far Eastern team at Enterprise Ireland have been invaluable in helping the Ceramicx preparation for our outward mission – and Ceramicx marketing in plastics thermoforming and other process areas. Alan Buckley, Cathy Houlihan and Xiaojing Yue at Enterprise Ireland have all helped us immensely in the desk research and contact work needed for this project.  Markets as specific as resin curing, infrared oven drying, thermoforming and others really are of a different scale and structure in China and the Far East. We have spent a lot of careful time identifying our likely audience – and ways to reach them in China – and at Chinaplas this year.

So check this page in late April for news of our ongoing adventures on the other side of the world!

Slainte

Frank

红外技术

p.s. Don’t forget to catch up with Ceramicx  at the 2010 K Show in Dusseldorf from Wednesday the 27th October.

WECO specialises in the engineering and supply of infrared ovens and control solutions for a variety of clients and industries in the US. Since 1972 WECO has been building its expertise in industrial heating and control – with superior service and attention to customer detail.

Brett Wehner, Weco International owner and president says that ‘here at Weco we are delighted to be a part of all the new product developments and quality systems coming out of Ceramicx. The latest investments at Ceramicx – in new QA procedures and equipment; in metal fabrication and milling – are all of great service to us in Michigan and to the US infrared market generally.

Ceramicx works in the US for Weco International

Wehner adds, ‘throughout the world, in fact, all users not only demand a great product – they also demand a great service life for that product – with QA and documentation to match. Ceramicx has more than stepped up to the plate for us in that regard. We applaud the Ceramicx infrared brand and all the hard work behind it.’

The distance of the Atlantic Ocean has proved to be no issue between the two companies. Ceramicx founder and director Frank Wilson says that ‘Brett and Weco International have been key to our success in the US. It’s a large, distinct and complex market and the expertise at Weco has been key to us – in having the right kind of partner with technical understanding and also the commercial skills necessary to get our infrared technology into the 52 states of the market.’

In addition to its portfolio of systems build and hardware supply, Weco also supplies a variety of infrared and oven testing services for its clients.

These Weco services include:

• Material testing with all emitter types to determine best wavelength to achieve fastest heat up time/forming temperature
• Data table and graphical reports similar to charts shown below
• Determine fastest cycle time on single product (material specific) “dedicated” machines
• Determine fastest cycle times across a variety of products on multiple product code machines

Meanwhile, at Ceramicx, the semi-automated validation system for product marking and quality assurance -  and with closed-loop process-control for product manufacture – has now been passed as fit for use.

Over the course of the next few months, and via the resources of the Internet, Ceramicx will be able to put this QA database online – for the benefit of all its customers, present and future. The data – numerical and graphical – will be available to any buyer or user of Ceramicx product who wishes to know the exact performance parameters of any and every item of purchase.

Brett Wehner comments that ‘this kind of supplier back-up gives us an incalculable edge in our work for the customer and in Weco’s quality assurance. We look forward to joint work together in these areas.’

Ceramicx and the University of Limerick research teams are collaborating closely on the project this year. The development of the project has been aided by Enterprise Ireland as part of the Innovation partnership program and has provided ‘win-win’ outcomes for both organisations. The University has been enabled to take its research and project expertise into the manufacturing and commercial marketplace. Ceramicx has been able to leverage the University’s in-house competencies to research, identify and measure current process variations.

All further details from Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.
Web: www.Ceramicx.com 
Tel: +353 2837510
Fax: + 353 2837509
Email: frank@ceramicx.com

It’s to do with change again: At Ceramicx, our two new Safan metal sheet and metal folding machines, provided us with an opportunity to rethink and redo the way we manufactured for infrared heating.

Once again, digital technology was the catalyst and a new skillset of designing for programming opened up. Investment in training and learning was needed for sure but the results are now paying back ten fold. Digital of course advances issues of data storage and replication. Our new Safan controls not only offer fail safe accuracy, the fact that they are programmable ensures identical repeatability of the job, regardless of scale. This means that Ceramicx can machine custom parts at volume with no loss of quality. Moreover digital programming means that the speed and throughput of each new and bespoke job has been greatly increased – as has the consequent time-to-market.

Needless to say a good deal of machine-minding time has now been made redundant – but in no way does this make our people redundant. It means more time for innovation; more time for research and development and – above all – more time for the customer and for customer service. The best tools are created in fact to free up time that should be spent with the customer – assessing needs and then exceeding them.

At Ceramicx we are pursuing this philosophy throughout our operation. You may have read of our new investment in semi-automated quality assurance – a scheme that we will be introducing into our market this year. In addition we are also scoping out several projects for general factory automation – moves that will, again, free our people to work at value added part of the job – ie the creative and innovative end of infrared technology.

As the digital age advances, check at any moment to see whether you are servant or master – and adjust accordingly.

But make no mistake, any kind of investment is hard won. Not only must value-adding production be altered and even stopped in its tracks; existing methods of doing things will be reviewed and overhauled. Old ways will be redundant – but new ways will do things better. There is also the small matter of cash and purchasing capability.
Over a twelve month window, Ceramicx spent in excess of a quarter of a million pounds, but the fruit of that capital investment was the result of ten years careful management and savings.

The bottom line is that change is often painful but mostly necessary. There’s no sense in arguing with reality since you always lose – 100%. A good investor recognises these factors – and also can develop a 6th sense for the right moment to make that change. Timing is all.

More recently – this year – Ceramicx has seen the need to invest in its marketing; projecting the name, the brand and our products into the trade and local press; onto the ever growing world of the Internet and into the proliferating social media(follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook) that now surround us. This year also sees us travelling the world, presenting and exhibiting , in order to press that message home – and to lay further foundations for our global success.

And right now, Ceramicx faces fresh challenges in its efforts to invest in low energy cost and capability and to instil an awareness of what a low carbon footprint means – locally and worldwide – for the sake of our environment, our customers and our industry.

Investment in my view, is as much as art as a science. Catch the right wave successfully and you’re half-way home.

The core of the new quality assurance (QA) work centres on developing systems of more closely specified nominal wattage tolerances for the ceramic and quartz electrical elements in the world-beating range of Ceramicx infrared heating products.

Frank Wilson, Ceramicx owner and founder is certain that the collaboration with the University of Limerick will help his company build international market share.  Wilson says, ‘not only do we manufacture the best heating product, we also have to guarantee its excellence. We have to ensure that through its repeatability and quality – for industrial or customer use – that every Ceramicx infrared product performs a failsafe job. We have decided that the way forward is to offer our customers full systems of product traceability. This will include IR performance parameters that can be accessed numerically and visually – online and offline – via the serial numbers on the product.’

A semi automated validation system with closed-loop process-control is accordingly now being deployed at the heart of Ceramicx production in order to achieve that aim.

There are four key validation stages in the new Ceramicx QA system:

The Flash test: This QA test allows the electrical integrity of the insulating materials to be verified and is designed to catch manufacturing defects that could otherwise lead to exposed electrical heating elements and wires.

Nominal tolerance: This QA test will establish the degree to which the actual wattage of a given product deviates from its rated wattage and can assist in reducing large variations.

Load test: For this test, the product is energised with high-voltage electrical power to rapidly elevate its temperature. The measured temperature reached within a given timeframe then allows the functionality of the product to be assessed.

Thermal analysis: After reaching the target temperature, IR images of the product are then recorded in order to provide for a visual inspection of the heating element within. These images are unique for each product tested – are matched to that product’s serial number – and are traceable. These images will also be statistically analysed by the test software to determine the heat distribution across the product – and identify hot or cold spots. And for models with built-in thermocouples, the integrity, operation and placement of these thermocouples will also be validated.

Over the course of the next few months, and via the resources of the Internet, Ceramicx will be able to put this QA database online – for the benefit of all its customers, present and future. Ceramicx believes that this is a first for the industry.  ‘Real performance data for every Ceramicx infrared product will be available online,‘ says Frank Wilson. ‘This data – numerical and graphical – will be available to any buyer or user of Ceramicx product who wishes to use the science and the performance data behind it. We are creating a transparency here in product specification and performance. The higher the targets we set ourselves – the more the industry will benefit. This work will also open the door to many other kinds of benchmarking and future developments.’

Ceramicx and the University of Limerick research teams are collaborating closely on the project this year. The development of the project has been aided by Enterprise Ireland as part of the Innovation partnership program and has provided ‘win-win’ outcomes for both organisations. The University has been enabled to take its research and project expertise into the manufacturing and commercial marketplace. Ceramicx has been able to leverage the University’s in-house competencies to research, identify and measure current process variations.

All further details from
Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.
Tel. +353 2837510
Fax + 353 2837509
Email: frank@ceramicx.com

University Contact:
Dr. Mark Southern, University of Limerick
Tel. +353 61 213359,
Email. Mark.southern@ul.ie

It seems however, to be a part of human nature to gravitate to the simplest solution – the quickest fix – and to constantly postpone this requirement of downtime or servicing. Typically, most of us – in business and in manufacturing – live in a time-poor world. We more often reach for something to address the problem in that moment – and rarely schedule supposed non value added activities – until it’s too late.

In the case of heat work -  involving infrared heaters, infrared ovens, quartz heaters and ceramic heaters – the poor machine operator will often reach for the easiest solution – turning up the temperature to get the same level of manufacturing performance. Not only does this not address the fundamental problem it also gets the manufacturing into a vicious circle which can lead to burn out of electrical equipment and wiring; part malfunction and ultimately machine replacement.  Regular review and maintenance could pre-empt the bother and the increasing lack of process control, not to mention the extra costs involved.

Plant maintenance, of course, has become a manufacturing science and discipline all of its own in recent years – along with systems of quality; systems of production and delivery and so forth. But as long as some downtime is scheduled into the production heating process, there need not be any mystique about this value adding activity. Any manufacturer will find some point during the working week – a shift change; a tool change; a period of short production; when this work can be done. Schedule it in; display it publicly and visibly – and reap the benefit.

It is our experience at Ceramicx, for example, that a 30-40% improvement in operational efficiency of most packaging thermoforming systems can be achieved through this single and simple step of reviewing and renewing the infrared heating platen. The ideal control for this situation is to mount a thermocouple on the existing reflector system – keeping a temperature watch. When this starts to rise – taking more and more energy – the user should be alerted to take action.

Similar simple checks and balances can be made to work for a variety of oven systems.

All things being equal, heating systems can be made to perform in very predictable ways. In all truth, the factor that fluctuates and the programme of maintenance is management.

Keep your management on-track and your infrared heating will deliver all that you need.

Slainte

Frank

p.s. Top Tips for visiting the the K Show in Dusseldorf – make sure and call to our stand if visiting…

10 Tips for the K Show 2010

The K 2010 exhibition in Dusseldorf, Germany this autumn will be the event for the international plastics industry. K stands for Kunststoffe – the German word for plastics – and since the 1960’s this particular show – always in Dusseldorf every three years – has dominated the world stage. It my opinion it still leads the way in terms of plastics technology and plastics innovations.

If you’re into plastics you should visit – without a doubt. Most materials and equipment companies exhibiting there will have been holding back their innovative best for that week by the Rhine and we at Ceramicx will be joining them – with our range of infrared heating for plastics thermoforming and many other infrared heating applications besides.

At Ceramicx we offer the following short survival guide for visitors to the K 2010 experience. Like everything else – things goes a lot better when you enjoy them – so please make sure that you do!

Ceramicx looks forward to greeting you in Hall 11 – Stand A01 – please don’t delay in contacting us for your appointment there this Autumn.

Top Ten Visitor tips for the K 2010 exhibition, Dusseldorf, Oct 27-Nov 3, 2010

1. Be prepared.

‘To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail,’ as the saying goes. So this is the rule that governs all others. Prepare your travel, accomodation and itinerary, all well in advance so that these details are sorted at effective cost – and you can then forget about them and focus on the important stuff.

2. Stay in Dusseldorf  – if you can.

Book your accommodation now. This is always a sell out show – whatever the economic climate. Exhibitors and visitors failing to properly plan their accommodation must every day face a time-consuming commute from outlying towns such as Essen or Duisburg – or even cities such as Cologne. This is routine behaviour and – unlucky for some – it happens with every K exhibition.

So make sure that you don’t face 2/3 hours of your day commuting in and out of Dusseldorf. With just over nine months to go you may yet be lucky in finding accommodation in the city. If you are travelling alone or in a small party there are some great private accommodation deals – eg networks of landladies – on offer.

3. Book exhibitor appointments ahead

Exhibitors, needless to say, love it when you book appointments with them on their stand. They love it even more when you keep those appointments. So make sure to do both and phone up to make your essential K 2010 appointments well before the show opens – and with the people you really need to see.  This alone will help your K 2010 time management no end.

4. Learn a little German.

I know, I know. English is increasingly the ‘international language of business’. Nonetheless, your day in Dusseldorf, Germany,  won’t be all business – and a little German – excuse me, please and thank you – can go a very long way to making your time go smoothly. So just invest a little time with a phrase book and get the benefit.

5. Be comfortable.

Above all this means wearing the right kind of shoes.  K 2010 has 17 exhibition halls. If you’re planning to review a number of technologies and meet a number of people, the chances are that you’ll be walking at least a mile a day – probably two. So make sure that your can – that you’re as comfortable, fed and watered as you need to be for your business.

6. Be social.

Networking is the new marketing. Period. So if you want to stay in the mainstream of the plastics industry world at K 2010 you’ll probably need to put some evening time in the streets of Düsseldorf’s Altstadt.
The Altstadt (literally “old town”) is known as the longest bar in the world since it has more than 300 bars within its reach. Try the local beer, Altbier, and stay in the general swim of events.

7. Be focused.

Put the Altstadt to one side the next morning. A very high degree of concentration is needed to get the most out of the K experience. Remember that – for everyone – buyers and sellers – this is a marketplace that only arrives but for one week – every three years.
Make sure that you capture all the data you can. Download the exhibitor catalogue at the earliest opportunity and plan who you need to see and what for. Make a realistic time plan for each of your days at the show. Have a note book and pen about you – collect cards – and give yours out – and take the opportunity to record all the information you can – including your own thoughts and impressions which will be valuable to you in the weeks and months after the show.

8. Be succinct and friendly

What are you there for? What do you need the exhibitor for? It will pay you to be able to state your business in a friendly, compelling and succinct way. Exhibitions are notorious for inducing attention-span fatigue – so your introduction – to yourself and your needs – has to work against that and has to be as crisp and positive as it can be. If you haven’t made an appointment, be prepared to manage your time realistically and to return to that particular stand if the right individual isn’t there.  (NB. Selling goods or services to exhibitors is generally a real no-no (that’s what they’re there for). If there’s a sales opportunity, remember that that will be best achieved at a later date.) Please don’t forget your thank you’s when leaving. It sounds like nannying, but as anyone who works in retail will tell you – the smiling and appreciative customer can make all the difference to a day of grumpiness and complaints. If you want to be remembered and make the right impression, please remember to thank the exhibitor for his/her time when leaving your business card.

9. Be realistic with your time.

It’s inevitable that at some points in the show you will be frustrated at your busted schedule and your lack of time. The wise thing to do is to simply acknowledge it  and move on – and not to let that frustration colour your ongoing business with other people. Remember the opportunities and interest about you and refocus your time management on the practical here and now.

10. Follow through

So many exhibitions – for exhibitors and visitors alike -  suffer from a lack of decent  follow through. Set yourself a decent system and a regular schedule for achieving all the follow through that you need. This may be difficult once the hurly burly of everyday life business sets in again – but make it a discipline to see through all the necessary details. Remember that you’ll have to wait another three years before those opportunities come again.

Frank Wilson, Ceramicx, January 2010

Follow  Ceramicx

New Ceramicx Logo

There hopefully comes a time for every business when both reputation and sales begin to gather pace; feed off each other, and go farther and wider than ever planned or imagined.

Word of mouth, good salesmanship and faultless manufacturing and trading have brought infrared heating experts Ceramicx to this point.

However, nothing stands still in business – and the best ideas, products and inventions are truly wasted if their features and qualities are not vividly expressed and automatically recognised in the marketplace.

In one sense – we at Ceramicx have lately needed to catch up with our identify and remind ourselves and our friends about who we are and what we do.

The art of the Brand is never an easy thing to conjure, but our new Ceramicx logo is now playing well with customers old and new – and our ongoing programme of  new communications is already seeing Ceramicx gaining ground in many international markets.

Wherever you are, we hope that you enjoy our new look.  We look forward to sharing all our forthcoming news with you this year.

Slainte

Frank

Follow  Ceramicx

Any plastics packaging thermoforming production system has its areas of opportunity and weakness  -  high-speed packaging lines even more so.

It is easily forgotten that the thermal systems installed as part of the thermoforming process are the engine of production. Without maintenance and without sufficient analysis, production output and quality will suffer. Infrared heaters, ceramic heaters, quartz heaters, and ceramic elements are all based on a specific and particular technology. The more understanding gained of infrared science, the better your production will be.

At Ceramicx we are used to listening to processors and users pointing to the heating system as a possible cause of packaging deformation and quality failure. But as a general rule, heat systems per se are very rarely the cause of production problems.

Instead, the complexity of the packaging part design; it’s dimensions, the depth of the thermoforming ‘draw’ and the characteristics of the material composition – these are the prime factors that must be calculated and overcome in order to make quality product.

Indeed, given the costs and the business issues at stake, it is somewhat strange that the principles of Infrared heating are so little understood by its users in packaging and thermoforming.

The essence of Infrared heating involves a ‘Holy Trinity’ of three factors – absorbtion; transmission and radiation. However, the misunderstanding of these principles generally leads many packagers to the misuse of the thermoforming equipment and the consequent expense in energy, cost and capital plant.

The practical key to a good infrared heating system is one in which incoming electrical wattage is converted into infrared output more quickly and efficiently.

In thermoforming production a number of infrared ceramic heaters are generally mounted on reflectors which are then arrayed upon a platen – or two – which is part of the production line.

The performance of the background reflectors – their material composition – and the performance of the platen in general – these factors are all vital in directing the infrared heating to the plastic.  But too often, packaging processors of thermoforming machines end up fighting the demands and design of their machine in order to get some efficient heat work done.

For example, stainless steel is not an adequate material for use in infrared reflection work. It will absorb a high percentage of the emitted energy and will therefore over time cause burnout of the electrical wiring behind the reflector and will also start to discolour from 120degC. Polished aluminum on the other hand is in most cases the best reflector for ceramic infrared heating but > 500 C it also will start to fail. The business of thermoforming thin and clear plastic sheet needs some installation of passive ceramic tiles in the base of the platen in order to reflect back the heat.  Every system, in some way, has its custom features.

Furthermore, in many cases, as a platen system starts to discolour and degrade in operation– with dirt and process plastic and other materials – so the reflectivity will be compromised and the machine operator will then typically be involved in a vicious circle of increasing the temperature in order to achieve the same performance. Regular review and maintenance could pre-empt the bother; the increasing lack of control and the extra cost.

Over twenty years of experience at Ceramicx suggests to us that a 30-40% improvement in operational efficiency of most packaging thermoforming systems can be achieved through this single and simple step of reviewing and renewing the infrared heating platen. The ideal control for this situation is to mount a thermocouple on the existing reflector system – keeping a temperature watch. When this starts to rise – taking more and more energy – the user should be alerted to take action.

This issue will continue to bear on the packaging industry to come as cost-down and higher quality demands continue. At Ceramicx we believe that the consciousness of the future packaging industries will no longer tolerate sub standard parts and poor thermoforming design.

We are now therefore kitemarking and badging all our Ceramicx heaters and elements as guarantees of true quality in packaging production. We intend to have 75% of our output badged as such before we exhibit at the K 2010 plastics exhibition in Dusseldorf next autumn.

In these cost and energy conscious times, the packaging sector should take the opportunity to investigate where its ‘heat work’ is letting production down – and also take the trouble to understand the principles of infrared a little better.

The savings could be considerable.

All further details from Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director.  www. ceramicx.com Tel. +353 2837510 Fax + 353 2837509    frank@ceramicx.com

The new business at Ceramicx ranges from infrared heaters for saunas to thermoforming systems 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 heaters, ceramic heaters, quartz heaters, and ceramic elements.’

Safan metal sheet and metal folding machine

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.;

The misunderstanding of these three principles can lead to the misuse of ‘heat work’ as I call it – whether this is in the design and operation of thermoforming equipment or the design and operation of oven systems. The consequences – for energy, cost and capital plant – can be disastrous.

Having understood the principle of the trinity, the next key to a good infrared heating system is one in which incoming electrical wattage is converted into infrared output more quickly and efficiently.

In thermoforming – or in oven systems – a number of infrared ceramic heaters are typically mounted on reflectors which are then arrayed upon a platen or oven side which is part of the production line.

The performance of these background reflectors -  their material composition – and the performance of the whole system in general is vital in directing the infrared heating to the target material, whether this is items passing through an oven, or sheet plastic prior to moulding. This applies generally to infrared heaters, infrared ovens, quartz heaters and ceramic heaters.

Far too often, manufacturers resort to fighting the demands and design of their machine in order to get some efficient heat work done. Not enough thought has been given to either the design of the reflecting materials – or to their state in use.

For example, stainless steel is not an adequate material for use as an infrared reflector. It will absorb a high percentage of the emitted energy and will therefore, over time, cause burn-out of the electrical wiring behind the reflector. Polished aluminum on the other hand is in most cases the best reflector for ceramic infrared heating but at >500 C it also will start to fail. The business of thermoforming thin and clear plastic sheet needs some installation of passive ceramic tiles in the base of the platen in order to reflect back the heat.

‘Heat work’ is most often a science but can often be an art – especially in designing the reflective heat elements to suit the specifics of each manufacturing job.

Reflect before you design. And then design for reflection.

It seems however, to be a part of human nature to gravitate to the simplest solution – the quickest fix – and to constantly postpone this requirement of downtime or servicing. Typically, most of us – in business and in manufacturing – live in a time-poor world. We more often reach for something to address the problem in that moment – and rarely schedule supposed non value added activities – until it’s too late.

In the case of heat work -  involving  infrared heaters, infrared ovens, quartz heaters, ceramic heaters – the poor machine operator will often reach for the easiest solution – turning up the temperature to get the same level of manufacturing performance. Not only does this not address the fundamental problem it also gets the manufacturing into a vicious circle which can lead to burn out of electrical equipment and wiring; part malfunction and ultimately machine replacement.  Regular review and maintenance could pre-empt the bother and the increasing lack of process control, not to mention the extra costs involved.

Plant maintenance, of course, has become a manufacturing science and discipline all of its own in recent years – along with systems of quality; systems of production and delivery and so forth. But as long as some downtime is scheduled into the production heating process, there need not be any mystique about this value adding activity. Any manufacturer will find some point during the working week – a shift change; a tool change; a period of short production; when this work can be done. Schedule it in; display it publicly and visibly – and reap the benefit.

It is our experience at Ceramicx, for example, that a 30-40% improvement in operational efficiency of most packaging thermoforming systems can be achieved through this single and simple step of reviewing and renewing the infrared heating platen. The ideal control for this situation is to mount a thermocouple on the existing reflector system – keeping a temperature watch. When this starts to rise – taking more and more energy – the user should be alerted to take action.

Similar simple checks and balances can be made to work for a variety of oven systems.

All things being equal, heating systems can be made to perform in very predictable ways. In all truth, the factor that fluctuates and the programme of maintenance is management.

Keep yours on track and your infrared heating will deliver all that you need.

One area commonly neglected in the thermoforming of plastic products is the temperature and humidity of the sheet material feed before it is even loaded onto the line. Plastic is one of the least thermally conductive materials one could ever hope to work with. The materials typically take more time than you think to get to any decent operating or ambient temperature.

All thermoformers and users of infrared heaters, infrared ovens, quartz heaters, ceramic heaters, should therefore ensure, wherever possible, that their plastic materials are not just brought out from a cold store and deployed into production in a matter of minutes.

It only takes a little planning and foresight to recognise this factor and to prepare the materials over a period of time on the factory floor in order to establish the materials at the room temperature of the production line.

In typical thermoforming production, systems of preheating serve to even out temperature across the raw sheet feed before it enters the main heating system proper. Infrared preheating systems are preferred, owing to the greater degree of temperature control possible. The goal at preheating is the complete elimination of temperature variation later in the processing cycle. An effective heat ‘soak’ will also pre-empt flaws such as finished difficulties appearing in the form of pearlesence on the finished product or lack of gloss.

At Ceramicx we are used to listening to processors and users  pointing to the heating systems as a possible cause of part failure and deformation. But as a general rule, heating is very rarely a causal factor in these matters.

Instead, the complexity of the part design; it’s dimensions, the depth of the thermoforming ‘draw’ and the characteristics of the material composition – these are the prime factors that must be calculated and overcome in order to thermoform quality plastics product.

In fact, infrared heating techniques can be the best friend of the manufacturer who is trying to overcome the inherent difficulties of complex product parts. Make the most of the technology from the start of the process.

Managing Director Frank Wilson says that ‘by the time that we exhibit at next year’s international plastics industry fair in Dusseldorf in October 2010, we shall have badged 75% of our factory output with our full Ceramicx brand and with traceability, know how and internet back up.’

Wilson says that ‘there’s both a push and a pull element to our branding move and our raised profile: After sixteen years of building markets and constructing a formidable body of proprietary know-how, we feel that our product and our name needs both more protection and more profile and promotion throughout the 63 countries that we export to worldwide.’

Wilson says that, in recent years, Ceramicx products – both our industrial componentry and our consumer products – have been tested by independent laboratories in Europe and in Asia and have been found to be the best of their kind. This fact has not escaped the attention of some re-suppliers and distributors in industry who have been simply repackaging and reselling Ceramicx-quality products as their own.

Wilson says that ‘through our branding and product marking activities, we are now set to make sure that we retain and get optimum return from our investment in Ceramicx product excellence. Ceramicx is now deploying new systems of product lazer marking, coding and product traceability and will be further investing in these and expanding the systems over the next few weeks. The next decade will see us making many new strides in our Intellectual Property (IP) issues – and we are well placed to take equivalent steps in protecting and promoting these issues.’ Ceramicx’s chief product lines are infrared heaters, infrared ovens, quartz heaters and ceramic heaters.

Wilson says that the new Ceramicx logo and branding ‘will be seen more and more – partly to reinforce our proprietary know-how but also to reflect the bright and positive values of our company. Ceramicx is primarily concerned with heat work – all of which is ultimately derived from our solar system. Our designer has therefore done a great job in marshalling our company colours and in matching up the ‘sunshine’ elements of what we do with the ecological and low-carbon nature of our manufacturing. We look forward to seeing the Ceramicx name and brand being increasingly recognised throughout our world markets.’

Ceramicx was set up in 1992 and in 1994 moved into its new premises in Ballydehob, Ireland on a site previously owned by Infrared Internationale. The factory output is now 98% exported and further planned developments and expansion, says Frank, will include higher value jobs supported by increased levels of automation and know-how within the company.

All further details from Frank Wilson, Ceramicx Managing Director. Tel. +353 2837510 Fax + 353 2837509
frank@ceramicx.com

Highly humid conditions, for example, bring a high level of unwanted interference into the business of infrared heating. Humid conditions effectively create a blanket of insulation between the heating source and the target. There are two ways to tackle this: Creating air movement, for example, to prevent the build up of humidity has a very positive value rather than a detrimental or cooling effect in the net application of infrared energy for heating.

In industrial settings, however, we at Ceramicx, have come up with solutions that completely take out the uncertainty of humidity. By heating the target products within an air vacuum we improve the heating performance rate by over 30% – the job is done faster and uses less precious energy.

This, of course, is no comfort to those drying the clothes or the dishes. Nature abhors a vacuum there and sunshine and air movement remain the best options. And when it comes down to heating people, infrared has yet another role to play. The job then involves using infrared technology to directly remove moisture and humidity from the air via products such as the Ceramicx PubSun range.

Horses for courses – and all part of the art of Ceramicx heat work

Which is why – here at Ceramicx – on the factory floor, in the offices and in the stores – we have permanent signage that says ‘Better Never Than Late’.

International business such as ours truly needs this relentless focus on the demands and particulars of logistics and delivery – from Iran to India to Indiana.

We make great infrared heating products here at Ceramicx but until you get them delivered to your door on time – you won’t know it and appreciate it.  Our Ceramicx communications are a big part of this process too – which is why you will notice eight different languages on this website

Give us a call today or contact us via our website here – and check out our product delivery promises.
Tel: +353 28 37510

Today, we have solutions closer to home: In fact, today’s world is only just scratching the surface with the application of  infra-red heating to issues of medicine, healthcare and general healing.

Here at Ceramicx we’re pretty excited about leading the field with our coming innovations. All of our consumer feedback is positive. ‘The heat gets right into your bones’ is a typical comment whether the user is a rheumatism or arthritis sufferer, or in a medical operating theatre, a sauna or some other therapeutic setting. ‘The poet also spoke of ‘mellow fruitfulness,’ in his ode and, in our way, we hope to bring the comfort-factor of our heating to all users, in and out of season.