Viglacera, Vietnam's leading state-owned manufacturer of glass, sanitaryware and tiles, has placed its trust in SACMI to raise the capacity of its manufacturing facilities in the south of the country. In addition to the long-standing facility in Binh-Duong, in fact, a new plant is now being completed in the My-Xuan A industrial park in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, not far from Ho-Chi-Minh City.
Finished in record time, the new facility will, once fully operational, produce 750,000 pieces/year. SACMI - which established a permanent presence in the country in 1993 with SACMI Vietnam - took part in the tender for the Viglacera plant and was awarded the task of supplying and installing the kilns.
The new Riedhammer-supplied TWS105/360/100G, a cutting-edge sanitaryware kiln, is already at a highly advanced testing stage. Some 105 metres long and 360 cm wide (an extremely broad infeed capable of handling any product type, from the simplest WCs to large one-piece items), the kiln can fire up to 53 tons of product per day, with total consumption never exceeding 635 kcal per kg. SACMI is also supplying the entire automated kiln car guidance system, which frees workers from having to think about moving the cars so they can focus on loading/unloading the ceramic items; then there's the 9 metre long DWS 9/360/100 W dryer, installed on the return track.
The second keystone of the Viglacera order is the HWS 6/500/140G PF shuttle kiln. Featuring pulse firing technology, which drastically reduces consumption to just 760 kcal per kg, this Riedhammer-developed gem is configured to produce 365 pieces over an 18-hour cycle. After the ramp-up phase, the shuttle kiln will execute second firings and manufacture trims, ensuring unrivalled finished product quality and optimising the output from the main kiln.
The entire product mix, all in vitreous china, is to be sold on the internal market, including several special fine fire clay items to be manufactured by Viglacera using the advanced shuttle kiln. In addition to excellent energy performance, this Riedhammer kiln has been designed to maximise temperature consistency in the cars (with in-car divergences of no more than 7 °C and accurate heat profiling throughout the firing range) while a cordierite roof lining improves quality further by preventing dust from contaminating products. The same high-performance ceramic fibre is used to insulate the walls, ensuring faster firing cycles and, therefore, further fuel savings.
By choosing ultra-reliable Riedhammer solutions, Viglacera is laying the foundations for future consolidation of its position in Vietnam with products also intended for the high and ultra-high ends of the market. A further boost to quality and efficiency can also be expected from the upcoming delivery of 2 SACMI-Gaiotto robotized work centres equipped with the GA2000 robot: these will be installed at the new My-Xuan manufacturing facility by the end of September.