Over The Horizon

Expanding Enamel Applications

Vandal-proof vitreous enamel is proving an international winner for a small west Auckland company Ceratec Group, which has won contracts to supply panels and signs for the new Hong Kong MTRC airport rail link as well as for Sydney's Olympic Homebush Station. The technology involved has been traditionally applied to producing barbecues and woodburners.

The company has only recently expanded into the architectural market, after purchasing a Melbourne-based business in this sector. It is now looking at new niche markets, based on research being carried out by Waikato University Centre for Technology PhD student Matthew Henderson. Henderson is halfway through a three-year programme in materials technology, supported by Ceratec and Technology New Zealand.