Blog

Happy St Patricks Day 2023 to all our Customers, Suppliers, Employees and Friends.

St. Patrick’s Day, Friday 17th March is a Public Holiday in Ireland so Ceramicx will be closed.

Although the holiday originally started as a Christian feast day celebrating the life of St. Patrick and the spreading of Christianity to Ireland, today, it is a celebration Irish Culture. Our local Parades are Ballydehob, Schull, Skibbereen and Bantry

The shamrock, a three-leaf clover, has been associated with Ireland for centuries. It was called the “seamroy” and was a plant that signaled the beginning of spring. According to legend, St. Patrick used the plant as a visual guide when explaining the Holy Trinity. By the 17th century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism.

Wishing all our customers, suppliers, employees and friends a wonderful Christmas.

Please note will close for our Christmas Holidays at 4.00 pm on Thursday 22nd December and re-open at 8.00 am on Tuesday 3rd January 2023.

 

Ceramicx contract manufacturing

Contract manufacturing (CM) works on the traditional basis of outsourcing and setting up a manufacturing agreement between the customer and the contract manufacturer. With Ceramicx as the CM, the customer can place their order for products of any size or quantity, transferring the entire manufacturing process over to us, freeing up their time and in-house processes.

But CM with Ceramicx goes much deeper than being just another method of outsourcing. As a leader in the infrared industry, Ceramicx has a global reputation in manufacturing cutting edge infrared components and custom-designed infrared products and heating systems for industries and sectors from aerospace and defence to automotive and construction, and more.

And, as an ISO 9001:2015 certified company, our internal processes – from purchasing, design, and R&D to production, fabrication, and delivery – for all heating assemblies reach the highest quality control standards. ISO also makes us accountable at every stage, giving you the assurance we can take your product from concept to completion – and beyond.

Using Ceramicx as your CM of choice for your specialist infrared heat products, you’re immediately opening your business up to a whole world of expertise, knowledge, and sector experience. But you also get resource and production management as well as cost savings on top.

Ceramicx gives you the edge

So what else can Ceramicx offer as your CM? As your manufacturing partner, we work closely with you to achieve everything you need. We always go

beyond the manufacturing process itself, giving you total value and the edge in your sector, including:

• Infrared solutions

Our engineering experience in the sector gives us the advantage when it comes to creating an infrared heating solution to the specific issue or challenge you’re facing.

• Prototypes

Based on discussions and drawings, we provide working prototypes and samples of your product at each stage, ensuring the continuous improvement of your product until approval.

• Product testing

Our automated test lines ensure all custom components go through all the necessary electrical and thermal tests to meet the highest standards of quality and safety.

• Custom tooling

For any product development, our extensive in-house capabilities allow us to design, develop, and manufacture custom tooling and production moulds.

• Production capability

Our dedicated production facilities mean we can get your product from the design stage to your warehouse with the speed and efficiency you need.

Contract manufacturing with Ceramicx

Choosing a CM for your business and product doesn’t need to be a difficult process, but it needs to be right. Working with Ceramicx as your contract manufacturing partner means you’re in safe hands and we can both look forward to a successful and strategic partnership where nothing is left to chance.

For more information on how contract manufacturing with Ceramicx can help your business, contact us today at [email protected].

What is the super-deduction tax break?

At the budget in April, we heard the announcement of a £25bn tax break aimed at encouraging UK business investment. By helping businesses cut their tax bill by up to 25p in every £1 invested in plant and machinery, the scheme helps firms invest in equipment to boost growth after a COVID-19-challenged year. The scheme is split into two parts:

• A 130% super-deduction capital allowance on plant and machinery investment
• A 50% first-year allowance for qualifying special rate assets

It’s hoped the super-deduction corporation tax relief scheme – which is available for business expenses on “qualifying plant and machinery investments” from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2023 – will not only increase UK business investment over the next two years but will also increase the overall amount of investment as well.

How does the super-deduction work?

As we know, most tax issues can be confusing, but this scheme is relatively straightforward. Your plant and machinery need to be purchased between 1st April 2021 and 31st March 2023 to qualify and a fact sheet from the government gives us an example of how it works:

“A company incurring £1m of qualifying expenditure decides to claim the super-deduction. Spending £1m on qualifying investments will mean the company can deduct £1.3m (130% of the initial investment) in its taxable profits. Deducting £1.3m from taxable profits will save the company up to 19% of that – or £247,000 – on its corporation tax bill.”

What equipment can you claim for?

There are always rules, terms, and conditions that apply for any kind of tax-related scheme and this one’s no different. But the terminology used is far-reaching, and with most physical assets in any business classed as ‘plant and machinery’ for capital allowance purposes, it’s likely your business can take advantage.

Whether you claim the full 130% super-deduction or the 50% allowance for qualifying special rate assets, the key requirement to qualify for the deduction is that all equipment purchased is new and unused. Any expenditure on second-hand equipment won’t be eligible.

Investment in Ceramicx infrared

The introduction of this corporation tax relief scheme will certainly open doors for many businesses, as the new tax year is still in its infancy, it gives you the opportunity to consider your CAPEX business spending for the next two years. By making a solid investment into machinery that might not otherwise have been possible thanks to recent events, you can now maximise your super-deductions.

With the continuing advancement of infrared technology, Ceramicx infrared heat solutions are increasing in popularity across varied manufacturing sectors and differing applications. As the original alternative energy, infrared is not only cost-effective and energy-efficient but will help your business to take steps towards a cleaner, greener, and decarbonised future.

With that in mind, there’s no better time to discover how this pioneering heat source can transform your processes and move your business forward.

Enquire with us today on what equipment you need.

Interchangeable elements

When faced with an enquiry for supplying a specific, custom-made element, our North American distributors, Weco International, paved the way for an in-house engineering process that’s prompted us to create a brand new product range for Ceramicx.

With the Ceramicx team working on the design, we created a variation on our existing pillared infrared quartz elements that

allowed an easier process for their customer to interchange individual or arrays of ceramic elements to quartz elements and vice versa, quickly and easily.

Although in its early stages, the new range works in the same basic way, and now allows all customers to change their infrared system’s quartz and ceramic components as and when they need to.

New Ceramicx quartz elements

Using our pillared infrared quartz element (PFQE) as a starting point, the first of our new products is the Pillared Full Quartz Element – Leads (PFQE-L). As a direct result of working on the component for our American customer, the design has been engineered and refined to create the new PFQE-L element.

Its key feature is the inclusion of a pillar that’s the same height as included on the ceramic element with additional connection leads so it can easily be interchanged with standard ceramic elements. So if a heating system uses standard ceramic Full Flat Element Hollow (FFEH), one or more of them could be taken out and replaced by the new quartz PFQE-L elements.

Giving users greater flexibility, the new elements allow a complete change in infrared wavelengths for a wider range of applications when previously it meant building a whole new machine. Now, a machine retrofit can be completed using just the new elements to upgrade an entire system.

Ceramicx will also be adding to this new product

range over the coming months. We’ll shortly be releasing a Pillared Square Quartz Element – Leads (PSQE-L), which works in the same way and will be an addition to our existing PFQE and PHQE quartz elements.

 

This will be followed by similar products in due course – watch this space. In the meantime, if you’re interested in purchasing a quantity of the new PFQE-L product, please email [email protected] with your enquiry.

The use of infrared technology is continually advancing across many global commercial and industrial sectors. And, as a leading manufacturer of ceramic and quartz heating elements, our continued development means Ceramicx elements have transformed how infrared heat is used in a range of manufacturing applications.

But, with distinct differences between them, there can often be confusion about which element type is best to use for the best results. So which Ceramicx infrared heating elements are best for your application?

 

What Ceramicx heating specialists need to know

To help you find the right element type for your requirements and system, the most important information for us to know is:

• The area you need to heat
• The power and type of element you need to use.
• The target material

This article should give you a head start making that choice.

Ceramic infrared heating elements | Hollow, Flat, or Trough?

A consistently popular radiant heat emitter range, industry-standard ceramic infrared elements are the most efficient element where long cycle times are required.

Ceramic Trough Elements – Long-wave trough elements produce a concentrated heat output that disperses over distance. Best suited to applications requiring emitters positioned further from the target material.

Ceramic Hollow Elements – Long-wave hollow elements filled with high-density insulating material, giving a significant reduction in rear heat loss with increased radiant output from the front of the element.

Ceramic Flat Elements – Long-wave flat elements produce higher operating temperatures and uniform heat output. Best suited to applications requiring emitters positioned closer to the target material.

Ceramic element fast facts

• Wattage: up to 1500W
• Temperature: up to 726°C
• Wavelength range: 3-10µm
• Heat-up time: ~10 minutes
• Most popular elements: FTE, FFEH, SFEH

Quartz infrared heating elements | Standard or Pillared?

Quartz infrared elements can be effective where rapid heater response and/or zone-controlled heat is needed.

Quartz Standard Elements – Short to medium-wave standard quartz heater elements consist of iron-chrome aluminium resistance wires inside highly reflective aluminium clad or stainless steel housing. Better suited to applications that involve continuous movement, their metal studs can withstand mechanical shock better than ceramic mounts of the pillared quartz element variation.

Quartz Pillared Elements – Short to medium-wave pillared quartz heater elements feature exactly the same technical and physical specifications but also include a pressed, ceramic pillar for mounting. With a 42 x 15mm punched slot in the reflector (max. thickness 1.5mm) and a supplied spring and clip, quartz pillared elements are designed for easy element replacement. The pillar also houses screw terminals for connection and can easily be interchanged for ceramic elements.

Quartz element fast facts:

• Wattage: up to 1000W
• Temperature: up to 772°C
• Wavelength range: 1.5-8µm
• Heat up time: ~5 minutes
• Most popular elements: FQE, PFQE

Quartz tube infrared heating elements | Halogen or Tungsten?

As a powerful heat emitter range, quartz infrared halogen and tungsten elements are used in fast-moving processes with shorter cycle times that require extremely high temperatures.

Quartz Halogen Elements – Short-wave quartz halogen heating elements use halogen gas to support the tungsten filament in reaching temperatures as high as 2600°C, with a peak wavelength emission of ~1.0µm.

Quartz Tungsten Elements – Medium-wave quartz tungsten heating elements use a porcupine or star type coil filament to reach operating temperatures up to 1500°C, with a peak wavelength emission of ~1.6µm.

Quartz Halogen and Tungsten element fast facts:

• Wattage: up to 2000W
• Temperature: up to 2600°C
• Wavelength range: 1-1.6µm
• Heat up time: instant

Ceramicx heating solutions

Infrared heat technology has the ability to deliver plenty of benefits to the user, whatever the process or application. Regardless of the demands, each ceramic, quartz, quartz halogen, or quartz tungsten infrared emitter provides precision heat where it’s needed, as well as being cost-effective and energy-efficient.

While delivering on cost and efficiency, making the right choice of Ceramicx infrared element will also mean:

• Reduced machinery or process downtime
• Reduced heat loss to machine surroundings
• Consistent process heating for a reduced product reject rate
• Less time and energy wasted replacing elements beyond essential maintenance
• Better results / better quality product

For more information, complete our enquiry form here or email at [email protected]. We’ll be happy to help you find the right heating solution for you and your business.

Upgrades to meet demand

Infrared technology is continually evolving, and as leaders in infrared heating elements and components for industry, it means Ceramicx has to lead by example. At the heart of everything we do is the technology we invest in, and our in-house machinery needs to help us meet the demand.

Our first upgrade has been to our CNC milling machines. While only used occasionally for a low quantity of production output, our current Hurco VM1 3-axis machine proved crucial to a lot of internal projects. But while giving us the ability to create moulds for many of our other machines, including our industrial ceramic hollow production line and dust press machines, it wasn’t satisfying current requirements.

Speed and accuracy

To help maximise production, step forward our brand new DMG MORI CMX 800 V vertical milling centre. As we run our CNC milling machines overnight producing moulds, this latest technology gives us essential improvements in key areas, together with increased productivity and reliability.

A larger table size and load, together with the increased work area allowing for greater X, Y, and Z-axis travel, gives us more stability. We also now have a much-improved cutting performance with an inline spindle speed of 12,000rpm, giving us a 53% increase in power and 45% higher torque. And there’s even greater accuracy of positioning in all axes up to 6 microns.

Another level of product

Overseeing the installation was our IT Project Manager, Alan Draper, who said “We’re upgrading in this area now to bolster our manufacturing as we’re, by our own standards, not at the level we need to be. We have more moulds for Industrial ceramic production, Dust Press and Progression tooling than ever before, so we needed to increase our manufacturing capabilities to meet these demands.”

But while the CMX 800 V is just the beginning of our planned upgrades, what else is in store? “We have a new DMG MORI NLX2000 lathe coming in shortly which is a very new piece of technology for us, we have nothing on a par with it at the moment, as well as a new laser marking machine. We also have a few things in the pipeline that we are not quite ready to talk about yet, but they should all come together to bring another level to our products.”

While the addition of the CMX 800 V is a significant investment, allowing us to effectively double our current output, it also cements our commitment to productivity and performance as set in our recent ISO 9001:2015 quality management certification.

Over the last four years Ceramicx has seen many changes; Industry 4.0, cultural and environmental. In 2020 we have made the pivotal change from a craft based production to a semi-automated industrial production line. This has resulted in continued improvement to our quality, processes, and consistency.

Ceramicx is an indigenous Irish company with an unrivalled knowledge of infrared in all forms and a proven success record of nearly 30 years. We welcome you to take a brief visit of Ceramicx through our short film presentation.

We acknowledge the excellent work of Dog Day Media and our own in-house marketing team in producing this presentation and a big Thank You to all the Ceramicx staff who starred in their film debut!

In our previous blog & video we outlined the initial set of packaging changes we made to be as eco-friendly as possible without compromising on quality or protection. These included:

1.) Calling time on polystyrene

2.) Water-based adhesive packing tape

3.) Clearer branding and handling instructions

Now that these changes are in circulation, we are delighted to say we were able to make further improvements: These include:

4.) Reduced Box Height

With the reduced depth of packaging needed to safely deliver our products, we were able to reduce the box height by 24mm in height.

5.) From Waste to Packing material

Another procedure we’ve added to our packing process is the ability to use our own waste cardboard and recycle it in-house. By investing in a simple perforating machine, each sheet of excess cardboard can now be used as padding mats or padded filling inside every shipping box.

We can also use it to give additional, shock-absorbing protection to heavy, larger, or more fragile products. By adjusting the cushioning volume of the cardboard to suit, we can ensure maximum product safety and security during the shipping journey.

The Future

The changes have been received positively by our customers so far. It’s important for Ceramicx to always be improving our products and how they are delivered all around the world. We hope our customers go on to re-use or re-purpose as much of the packaging as they can, continuing the circular economy routine we have adapted.