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Article: The Whiteware Research Center ensuring whiteware solutions for the future.(trade association)
- Article from:
- Ceramic Industry
- Article date:
- April 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 BNP Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It was a near-textbook case of engineering ingenuity and collaborative expertise that led to the creation of the Whiteware Research Center (WRC). In late November 1993 Buffalo China, Inc., a western New York dinnerware manufacturer, suddenly was hit with catastrophic loss rates in its cup production line. Handled-hollowware fabricated in Mexico and shipped to Buffalo for decoration was cracking at a tremendous rate following glazing. Literally overnight, typical loss rates of 10% to 12% climbed rapidly to almost 75%.
"Our losses were staggering," explains Buffalo China process engineer Nik Ninos. "We had to solve the problem - and quickly. You can imagine how ...