Saturday 28 December 2013

The Report Card of Build Avenue

As build Avenue completes yet another year of success and excellent readership, we just decided to sum up what we have done for you great readers.

Build Avenue has always been proactive and result oriented in presenting its content. The idea has been to write about issues and matters that are in grey areas and questionable and make them more clear and useful.

There is a lot of information flowing, our team strives to convert the same into knowledge and carve them into words that can be understood by the common reader as well as an expert. With the same theme and style of writing in the past three years, we have been successful in growing our readership as well as reach in India as well as abroad.

Markets and Expansion

From educational to informational, the generalized topics on Markets and Expansion have been our favorite. Ranging from Macro-economic perspective to minute negotiations while buying, we covered a lot of exciting articles.

Many of these were HELP YOURSELVES GROW articles that included :

Exhibition Importance for manufacturer, dealers and another professionals, highlighting the need and effectiveness of exhibitions. Marketing in monsoon, Different strategies to win the markets in Monsoon. Winning The Project: discussing minute aspects and details of confirming a project deal. Buy Your Way to Profits, tips and tricks to ensure efficient and profitable buying.

The Expansion write ups were mainly written with a view to make readers aware of the expansion that had taken place and the future expansions forecasted by our team. future of ceramic industries in 2013, set a broad vision of things to come in 2013  International Visions : Brazil, giving internaitona perspective to markets,   Export booming with poor Rupees and technology and
Quality,  highlights the growth of Exports in the wake of rupee fluctuations. Anti Dumping Duty, Just Dumped, What Now?,  impact of the change in law and its economic significance.

PRODUCTS: TILES

The first and the most important product group for us has always been tiles. This is largely due to the ratio of tiles being manufactured and consumed compared to other ceramic goods. Further, the variety is so large, that each and every new technology, design and consumer trend needs to be highlighted for the sheer need to clarify and increase the ability of reader to differentiate.

The articles that highlighted tiles and its impacts in the markets were:

Glazed Vitrified Tiles: Strength and Beauty combined, which took an in-depth view of GVT. This article had good response especially from people who were confused about VTs and GVTs.

Big : The new definition of Success in Tiles : The Next BIG STEP AND From BIG to HUGE: The article tried to impress upon the Sales channels about the impact that BIG tiles are having in the market. The goal was to get them to not miss the BIG success bus that demand for BIG tiles is generating.

PRODUCTS: Sanitaryware

Sanitary ware is another major product of Ceramic Trade. Not as spread as tiles, but equally important in the business. We have covered bits and pieces of Sanitary ware in different articles that were general in nature or were a part of Markets and economic situations.

However, we did have one very excellent writing on Sanitary ware, Inspiring Growth in Slowdown: 4 NEW Sanitary ware Factories.  IN times of challenge and change, growth remains constant. The new units pumped fresh blood of hope to many by setting another trend in Sanitary ware investments.

PRODUCTS : Roof tiles

By popular and consistent demand of some of our readers and advertisers, we researched the Morbi Ceramic Broth Products, the roof tiles. We directly went to the current scenario and the solutions to the challenges. Roof tiles : The Leaders under stress, was the article that was read by many. It was appreciated for its innovative approach to find smart solutions to the challenges in the current business scenario.

The magazine was never without its regular sections. The Reader Review section was one of the most important to us as it was probably the only section where we could show the readers, the views of other readers from across India.

The Entrepreneur Profile a info-fun section that sought to bring out certain aspects of entrepreneur which other wise would never have come forth.

Company Profiles represented a company and some of its detailed information for the readers to relate to.

Management story of another infotainment category that runs across all issues and is well appreciated by the readers.

The Trade Shows and Events Section was the News You can Use information to plan your participation or visit to the events relating to Ceramic Sector across India and the world.

The journey of Build Avenue has been one of excellent soil rich land where all fruits have grown. We have tried to explain in the best possible manner, about the land, the trees fruits and other living beings in the landscape.

We hope to improve with time and your involvement in the improvement is inevitable. Do send us your feedback.


Keep reading… BUILD AVENUE… Forever.

The Report Card of Build Avenue

As build Avenue completes yet another year of success and excellent readership, we just decided to sum up what we have done for you great readers.

Build Avenue has always been proactive and result oriented in presenting its content. The idea has been to write about issues and matters that are in grey areas and questionable and make them more clear and useful.

There is a lot of information flowing, our team strives to convert the same into knowledge and carve them into words that can be understood by the common reader as well as an expert. With the same theme and style of writing in the past three years, we have been successful in growing our readership as well as reach in India as well as abroad.

Markets and Expansion

From educational to informational, the generalized topics on Markets and Expansion have been our favorite. Ranging from Macro-economic perspective to minute negotiations while buying, we covered a lot of exciting articles.

Many of these were HELP YOURSELVES GROW articles that included :

Exhibition Importance for manufacturer, dealers and another professionals, highlighting the need and effectiveness of exhibitions. Marketing in monsoon, Different strategies to win the markets in Monsoon. Winning The Project: discussing minute aspects and details of confirming a project deal. Buy Your Way to Profits, tips and tricks to ensure efficient and profitable buying.

The Expansion write ups were mainly written with a view to make readers aware of the expansion that had taken place and the future expansions forecasted by our team. future of ceramic industries in 2013, set a broad vision of things to come in 2013  International Visions : Brazil, giving internaitona perspective to markets,   Export booming with poor Rupees and technology and
Quality,  highlights the growth of Exports in the wake of rupee fluctuations. Anti Dumping Duty, Just Dumped, What Now?,  impact of the change in law and its economic significance.

PRODUCTS: TILES

The first and the most important product group for us has always been tiles. This is largely due to the ratio of tiles being manufactured and consumed compared to other ceramic goods. Further, the variety is so large, that each and every new technology, design and consumer trend needs to be highlighted for the sheer need to clarify and increase the ability of reader to differentiate.

The articles that highlighted tiles and its impacts in the markets were:

Glazed Vitrified Tiles: Strength and Beauty combined, which took an in-depth view of GVT. This article had good response especially from people who were confused about VTs and GVTs.

Big : The new definition of Success in Tiles : The Next BIG STEP AND From BIG to HUGE: The article tried to impress upon the Sales channels about the impact that BIG tiles are having in the market. The goal was to get them to not miss the BIG success bus that demand for BIG tiles is generating.

PRODUCTS: Sanitaryware

Sanitary ware is another major product of Ceramic Trade. Not as spread as tiles, but equally important in the business. We have covered bits and pieces of Sanitary ware in different articles that were general in nature or were a part of Markets and economic situations.

However, we did have one very excellent writing on Sanitary ware, Inspiring Growth in Slowdown: 4 NEW Sanitary ware Factories.  IN times of challenge and change, growth remains constant. The new units pumped fresh blood of hope to many by setting another trend in Sanitary ware investments.

PRODUCTS : Roof tiles

By popular and consistent demand of some of our readers and advertisers, we researched the Morbi Ceramic Broth Products, the roof tiles. We directly went to the current scenario and the solutions to the challenges. Roof tiles : The Leaders under stress, was the article that was read by many. It was appreciated for its innovative approach to find smart solutions to the challenges in the current business scenario.

The magazine was never without its regular sections. The Reader Review section was one of the most important to us as it was probably the only section where we could show the readers, the views of other readers from across India.

The Entrepreneur Profile a info-fun section that sought to bring out certain aspects of entrepreneur which other wise would never have come forth.

Company Profiles represented a company and some of its detailed information for the readers to relate to.

Management story of another infotainment category that runs across all issues and is well appreciated by the readers.

The Trade Shows and Events Section was the News You can Use information to plan your participation or visit to the events relating to Ceramic Sector across India and the world.

The journey of Build Avenue has been one of excellent soil rich land where all fruits have grown. We have tried to explain in the best possible manner, about the land, the trees fruits and other living beings in the landscape.

We hope to improve with time and your involvement in the improvement is inevitable. Do send us your feedback.


Keep reading… BUILD AVENUE… Forever.

Friday 13 December 2013

A Short History of Ceramic Tile

Ceramic AND Tile : The Birth of the Word…..
The word ‘ceramic’ comes from the greek word ‘keramos’ meaning pottery. It is related to India through an old sanskrit root meaning ‘to burn’ but was primarily used to mean ‘burnt stuff’.
The latin word ‘tegula’ and its french derivative ‘tuile’ mean quite precisely a roof tile of baked clay. The english ‘tile’ is less precise, for it can in addition be used of any kind of earthenware slab applied to any surface of a building.
However, when these two combine, they give us Ceramic Tiles.
Origin: The First Appearance…..
Man has always preferred to create living and working spaces which were beautiful, durable, cost effective and user friendly. With the same thought, ceramic tile has been made by man for 4000 years.
Beautiful tiled surfaces have been found in the oldest pyramids, the ruins of babylon, and ancient ruins of greek cities. Decorative tile work was invented in the near east, where it was popular and assumed a greater variety of design than anywhere in the world.
Tiles are the simplest form of ceramic art. The earliest known examples are Egyptian and from 4,000 BC. Through history, tiles were made by Assyrians, Babylonians and the Islamic Empire. Early tiles can be seen in Tunisia (c.9th), Kashan Iran (c.11th), and many middle-eastern mosques display Koranic scripts using highly colored relief tiles (c.12th onwards).
In the 13th and 14th centuries Europe's churches were paved with decorated tiles. Holland was an important center for tiles in the 17th and 18th centuries and in the 19th century Britain pioneered mass-produced tiles.
The earliest tiles in Western Europe (late c.10th) were found in a number of locations in England (eg. York and Winchester). Glazed tiles were an expensive building item which resulted in their use being restricted to wealthy ecclesiastic establishments. From the 16th century onwards Moorish tile making slowly spread north through Spain. Some of the most spectacular ceramics can be found at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, and in the Great Mosque in Cordoba. From the14th century tin glazed tile making spread from Holland over to England.
So, most of the inventions in Tiles came about in every part of the world, west as well as east.
The Mass Production….
In the 19th century Britain pioneered mass production of tiles. English tile making expanded rapidly during the industrial revolution, peaked in the late 1800s and slumped soon after the turn of the century. American tile makers enjoyed a similar period of prosperity to their counterparts but had to compete with English imports. The Arts & Crafts movement reinvigorated the handcraft of tile making, and it was used extensively in interiors for fireplace surrounds as well as wall decoration.
Usage in the period
The tiles upto this time were still considered a bit expensive and hence had limited use. They were mainly used in Kitchens and bath spaces. This was largely due to the hygiene awareness and demand increasing in the world, specially the western countries.
The elite would lay these tiles in their living rooms, which became a matter of pride for them. Very few also preferred to lay them in their private living spaces, which was shear luxury.
The Construction
Tiles are basically made of two parts, Body and the Glaze.
Body Development
A ceramic tile is tile made of clay. Tiles were made by hand, in early days clay bricks - made by flattening the clay and cutting pieces into shape - were dried beneath the sun or baked.
Later the only mechanical aid was a wooden mould carved in relief, which indented a pattern on the clay slab. The slab was dried and the impression filed with clay, which after further drying was shaved flat.
After the formation of the tile body,ceramic tiles go through a firing process in a kiln under very high heat to harden the tile body and to create the surface glaze.
Historically, unglazed tile was fired once. Glazed tile was fired twice. The first firing formed a tile body called a ‘bisque’. The biscuit firing had the highest temperature at 1060 c that fixed the tiles for size and shape.
Glaze
The biscuits’ surface are then glazed with a colored thick liquid. This is called glazing. After glazing the tiles were glost fired at about 1020 - 1240 c. On glaze decoration was fired at 750 c,just before the glaze began to melt.
Decoration: Making tiles unimaginably beautiful
1. Unglazed:
The color range in unglazed tiles are limited to the natural colors of the clay, ranging from a light sand to a red brick.
2. Plain glazes:

White lead, flint, china stone and china clay were ground to make a glaze. A clear glaze brought out the natural body Colour and might be applied over any coloured decoration. Glazed tiles are decorated with natural and artificially colors.
Palette of colors consists of glaze and underglaze colors. The first glazes were blue in color and were made from Copper. Also turquoise and light green glaze were popular colors. Ground metal oxides could be added to give different colours.
2. Encaustic or inlaid:
This method was to fill the matrix of a stamped tile with white pipeclay before it was glazed and fired. The two sections fusing during firing. This trend was very appealing when it first appeared on the scene.
3. Mosaic:
Tiles in such colors as yellow, blue, brown, black, turquoise,green and white were cut and carved into small pieces according to a previously prepared pattern. These pieces were placed close together and liquid plaster poured over to fill in all the opening and gaps. After the plaster dried and hardened, a large single piece tile panel had been created, which was then plastered onto the required wall of the building. This is a manual process and hence was very costly. The process is mechanized now.
4. Hand painting:
The artist painted freely onto a plain surface tile. The glaze was one centimeter thick, with hand-painted decorations of flowers, plants, geometric designs, birds and human beings. A design could also be copied from an original sketch by 'pouncing'. Alternatively a tile could be transfer printed and coloured by hand.
Screen Printing has now taken over this nostalgic activity.
5. Lustre painting :
The metallic lustre of glazed ceramics is a very special type of decoration. It can be red, brown, ochre yellow or green in scattered light and shows, in specular reflection, coloured metallic reflections (blue, yellow, orange, rose…silver, gold ect). Metallic copper and silver colloids suspensed in glazes compose lustre decoration.
6. Tile pictures
Square tiles were placed together and necessary design was painted in glazed colors on them. Each tile was fired. Then all were placed again next to each other to create the main large illustration.

7. Patterns

Mathematically-minded people elaborated geometric designs, providing a continous decoration. Most designs required four tiles to complete a pattern,some required as many as sixteen. A ‘wallpaper’ pattern is one that has translation symmetry in two directions (such as left/right and up/down). A frieze pattern is one that has translation symmetry in one direction. A rosette pattern is one that has no translation symmetry, just reflection and/or rotation symmetry.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Why Branding?

A brand offers instant product/company recognition and identification. Consumers identify branded products and, because of effective advertising, have faith in product quality. Retailers like branded products because they increase their profitability — buyers attracted to branded products spend three to four times more on products than do buyers of unbranded products.
Branding provides four key benefits to you as the manufacturer:
  • Product differentiation. A brand provides a clear and definitive reason for customers to buy your product. If this reason does not exist, your product is a commodity and the only measure of value is price. Small, value-added businesses cannot compete on price successfully and need to incorporate some form of differentiation.

  • Perceived value. Consumers and influencers perceive branded products as higher quality, more reliable and a better value than unbranded products. Generally speaking, the number-one brand in a category can command a 10 percent price premium over the number-two brand, and a 40 percent premium over the small brand. This price premium is known as a brand tax. Consumers understand that a strong brand can reduce getting stuck with disappointing or faulty products.

  • Brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is the recurring stream of profit generated by repeat and referral sales of a specific brand. Repeat sales can be as much as 90 percent less expensive to a company than new customer development.

  • Pride in the product. Branded, recognizable products build a sense of pride in those associated with production, promotion, sale and distribution of those products.
The above related to Ceramic Industry. Let us say one company X has developed a Brand Named MyTile. The brand developer puts some amount into building the brand on a regular basis. He also educates his distributors about his product, benefits and with proper advertising and promotion relates the product with the brand. He develops relations with the Architects and interior design specialists in promoting product with the brand. He sees to it that his every package, outward communications, presentation, web site, all promotes the brand with the product. His every marketing activity also involves the brand.
His neighboring manufacturer does not create a brand. But he too educates his distributors, talks to designers, promotes benefits of his products develops networks as well. The same process minus a brand name is carried out. He saves some money on advertising.
Now, If the same designers or distributors are asked what tile brand come to the mind, 90% of the times, they will say MyTIle because the second manufacturer did not have any name or BRAND attached to the product.
Who will Get repeat Sales…MyTile. Who will get better referrals..MyTile. Who will get immediate Buyer preference MyTile.
Here are just a few benefits you will enjoy when you create a strong brand:
  • A strong brand influences the buying decision and shapes the ownership experience.
  • Branding creates trust and an emotional attachment to your product or company. This attachment then causes your market to make decisions based, at least in part, upon emotion-- not necessarily just for logical or intellectual reasons.
  • A strong brand can command a premium price and maximize the number of units that can be sold at that premium.
  • Branding helps make purchasing decisions easier. In this way, branding delivers a very important benefit. In a commodity market where features and benefits are virtually indistinguishable, a strong brand will help your customers trust you and create a set of expectations about your products without even knowing the specifics of product features.
  • Branding will help you "fence off" your customers from the competition and protect your market share while building mind share. Once you have mind share, you customers will automatically think of you first when they think of your product category.
  • A strong brand can make actual product features virtually insignificant. A solid branding strategy communicates a strong, consistent message about the value of your company. A strong brand helps you sell value and the intangibles that surround your products.
  • A strong brand signals that you want to build customer loyalty, not just sell product. A strong branding campaign will also signal that you are serious about marketing and that you intend to be around for a while. A brand impresses your firm's identity upon potential customers, not necessarily to capture an immediate sale but rather to build a lasting impression of you and your products.
  • Branding builds name recognition for your company or product.
  • A brand will help you articulate your company's values and explain why you are competing in your market.
We are sure the above article will help you decide whether branding is for you or not.

Monday 25 November 2013

Morbi, Emerging CERAMIC OUTSOURCE DESTINATION…..

Morbi is the ceramic capital of India. This undoubtedly and openly accepted by one and all. With so many factories of Sanitary ware, Wall tiles, Floor tiles and other ceramic goods already growing and many more taking shape, the future only seems better.

It is also a matter of pride that most of these establishments recognize the importance of creating brands. This is a sign of real entrepreneurship coming into play where industrialists do not run only after profit, but rather building a string recognizable entity that reaps benefits for generations to come. It also improves the goodwill of the firms.

However, amongst these, lie a few who would focus just on their core competencies, mainly producing high quality ceramic products. The late management thinker, Shri C K Prahlad rightly said that it is best to focus on core competencies. This yields long term risk free results and subsequent profits.

While market development and brand building do not come naturally to traditional businessmen, administration of manufacturing is not as challenging. They handle people and inbound processes with delicate ease and have a knack of string control over all the business processes linked to manufacturing. Moreover, Marketing as an activity sometimes goes into the TRIAL AND ERROR zone which is not in liking to many manufacturers.

Such manufacturers have carved a niche for themselves as manufacturers of bigger brands. Today, big brands like Johnson, Parry etc are getting their products mass manufactured at some production plants in Morbi. The Bigger Brands are, as we call in Modern Business terminology, outsourcing their work to these production units.

The concept is not new in the Indian economy. Brands like Levis, Nike and reebok all do it, and very successfully so.
There is a two way benefit in this kind of a deal. It is beneficial to both the parties. Benefits for the Bigger brand that outsource production include,

·      No Need to set-up a new plant.
·      No need to put in place and administrative team.
·      Focus on only market development.
·      Brand Building becomes their major are aof activity and performance.
·      They already own string Distribution channels and an equally popular brand to generate the pull.
·      Their team sets up system and quality parameters, which are also checked by their QC team apart from manufacturers.
·      Every unit of sales added in the existing sales channels fetches the Big Brand their value and hence also increases shareholder value.

The manufacturer also gains benefits from this deal:

·      They focus only on manufacturing.
·      Process and product control all are provided by the Brand Owner.
·      The brand owner knows the market well and hence gives perfect specifications to work with, so R & D cost of the manufacturer is virtually nil.
·      Quality parameters and methods as well as manufacturing guidelines are ready made and can be easily adopted. Moreover, the Brand owner trains key personnel and also provides fool proof working systems, which also takes away a lot of management burden.
·      The manufacturer is also assured of his total capacity utilization, keeping him free of tensions of sales and marketing.
·      He also feels less risk prone as such deals are for long term and all his installed capacity is well paid for and his profits are protected.

While there are many more benefits which can be highlighted, you may be wondering why is Morbi chosen over some other ceramic clusters. Some of the points that come on the fore are…

·      Entrepreneurs in Morbi are good at administration and quite reliable. Big Brands would feel safe working with them.
·      They have financial muscle and hold on to challenging deals.
·      They have experience in Manufacturing and also can gather technical expertise form in and around the region.
·      Morbi has relatively lower production costs.
·      Being on the national highway, it is well connected to the country as well as Kandla Port. This gives an immediate logistical advantage.
·      Entrepreneurs in Morbi are technology savvy and upgrade and learn very fast. This enables the buyers to implement their levels of working as well as quality systems very fast.
·      There are many upcoming factories and all are technologically advanced. Many of them also plan to start production as a manufacturing partner only, with quantity commitments for a period of time.

·      Availability of manpower as well as raw material is relatively easy. It is also easy to find qualified people from ceramic background.

Saturday 16 November 2013

You will surely find where your brand scores and where it lacks.

A Brand is not just a name or a catchy phrase attached to a product or a series or a collection. It is an emotional thread that ties your customers mind and heart to your product. Brand touches the emotions of the reader and directly gives him the vision of your product.
Lets take some examples. Here are three words, what products immediately come to your mind?
COKE
DAVIDSON
IBM
DO we need a reality check. No!
90% of the people must have come across a Soft drink, A Bike and Computer. This is the power of these brands. They have attached you to a product so much so that even in your sleep if you are muttered these words in your ear you will dream of these products. We have formed an emotional attachment with these products.
Some may argue, “These are world famous…”, Well they were not world famous when they started. They gradually reached their peak of brand recognition.
The other thought is many brands started in the same period why aren’t they so famous. Well That’s what we will be looking into here.
Always remember……Product Makes the Brand……. And not the other way round. Having gala publicity of a bad product will never gain a brand popularity. BUT, having a great product backed with strategic promotion and advertising can make the brand popular.
There are certain points to remember while building a brand.
1.  Always know what your UNIQUE SELLING POINT is. What keeps you different and better than your competitors? What Quality of your product makes your customers select your product before your competitors ? What is it that relates to your product that appeals to the buyer more than any other brand ? YOU NEED TO BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC ABOUT IT. Don’t just say “OUR QUALITY IS GREAT…” Justify it to the customer. E.g. nano technology by Simpolo is a USP of their new product line.
2.  Learn to highlight the brand with the right message. Message should be understood by the buyer. At times the Advertisement is great but it does not convey message. It leaves the buyer confused and it harms the brand. PLEASE SPEND ON GOOD CONCEPT DESIGNERS. It is worth the money. They will get Concept in place, get a good copy writer and a good graphic designer to unify all aspects of your brand. e.g. What comes to your mind when I say, “Chutkiyon mein chipkaye….” One of the best products and brands India has produced, Feviquick. It has elements of STICKING with chipkaye, and quickly so with CHutkiyon mein…GET MY MESSAGE ??????? GET THE MESSAGE RIGHT……..
3.  The message should have feeling in them. They should touch the heart and the mind both. If you miss one of them, better not publish. So we still recommend, get a Concept designer. Make him feel the product and the USP and the message you want to convey before he jumpstarts onto the exercise.
The kind of feeling a brand evokes dictates the kind of relationship it will have with it consumers. Many a times, strong feelings remain long after the message fades.
4. Assume nothing. Question everything, including yourself, and your experience. Knowledge is relative. In a fast changing society, yesterday's information becomes tomorrow's liability.
You are only as good as the stuff you are aware you don't know. Start from a position of ignorance and learn as you go. It will open your minds to things you'd never ever have considered.

5.  Do not feel in love with the message right away. Test it in small group of people to know whether they understand the message. At times it is worth spending a small amount on a Market survey exercise to see whether common people (NOT YOUR FRIENDS, THEY WILL GIVE ONLY GOOD FEEDBACK) understand and take a liking to it. NOTE BOTH POINTS… UNDERSTAND… …and take LIKING to it. This gives us evidence of the comprehensive nature of the brand.
6. CHOOSE THE RIGHT MEDIA. It is not always what your competitor does or which media he uses. It is more what your readers are seeing more. TV is great, yes, but mostly out of reach. TV can be worthwhile if you have a yearly budget. And a BIG Budget. People also read magazines and papers. Best way to find the right media is to see WHAT YOUR BUYERS ARE SEEING. Look through your buyers’ eyes not what you feel.
7. A branded experience is greater than any message, no matter how compelling. Experiences create memories. And our lives are nothing but a tapestry of memories strung along the nerves in our brains.
The more happy memories one person owns in another person's life, the stronger their relationship. The same holds true for brands. What comes to your mind when you think of your first love? How you first touched her finger, them slyly slipped your hand into hers? Your first fight? Your first awkward attempt to make up with her? You know what I'm talking about here.

Kindly note that these are guidelines to make your mind more informed on Brand building through advertisement. This is not the final word on it. There are many other ideas that we will be rolling out in every issue that we come across.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Doubly beautiful…..With double life as well. DOUBLE LOADING TILES.

  • Doubly beautiful…..With double life as well.
                DOUBLE CHARGED TILES.
Vitrified Tiles, the first generation….

Vitrified Tiles are normally made by the dust pressed method of a composition with about 60-62% silica & rest clay along with other raw materials such as binders and design elements. The resulting tile is a dense, impervious, hard, tough, strong, frost resistant and in other words long lasting.

They are fired at more than 1200 °C and are known to be fully vitrified. They have water absorption less than or equal to 0.05%.
They are mostly preferred by high profile households as well as modern commercial constructions. Because of their obvious Beauty That lasts long property, they are the most in demand.
Once the green tile or tile body is made, these tiles are sent for printing by soluble salt screen printing technology and then for firing.
The Double Charged Vitrified TIles

These is one of the most modern technologies of manufacturing vitrified tiles.

The Vitrified tiles mostly have designing in the top surface of the tile at about .05 mm, rest is the body.

In DC, design is brought in a tile by using dry color powders during the tile body while it is in green form. The tile is being pressed in a tile press with these powders.

Tile body or green tile made/ pressed, has already been given dry powder/ oxide colors in its body. Tiles are sent directly for firing after the press.

Due to this, designs are found throughout the tile body. If you look at the cross section of these tiles, you will find design throughout the depth of the tile.

Many tile manufacturing units manufacture Vitrified tiles in a varied ranges, size, color, texture and designs under its latest technologies, such as full Mass Products (MDR), Double charged, Double Charged with Soluble Salts Printing, Double Charged with dry glaze application. Some other technologies are also coming up.

Vitrified tiles V/S Double Charged Tiles


Liquid oxide or colors are used to screen print
the tile from top, after the tile body or green tile is made/ pressed from a tile making press.

Dry powder or colors are used to bring design within these tiles during the tile body or when the green tile is being made in a tile press.


More artificial and only surface seems painted
Has Natural look is seen in these tiles. All tile design comes natural stones
More porous..
Less Porous
Only fit for Low traffic Areas
Can be used in Medium as well as high traffic areas depending on the polish.
Relatively Limited Choices of design and looks available
Virtually limitless design choices and patterns can be manufactured.
Tiles become dull on the long run
Will remain shinier for long time.
The surface is more prone to Wear and tear.
Less prone to wear & tear on abrasion
Very visible Shade variation in bathces
Shade variation is nil due to natural design patterns. Each tile design must be varying from other tiles.


Buffing, mechanical shining is not recommended Due to low penetration of print which may get cut further.
Buffing, mechanical shining stands possible due to full body print impact.
Low cost of production as technology needs less investment and production time.
Each tile is produced to bring the natural
impact through powder technology having extra value addition in these products & extra time consumption.

Moulding, bull nosing is not advised as design impact in not seen on the moulded side.
Moulding is advisable due to homogenous design impact through out the tile body.
Tiles have do not last long and have lesser life span
Much longer life span




Print Penetration is up to 1 to 2 mm only after the Tiles are fired & polished
Design is homogenous throughout the tile body.



Friday 8 November 2013