Spanish firm Gres de Aragón, a leading manufacturer of ceramic products made with extrusion technology such as floors, trims, swimming pool tiles and - just recently - ventilated walls, has chosen Sacmi Heavy Clay to supply a complete all-new production line. The latter will be used to make a vast product range, spanning in size from the small 12x24 mm to items with a maximum width of 600 mm and maximum length of 1800 mm (smoothed post-fire), including ventilated facades and large step pieces.
The order for this Spanish company is already being shipped and installation and start-up will take place this summer. Designed for seamless integration into the existing plant, the line supplied by Sacmi Heavy Clay offers outstanding performance in terms of flexibility, with a special focus on product quality and energy savings.
The firing solutions are essential to that quality: they focus on the all-new IEM single-channel roller kiln, equipped with all the latest Sacmi technology to ensure maximum quality and lower consumption. More specifically, the kiln is equipped with modulated air/gas combustion system control; it also features an advanced heat recovery system (MDR), used to heat the combustion air, while optimisation of production and quality performance is smoothly ensured by control software that also handles any gaps in production.
The order also includes the supply of a new universal forming system for both small and large sizes that offers high efficiency and output capacity; downstream from the firing department there is a complete cutting and dry smoothing line that requires no water, resulting in reduced environmental friendliness and lower disposal costs - a new development in extruded ceramics field, where Gres de Aragón is the undisputed leader.
With Nuova Sima, the Group company that designs advanced handling systems for the ceramic industry, Sacmi has also allowed this Spanish firm to integrate the entire production plant by way of roller box or platform storage systems. These are handled by latest-generation laser-guided LGV vehicles that link up the production islands.
The significance of the order is also highlighted by the fact that Sacmi will be supplying all end-of-line solutions. These include the cutting-edge automatic Flawmaster 5G vision system, developed by Surface Inspection; then there are the advanced solutions from Nuova Fima for forming the stacks to be packaged (new Ekosort for large formats) and the automatic Ekoroll 180 packager, which offers unique technology in terms of flexibility, efficiency and environmental-friendliness thanks to a revolutionary packaging system fed by rollers instead of the traditional die-cut carton magazine: the result is less waste and lower disposal costs, optimised consumption of raw materials such as cardboard and glue, plus guaranteed product quality on products with high unit value such as large slabs.
Thanks to this investment decision Gres de Aragón aims to strengthen its role as a key player on the global extruded ceramics and trims market, building on a product catalogue that already has over 500 different articles. For Sacmi Heavy Clay this customer offers a key reference on the high-grade Spanish market, confirming the Sacmi Group's technological leadership in this sector thanks to complete plant engineering solutions that focus on energy savings, product quality and total integration/automation of every stage of production.