Cesantoni continues to think big… and continues to invest with Sacmi to drive forward its ambitious expansion project. This Mexican company has been a leading player in the high-end porcelain segment for over 40 years and has over 1,500 sales outlets and 200 partners across the Americas. With this latest investment, it takes a technological leap forward by employing latest-generation grinding, spray-drying, forming, firing, and finishing solutions.
Completed in 2022, the first phase of the project saw the installation of a new MMC120 mill. This marked Cesantoni’s technological switch to continuous modular grinding, a Sacmi solution that delivers world-beating performance, versatility, and low consumption. In parallel, Cesantoni installed an ATM140 spray dryer. A state-of-the-art machine just like the mill, the latter features a tangential air inlet system that optimises heat distribution and, therefore, lowers consumption.
“Quality, product design and the ability to generate value for the customer have always been the core elements of our vision”, observes Yaco Reimers, General Manager of Cesantoni. Like his brothers Hermann Reimers, Director of Operations, and Bernardo Reimers, Sales Director, he’s also a company partner. “In recent years our plans to boost output capacity have also focused on exports, and Sacmi is just the partner we’ve been looking for”.
Cesantoni is thinking both big and long-term: immediately after the first investment, the company signed a ‘repeat’ contract with Sacmi, which involved upgrading the mill to an MMC180 – an exclusive opportunity provided by the outstanding modularity of the system – and installing a new ATM65 spray dryer.
Sacmi’s latest traditional-type press, the PH Veloce, can raise output rates by up to 25%. The company seized on the opportunity immediately and purchased a PH8200 Veloce. But that’s not all: in addition to higher speeds, high tonnage means more format types, as large as 800×1,600 mm, can be made.
“Large sizes are increasingly popular with our customers”, explains Sales Director Bernardo Reimers. “Hence out decision to go for a ‘Veloce’ as it lets us manage larger formats at the highest speeds on the market”.
Optimized control of thermal processes is vital in ceramics. This is why the Cesantoni project included the installation of a new Sacmi EKO 295 kiln, doubling the capacity of the existing machine. In phase two, Cesantoni immediately ordered and installed another EKO 295 kiln and a 5-level ECP dryer, taking production capacity to new heights.
For Cesantoni – winner of the Tecna Award 20-22 as the most sustainable company in North America – this investment perfectly matches their quest for sustainability and lower consumption and emissions.
For its fired product finishing operations, Cesantoni chose BMR, a Sacmi company and acclaimed leading supplier of squaring, cutting, lapping and ceramic surface treatment solutions. More specifically, the customer purchased a Squadra Dry 9/1 dry squaring line for sizes up to 600×1,200 mm and two Top Squadra Dry 12/1 dry cutting and squaring lines for 1,200×1,200 and 1,200×1,600 mm products respectively. Sacmi also supplied a finishing and treatment line consisting of two Leviga 1200/10+10 with 1 Acid Treatment and the exclusive Supershine 1200/12T for sizes up to 1,200×1,600 mm. The advantages of the BMR end-of-line range are evident. In the customers own words, “the exceptional flexibility of these solutions meets our need for modular sizes and thicknesses via the use of efficient, environment-friendly technology”.
Alongside the new modular mill, further evidence of the all-round partnership with Sacmi is seen in the new Sacmi Smart Service maintenance plans. Cesantoni is the first company in Mexico to invest in this high-added-value service, which provides a personalized assistance plan, higher efficiency, greater plant availability, spare parts kits, and scheduled maintenance. “This gives us a crucial advantage”, points out Hermann Reimers, Operations Manager of Cesantoni, “as it allows us to focus our resources exclusively on the core business”.
