• Corporate
• HISTORY OF BERALMAR, 1/10: FOUNDATION AND EARLY YEARS

BERALMAR’s first logo.

The first burners manufactured by BERALMAR, installed on top of the Hoffman kiln in the ALMAR ceramic plant in Sant Cugat.

One of the first GB heat exchange generators, with Cristóbal Caparrós, one of the company’s current managers, at the left of the picture. BERALMAR has installed over 500 of this type of generator.

In 1964 the Aswan dam was inaugurated in Egypt, the South African government imprisoned Nelson Mandela, the first bullet train started running between Osaka and Tokyo in Japan, the Ford Mustang and the plans for building the twin towers were presented in New York and the Soviet Union had a new leader in Leonid Brezhnev. These were times characterised by the tense peace of the Cold War and flourishing economic and technological progress.

Under the veil of this context, BERALMAR (then called QUEMADORES BERALMAR) was founded in Sant Cugat, a ceramic industry town near Barcelona. At that time there were around fifteen ceramics plants in the town, but only one remains today; the CAMPMANY CERAMICS PLANT. Although the head office was the same as for the ALMAR ceramics plant, equipment manufacture took place at TALLERES ALPA in Terrassa, another town close to Barcelona, on the BÒBILA ALMIRALL site.

So BERALMAR started life in a highly specialised setting of ceramics companies, among brickworks, and its initial mission was to manufacture Spain’s first fuel oil burner.

BERALMAR soon started to diversify, manufacturing hot air generators for dryers, meaning that the company then started to accumulate knowledge in the fields of firing and drying.

Another outstanding milestone in BERALMAR’s early years was the manufacture of Spain’s first gas burner in 1976. The rapid growth of the natural gas network during that period stimulated frantic activity in replacing fuel oil appliances with those for natural gas. BERALMAR started to master a variety of fuels.

At the end of the 1970’s the company specialised exclusively in combustion equipment and had around 15 employees.

• SIXTH PART OF THE TREATISE ON DRYING AND FIRING

This sixth part covers chapters 2.5 and 2.6 pertaining to the treatise on firing:

• Chapter 2.5: Package stacking on kiln cars.
• 2.5.1: Brick and block packages.
• 2.5.2: Roof tile packages.
• Chapter 2.6: Heat transfer between gas and products.
• 2.6.1: Preheating zone.
• 2.6.2: Firing zone.
• 2.6.3: Cooling zone.

We hope it will be of interest to our readers.

• INTERNAL TRAINING PLAN

Artur Massaguer, in his office in BERALMAR

BERALMAR is giving a course to eight Technical Office engineers throughout 2014.

This course has a total duration of 161 hours at a rate of 3.5 hours per week and its aim is to adapt the engineers’ knowledge to the latest European standards and regulations on structural calculations for steel and reinforced concrete.

The course is being given by the Technical Office Manager, Artur Massaguer. Although he has dedicated his entire professional life to the ceramics industry, Artur has also given courses on strength of materials and technical mechanics at the Terrassa Industrial Technical School, which is attached to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

• CONCLUSIONS FROM THE 2014 INDIAN CERAMICS FAIR

BERALMAR’s stand at the Ahmedabad fair.

General view of the room where the ECTS ceramic technology symposium was held in Calcutta.

BERALMAR again took part in the INDIAN CERAMICS fair, held from 26 to 28 February in Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India).

After taking part in this fair for four years consecutively, this edition saw the lowest number of visits, but was best in terms of the quality of the meetings held. This fact, along with some prior commercial agreements, mean that BERALMAR takes a very positive view of its participation in the fair this year.

BERALMAR will take part in the fair again in 2015, which will be held at the end of January.

Prior to the fair, BERALMAR also took part in the ceramic technology symposium organised by the ECTS (European Ceramic Technology Suppliers) in Calcutta. BERALMAR’s presentation, entitled “Modern ceramic material manufacture in India: a profitable investment” led to some debate among the attendees.

• BERALMAR AT THE 2014 KIEVBUILD FAIR

As has become a regular event, BERALMAR will again take part in the KIEVBUILD fair, in the Ukrainian capital, this year, between 4 and 6 March inclusive.

The fair is to be held in the International Exhibition Centre (Brovarsky Prospekt 15, Kiev) and visitors will be able to find BERALMAR on stand No. F3-4.

BERALMAR will be represented at the fair by Oleg Polchy and Yuriy Zinyak, sales officials for the Ukrainian market.

This will be the sixth consecutive edition of KIEVBUILD in which BERALMAR has participated.

• News and Accomplishments
• NEW PROJECT IN RUSSIA

Location of the Chuvash Republic within the Russian Federation.

Some examples of the formats to be produced on the new Novocheboksarsk production line.

BERALMAR has been selected for a new project in Russia. This is for the supply of a new production line for SEKRA CERAMICS in the city of Novocheboksarsk (Chuvash Republic). This city is located in the European part of Russia, half way between Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan We recommend following the Wikipedia link at the end of this article to learn more about this small, resource-rich republic with its own culture.

The new line will need to produce 30 million units per year of perforated clinker facing bricks and solid paving slabs, with all formats bevelled on their four faces.

BERALMAR’s supply for this new line can be summarised as:

- MESTRAL model semi-continuous dryer, with travelling (start of dryer) and fixed conical recirculation fans.

- FORNTHERMIC model kiln, especially built for regular firing temperatures of up to 1,200ºC, fitted with natural gas combustion equipment.

- Automation equipment for cutting (multiple cutters with bevelling), dryer loading and unloading with slats, car stacking and unstacking in the form of four robots and for car movement.

This new line will be the second in Russia completely supplied by BERALMAR. BERALMAR is making great efforts in the Russian market and can be expected to tackle new projects soon.