On 29 October 2015, the first excavations began at the official start of the construction of the new shaping facility at CIREX in Almelo. This is a new milestone, one we commemorated with our employees. Hermien Korte, our faithful colleague for more than 51 years now, and Jan Scheltens, responsible for the engineering of all mechanical engineering installations at CIREX, both played a special role.
Since technical components are designed to be lighter and lighter and because they must last longer (sustainability) and have more and more functionality, worldwide demand for precision casting is increasing. Therefore, in recent years, production capacity at the CIREX foundries in Almelo, the Netherlands, and in Koprivnice, Czech Republic, has been expanded considerably. In order to assure sufficient capacity in the future as well, a new shaping facility is necessary. In this shaping facility, ceramic casting forms are made using an innovative and environmentally friendly process. The various process steps are fully automated so that the spread of the process is reduced to a minimum.
With nearly all the personnel attending, CIREX Managing Director Jeroen Spoelder made a brief speech. The fabrication industry is extremely important for the Twente region. Therefore, continuity or even expansion of the high-tech factories is vitally important.
To the accompaniment of loud applause, Jan Scheltens then broke ground with the first spade. The soil will be kept in the glass bottle that Hermien Korte handled so carefully. The new construction should be finished in mid-2016. After a period of careful testing, the regular series production is planned for the end of that year.
