Capital Injection Ceramics (CIC) has initiated an investment programme with the expansion of its manufacturing facility located in Corby, United Kingdom. The “investment”, which has already commenced, will be undertaken in two phases.

Phase 1, commenced in March this year with a $675,000 investment including a new Injection Press, taking the total to 8 and a new Kiln, bringing the total to 5. The kiln has been installed and commissioned with the Press being delivered and installed in October.

Recruitment and training of new personnel in all departments has also been completed to allow the new equipment to be fully operational as soon as commissioned and handed over to production, completion is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2015.

The expansion and investment has been driven by an increase in order volume of almost 40% in the first quarter of 2015, against projections, with future projections increasing modestly as advised by both established and new customers.

Phase 2 will see an investment of $360,000, and will allow the addition of a fifth unit, increasing the plant footprint from 24,000ft2 to 30,000ft2, with more effective layout of new and existing equipment. New equipment includes two significant investments – a large mixer – doubling our current mixing capacity and a CMM unit – adding 30% capacity to our measurement department.

The expansion, once completed, is expected to restore our strategic capacity buffer of 25-30% based on current projections. The buffer capacity will allow CIC to continue the rapid reaction to any increases that our customers may require in the future. The fifth unit and rearrangement of existing floor space allows CIC to almost double our injection room and kiln area. The additional floor space will provide the potential to add an additional 4-5 Injection presses and 2 more large kilns.

These will be added as and when required. In first quarter of 2016, a decision will be taken on a further Injection Press (number 9) after we have assessed customer demand for 2016 and the performance of Press number 8.

Once completed the new equipment will provide a further 30% to CIC’s manufacturing capacity, combined with the 30% increase in staff, this will provide an approximate 25% buffer to allow CIC to react to changing customer requirements.

In addition to equipment and manufacturing personnel, to support customers increased demands, CIC has also increased the technical resources department by adding another process engineer to support development and production core programs, and potential for another engineer to focus on the quality and continuous improvement programmes that are operational.

Full utilisation of the new manufacturing space, and the additional press and kiln, will allow CIC to almost double the current output per week, this is beyond any forecasts that have been provided by customers at present.