• Ceramics Industry
• ECTS MEETING IN NIJMEGEN (HOLLAND)

Dries van Hapert, General Director of DE BOER and now also president of ECTS.

The outside of the brand new DE BOER facilities near Nijmegen, Holland.

This year’s first biannual meeting of ECTS, the European association of ceramic technology suppliers, which consists of the main engineering companies and machinery manufacturers in the industry, was held on 7 June.

The meeting took place in the new DE BOER facilities in Wijchen, near Nijmegen, Holland. DE BOER is one of the founding members of ECTS, and recently opened its new headquarters and workshops.

One of the decisions made during this meeting was the election of the new board of directors, to be led by Mr Dries van Hapert from DE BOER for the next 3 years, and consisting of Mr Luca Caramelli from BONGIOANNI, Mr Felipe Verdés from TALLERES VERDÉS and Mr Paul Eirich from EIRICH.

This meeting was also an opportunity to welcome two new members: BERNINI IMPIANTI and FORGESTAL, which had previously been a member of the association. With these additions, ECTS now has 24 member companies.

Aside from the items on the agenda, the meeting was, as always, an opportunity for the classic meal the evening before.

The next meeting will take place on 29 November in the EIRICH facilities in Hardheim (Germany).

• Corporate
• CHAMBER 2013 AWARDS CEREMONY

Article in the Diario de Terrassa, with the image of all the prize winners and authorities present at the ceremony.

Ramon Sarió, during his acceptance speech.

The CHAMBER 2013 awards ceremony took place on 20 June at Can Magí in St. Cugat. The ceremony was presented by the mayor of Sant Cugat, Ms Mercè Conesa, and the President of the Terrassa Chamber, Mr Marià Galí, and included the special attendance of Mr Felip Puig, the Minister of Business and Employment of the Catalan government, and Mr Miquel Valls, the President of the Barcelona Chamber, as well as a considerable entrepreneurial, political and social presence from the region.

The 2013 edition awarded prizes in the categories of Internationalisation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Innovation Drive, Research and Development, Training and Knowledge, Best Sales and Service Initiative, New Businesses, Entrepreneurial Leadership and Entrepreneurial Initiative in the region.

As we mentioned, BERALMAR was awarded the Prize for Internationalisation, together with the company LASENOR EMUL SL from Olesa in Montserrat, a company dedicated to the production of food additives.

The manager of BERALMAR, Ramon Sarió, gave a thank you speech on behalf of all the prize-winning companies, in which two main ideas stood out:

• - The pressing need for Catalan companies to throw themselves into foreign markets, although he pointed out that short term results were not a possibility.
• - The even more pressing need to generate employment in our society, and that more can be done and in a better way to save existing companies that are experiencing difficulties and which, due to lack of credit, end up going under.

The speech by the Minister of Business and Employment highlighted the strength of the Catalan economy in spite of the current economic crisis and listed exports, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit as key elements for moving forward.

• CONFERENCE IN MOSCOW

On 30 May, BERALMAR gave a presentation in Moscow, at the 11th edition of KERAMTEX, the congress about ceramic technology organised by the Association of Russian Ceramists.

BERALMAR’s presentation, by Santi Amposta, engineer in charge of the R&D department run by Yuriy Zinyak, BERALMAR’s business representative, focused on the various solutions and technologies for the optimisation of energy in firing processes.

The seminar ended with a lively meal in the Yar restaurant of the Renaissance hotel where the congress was held.

• News and Accomplishments
• SYNGAS PILOT TEST FOR THE CERAMIC INDUSTRY

The French agency CIRAD (international cooperation centre for agricultural research for development) gave a presentation in Copenhagen at the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition about a pilot test carried out with synthetic gas for firing structural ceramic, in collaboration with the TERRAL group and BERALMAR.

This test involved the generation of synthetic gas via the combustion of biomass in a gasifier, a process which results in the production of a synthetic gas of around 1,200 kcal/m3, and the combustion of this gas in the firing process.

The presentation, by Mr Laurent van de Steene, informed the audience of the positive results obtained in this pilot test, carried out in a test kiln belonging to the TERRAL group in France, with combustion equipment from BERALMAR that was specially adapted to meet the requirements of this poor gas.

The test, carried out in different formats from the wide range of products from the TERRAL group (blocks, face brick, tile, etc.), demonstrated the suitability and viability of this fuel, giving free reign to its use on a large scale.