Honoring Top Suppliers in the Ceramic Industry
Between February and April, we provided our readers and social media community with the opportunity to nominate their favorite suppliers for consideration for the 2015 CI Supplier of the Year Award. An online form asked questions related to supplier product quality, ordering processes, customer service, customer education, etc. The nominations have been tallied and evaluated, arid this year's winner is Sunrock Ceramics! Honorable mentions go to Morgan Advanced Ceramics and Colorobbia España.
2015 CI Supplier of the Year:
Sunrock Ceramics Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Sunrock Ceramics is based in Chicago, Ill. The company produces high-purity alumina refractories, including specialty shapes such as kiln furniture for technical ceramics manufacturers and other industries that deal with intense thermal processing environments. Though Sunrock has grown rapidly over the past decade, it continues to be very customer driven and determined to produce high-quality products with short lead times.“We focus on making the right product for each individual customer, at the right time, every time,” says Doug Thurman, President.
According to Thurman, the company's flexible manufacturing process enables it to tailor products to meet very specific individual customer needs. “We really put a Iot of focus on the particular needs of the customer and the critical criteria for a given application, and work backward from that,” he explains.
Brian Gold, vice president and director of engineering and innovation at Superior Technical Ceramics Corp., nominated Sunrock for the Supplier of the Year Award. “Sunrock provides a very critical piece of furniture that we use to hold our products when they go into the furnace,” says Gold. “That is an extraordinarily important part of our process because everything we do invariably goes into a piece of this furniture and goes into a furnace and gets fired at a very, very high temperature. The accuracy of these pieces of furniture, the cleanliness, the purity, the workmanship on these things all reflect highly on the resulting product that I get from the kiln."
“There are very few companies out there that can provide the refractory we need thar will withstand the time, temperature and weight without cracking, bending, melting or sticking. Sunrock has managed to provide us a very high-quality product that has allowed us to move forward with our business without any concerns for that particular aspect of our process.”
HonorableMention: Morgan Advanced Materials Morgan Advanced Materials originated in the UK in 1856 as a crucible company. Morgan uses advanced materials to produce components and systems for a range of industries, including electronics, energy, industrial, healthcare, and more.
Since its inception 150years ago, the company has grown to encompass more than 10,000 employees in over 50 countries. IN 2013, the company announced a restructuring and changed its name from the Morgan Crucible Co. to Morgan Advanced Materials to better reflect its business direction. George Hida, president of Ceramic Engineering and Consulting Services, succinctly summarized the benefits of working with Morgan in his nomination: “Quality, commitment, price.”
Honorable Mention: Colorobbia España Established in 1988, Colorobbia España manufactures frits, stains, glazes, and other products for the ceramic and glass industries. The company also provides customizable inks for digital decoration and offers a variety of research, support and design services for ceramic production processes. Colorobbia España is one of the 27 companies that make up Gruppo Colorobbia, which focuses on solutions for industrial ceramics production and is headquartered in FIorence, Italy. The person who nominated Colorobbia España noted the company's quality products and competitive prices.
