  We report the development of a versatile material preparation chain for
intermetallic compounds that focuses on the realization of a high-purity growth
environment. The preparation chain comprises of an argon glovebox, an
inductively heated horizontal cold boat furnace, an arc melting furnace, an
inductively heated rod casting furnace, an optically heated floating-zone
furnace, a resistively heated annealing furnace, and an inductively heated
annealing furnace. The cold boat furnace and the arc melting furnace may be
loaded from the glovebox by means of a load-lock permitting to synthesize
compounds starting with air-sensitive elements while handling the constituents
exclusively in an inert gas atmosphere. All furnaces are all-metal sealed,
bakeable, and may be pumped to ultra-high vacuum. We find that the latter
represents an important prerequisite for handling compounds with high vapor
pressure under high-purity argon atmosphere. We illustrate operational aspects
of the preparation chain in terms of the single-crystal growth of the
heavy-fermion compound CeNi2Ge2.
