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[December 2008]
Denby Meet Stringent Quality Standards with Magnetic Filters
World leading casual tableware company Denby Pottery Co, a torchbearer for the UK ceramic industry over recent decades and with a manufacturing tradition dating back 200 years, is drawing added strength from its decision to commit heavy investment to new glaze and body quality control plant.
In a deal worth over £100,000, Denby has purchased two powerful High Intensity (HI) Magnetic Filter units from Eriez Magnetics Europe.
A serious player on the branded tableware scene - and now employing around 600 people and producing over five million pieces per year - Denby visited the Ceramitec exhibition in Munich in May 2006 and met with the Eriez Magnetics team. After evaluating the new plant requirements, Eriez sought to demonstrate that substantial improvements in material processing quality could be achieved with the use of its HI filter magnetic technology.
The first step was a test programme to be conducted in the Eriez laboratory on the Bedwas, UK site, this being the best equipped facility of its kind in Europe. Trials took place on both the glaze and ceramic body from Denby. Satisfied with results at this point, Denby took a trial unit - a HI25-50 six-valve automatic filter unit - up to the Derbyshire production site and ran it for just over a month on the glaze line. Throughputs on this line are around 1 m3/hr.
First impressions were encouraging, though not fully conclusive, and the unit was subsequently trialled for an extended period. The HI Magnetic Filter's performance in removing potentially harmful contamination from the ceramic glaze was subsequently proven and Denby placed a firm order. The Denby team had begun with a very specific capital expenditure in mind and the production and technical managers piloted the entire project through the factory.
There was close collaboration between the two companies' technical teams and the time and effort that Eriez is known to dedicate to these projects once again paid dividends. Shortly afterwards, Denby Pottery ordered the much larger HI200-50 six-valve automatic filter unit to treat ceramic body. This unit is required to handle throughputs of 11 m3/hr and, like its glaze counterpart, has performed exceptionally and fully justified the substantial investment.
"The new glaze and body treatment systems from Eriez Magnetics have run at full production levels since the middle of last year," said Technical Manager, Dean Barlow. "They have proven to be significant contributors to our process quality improvement - both our through and final product yields have increased and we therefore create less waste/rework at final inspection, amongst other benefits".
An array of magnetic systems is on offer across Europe and it is seen as significant that after much careful consideration and in-depth testing, Denby chose Eriez to be the supplier of what needed to be high performance, technically sound and fully reliable systems. However, despite the size of the required investment, Eriez was confident at calculating the payback period at around just eight months, by any standards a timescale that is well within industry accepted limits.
"We have definitely seen the benefits of this sizable investment," confirmed Dean Barlow, "and I am happy to say that the Eriez Magnetics plant that has been installed here at Denby Pottery has not only met, but exceeded all our expectations."
HI Magnetic Filters are fully automatic, self-cleaning magnetic systems, developed by Eriez. The automation prevents any need for manual cleaning and thus matches the vigorous ferrous removal requirements, which are a feature of the range. In this configuration the magnetics are flushed out of the matrix on a timed cycle, a vital feature when processing ceramic slip or glaze.
The models installed at Denby have been configured with a background field of 5,000 Gauss which, when intensified in the matrix, increases to a peak of around 15,000 Gauss (1.5 Tesla). Tests have demonstrated that only this high level of magnetic intensity is sufficient to eliminate defects and sufficiently increase the material quality, as it is more than powerful enough (unlike competitive systems) to draw and capture wet paramagnetic particles at the required flow rate.
John Curwen, sales director at Eriez Magnetics, says: "This is a great success story for Eriez in the field of quality ceramics manufacture and one that has involved the whole team here. We are intensely proud to have worked closely, and with such success, alongside a world tableware leader such as The Denby Pottery Company."
ENDS