Ceramic Industry articles from August 2007

Ceramic Industry archives from August 2007

Flexibility and the dog days.(INSIDE CI)(Column)
August 1, 2007... One of my three dogs has a double coat--shorter, thick hair beneath a fairly long top coat. She pants incessantly, even when it's not terribly warm, and it used to pain me to think about how hot she must be. Thinking a trim would do her good, I...

Resco acquires Shenango Advanced Ceramics.(IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Resco Products, Inc. recently announced that it has acquired Shenango Advanced Ceramics, LLC from the interest holders of the partnership. "The acquisition of Shenango Advanced Ceramics will complement the current product offerings from Resco's...

Union Process expands facility.(IN THE NEWS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Union Process, Inc. has completed a 6000-square-foot expansion of its plant to accommodate the growth of its toll milling operation. "Over recent years, we have seen our growth in the service arena expand at a rapid rate," said Arno Szegvari,...

NYCO acquired by Resource Capital Funds.(IN THE NEWS)(NYCO Minerals Inc.)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... NYCO and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies were acquired by Resource Capital Funds (RCF) IV LP in June. RCF private equity funds are headquartered in Denver, Colo., and Perth, Australia, and invest exclusively in mining companies across...

Non-automotive robot orders rise in 2006.(IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... North American robotics companies experienced a record year for orders from non-automotive users in 2006, but it wasn't enough to offset the steep decline in robot sales to automotive companies. As a result, new orders to North American...

International calendar.(Calendar)
August 1, 2007... Aug 21-23 Energy Ocean 2007 ** Oah, Hawaii, www.energyocean.com Aug 21-23 Saturn DigiSizer 5200 Training ** Norcross, Ga., www.micromeritics.com Aug 22-24 World Water Tour ** Melbourne, Australia, www.gewater.com *...

CerMA helps guide smart manufacturing.(IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Fifty attendees gathered at the Ceramic Manufacturers Association's (CerMA) annual conference this past May in Pittsburgh, Pa., to explore the theme "Maximizing Production in Today's Manufacturing Environment." Technical and informational...

Oneida opens new distribution facility.(IN THE NEWS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Oneida Ltd. recently announced that its new distribution center in Bryan County, Ga., near the Port of Savannah, is fully operational and handling all of the company's shipping requirements for the eastern half of the U.S. Construction of the...

Eriez announces facility expansion.(IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Eriez recently completed a 30,000-square-foot expansion of its plant in Erie, Pa., which serves as the company's world headquarters. The additional high-ceiling space gives the company the ability to manufacture large magnets and systems...

C-Therm launched following Mathis acquisition.(IN THE NEWS)(Mathis Instruments Ltd.)(C-Vision Limited.)(C-Therm Technologies Ltd.)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Chuck Cartmill, founder of C-Vision Limited, recently announced the acquisition of the assets and intellectual property of Mathis Instruments Ltd. Mathis' core product lines in thermal conductivity and in-line process instrumentation will be...

More growth for Ceradyne.(IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... With a new plant in China and recent acquisitions, Ceradyne, Inc. continues to expand and diversify its business, Opening ceremonies for Ceradyne's newly built 98,000-square-foot factory were recently held in Tianjin, China. The new facility...

Sweco opens new manufacturing facility in Shanghai.(IN THE NEWS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Brenda Beers-Reineke, president of Sweco, recently announced the grand opening of the company's new manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China. The 16,000-square-foot facility is located in Maqiao, which is 40 minutes south of Shanghai, in a new...

New UT business incubator supports high-tech innovations.(IN THE NEWS)(The University of Tennessee)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The University of Tennessee (UT) recently opened a $2.5 million, 15,000-square-foot business incubator aimed at giving new high-tech companies throughout the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley a home base and the support they need to be...

Micromeritics Instrument Corp.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Peter Bouza was recently appointed manager of Particle Sizing Market Development at Micromeritics Instrument Corp. He is responsible for expanding the company's particle size, count and shape business. Bouza joins Micromeritics from Beckman...

Stedman.(PEOPLE IN THE NEW)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stedman recently announced the promotion of Doug Weber to assistant manager, Parts Department. He is responsible for customer support for all crusher parts and spares, including breaker bars, bearings, electrical...

Ferro Corp.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Ferro Corp. recently announced that W. T. (Tom) Austin has joined the company as vice president, Operations. Austin spent 30 years at The Dow Chemical Co. in manufacturing and plant management roles across several of the company's operations....

Rigaku Americas Corp.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Tom McNulty has been promoted to vice president of Materials Analysis for Rigaku Americas Corp. In this new position, he will supervise the company's small molecule crystallography and general purpose XRD, SAXS and XRF product lines in North...

Innovative Processing Solutions.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Innovative Processing Solutions has appointed Dan Powell system engineer. His responsibilities include project management, system and component design, and estimating. Powell received an associate's degree in...

Oak Ridge National Laboratory.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... UT-Battelle recently announced the selection of Thom Mason, Ph.D., as laboratory director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), effective July 1. Since 2001, Mason has served as associate lab director for the U.S. Department of Energy's...

Applied Manufacturing Technologies, Inc.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Applied Manufacturing Technologies, Inc. (AMT) recently announced the appointment of Jordan Merhib as the company's sales manager. He is responsible for AMT's worldwide sales of factory automation engineering, design...

Nilfisk-Advance America.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Nilfisk-Advance America recently promoted District Manager Rim Ranis to Eastern Region sales manager. In his new position, Kanis is responsible for the management of nine Eastern Region district sales managers and all sales and business...

Ohio Department of Development.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Lt. Governor Lee Fisher and Chief Economic Development Officer Mark Barbash recently announced that John Griffin has been named acting director of the Technology Division of the Ohio Department of Development (DOD), effective immediately....

The National Hydrogen Association.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... The National Hydrogen Association (NHA) recently elected three new directors and two officers. The new directors include Michael Smith, president and chief operating officer of Air Liquide Advanced Technologies U.S. LLC; John Elter, chief...

Paragon Industries.(PEOPLE IN THE NEWS)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Frances Darby, founder of Paragon Industries, died during the night of June 17, 2007. She founded Paragon Industries in 1948 and produced one of the first electric kilns in America. "The outstanding thing about Mrs....

California Attorney General questions prop 65 fees.(CERAMIC DECORATING)
August 1, 2007... California Attorney General (AG) Jerry Brown, who took office in January 2007, and Deputy Attorney General Ed Weil contacted Proposition 65 plaintiff's attorney Cliff Chanler in May to question the "manner in which (Chanler and his clients had)...

On a roll: a new flexible ceramic is competing with tile and conventional wallpaper as a hard-wearing, easy-care wall covering.(CERAMIC innovations)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Miller family is very happy. They have a cottage in the country, a small garden with a sandbox and a swing for the children, and a freshly tiled terrace--everything looks great. The only project that Peter...

Computational modeling for semiconductor wafer processing: computational modeling provides a better understanding of the semiconductor wafer manufacturing process, and can significantly reduce overall development time and costs as well.(CASE STUDY)
August 1, 2007... Optimizing semiconductor processing equipment is a complex task because of the large number of factors that contribute to the whole. It is first necessary to prepare and process materials and thin films, typically in a complex plasma...

Roundness & roughness--together at last.(Cover story)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's every Q manager's nightmare--having to take the blame when manufacturing's new million-dollar, multi-tasking machine tool sits idle waiting for first article inspection results. To make matters worse, modern...

Lean manufacturing and ERP Systems: different by design.
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When Henry Ford began using continuous flow manufacturing back in 1913, Kiichiro Toyoda's term lean manufacturing had not yet been developed. Both men, with their own dreams and leading-edge ideas, were on similar...

Visual supervisor: a new series of visual supervisors combines data acquisition, control and process automation into what is effectively a mini-distributed control system.(PRODUCT: PROFILE)
August 1, 2007... As with many other ceramic industry processes, glass manufacture requires a high level of both control accuracy and reliability to achieve consistent product quality. This particularly applies to equipment like furnaces and lehrs, where...

2007 Discovery Awards.
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The annual Discovery Awards competition, sponsored by the Society of Glass and Ceramic Decorators (SGCD), recognizes outstanding decorated ceramic and glassware design and technical achievements. The 2007 competition...

Advancing Ceramic & Glass Technology: CI's annual Ceramic and Glass R&D Overview highlights technology advances from around the globe.
August 1, 2007... Phosphate cements, ceramic nano-islands, bio-resorbable scaffolds--this year's Ceramic and Glass R&D Overview has it all. Following is a selection of technology advances being made at universities and research laboratories around the globe. ...

Energy-efficient dust collection: optimizing factors such as a dust collection system's hood and ducting can enable the use of smaller, more energy-efficient motors.(special section: brick & clay record)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For environmental and worker safety reasons, among others, effective dust collection is a must. Mechanical and media filtration dust collectors are designed primarily for "dry" industrial dusts, but some tolerate a...

Optimized emission control: at approximately 10% of the cost of continuous opacity monitors, triboelectric bag leak detectors can achieve and maintain cost-effective dust collector performance conditions.(special section: brick & clay record)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Triboelectric bag leak detectors (BEDs) are increasingly being specified for the effective early warning of dust collector filter failure, providing the means for manufacturers to respond quickly before noncompliance...

General Shale to purchase Arriscraft.(BRICK NEWS)
August 1, 2007... General Shale Brick, Wienerberger AG's North American subsidiary, has submitted a purchase proposal to Arriscraft International, a brick, stone and marble producer based in Canada. The acquisition of the Cambridge, Ontario-based company would...

Imerys to increase development in French clay brick market.(BRICK NEWS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Imerys recently announced its intention to invest $100 million (~$133 million) by the end of 2011 in its clay brick production assets. The program includes production capacity extensions for rectified brick in the Gironde-sur-Dropt (Gironde)...

MACT update.(BRICK NEWS)
August 1, 2007... As previously reported, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit returned a decision in March of this year against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) standards on maximum achievable control technology (MACF)...

Acme Brick lays first brick in new company headquarters.(BRICK NEWS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Acme Brick has produced billions of hard-fired clay brick for the Texas and national market since the company built its current headquarters in 1952. However, none was more special than the ceremonial first brick produced for Acme's new...

Wienerberger announces acquisitions.(BRICK NEWS)
August 1, 2007... The managing board of Wienerberger recently announced that it now holds, has agreed to acquire or has received valid acceptances that represent more than 50% of Baggeridge Brick PLC. On June 6, Wienerberger agreed to purchase a 32% stake from...

Hanson Brick launches redesigned website.(BRICK NEWS)
August 1, 2007... Hanson Brick recently launched a redesigned website that features enhanced navigation and a clean, straightforward design that better reflects the global Hanson brand. Complete with essential technical and product information, the new site...

SWBI merger into BIA officially approved.(BRICK NEWS)(SouthWestern Brick Institute)(Brick Industry Association)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Brick Industry Association (BIA) President and Chief Executive Officer Dick Jennison recently announced that the required majority of the BIA has approved, authorized and confirmed by all necessary BIA action the merger of SouthWestern Brick...