[ HAPPY CELEBRATING 14 YEARS ANNIVERSARY OF CATALAN CERAMICS]
A South-East Asian player that is already the leader on the local market recently purchased a complete glazed ceramic tile plant from Sacmi.
Vietnamese group Catalan Ceramics has chosen the very best Made in Italy technology to complete an investment plan that ambitiously aims to extend the range towards high-end medium-to-large tiles. A completely new Sacmi-supplied production line for large glazed ceramic tiles, which spans from press to kiln outlet, is currently being installed.
The beating heart of this new line is the tried and tested Sacmi PH 7500, the largest, most powerful press installed in Vietnam. It produces about 8,000 m2 of 800 x 800 mm tile per day. Alongside this new press, Catalan Ceramics has installed a 5-layer ECP 285 horizontal drier. Downstream from the drier lies the innovative DHD-D 1208 digital decoration unit by Sacmi Digital. Once decorated, the product is sent to the FCC single-layer roller kiln – a solution characterised by outstanding reliability, versatility and low consumption – via the automated loading unit, which is synchronised with the press. Also supplied in 2017 was a new Sacmi PH 6500 dual cavity press for similar formats.
Catalan Ceramics, which, this year, celebrates its tenth anniversary, thus puts the seal on a successful partnership with Sacmi that began in 2007. Over the years, nine presses have been supplied to them. The arrival of the PH 7500 and PH 6500 (now being started up) raises that number to 11. Moreover, 12 driers, 12 kilns and a series of conveying and end-of-line solutions have been installed: these include a press loading unit, a vertical magazine and an automated sorting line.
Quality, productivity and size diversification constitute the core policies of Catalan Ceramics, which is installing the new line at the Bac Ninh manufacturing plant. Thanks to such investments, this Vietnamese player has, over the last decade, become one of the country's top five companies. Now, with this latest order, it aims to boost market penetration capacity, strengthen its local leadership and significantly increase export quotas. Indeed, this recent order does far more than make this South-East Asian player the owner of Vietnam's largest press: it also boosts its output capacity to nearly 20 million m2/year.
