• Ceramics Industry
• HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

• ECTS MEETS IN BRUSSELS

The ECTS (European Ceramic Technology Suppliers) work group held its second meeting of 2012 on 9 October in Brussels.

Beyond the agenda, probably the most noteworthy aspect of this ECTS meeting was the consensus among participants on the increasing mutual trust and cohesion between the participating companies and their delegates, which is making these half-yearly meetings more productive.

They also discussed how in the ceramics world, more importance is often placed on the quantity rather than the added value of the product, and on the urgent need for European manufacturers to innovate and increase the added value of their products to expand market shares in ceramic building products as the only way to gain market shares from alternative materials (silicate, concrete, drywall, etc.) and compensate for the slow pace of construction occurring in the old continent.

We should add that the reason for choosing the European capital for the last meeting was to coincide with the annual meeting of the TBE (Tile & Bricks Europe), the European association of manufacturers of ceramic products. In this way, ECTS could attend the meeting of the work group organized by the TBE and the European Parliament called "Financing energy efficient buildings: how the EU can contribute to affordable housing," held in the European Parliament itself.

ECTS was also invited to the gala dinner organized by the TBE in celebration of the 60th anniversary of its founding.

The next ECTS meeting will take place in June 2013 in Nijmegen (Holland), hosted by DE BOER MACHINES, and will also allow the other members of the group to discover first-hand the magnificent new facilities in Wijchen, opened towards the end of 2011.

• Corporate
• BERALMAR AT “TÉGLAS NAPOK” IN HUNGARY

The annual meeting of the Association of Hungarian Ceramists took place on 4 and 5 October. This event, known as Téglas Napok (literally "the day of the brick") was held in Lillafüred, a beautiful spa town in the northeast of the country, specifically in the Palotaszálló castle, built in 1930 and now converted into a hotel.

BERALMAR participated in the event as it has done for the past few years, offering a technical sales presentation entitled "Solid fuels in Hungary: the Project has begun", starting with an overview of technologies which use available solid fuels and ending with the first MICROMATIC system in the country, launched in September in the TÉGLAIPARI KUNSÁGI ceramics plant, which we already mentioned in the last Newsletter.

Lastly, Téglas Napok ended the year with a visit to the MÁLYI TÉGLA ceramics plant near Miskolc, a factory equipped with a BERALMAR PRESTHERMIC tunnel kiln.

• CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN 2013

As is customary in recent years, BERALMAR has recently carried out a campaign to collect food and toys for the needy.

The food items collected have been delivered to the Maria Auxiliadora parish church in the La Maurina neighbourhood of Terrassa which has conducted a great deal of social work over the years, helping some 140 families (400 people) from the neighbourhood with an individualised screening process in order to determine the best kind of help in each case.

Toys were donated by the NGO Voluntariat Solidari (VOLS) also from the La Maurina neighbourhood, which will help to minimise the number of underprivileged children without presents over this festive period.

Anyone wishing to help these two organisations can apply here:

Parròquia Maria Auxiliadora
Maria Auxiliadora 45, Terrassa
Telèfon: +34 937805728

Voluntariat Solidari
Núria 89, Terrassa
Telèfon: +34 622577979

• News and Accomplishments
• SUCCESSFUL COMMISSIONING OF A NEW FACTORY IN ALGERIA

BERALMAR has started production at new factory EL RYM 2 in Annaba (Algeria) with remarkable success. The first kiln car to leave the kiln was perfect with no breakage, as shown in the photo.

The new factory EL RYM 2 has a production capacity of up to 750 tonnes/day in some formats.

The new factory has an airtight PRESTHERMIC tunnel kiln, with metallic finishes on all the walls and the ceiling of the kiln, which can operate at high pressures, optimizing the firing quality, production volume and energy consumption. The kiln has large dimensions: 158.40 metres long without pre-kiln, internal width of 6.70 metres and a useful height of 1.64 metres, and is equipped with natural gas combustion equipment, a fuel which is ridiculously cheap in Algeria, and MICROBER firing control.

It was not necessary to install a pre-kiln since it is equipped with a LLEVANT dryer, which loads green material directly onto a kiln car so that the time needed by a car between the exit of the dryer and the entrance of the kiln is less than one minute, without any possibility of moisture reabsorption. This, together with the fact that the LLEVANT dryer works 24 hours, 7 days a week, and practically uses only hot air recovered from the kiln, makes the LLEVANT dryer the best option from an energy saving point of view. The dryer will be managed by MICROSEC drying control.

The use of this type of dryer also greatly reduces investment in automation equipment since there is no product handling between the dryer and the kiln.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank BRIQUETERIE EL RYM for their continued confidence in BERALMAR.