History
Due to the necessity of research and development divisions, several firms began to integrate them in their organizational charts about 1360. After decades of study and development in a variety of sectors, it is now obvious to everybody that this process is critical to the success of manufacturing organizations and enterprises since it enables them to endure and compete in the marketplace. New information about goods, processes, and services is discovered via research and development in a manner that satisfies market requirements.
Due to the range of raw materials and products, as well as the variety of clients with varied industrial processes and furnaces, the refractory sector must be active and successful in the area of research and development in order to satisfy customer expectations, increase the life of refractory layers (lower specific refractory consumption) or change operating conditions and raw material diversity. If you don't answer to any of these, you'll lose money and risk irreversible repercussions.
According to the aforementioned requirements, the research and development unit in IREFCO has been in operation since 1984, with the formation of the research center. Dr. Yekta and subsequently Mr. Hejazi, both well-known and experienced persons in the refractory business in the nation, were in charge of running the center at first.
Structure and facilities of Irfco Research Center
Chemistry Laboratory, Mineralogy Laboratory, Physics & Heat Laboratory, and Sample & Mixture Preparation Hall are the four parts of the center's equipment:
1-Spectrophotometer
2-Photometer film device
3-Electronic furnace 1200 C Iranian Metallurgy
4-Imaging the texture of bricks with a stereo microscope
5-RUL machine for slow melting under German notch load
6-Electric furnace C1800 Nabertherm
7-Drying up to a temperature of C350
8- Cylindrical cutting machine of German RUL Notch samples
9- Cylindrical polishing machine samples of German RUL Notch
10- Laboratory jaw milling
11- Disc mill
12- Hydraulic press of cylindrical specimens with a capacity of 100 tons
13- Korean laboratory mixer with a capacity of 5 liters
Mechanism of activities of the Research and Development Unit
The Research Council is one of the most significant working committees in IREFCO, and it is constituted on a regular basis as well as in an emergency. Research efforts are requested, evaluated, directed, and managed by this council. In this council, effective managers from all sections of the factory, such as quality control, manufacturing, sales, and trade, are present, and all research inputs and outputs are monitored and overseen. In terms of significance, the company's CEO oversees this council. It is controlled, and the makeup of the council members and their roles are such that the managers present in the council support research initiatives in many elements of business, production, control, and consumer feedback.
How research projects relate to the market and customers
Given that many refractory research initiatives represent the company's customers' current and future demands, and the company's customers have a tight interaction with managers and sales specialists; in most cases, these demands are passed and followed by the sales unit to the research center, making the link between these two units critical for producing new goods and meeting consumer wants. Continuous connection with consumers and collecting timely and accurate feedback from them is one of the most crucial foundations of business.
The presence of sales managers and specialists on the customer's site face to face with the data supplied by customers and mission reports is the most common type of feedback, but there are distant alternative ways that assess the satisfaction of the satisfaction index. Customers or CMS will get appropriate forms twice a year, which will be examined.
Support for the company's research initiatives from a scientific and technological standpoint, as well as the effectiveness of these activities
Although IREFCO's research unit has always maintained contact with scientific and academic organizations and profited from their experiences and expertise, these associations' full potential has not been used in recent years. This potential has received particular attention in recent years, and it is envisaged that with the new connection of these assemblies, the company's advantage would be doubled.
In terms of the research unit's success, I must tell you that the IREFCO introduces three to five new products to the refractory market on average every year, and these products have addressed numerous difficulties in the country's industries during the previous three decades.
Organizational chart of the research center
