CERIC Technologies: Material satisfaction

Few changes have altered the construction industry as powerfully as advances in building construction materials – and with good reason. Builders and their clients want sustainable products perfectly engineered, and they want them created nearby. All of this is possible for Paris-based CERIC TECHNOLOGIES, a worldwide leader and
expert in the development of fired clay and ceramic construction materials. CERIC TECHNOLOGIES engineers the factories and production solutions that ensure that innovative construction is a global project.
Founded half a century ago in Paris by two innovators in the ceramics industry, CERIC TECHNOLOGIES(Centre for Studies and Industrial and Commercial Projects) has always stood at the forefront of material technology. It was founded specifically for a purpose: to produce new equipment and technology to create tomorrow’s building materials today. Within just a few years, CERIC TECHNOLOGIES had transformed itself into one of the most innovative building material producers in the industry.With time came growth – to date, the company has completed construction of over 450 factory projects. Soon, CERIC TECHNOLOGIES was exporting its technologies to Europe and had created commercial offices in Italy, North Africa and Russia. CERIC TECHNOLOGIES helps its customers pinpoint customisable solutions for new construction with a focus on quality and modern facilities. In all of its activities, it strives to produce exceptional engineering solutions that reduce energy consumption, optimise production capacity, reduce and simplify maintenance, and improve man-machine interfaces. “Our guarantee to our customers is that we will always create solutions that help them become more successful,” says Jean-Michel Strauss, general director of CERIC TECHNOLOGIES. Now, with a restructuring spurred by
the recent economic downtown, CERIC TECHNOLOGIES is poised to tackle new projects with the same vigour and expertise it always has and to create new solutions for new customers on a global scale. Based in Paris, CERIC TECHNOLOGIES employs 85 people and
achieves 40 million EUR annually, a figure that is down from its average of 80 million EUR before the economic crisis. It avails itself of its own research and development office, where it engineers ceramics machinery solutions for an extraordinary range of customers. In turn, it provides these customers with tailor-made ceramics processing on their sites and conducted with a range of equipment. These are state-of-the-art facilities with capacities greater than 100 t/h. “We have achieved our level of innovation by concentrating all of our know-how on one area,” Mr. Strauss says. CERIC TECHNOLOGIES is instrumental in creating new processes to transform raw materials and shape them for use in the construction industry, whether it is creating thermal industrial dryers, furnaces and burners, developing automatic handling and robotics to move these materials, or creating machines to measure and automate technologies or monitoring of facilities. The company begins most of its projects by conducting quality tests and continues by defining the process and manufacturing needs of the customer, including which ceramic forms suit its needs and what period of time it has in mind. Then, the company plans the project outright, including all schematics for kilns and machines that manufacture and transfer clay bricks or blocks. “We do everything but build the building itself,” Mr. Strauss says. The construction of ceramic blocks ensues in three different stages. First, the clay preparation removes clay from a quarry, a material that must be processed in a first stage into smooth dough. Then the clay is placed into the desired shape, resulting in a green brick or tile. “The material is still pretty fragile at this point,” Mr. Strauss says. The second stage consists of a drying process. The brick is then fired at temperatures up to 1,200 degrees – this is the point at which the bricks turn red. Afterwards, the bricks are conditioned and packaged, labelled and coloured. The same process applies to the company’s ceramic construction blocks.
CERIC TECHNOLOGIES markets its customisable solutions to a wide range of customers including large conglomerates, private investors and family businesses. “Every customer’s needs are different – our goal is to shape our solutions directly to them,” Mr. Strauss says. To this end, the company has its own research and development centre, where it conducts studies for new projects and where its engineers strive to create new and better ways to harness energy to produce ceramic
products. “Many of our customers want to use different energy sources, so it is up to us to determine ways to work with alternative energy methods,” Mr. Strauss says. Being a global presence means developing structures to make global communication feel more human. CERIC TECHNOLOGIES is able to conduct close collaborations with its customers, cooperation that delivers high performance – and which results in life-long partnerships built on close service. CERIC TECHNOLOGIES has recently restructured and has a number of new global projects in the works, including factories in Russia, Eastern Europe, North Africa, Latin America and Asia.
“Ceramic materials are very adaptable,” Mr. Strauss says. “We are active in every country where lots of new construction is taking place,” he adds. CERIC TECHNOLOGIES maintains excellent communications with its customers through an active network of agents and by participating in regular conferences and trade
fairs associated with the building industry. Sophisticated engineering work conducted by specialists attuned to its customers’ ever-changing needs – these are qualities to get fired up about.
Source EUROPEAN_BUSINESS_JOURNAL