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[April 2002]
German Partners Fit Out New VC Production for Syracuse China
Riedhammer GmbH and Julius Lippert GmbH & Co KG recently commissioned a new holloware and flatware project at Syracuse China (Syracuse, NY, USA). The centrepiece of the project is anew fast-firing kiln for biscuit firing and single firing.The scope of supply also covered the loading and unloading of kiln cars and the automatic loading and unloading of refractories. The products are placed on plate setters which, thanks to their optimal setting pattern, give the kiln a very high throughput capacity.
In addition to the flatware, the new kiln can also handle holloware on batts. Depending on the article geometry, the batts can occupy three to six decks. Separation and stacking of the decks also takes place automatically. Hence, setting the batts is said to be an effortless task as there is no need for the cumbersome setting of fully assembled batt decks.
The unfired plates are supplied in stacks and a transfer unit picks them up one by one and places them in the automatic refractory loader. The loader forms complete firing packs which a shelf car inserts into the shelving management system. The shelving serves as a shift/compensating magazine with a buffer function for different firing and loading rates.
After firing, the plates are automatically removed from the refractories and forwarded directly to a finishing station, where they are cleaned with abrasive-laden brushes. These fixed cycle machines now take the place of the old, relatively loud, handling-intensive vibratory polishers. The overall plant has an annual vitreous china production capacity of 7,400 tons.
ENDS