Ceramic Industry articles from August 2003

Ceramic Industry archives from August 2003

Who do you know?(Inside CI)(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... Everyone has undoubtedly heard the old adage, "It's not what you know, but who you know." In today's global economy, making personal connections with others in the industry is more important than ever. The next person you meet could lead to a...

International Calendar.(listing of various ceramic industry events)(Calendar)
August 1, 2003... AUGUST 16-17 Handcrafted Marketplace, Veterans Memorial Building, Columbus, Ohio, www.Offinger.com/Handcrafted 19-20 Porous Materials Characterization Short Course, Boston, Mass., (800) 989-2476, fax (561) 732-9888, e-mail...

Kyocera America to relocate Beaverton manufacturing operation.(Ceramics in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Kyocera America Inc. recently announced that it plans to move its Beaverton, Ore., low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) manufacturing operations into its 288,000-square-foot main manufacturing facility in San Diego, Calif. "Relocating the...

SAMA, Riedhammer to host tableware seminar in Germany.(Ceramics in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Tableware: Trends on the International Market and New Technologies will be hosted by SAMA and Riedhammer, a controlled and an associated company, respectively, of the Sacmi Whiteware Group, on September 15 at Paulaner am Nockherberg di Monaco,...

H.C. Starck GmbH acquires majority holding in InDEC.(Ceramics in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... H.C. Starck GmbH recently announced that it has acquired a majority holding in InDEC B.V., a Dutch producer of fuel cell components. Three organizations--H.C. Starck; ECN (Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland), a Dutch research...

SGCD issues call for papers.(Ceramics in the News)
August 1, 2003... The Society of Glass and Ceramic Decorators (SGCD) is currently accepting abstracts for papers to be presented at its annual meeting and exposition, to be held March 27-30, 2004, at, the Cincinnati convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Papers,...

Hotwork announces ownership change.(Ceramics in the News)(management team buys Hotwork Combustion Services business from Fosbel Inc.; now operates as Hotwork-USA)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... The Lexington, Ky.-based Hotwork Combustion Services business has been purchased from Fosbel, Inc., effective June 1, 2003, by the Hotwork management team. The company now operates as Hotwork-USA, and the management owners have pledged their...

Alfred University assists with eternal flame for World Trade Center.(Ceramics in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Technical assistance provided by the Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology (CACT) at Alfred University led to an improved design for the eternal flame that will be part of the permanent memorial to victims of the September 11, 2001, attack on...

Coverings Vision 2004 conference issues call for topics.(Ceramics in the News)
August 1, 2003... Vision 2004, the conference program held concurrent with Coverings, the international exposition for the ceramic the, natural stone and floor covering industries, has announced a call for conference topics. Vision 2004 is looking for...

Blue Line receives ISO certification.(Ceramics in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Blue Line Corp. recently announced the receipt of its ISO 9001:2000 registration from Underwriters Laboratory. Blue Line is a manufacturer and distributor of inorganic chemicals, specializing in rare earth and zirconium products and a...

Rauschert to sell PTC ceramics in the U.S.(Ceramics in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Rauschert recently announced that it will sell passive ceramic components in the NAFTA states. The company's German Hermsdorf plant sells PTC thermistors and metal oxide varistors throughout Europe. "Selling PTC heating ceramics to the North...

ICDD announces scholarships.(Ceramics in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... To encourage promising graduate students to pursue crystallography-oriented research, the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) has established the Ludo. Frevel Crystallography Scholarship Fund. Multiple recipients are selected on a...

Harrop Industries, Inc.(People in the News)(named Kevin B. Blanke engineering manager)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Harrop Industries, Inc. recently named Kevin B. Blanke engineering manager. A civil engineering graduate of Ohio University, he began his career with Harrop in 1979 and has held several positions within the company's technical staff. He most...

H.C. Starck.(People in the News)(named Jonathan Margalit, Ph.D., product manager for the New Products and Technology Division)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Jonathan Margalit, Ph.D., has been named product manager for the New Products and Technology Division of H.C. Starck in the U.S., which is responsible for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and other businesses. Margalit has been with H.C. Starck...

OM Group, Inc. (OMG).(People in the News)(announces management appointments)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... OM Group, Inc. (OMG) recently announced two new management appointments within its Base Metals business. Wayde Yeoman has been named to the newly created position of director, Cobalt Metal Sourcing and Marketing. Yeoman will have global...

Sauereisen, Inc.(People in the News)(appointed Ron Zmich its new sales manager)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Sauereisen, Inc. recently announced the appointment of R0n Zmich as the company's new sales manager. Zmich assumes leadership of Sauereisen's corporate sales force. Additionally, his predecessor, Greg Severyn, was appointed manager of business...

Harper International.(People in the News)(appointed John E. Imhoff manager of market development)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... John E. Imhoff has been named manager of market development for Harper International. He holds a bachelor's of-science degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University and has 25 years of experience in the ceramic industry. "Imhoff brings...

Valenite Die & Wear/Walmet Division.(People in the News)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Valenite Die & Wear/Walmet Division recently appointment Thomas R. Shearer manager of sales and marketing. He has responsibility for all direct and distributor sales, as well as the development of marketing strategies for the business.

Metropolitan Computing Corp. (MCC).(People in the News)(appointed Larry R. Unger director, Ankersmid Products, North America)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Larry R. Unger has been appointed director, Ankersmid Products, North America by Metropolitan Computing Corp. (MCC). With over 20 years of experience in analytical instrumentation, he has served at CILAS U.S. Inc., Quantachrome Instruments,...

Pierre Elby, founder of Metrel, recently passed away.(People in the News)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
August 1, 2003... Pierre Elby, founder of Metrel, recently passed away. He formed Metrel in 1976 and allowed it to merge with Magneco in 1981 to become Magneco/Metrel.--When Elby's French company, TRB, and all of the other French interests in Metrel were sold,...

Allan D. Ramming, president and chief executive officer of Electro Abrasives Corp., died recently after a brief illness.(People in the News)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
August 1, 2003... Allan D. Ramming, president and chief executive officer of Electro Abrasives Corp., died recently after a brief illness. Ramming was hired at Carborundum in 1969 as a supervisor in sales administration for the company's Graphite Products...

Thinking globally.(International Business)(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... On Capitol Hill, "French Fries" recently became known as "Freedom Fries." In Paris, they treated Serena Williams shabbily. When emotions run high, there is no telling where the ramifications will spread. In a global marketplace where...

Preventing powder flooding: using the right batching equipment can help eliminate powder flooding problems.
August 1, 2003... Powders can flow like water through any crack or crevice--even through clearances in rotary air locks--creating process instabilities, hazardous spills or serious housekeeping issues. Known as powder flooding or flushing, this problem affects a...

"Fair trade" and the demise of American ceramics.(Kiln Connection)(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... As I turned on my computer (made in China), my coffee pot (made in Mexico) perked away. I looked at my watch (made in Japan) and my phone (made in China) rang. It was a call from one of my colleagues who had lost his job. Later I drove to the...

Moving kilns: an experienced kiln moving service is helping ceramic manufacturers breathe new life into pre-owned kilns.
August 1, 2003... Over the past several decades, a number of U.S. ceramic manufacturers have been forced to consolidate their manufacturing operations and/or move their plants to regions with lower manufacturing costs. Other companies will likely be faced with...

Putting control charts to work.(Process Control)
August 1, 2003... The Process Control column in Ceramic Industry's April 2003 issue (p. 38) provided a very cursory look at the function of the control chart. While the control chart is certainly not the only tool available for statistical process control (SPC),...

Breaking the N-SiC barriers: a new type of nitride-bonded SiC kiln furniture is giving ceramic manufacturers an even broader range of high-performance, low-mass kiln furniture options.
August 1, 2003... Typical structures in modern, low-mass kiln furniture systems include hollow shapes, such as posts and beams, and flat shapes, such as setter plates. Historically, alumina-, mullite- and cordierite-based refractories were chosen for kiln...

Next-generation systems--coming closer?(Glass At A Glance)
August 1, 2003... In February 2001, the Glass Manufacturing Industry Council (GMIC) hosted a workshop entitled, "Glass Melting Technologies of the Future." The purpose of the workshop was to consider the current state of glass melting technology, which, most...

Eliminating imperfections: a double-arm, bench-mounted abrasive belt grinder can simplify the grinding and polishing of tableware, glassware and technical ceramics.
August 1, 2003... No matter how hard we try, it is virtually impossible to obtain perfect, flawless pieces of ware from the kiln every time. Kiln dirt, decal and decorating faults, and forming imperfections often appear on the surface of the ware, and these...

Improving quality with TMA: a new TMA instrument can help glass and ceramic manufacturers improve product quality by providing an accurate way to measure thermal expansion coefficients.(thermomechanical analysis, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments Inc.)
August 1, 2003... Thermomechanical transitions in glass and ceramics are key to predicting their performance characteristics; however, these transitions are often extremely subtle compared to other materials, such as plastics. Such small measurements require...

U.S. Refractories activities in 2003.(39th Symposium on Refractories, St. Louis Section, American Ceramic Society)
August 1, 2003... The 39th Symposium on Refractories, sponsored by the St. Louis Section of the American Ceramic Society, was held April 9-10, 2003. The theme for this year's annual spring refractories meeting was "Raw Materials and Monolithics." The meeting...

Ceramitec 2003: a global platform for ceramic discovery: ceramitec 2003 will provide an international showcase for cutting-edge technology and technological innovations in ceramic production.
August 1, 2003... Is your company looking for the latest in tile pressing technology? Perhaps you're interested in finding a special raw material blend to improve the performance of a high-tech electronic component. Or maybe you're seeking a way to' save energy...

Grinding system.(New Products)
August 1, 2003... DCM Tech The IG 180 SD is a compact, fully enclosed, programmable, closed loop grinding system for precision flat grinding of any material, including glass, ceramic, carbide, and ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Primary machine features...

Laboratory jaw crusher.(New Products)
August 1, 2003... Retsch, Inc. According to the company, its BB 51 jaw crusher is useful in reducing very hard or brittle laboratory samples from 35 to For more information, call (866) 4-RETSCH (866-473-8724), fax (267) 757-0358, email info@rets

Refractory sheet.(New Products)
August 1, 2003... ZIR CAR Refractory Composites, Inc. RS-100 is a ceramic fiber reinforced structural alumina composite material with useful properties to 1260[degrees]C (2300[degrees]F). The material reportedly has exceptional flexural and compressive...