#Industry News
50 years of Eriez Magnetics Europe Limited
50 years of Eriez Magnetics Europe Limited
Eriez Magnetics Europe Limited, the leading manufacturers of magnetic separation, metal detection, vibratory feeders and fluid filtration technologies is celebrating 50 years of manufacturing excellence.
Eriez Magnetics Europe Ltd. was established when Bob Merwin, CEO of Eriez Manufacturing Co. in Erie, USA recognised the opportunity for a European manufacturing headquarters. In order to drive the company into the European market, Eriez North America collaborated with Sir Alfred Nicholas, founder and chairman of South Wales Switchgear Ltd. based in Wales, UK, to establish a European licensee. In 1968, John Lee and Son placed the first order for a lifting magnet.
South Wales proved to be the ideal location for guiding and evolving Eriez in the European market, thanks to the coal mining and engineering industries in the local area.
Since then, Eriez Europe has thrived in technological innovations, productivity and expanded their manufacturing facilities. By 1991, Eriez had outgrown the original factory and required more space to meet increasing sales demands. As a result, the factory relocated to a larger, more modern site whilst remaining in the South Wales region.
Following the relocation, the 90s was a pivotal period of growth for the company. By 1992 Eriez Europe became the first manufacturers of magnetic separators in the world to attain the BS5750 (ISO9001) international quality standard and developed an expansive range of pioneering magnetic separators, including the first concentric Eddy Current Separator for recovering non-ferrous metals and large diameter Rare Earth Roll Separators for non-metallic minerals processing. In recognition of their success developing business overseas, Eriez Europe received an award for Export Achievement in 1996.
Over the last fifty years, Eriez Europe has not only grown organically but secured key strategic acquisitions that have expanded the company’s product offering, with opportunities to enter new markets and increase business prospects. In just a year, Eriez obtained metal detection specialists, Pulse Technology (1998) and manufacturers of sampling systems, Prisecter International (1999).
The most lucrative acquisition was obtained in 2001, when long-term competitor Boxmag Rapid was added to the product portfolio. Eriez was firmly established as the UK’s premier supplier of magnetic separators, metal detectors, vibratory feeders and sampling equipment.
In the late 90s, Eriez established a superconducting magnet division in response to the purification requirements of companies processing kaolin. This culminated in the development of the world’s first cryogen-free, superconducting Powerflux high-gradient magnetic separator, of which the first production unit was installed in 2001. This was followed by the design and manufacture of the world’s strongest suspended magnet, the SSE (Suspended Superconducting Magnet), where the company was rewarded the title in the Guinness Book of World Records.
To facilitate further growth, in 2007, Eriez invested in a new magnetiser, enabling greater productivity and increasing the magnetic strength of permanent magnetic separators.
Eriez soon outgrew the manufacturing base obtained in 1991 and in 2011, purchased the adjacent building and land. The second plant is now a dedicated manufacturing space for suspended permanent magnets and suspended electromagnets spanning 5000 square metres with a 50 tonne crane capacity.
In 2013, Eriez Europe launched a new division, Eriez HydroFlow Europe, after acquiring Centriforce Ltd., providing advanced fluid filtration and recycling equipment to numerous industries throughout Europe. Eriez has utilised fifty years of experience in material separation to complement and improve the HydroFlow range. The acquisition extends the capabilities of Eriez metal separation and filtration equipment already in use in over 80 international markets across six continents.
As the cost of sending material to landfill continues to increase throughout Europe, the emphasis placed on recovering optimum, clean fractions of ferrous and non-ferrous material has never been greater. With generations of technical expertise and experience on offer, Eriez provide a full range of separation equipment to the recycling industry, serving all requirements and applications.
In 2014, as a result of the ongoing success of supplying equipment to customers in the recycling industry, Eriez Europe launched their innovative, purpose-built recycling separation test centre. The recycling centre welcomes customers to test their samples of material on Eriez recycling equipment in order to determine which combination of machinery is most suitable for their processing needs.
Eriez’ continuous commitment to customer satisfaction has always been at the forefront of the company’s operations. Since their first accreditation in 1992, the company has continued to meet the ever-growing customer demand for the highest levels of quality. In 2016, the company’s ISO 9001:2008 certification was upgraded to the new ISO 9001:2015 standard.
Eriez have utilised their wealth of knowledge and experience, reaching beyond their manufacturing scope and developing business partnerships to assist in research and development in various sectors. Fault Current Limited was founded in 2012 as a business spin-out from magnetic research undertaken by Dr. Jeremy Hall, at the Wolfson Centre for Magnetics at the local university in Cardiff, South Wales. A device was developed which protects power systems from disruption and damage to network infrastructure. The concept uses innovative magnetic technology that allows the existing power grid to manage excessive fault conditions. In 2017, Eriez acquired 30% in FCL, and was responsible for manufacturing the full-scale prototype.
Despite Eriez gaining additional manufacturing space of their second plant in 2011, further growth in sales and production activity has necessitated an additional extension scheduled for completion at the end of 2018. The extension will include a high-speed balancing machine, a filament winding machine to enable the intricate manufacturing of Eriez Eddy Current Separators. Eriez expect the new facility will increase production capacity of the Eddy Current Separator rotors by a third, per year.
In May 2018, certification was given to Eriez’ MetAlarm EX range for ATEX 21 and ATEX 22 dust zones, providing a fully certified solution for customers looking to be alerted to the presence of metals in order to reduce the risk of explosions within their plants. The MetAlarm units already hold a market-leading position within the mining, quarrying, recycling and processing industries, offering reliable and user-friendly performance for ensuring machinery protection and product quality. The ATEX units will now extend the scope to applications in explosive dust environments where ignitable materials such as biomass, wood or coal are present. In environments where explosive dusts are present, sparks from undetected metal contamination could be a potential ignition source.
From the humble beginnings in 1968, has emerged a company who can proudly boast numerous technological achievements and significant growth over fifty years.
