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[April 2003]
Thermal Ceramics Completes Major UK Investment
Thermal Ceramics UK has successfully completed the relocation of its
operation previously sited in Neston (Cheshire, England) to a new site in
Bromborough (Wirral, England). The new manufacturing facility is in
Commercial Road, close to the existing Tebay Road factory.This move has called for a substantial investment in both systems and
equipment required to enable a general improvement in product quality and
delivery times for the company's shaped refractories division.A large part of the investment by Thermal Ceramics related to the kiln and
firing department, where during 2002 the 50 year-old beehive kilns were
steadily replaced with state-of-the-art, highly efficient shuttle kilns.
This aspect of the project was successfully carried out by Drayton Beaumont
Kilns (Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, England), which was involved with the
project for over two years before its official start date and which also
organised other features concerning the new plant layout design and
commissioning.The decision to choose Drayton Beaumont Kilns - a contract eventually won in
the face of stiff competition - was largely due to the constant support and
effort provided during the long process of specifying the new plant and
achieving optimum process control."The designs and options for most of the kilns went through many changes in
order to settle on a final solution. Each of these changes improved the
situation and the end result was very different from the initial concepts,"
explained Adam Slater, Sales Director at Drayton Beaumont Kilns.This final solution comprised a row of five new kilns of two sizes (6 cubic
metres and 12 cubic metres) using the same sized kiln cars. These five
kilns operate at temperatures between 1100°C and 1600°C and are all lined
with Thermal Ceramics' own refractory insulating materials, further
cementing the close working relationship between supplier and user and
making the new site a showpiece installation. Both JM insulating brickwork
and Thermal Ceramics' high performance fibre blanket products have been
employed, as appropriate to suit nominal firing temperatures.The kiln car configuration and movement system became an integral part of
the project and the novel approach applied at Bromborough relies on a
semi-automatic ride-on transfer car that is used to move the universal kiln
cars around the system of kilns.A supervising control and data acquisition software package was incorporated
to communicate with all of the kilns and this provides monitoring of all
five kilns from a central location. This high level of control is based on
a Eurotherm control system with 'Specview' software operator interface.
While most firing is in oxidising conditions, one of the kilns provides the
facility for both oxidising and reduction atmospheres.This major project also involved the provision of a further six, smaller
kilns needed for firing specialist products. Some of these were new and
others were refurbished and relocated from another site. A significant
amount of work was undertaken on the refurbished units: this has been an
area of work in which Drayton Beaumont's sister company - Kilnstruct - has
been a leading name for many years.These were a mix of gas and electric kilns and performance enhancing
upgrades were planned into the contract before final recommissioning took
place.The two manufacturing sites in Bromborough are part of Thermal Ceramics
Europe, the leading single-source provider of insulation and refractory
technology in Europe. Headquartered in Paris, it has nine manufacturing
sites strategically located within the Continent in addition to a sales
office and distributor network serving all of Europe and Africa.For Drayton Beaumont, this is said to be one of a number of ceramic projects
it has been working on since last year during a busy and exciting time for
the company. More from: sales@beaumontkilns.co.uk
ENDS