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Guangzhou is very far away. It is in the far east, the very far east, I’m not sure if you’re allowed to say that but…. it’s definitely a very long way from Ballydehob to Guangzhou. We departed Ballydehob at 04:00, departed Cork at 07:20, then Heathrow at 12:20, departed Hong Kong at 01:55 the next day (07:55 local time) and finally arrived in Guangzhou at 08:55 local. This is a city and region of over 25 million people, very different from the relative quietness of Ballydehob that’s for sure!

After a short freshen up at the hotel and some lunch, we headed to Chinaplas to be greeted by the wonderful team from GSAE who represent Ceramicx in China. As well as being a hard-working technical sales team, Mr. Xu Shan, Mr. Pingiang Li and all the GSAE team are fantastic company. The exhibition complex was very large with over 3,500 exhibitors and 250,000 sqm of floor space in 13 buildings with 2 or more floors. Ceramicx was located in hall 9.2 under the banner of the British Plastics Federation, this was a busy location with building 9 being adjacent to the main entrance.

Following the first day, we visited the new office and location of GSAE in Guangzhou. GSAE have invested in a new office space with warehousing, testing facilities and a small assembly area for components. We were served tea in a traditional method on a carved table made specifically for tea drinking. A social dinner followed in a local restaurant with the Chinese, Taiwanese and Irish team all present and enjoying the local food and beverages.

Back to real business during the second and third day at the show for Frank and myself. I started to feel normal as I had found a good supply of mid-morning coffee!! As well as meeting existing customers of both Ceramicx and GSAE and a strong representation from India we had the pleasure of meeting with the engineering team from a very important customer in China. The engineers from Bruckner visited the stand to re-iterate the feedback regarding the good quality and excellent performance of our ceramic heater in their thermoforming machines. It was great to get to meet the end users of the IR heaters face to face and discuss future opportunities.

There was a fantastic show of machinery at the exhibition, both from an IR heater user and from a process automation point of view. There were many new ideas we started to develop while at the show. The trip to Chinaplas 2019 was a successful trip where Ceramicx got to further enhance its reputation in the market and generate further interest from some new contacts.

“Chinaplas 2019, received over 163,000 visitors in total of which 25% were from overseas. The Ceramicx stand located C71 was located in hall 9.2 in the UK pavillion, here we received warm visiting and big support from our old customers. We also welcomed and talked with many professional new customers who were looking for heat solutions. Our cooperation with many OEM’s meant our heaters being shown in their machines in the exhibition.

Global leader OEM, Bruckner showed their Chinese-made thermoforming machine with Ceramicx high quality SFEH 600W black coloured heaters.

The Chinese leader OEM SHANTAO AUTO, BLOOM SMART and DONGGUAN HONG HAO had on show machines equipped with Ceramicx heaters.

Ceramicx managing director Frank Wilson visited the stand of DONGGUAN HONG HAO and had a very friendly and in-depth conversation with its general manager Mr Zhang Yong about heating systems and thermoforming machine design.

The engineers from Bruckner also visited our stand and had a warmful talking with Mr. Padraig Courtney.”

Mr. Xu Shan, General Manger, Henn Group

See more images from the trip!

This past week we welcomed Szinimpex Kft. from Hungary to our factory.

Based in Kecskemét, Szinimpex began selling our products only a few years ago and have now made it their mission to continue to grow sales of our products in Hungary and surrounding countries. They now sell the complete range of Ceramicx products and components on their webshop.

They visited Ceramicx for 2 days to learn more about our company and products. They received a tour of our factory, from production to packing and had the chance to meet everyone they have been in contact with over the past few years.

Going forward Szinimpex are also interested in acquiring more engineering project enquiries and really made the most of their time in Ceramicx learning the best way to develop and handle these enquiries.

A first trip to Ireland for many of their team, we believe they had a very enjoyable time, sampling Irish foods and enjoying the scenery. We enjoyed hearing about the Hungarian food and culture and the similarities and differences between our two countries. Of course, we seized the opportunity share some Irish phrases with our new friends and in turn learn some Hungarian too.

We are looking forward to a successful future with Szinimpex and wish them the best going forward.

To contact Szinimpex please email [email protected]

MTD CNC is the UK’s leading online marketing platform for machines and tooling suppliers in the UK with over 10,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel.

Mark Deadman took the mic to speak with our Managing Director, Frank Wilson about what Ceramicx does in the heatwork industry, our heat systems and our specialised products for various industry applications.

The video was a wonderful way to further show off our factory and the different areas that work together to form the Ceramicx production floor, in this case our tooling room.

The focus was of course our Excetek machines – Excetek V350G CNC wire cutting EDM machine and a HD30Z EDM hole drill.

“Ceramic by its very nature is exceedingly corrosive and will wear any steel. The net result is we can harden the steel with the wire before we wire out the component parts. We can optimise that hardness before we essentially introduce it to a tool. “ Frank Wilson

It’s important for Ceramicx to have machines that performs successfully in terms of maintainability, usability and capability. Excetek has always achieved this in our view.

Our relationship with Paul Barry in Warwick Machine Tools was instrumental in our introduction to Excetek. For us in West Cork – location wise, it’s important to have a good service system for the products. Whether it’s a flight over from London or a car trip down from Dublin Warwick have always been ready to give assistance.

The whole experience with MTD CNC was beneficial for all parties learning much about each other’s work. We shall be keeping an interested eye on MTD CNC for the future.

Please see our Heatworks 20 for all things Ceramicx.

For more information on specialised projects we have done see our Industrial Ovens page or contact Frank Wilson ([email protected])

A great meeting, and well overdue, as we hadn’t welcomed any of our distributors to visit during our factory building period. Brett was very impressed with our new factory, our machine building space, the current improvements in our systems and in our plans for additional increased automation which will enhance the speed and turnaround of projects and products.

Weco International also have plans to move to a new site, and build a purpose built building to house their business. This is very exciting news, we look forward to seeing their plans realised in the near future.

It is always lovely to meet with our long standing partner and friends at Weco International in the US. Both companies go forward with renewed vigour, aiming high to grow our element and project business throughout the USA .

Readers of Ceramicx HeatWorks magazine will know just how much we manufacture in-house. Except for some specialist supplies and accessories Ceramicx makes it all here.

Our new factory – the machinery hall especially – now gives us the space and the facilities to create much more variety of product and IR heaters for our various marketplaces.

The latest of these new products is the Modular IR 260, a modular long wave infrared heater, the configuration of which allows multiple units to be arrayed with equal element spacing.

The IR heater is fitted with our high efficiency black ceramic hollow elements; model SFEH (2 x 2 array).

The heater can be wired with either series or parallel connection allowing use on both 240V and 480V networks. Two power output options of 2.4 kW and 1.6 kW are available.

Stainless steel housing and high-reflectivity polished aluminised steel reflector plate provided the finish to the new unit, which is fixed using 4 aluminium stand-off’s with M6 threaded screws and fixing nuts.

Optional type K thermocouples can be installed in one of the ceramic emitters. This can be connected using the removable ceramic type K plug which is supplied as standard with thermocouple units.

The Modular IR 260 is designed to provide a modular solution for machine builders and end users alike that choose to build their own ovens or rebuild existing ovens. Once a suitable framework is in place, the modular design reduces installation and wiring time and provides high intensity heating with a power density of up to 35 kW/m².

More Information on the Modular IR 260 is avaliable here.

These are supplied and installed by our friends at Herschel Infrared. And as Winter begins to set in, shopper comfort becomes a much valued part of the trading environment.

The UK infrastructure has an equal need for public comfort in its municipal infrastructure; public buildings, malls and thoroughfares; transport systems, sporting stadia and other places.

These large public spaces often entail high ceilings, which can present a challenge to architects, often producing areas that are typically hard to heat. Staff, receptionists and customers can find such arrangements and designs ugly and uncomfortable. Infrared heating systems, however, can save the day and can significantly improve the comfort and value of such spaces.

These elegant Pulsar IR heating units, for example, have been recently installed at the City of Westminster College in London, to fantastic praise from staff and students. They are entirely in keeping with the aesthetics of the building whilst effectively heating the reception staff despite some huge challenges with airflow.

The Liberty Stadium, Swansea – home to the Ospreys Rugby Club and Swansea City Football Club – is just one of many sport and leisure venues that are switching to infrared heating – the Aspect XL heater.

Our low energy heaters pictured here provide a perfect solution for the corporate box facilities in all weathers. The reasons and benefits include the zero light, the easy to control features and the very natural feeling of comfort for guests from the radiant technology.

Factories, workshops and work areas that are well away from the public eye are also taking a leaf out of the public book. Here Herschel offers a wide range of Ceramicx heaters that are suitable for warehouses, factories and workshops.

Able to specify, target and heat only those parts of facilities that actually require heating; Herschel has successfully reduced the energy requirements for a large number of industrial-based business. The costs for both energy useage and installation have been reduced here and a zero maintenance situation has also slashed ongoing fees and costs from this element of the package.

All in all, and thanks to IR heating, we look forward to a comfortable Winter ahead!

For more information see – https://www.herschel-infrared.co.uk/

The Time Has Come

As some of you may have noticed over the past year, a teddy bear has been popping up now and then through blogs, videos and our Facebook page. You may find yourself wondering, who is this bear and why is he so well-travelled?

Well, today we are going to share with you, the story of Patsy Bear. A tale that begins all the way east in Guangzhou, China.

As part of a yearly tradition, Patrick Wilson our Production Manager travelled to China for Chinaplas, Asia’s no.1 plastics trade fair. He drove from Ballydehob to Dublin Airport, caught a plane and 9704 km and 15 hrs later landed in Guangzhou Airport. He took a quick trip across the city to the Guangzhou International Convention & Exhibition Center and joined our friends from GSAE on the Ceramicx stand at Chinaplas. Later that night a very sleepy Patrick went to his hotel where he had a lovely room with a big comfortable bed. It was only when he woke refreshed the next morning after a good nights sleep he realised that the Hotel had a teddy bear theme. When word got back to the office about this, teddy bears began appearing on Patricks desk, just so he would not feel out of place when he arrived home.

Cue a bit of imagination….Patrick was shortened to Patsy and the presence of one single bear stayed with the office.

For the next two months we began to place Patsy in blog pictures, videos and even gave him a social media presence.

It was not until the end of July that he came to take his bodily-form-as-we-know-it these days

• May 2017: Patrick Wilson attends Chinaplas 2017.
• Back in Ceramicx, children’s teddy bears are kept at Patricks desk.
• May 2017: Patsy Bear begins life digitally.
• June 2017: Ceramicx Summer BBQ.
• July 2017: Trip to AGS packaging in Cork.
• July 2017: Summer holidays on a secret island.
• August 2017: Pasty finds his bodily form.
• August 2017: Trip to see a leading automotive OEM in the UK.
• September 2017: Pasty moves office into the new building extension.
• November 2017: Trip to Birmingham for the Advanced Engineering Exhibition.
• January 2018: Trip to Maynooth to receive Fusion Project Exemplar Award.
• February – May 2017: With the cold weather Pasty takes to hibernation for the cold spring we had.
• St. Patricks Day: Patsy awakes for one day to put together an infographic to explain the day to our customers not familiar with our patron saint.
• June 2018: Back to work Patsy takes up residence on the windowsill of the marketing department office ready to enjoy a sneaky bit of sun when he can.
• June 2018; Patsy lends a paw to the painters outside giving Ceramicx a lick of paint.
• July 2018: Patsy enjoys a Pizza day in Ceramicx.
• September 2018: Trip to Maynooth University for Rachel of our Marketing department’s graduation.

Patsy has popped into a few of our blog and facebook posts over the last year and a half. Can you guess how many times?