Kanthal, part of Alleima, has expanded its silicon carbide heating element manufacturing operation in Perth, Scotland, as demand rises for electrically heated industrial processes in sectors including electronics, glass, and steel.
The Perth site, which has produced the company’s Globar silicon carbide heating elements for more than 50 years, has been extended with an additional 1,750 sq m of manufacturing space, alongside new equipment, a revised layout, and added warehouse capacity. The elements are designed for process temperatures up to 1,625°C and are being positioned as replacements for fossil fuel-based high-temperature heating systems.
Robert Stål, President of Kanthal, said Perth remains “a strategically important location where we have produced Globar silicon carbide products for many years”, adding that the expansion strengthens the company’s ability to meet customer demand and reinforce its position in industrial heating.
The Perth investment forms part of a broader programme that also includes a new Globar service centre at Kanthal’s existing facility in Concord, North Carolina. Together, the two sites are now fully operational, with Alleima stating that available production capacity for the product line has increased by around 40%. Simon Lile, President of Business Unit Heating Systems at Kanthal, said the investment adds capability as well as throughput, with larger electrical heating solutions and new application development now part of the plan.
The timing reflects a wider shift in industrial heat. Manufacturers under pressure to cut emissions are looking more closely at electric process heating, especially in applications where tighter thermal control, lower local emissions, and improved energy use can outweigh the cost and operational constraints of combustion-based systems. High-temperature heat remains one of the more stubborn decarbonisation problems in heavy industry, which is why silicon carbide elements and other electrified furnace technologies are attracting renewed capital.
For Perth, the expansion secures a larger role in that transition. It also gives Kanthal a stronger manufacturing base in Europe at a point when industrial customers are moving beyond pilot projects and into larger-scale retrofit and new-build decisions.
