Interview with Carlos García, Technical Director of Steelceram, Industrial Engineer, MS and MBA
Carlos grew up among the ceramic bricks/tiles of the family business near the famous catalan mountains of Montserrat. Little did he imagine while studying industrial engineering that he would end up developing, together with his partner Ivan Pedro, an industrial innovation company with advanced technical ceramics.
Steelceram was born to offer an innovative solution to the industrial market through advanced technical ceramics.
We met on a sunny day at the foot of Montserrat mountains with Carlos. He is the technical director of Steelceram, a company dedicated to the manufacture of advanced technical ceramics. Carlos, first of all, what should we know about Steelceram? What is Steelceram for you?
Steelceram is a company that we started from scratch. Although we have always worked in the world of ceramics, technical ceramics is very different from traditional ceramics and has forced me to learn in depth. On the one hand, both traditional and technical ceramics have in common that they are sintered but the temperatures are very different and so is the rest of the manufacturing process. On the other hand, there are few manufacturers of technical ceramics and the know-how for their production is mostly proprietary.
Steelceram has an R+D+I department to make its commitment to innovation possible.
On your website, we can read that Steelceram has an R+D+I department and you are always involved in innovation projects. Furthermore, your professional career started as a research assistant. How do your beginnings influence the development of Steelceram and the R+D+I department?
R+D+I keep us close to the state of the art of the technical ceramics development, which as a new industry shows great expansion and is very fast growing and developing. In this sense, research allows us to optimise our materials and our production processes. For instance, we are investigating whether 3D printing can produce pieces with different materials printed together. This would allow us to have a piece with different materials by zones to give an optimised response to the demands of each one of the piece zones (wear, temperature, impacts, etc.).
“We use our expertise to make the product that fits the needs of our customers. We provide innovative, tailor-made solutions”.
From all this experience of breakthrough and achievement, which you have explained to us, what do you consider to be the added value of Steelceram’s products?
Undoubtedly, our close relationship with the customer. We use our expertise in ceramics to apply engineering in the design of the product to meet the needs of our customers. We go even further, providing innovative, custom-designed solutions. All thanks to our knowledge of the material and the close collaboration with the customer for the co-design of ceramic solutions.
How is this value you provide reflected in the national market?
In the national market we are leaders in centring devices for welding in the automotive sector. This position has been achieved thanks to developing appropriate technical solutions to the problem of welding from the point of view of the material. Also from the point of view of creating hybrid centring devices and other customised solutions to improve the behaviour of the centring device in specific problematic cases.
We bring the same value to the international market, where we are now experiencing significant growth.
Finally, what are the mission, vision and values from which you work?
Our mission is to create innovative solutions by enhancing the qualities of advanced technical ceramics to solve the problems that our customers encounter. And to always continue learning and evolving our products.
Our vision is to work to deliver big transformations through small changes.
And finally, our values are excellence in customer care and service.
Discover all that Steelceram can offer you, in advanced technical ceramics.
