Cecrisa looks to the future and invests in Sacmi technology

Vinci Partners, the Brazilian investment company with a majority share in Cecrisa - one of the country’s leading manufacturers of high-end ceramic wall tiles - is continuing to modernise its machinery with the aim of securing major advantages in terms of productivity and energy efficiency.

This initial stage of the project centres around the new spray-dried body preparation department, which has been equipped with two MMC180 continuous modular mills and two ATM180 spray dryers. The order will boost glazed porcelain and monoporosa tile body output by some 80 tons/hour.

Located at Portinari, the new body preparation department will supply two factories, one in Portinari itself and another in Eldorado. This will enable Cecrisa to make electricity savings of up to 50% and gas savings of 10-15%. What’s more, the high levels of process automation will reduce labour requirements by 67% and will considerably improve finished product quality.

The installation of a new high-productivity complete line for both glazed porcelain tiles and monoporosa aims to achieve similar goals. The line features a combination of Sacmi PH5000L presses, a 5-tier ECP307/28.2 metre dryer and a firing solution consisting of a JMC315/14.7 metre pre-kiln and an FMC 325/161.7 metre kiln.

These latter two machines are equipped with hot air recovery systems and other technical innovations that maintain extremely precise firing curve control and ensure production flexibility and optimised energy consumption.

High productivity and efficiency are also the key characteristics of the product handling and end-of-line solutions. The order also includes the installation of lines for handling and storing semi-finished items before and after firing, as well as sorting and packaging lines designed by NuovaSima, the Sacmi Group company that specialises in solutions for high-output handling and end-of-line quality control.