Ceramic Substrates and Components Blog

This blog has moved

2010-04-28T09:59:00.001+01:00

This blog is now located at http://blog.ceramic-substrates.co.uk/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://blog.ceramic-substrates.co.uk/feeds/posts/default.

Investment

2010-04-22T09:46:00.003+01:00

Now the Icelandic ash/dust has settled and the UK is returning to normality, we have received two new arrivals this week.

We are a proud to be one of the few ceramic manufacturers left in UK and now that we are achieving a more global presence, some of our departments are getting busier and every customer requires a quick lead-time. To relieve some of the pressure in our CNC department we have invested in another CNC lathe and grinder and both will be up and running by the end of the week.

Since July last year as an MD I decided that investment in our online presence was also needed to promote and establish our company in a new direction for previously we may have lagged behind in that particular area and as the saying goes, nobody drives as fast as Google. We refreshed our website and up the anti in a new advertising and marketing campaign, all carried out in-house, it was a challenging period from August onwards. The question is would all our work in promoting and the renewed web presence make a difference? At this moment in time, we are looking positively forward with an ever-growing customer base.

MACOR® Machinable Glass Ceramic bar

2010-04-14T11:33:00.006+01:00

******New******

As from today we stock MACOR® Machinable Glass Ceramic bars up to ø 75mm x 300mm in length.

Please Contact us if you need more information or have a look at www.macor.info/ for all things MACOR®

Catch up and production process

2010-04-08T21:00:00.000+01:00

After a busy March and the Easter break, this week has been a catch up week. We are also working on implementing a change in our system regarding the trail of Sales Orders. This new system will tighten the trail of an order tracing all steps in the production process from the moment the works order leaves the office. This will enable stage traceability should any problems occur. The changes will also be time saving when anyone of us wish to know the whereabouts/progress of a specific product within the manufacturing process. To implement the changes has taken a bit of extra time and Sharon, Sean, Jon and I have been working on making it as easy as possible.

I believe the changes will make whole process as user friendly as possible for all involved and we will see over the coming weeks how it will work in practice.

I have also been out of the office for a couple of days to visit clients on the mainland, with a little car trouble courtesy of a rain-concealed pothole. I could not believe that one of my rear suspension springs broke after hitting the pothole.

A more ceramic specific blog update from me next week

R197 refractory

2010-03-27T17:19:00.005Z

R197 refractory has been formulated by George Blain director and founder of Ceramic Substrates and Components Ltd. R197 is a cost effective solution for refractory purposes and has recently seen an upturn in usage in the furnace market and other related industries. R197 (1250°C operating temp.) comes to its own where temperature and resistance to thermal shock is required. Here at Ceramic Substrates we can extrude in round and profiled forms as well as dry press. For more information regarding properties and specifications please look at our main website or click here and here. More from me after Easter, in the meantime we wish you all a Happy Easter holiday.

Upgrades

2010-03-19T18:32:00.003Z

I had been expecting it for a while now, but after a meeting with our IT consultant, the dreaded word that no company MD wants to hear: “It is time for an upgrade.”

The office staff had been complaining about their office suite not being up to date with the current times and that it needed several steps to either open or create certain file types. We will be upgrading our database shortly, to make it more accessible for all of us and this will include internal communication from all workstations. Our IT man showed up at 0815 (always cheerful) this morning and at 0830 we were at Staples buying Microsoft Office 2007 Professional (including free 2010 upgrade). Running it through the till made me slightly nauseous and that was for just two copies. It was installed as soon as we got back to the office and it was all up and running within 2hours. The office staff are very happy and took great delight in showing me just how fast documents open and the possibilities with the new suite.

Next week I will tell you more about our R197 ceramic including history, applications and technical data.

New macor video

2010-03-10T20:21:00.002Z

I have just uploaded a new video showing screw cut threading using MACOR® Machinable Glass Ceramic

emails all around

2010-03-03T21:02:00.002Z

What I have been doing this week is what you would call the more day-to-day running of the company. It all started out with good intent on Monday morning, however due to illness with one of our admin staff a supporting role in other areas was needed. It was easy going until the afternoon when we were struck by an avalanche of e-mails and enquiries. Helping Sharon, this week has made me realise the amount of work that is involved when we are one person down. Sharon is coping very well with the extra workload and putting in extra hours to give our customers the same level of service as per usual. Our internet marketing seems to be working fine with new customers finding our websites. Our main website www.ceramic-substrates.co.uk/ but also our specialised Macor site www.macor.info/ . Now that I am more involved with the process, I have learnt that the internet marketing is not as easy as it looks. We are moving forward with new and innovative ideas regarding marketing and reaching our customers. Next week we will update the video on the www.macor.info/ site, which is at quite basic, but as you will understand we cannot give all our secrets away but we will try to give you a general idea.

Production Manager

2010-02-23T17:45:00.004Z

This week I would like to introduce Sean, our factory Production Manager. Sean joined our company in 1986 straight from school. He started work in the Pyro shop as an apprentice under George Blain. It soon became apparent that Sean was a very versatile character with an eye for ceramic processes within the factory. After several years working in different departments within the factory Sean was promoted to factory Production Manager. He thrived from the start with his new found responsibility making the job his own. Being a Production Manager is not always easy, with the daily running of our machines, kilns and the powder room. Sean communicates on a daily basis with his own staff but also with Chris, Head of Tooling Department and Jon, Head of CNC Department. Sean is also responsible for the overall production, factory staff, quality control and dispatching of goods. Communication is important for every company, so he attends our very popular production meetings on Monday mornings to discuss current and future orders with our General Manager, Jon, Chris and myself. Sean is an integral part of our company and will always do his upmost to get your order out on time, well packed and proud that it comes from a factory that produces ceramic components in the UK.

More from me next week

macor.info update

2010-02-18T18:43:00.000Z

macor.info updated with a studies page regarding MACOR® Machinable Glass Ceramic.

More from me next week

Website finished

2010-02-16T10:27:00.000Z

Our website has been updated with new features,pictures and navigation. Have a good look and browse around, we have tried very hard to make it as accessible and easy to navigate as we can. You should be able to find what you want in four mouse clicks or less.
Using our sitemap or site search could be even a faster option to get there even quicker.
We will try to add more features, like dynamic resizing for different screen resolutions on a later date.

More from me later in the week or after the weekend.

Updates on macor.info

2010-02-15T22:46:00.000Z

We have added French,German and Italian pdf's available for download regarding MACOR® Machinable Glass Ceramic on the front page on our specialist Macor website; http://www.macor.info/

CNC Arrival

2010-02-12T20:15:00.001Z

Our latest arrival has been setup and made to feel at home between our rows of other CNC machines. It is always a big investment but our turnaround time and flexibility regarding production is important; we like to lead in our field of expertise and products. Our aim is to give our customers continuity and high quality products. To give our staff the best tool possible helps to achieve our goals. Jon, Ben and Steve our CNC Engineers are walking through the factory with a grin like a Cheshire cat.

More from me next week

Southern Manufacturing 2010 update thurs

2010-02-11T15:56:00.008Z

We all want one of these

We have seen plenty people "networking" it used to be called lunch break .)

Overall, it has been a very good exhibition for us and I have met old friends, some of our current customers and plenty of people who are interested in our products. Macor is one of the ceramics we offer seems to be very popular, if you are interested in Macor have a look here: http://www.macor.info/

Southern Manufacturing 2010 update

2010-02-10T11:32:00.001Z

Visit us today and Thursday

Southern Manufacturing Exhibition 10-11 February

2010-02-05T18:38:00.001Z

This week has been busy with the day-to-day running of our company, on the factory floor and in our offices. Kirsty has been helping me getting ready for next week’s exhibition, making brochures and sending out invitations, speaking to customers who would like to meet me in person. This exhibition is a great way to meet some of our customers and some future new ones. Examples of several different materials we manufacture will be shown on display. You cannot take all our products with you but we have a wide selection and catalogues to hand. I can honestly say, that I am looking forward to meeting and putting a face to the people I speak to on the phone on a regular basis.

If you would like further information, please give Sharon or Kirsty a call on :+44 (0)1983 528697 and they will be happy to help.

I will post some pictures of our stand (F12) on the blog on Wednesday along with other photos of the exhibition itself.

See you there

Scrappage Scheme

2010-01-28T18:55:00.002Z

This week it has been the week of our quarterly clearout of waste disposal. For instance, a specialised firm will collect waste oils including old cutting and grinding coolant used by our ever expanding machine park. Shaun has been making some more space in the factory for a new arrival due soon. As with every machine, there is always wear and tear and also new developments in CNC or other machines that is used in our production process. Purchasing a new machine is exciting but not the parting with money, however investing in the future and giving our staff the best we can afford makes a world of difference. To boost the cash flow in our machine fund, we have come up with the following scheme; Shaun collects all the copper and brass swarf and other scrap metal to take to our local scrap metal merchant. The monies received from this will be booked in and help towards the repair, upgrade or new buy.

The staff all know that money from scrap is put towards new machines and are very happy to help Shaun to load the van when needed.

“We all know that us boys like our toys.”

Material’s Preparation - A most important area.

2010-01-22T16:17:00.004Z

In this picture: Materials Technician (Ben)

Our Production Manager (Sean) will order a specific composition and grade of material for the component to be produced, be it an extrusion material or a dry press material from the materials preparation area or ” powder room”. The materials are issued to the main shop floor by customer/job reference to maintain traceability as required by our ISO9001 accreditation.

If the material needs a new batch, our Materials Technician (Ben) will produce the new batch of material according to the “Composition sheet” which is a “controlled” document, as we are ISO9001 registered and this is a tightly controlled process. The materials are weighed , then the ball mill is loaded. The materials are ground for the designated time. The material is then sieved to ensure consistent particle size and then filter pressed into “cakes”. These “cakes” are then stored pending further processing into either dry pressing or extrusion variants as dictated by the customer requirements.

Customers are welcome to view our premises, meet the team and are assured of a warm welcome when they arrive.

More from me next week

Busy

2010-01-18T07:56:00.000Z

Last week has been very busy including several trips to the mainland to visit customers; I am in the middle of writing an informative piece about mixing ceramic materials.

New blog post to follow later in the week.

Website

2010-01-13T13:44:00.002Z

Our website has been updated with new features,pictures and navigation. This is still a ongoing process and should be completed within the next two weeks. Have a good look and browse around, we are working very hard to make it as accessible and easy to navigate as we can.

More from me later in the week

Our Artic Challenge Week

2010-01-09T10:52:00.003Z

What a week it has been, unprecedented weather for the whole of the UK and for South, especially the Isle of Wight. Our island turned into chaos with snow and ice that has not been experienced for many a years. I must say that I am very proud of all our staff this week; they have shown dedication to come to work instead of the easy option of staying at home. The famous Dunkirk sprit, but instead of boats the staff and I scrambled all the 4x4’s we have between us to organise a shuttle service. Coffee and tea where on me this week that is the least I can for their dedication to the Company. Our production is running as normal but couriers are suffering from delays in some areas. We are bracing ourselves for another onset of winter weather but we are prepared for what is thrown our way.

Isle of White

2010-01-08T06:49:00.001Z

We are open today, I would like to share a moment of winter on the Island taken yesterday evening, you can see Chillerton Down and Rams Down.

We are open

2010-01-07T08:21:00.000Z

Despite the very cold weather and the snow on the ground, with help from our factory staff 4x4's everyone is here and we are open for business.

Snow Wight

2010-01-06T12:34:00.001Z

We are open,but it took some doing

I am a firestarter

2010-01-03T09:37:00.003Z

Today was a bit special, each year after annual leave we have to relight the kilns a day early to get them up to the right temperature for Monday. Normally, Shaun our production manager would carry out this process with me. When I showed up this morning there were several cars parked outside the building and I was curious to what was going on?

Chris our master toolmaker, Jon head of our CNC department and Shaun where all present. What are you all doing here I asked, the explanation was simple after the whole manufacturing industry has found that trading conditions are challenging they all three came up with the same answer: ”Happy to be here”.

The kilns where lighted and with a coffee the world was set to right in a record five minutes flat. We are back to work tomorrow following the Christmas shutdown and either Sharon or Kirtsy will answer any queries you might have on telephone: ++44 (0)1983528697 or e-mail: info@ceramic-substrates.co.uk