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AC18-9

FIELDS OF PLENTY VIETNAM PLANS SANITARYWARE EXPANSION

IN FOCUS:

Heavy clay: a material challenge Rajasthan: policies or progress Fine ceramic technologies

Plus news, views, analysis and much more!

News

Contents: AC 18-9 News

Features

2 Inside Asia

24 Southern Asian heavy clay

A rise in sanitaryware quality.

4 Welcome

Cambodia moves to end forced labour.

6 Across The Continent

Openings, closures and industry moves from across Asia.

These are indeed interesting times for the brick industries of Southern Asia, but whilst demand undoubtedly remains high – and is increasing – pollution issues, energy consumption and the availability of suitable raw materials remain key problems to address. AC digs through the dirt…

30 Vietnamese sanitaryware

12 International News Our eye on the international arena.

Jahir Ahmed discusses how the rapid growth in domestic sanitaryware production is making Vietnam a country to be reckoned with in the regional, and even global, marketplace.

18 Material Matters

42 Rajasthan: policies or progress

A special report by Imerys Ceramics.

22 Comment & Analysis Sri Lankan industry calls for support.

Yogender Malik examines the role of Rajasthan’s ceramic industry within the wider sub-continental context, and looks at if the growing focus on raw material extraction will be a boost or burden…

52 Turning technical…

Dr. Kambiz Kalantari, Innovation Manager at Lucideon UK, argues the need for traditional ceramic manufacturers to diversify their product range to include technical and advanced ceramics.

30

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Analysis 56 Talking Shop AC is in conversation with Dr Md Fakhrul Islam, Professor, Department of Glass and Ceramic Engineering (GCE), BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh, about the opportunities for the country to spread its wings more into the technical ceramic sector…

58 Insight

Analysis and insight into Turkey.

60 The Hunter And The Hunted

William Hunter can’t seem to work out disorder reigns supreme when we talk about China…

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Inside Asia A RISE IN QUALITY Vietnam’s premium sanitaryware products are on the increase in line with the everexpanding purchasing power of domestic consumers. This has led to further expansion of the Vietnamese sanitaryware sector to cater to these with high quality products, with the inevitability of any surfeit of production entering the regional market. With already a large production capacity of over 25 million pieces per year, Vietnam is now heading towards hitting a massive capacity of 27-28 million units a year by 2020, as AC finds out in this issue‌

Welcome

T

he Cambodian Ministry of Labour says it will investigate the claims of a Royal Holloway, University of London research team’s report alleging modern slavery in Cambodia’s brick kilns, according to Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng.

The report entitled Blood Bricks: Untold Stories of Modern Slavery and Climate Change in Cambodia claimed that poor Cambodians working as brick makers were trapped in debt bondage and had fallen into modern slavery.

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FIE LD S OF PLE NTY

VIE TNA M PLA NS SAN ITA RYWARE EXP AN SIO

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IN FOCUS:

Heavy clay: a material challenge Rajasthan: policies or progress Fine ceramic technolo gies Plus news, views, analy

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This, it said was because the demand of brick makers is skyrocketing as the kingdom’s construction sector is booming with foreign investments.

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In Phnom Penh on Thursday, Minister Ith Sam Heng said during a workshop entitled Decent Work Programme for Cambodia 2019-2023 that the ministry will start investigating the circumstances and locations mentioned in the report.

“We will start investigating. The ministry issued a statement preventing [this issue of child labour]. We will review what the report says."

“In the past, we didn’t know about it. After knowing about it, we will inspect the locations mentioned in the report. If it is true, we will take the necessary legal action to put a stop to it,” he said.

The report said brick kilns employed all types of workers, including children, due to rapid development in hotels, office buildings, factories, condominiums, and other projects in urgent need of bricks.

Most of them, it claimed, were trapped in debt bondage.

Chheang Suyheang, the president of two brick kiln associations representing more than 100 factories in Kandal province, denied the existence of child labour in brick factories.

“There is no impact on them. Their hands and feet do not fall into the machines or [get] cut off like before because there is no child labour in the brick [industry] and we do not allow minors to work because the organisation has strengthened,” he said.

Suyheang acknowledged that every “brick family” has borrowed money from the kiln owners.

This is because they can quickly pay off their bank and microfinance loans.

In October, the ministry issued a statement warning it will mete out fines and take other legal action against brick kilns which use child labour or commit other violations.

Adhoc spokesman Soeung Sen Karuna said the ministry should have started investigating a long time ago, following civil society organisation reports of child and other worker injuries.

“It seems like the Ministry of Labour just woke up from sleep. It is a shame. The government or ministry should have taken care of this long ago, so a lot of people would not have been victimised,” he said.

At least it’s something…

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Planning on an export-oriented future • Boost to the brick sector • Punjab to close brick kilns for two months • Faç AMR appoints head of business development • Tile import duty to hit Egyptian imports? • RAK completes share pu as tariffs bite...

BANGLADESH

Planning on an export-oriented future Since its inception in 1958, Bangladesh's ceramics industry has proven to be a promising sector for the country's growth and economy.

The industry, launched with a small manufacturing plant of Tajma Ceramic Industries in Bogra, is now a body of over 62 ceramic manufacturers, earning profits for many industrialists.

The ceramics industry in Bangladesh serves over 88% of the market with tableware, sanitaryware and tiles.

Alongside, the production of glasses, electrical components, refractories, etc. is also supported by this sector. Ceramic products also occupy the export market of the country, making way for a yearly export worth $42 million.

“Bangladeshis have transformed their lifestyle over the years.

For instance, tiles have almost completely replaced mosaic in households. Thus, local demand for ceramics products is extremely high, which is being efficiently met by the country's ceramics industry. In the near future, we hope to strengthen our stakes in the global export market,” asserts Md. Shirajul Islam Mollah MP, President of the Bangladesh Ceramics Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BCMEA). He backed his claim by adding that Bangladesh's low labour cost, relative to the quality and production, gives it an edge over traditional manufacturers across the globe. Moreover, a rich source of liquefied natural gas, required for the production of ceramics, will help the industry sustain its ever growing production. If

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the positive trend continues, then the 200% growth seen over the last five years may change to an even more impressive estimate.

The first international exhibition on the ceramics industry in Bangladesh was held last year to celebrate the emerging global presence of the industry. The Ceramic Expo Bangladesh 2017 highlighted the success stories of the industry while exhibiting ceramic products to local and international ceramic manufacturers, buyers, and investors. The expo was an unexpected success and an even bigger event is scheduled for the upcoming year, which is hoped to be a greater success through a farther reach in the global arena, showcasing both local and foreign models.

As the industry's dominance surges with increasing manufacturing plants and bulk operations, it leaves a positive impact in the employment crisis in Bangladesh. Shirajul Islam said that it's fairly easier for students with honours or diploma in glass and ceramics engineering and related subjects to secure a job in the industry. The theoretical and technical knowledge prepares them for the workplace where they are further trained on the practical implementations.

The current balance in the ratio between job availability and eligible employees has made the sector appealing for interested job seekers. At present, over 500,000 people constitute the local workforce.

However, there remain challenges. Even though the country's ceramics industry is excelling in the production of finished products, it has

to heavily depend on foreign sources for raw materials. One of the biggest issues is the unloading of these materials at the Chittagong port, as mother vessels are kept waiting at the outer anchorage. This delay, be it even by a day, becomes too costly and generates losses for manufacturers. An alternative to this hurdle can be to lift the bar on the number of cargo vessels.

Port facilities should be improved to expedite the export-import process. This is certainly a challenge that can be overcome. Mr. Shirajul Islam noted that the government has subsidised duty benefits on import. He said, “I am thankful to the government for revising the duty structure and for supporting the establishment of the industry.” Nonetheless, the government can fuel the growth by offering a greater incentive of 15% to exporters and thus, attract more investments in the sector.

Furthermore, reliance on the national capacity for raw material production should be encouraged. For instance, white clay, one of the preliminary raw materials for ceramics, is widely imported from abroad even when there is a rich mine located in Mymensingh that can yield up to 2.57 million tons of clay. Additionally, surface to near surface deposits of white clay are also reported to be produced in Chittagong, Sherpur and Netrokona districts.

The demand for ceramics in Bangladesh is sure to rise in the future. New home buyers, and even renovators, now have the option of choosing tiles and coordinating colours for sanitaryware from the

range of products available.

Citizens today are more conscious of their choices and with easy access to the global picture, they are more knowledgeable about the product quality, and prefer rich product diversity and a constantly updating catalog.

Potteries and tableware for home décor is also a popular subject in the area. Hence, the ceramics industry and prospective investors see excellent opportunities in the local market. Because of their efficient performance in controlling quality and maintaining product diversity, the industry can confidently focus on their influence on the global market. Even with the current efforts, Bangladesh's ceramics export makes considerable contribution to the Bangladesh Bank reserve.

This industry can conveniently follow the garments sector, in terms of exports, and be a key participant of the economic development process of the country. Naturally, other key stakeholders, such as the government, should recognise the merits of this industry and support it wholeheartedly. If the ongoing trend continues, Bangladesh can soon become one of the prominent exporters of ceramics in the world.

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çade tile design woos shoppers in Beijing • 4D is here…for ceramics anyway! urchase of subsidiary • Fly ash growing in popularity • Ceramic market soars SRI LANKA

Boost to the brick sector Sri Lanka has reversed a decision to award a $300m housing deal to China in favour of a joint venture with an Indian company, the government said, ahead of a visit by its prime minister to New Delhi.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met his counterpart Narendra Modi in November in India's capital.

The two countries have longstanding ties, partly because of cultural and ethnic links between Tamils, most of whom live in southern India and Sri Lanka's north and east.

In April, state-run China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co Ltd won a tender worth more than $300m to build 40,000

houses in Jaffna in Sri Lanka's north, with China's Exim bank to provide funding.

But the project was halted after residents demanded brick houses, saying they preferred their traditional type of dwelling instead of the concrete structures the Chinese firm had planned.

Early in the month, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said the cabinet had approved a new proposal for 28,000 houses worth 35.8bn rupees ($210m) to be built by Indian firm ND Enterprises and two Sri Lankan firms in the north and east.

The planned homes are part of a total requirement of 65,000, he added.

"The rest of the houses will be given to firms which are ready to build them at lower prices," Senaratne told reporters in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, adding that China could also be considered in future for the remaining housing projects.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing that China's cooperation with Sri Lanka was derived from consultations on an equal footing and he hoped that cooperation would be viewed objectively.

Critics have said a big Chinese port project and related infrastructure in Sri Lanka's south have been dragging the country of 21 million people

deep into debt.

India has built 44,000 houses in the country's north in the first phase of reconstruction after a 26-year-war with Tamil Tiger rebels and plans to rebuild Palaly airport and Kankesanthurai harbour, both heavily damaged in the conflict.

But in recent years, China has swept in, building ports, power plants and highways as part of Beijing's String of Pearls strategy to build a network of friendly ports across Asia.

India has long considered Sri Lanka, just off its southern coast, as part of its sphere of influence and sought to push back against China's expanding maritime presence.

PAKISTAN

Punjab to close brick kilns for two months The Punjab government has decided to shut down all brick kilns from the beginning of November which have not adopted prescribed technology from Saturday and causing intense air-pollution owing to obsolete emission design.

The decision has been taken in a meeting presided by Smog Commission Chairman Dr Pervaiz Hasan on Monday.

Previously, it was decided to shut down brick kilns from October 20 but the date has been changed to October 27 following the request from the Brick Kiln Association (BKA) members and consultation with Advisor to Prime Minister on Climate Change Amin Akram Khan.

The commission has asked owners to convert their brick kilns to new zigzag technology during the closure period. The commission has made this decision in light of weather information and data provided

by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO).

It is also decided in the meeting that substandard fuel being used in brick kilns will not be tolerated during this period. Owners are advised to take every step to convert their brick kilns to new zigzag technology during closure period to avoid any such circumstances in the future.

It was highlighted that the ban would only be imposed on brick kilns using old technology and brick kilns which have already been converted to new zigzag technology will be exempt from this ban. The government has also imposed Section 144 from October 1 on burning of substandard fuel, including plastic, garbage, polythene bags, and tyres and announced taking stern action against violators. The factory owners have also been warned that action under Section

144 will be taken if they have not installed smoke controlling equipment in their factories.

The BKA representatives and officials of the Environment Protection Department also attended the meeting.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Brick Kiln Owners Association of Pakistan (BKOAP) General Secretary Mehar Abdul Haq said his association supported smog commission’s decision but this ban should not be for a longer period and should be reviewed on a weekly basis considering weather condition.

He said that zigzag technology was introduced in Pakistan by the BKOAP. “Following smog in the provincial capital last year, a BKOAP delegation visited Nepal to witness zigzag technology brick kilns. Later, we built a model zigzag technology brick kiln in Lahore. The association is promoting this technology and conducting training sessions from

its own resources. However, if the government really wanted to end pollution from brick kilns it should help brick kilns owners in building new technology through subsidy or grant,” he advised.

The prices of bricks have already been increased in the provincial capital from Rs2,000-3,000 per 1,000 during the last couple of weeks. At present, brick is being sold for Rs14,000 to Rs15,000 per 1,000 in Lahore depending on the brick quality or distance from a brick kiln. Brick dealers are blaming the proposed ban for the increase in bricks prices.

“Middlemen in the bricks trade are playing a dirty role by jacking up brick prices,” claims Haq. He said that brick kilns have stocks sufficient for around two months.

He, however, indicated an increase in coal price is another reason for bricks price increase. He said coal dealers have doubled coal prices from Rs3,000 to Rs6,000 a ton, while Balochistan’s.

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CHINA

Façade tile design woos shoppers in Beijing The KWG M Cube shopping centre in Beijing, designed by MVRDV, has been covered in hand-glazed iridescent ceramic tiles that change colour in different lights.

Dutch architecture firm MVRDV devised the subtle yet eyecatching rainbow facade for the multi-faceted mall to be a happy middle ground between the developer KWG Group Holdings's wish for a building that would stand out, and the city government's caveat that it suit its surrounding.

Rather than cover the shopping centre in bright LED lights, the architects covered each side of the 36-metre high building in opalescent tiles. Some sides are completely covered in the tiles, with other planes tiled in an interlocking checkerboard pattern that forms a perforated screen.

Each ceramic tile was handglazed in China, with three layers applied and fired at different temperatures to create the pearlescent effect.

"We designed the KWG M Cube so that the building continuously displays new patterns and colours. Depending on the weather and light conditions and where you stand, the facade might look subtly grey, or it might shine with all the colours of the rainbow," said Jacob van Rijs, principal architect and cofounder of MVRDV. "In this part of Beijing, there are restrictions on architecture and many nearby buildings are completed in shades of grey and beige. Our solution allowed us to do exactly what the client and the city wanted: to create an attractive visual statement in which exuberance and modesty go hand in hand."

The 40,000-square-metre, seven-storey shopping centre is split into two sections.

Downstairs, the lower three floors contain mostly shops and is only open during the day. The upper levels contain bars, restaurants and cafes, and can be accessed at night via an express lift to the fourth floor lobby.

Open air roof terraces in each level provide an outdoor space for visitors during good weather, with views towards local landmarks including the Forbidden City.

Rotterdam-based MVRDV has form when it comes to glistening buildings. A recently completed entertainment complex project from the Dutch firm in South Korea featured buildings with golden facades, and a planned office block in Germany will be covered in crystal-like mirrors.

CHINA

4D is here‌for ceramics anyway!

A research team from the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has successfully developed the world's first four-dimensional (4D) printing for ceramics, which are mechanically robust and can support complex shapes.

Ceramics have a high melting point, so it is difficult to use conventional laser printing in their creation. Existing 3D-printed ceramic precursors, which are usually difficult to deform, also hinder the production of ceramics with complex shapes.

To overcome these problems, the team developed a special ink,

which is a mixture of polymers and ceramic nanoparticles.

When heat is applied, the ink is able to stretch to three times greater than its starting length.

In terms of 4D printing, researchers took the 3D printing model and added a crucial step. This involves morphing the shape of the object, so that the printed object can re-shape or self-assemble itself over time with external stimuli, such as mechanical force, temperature or a magnetic field.

According to Professor Lv Jian, chair professor of mechanical engineering, one possible

application of the technology will be in the use of electronic devices, as ceramic materials transmit electromagnetic signals in a much more efficient manner than metallic materials.

The professor also believes that the material's artistic nature and potential to be moulded into complex shapes could it see applied to custom-made mobile phone backplates.

Furthermore, this innovation could also be in used in the aero industry and for space exploration because it can tolerate high temperatures, Lv explained.

CHINA/HONG KONG

AMR appoints head of business development Asia Material Resources Ltd (AMR) has announced that ceramic industry heavyweight, Richard Leonard, recently of Sibelco and formerly with WBB and Hepworth Minerals & Chemicals has joined AMR acting as head of Business Development primarily to advise on new products and

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customers for the sanitaryware and tableware industries.

'Richard is an experienced and knowledgeable industry professional and will significantly add value to the AMR team by recommending materials, suppliers and potential customers' said an AMR spokesperson, Andrew

Mountford. 'He is well known in the Asian ceramics industry and brings us skills that are valuable in taking our business forward.'

For more information, contact : Asia Material Resources, Room 369, 3rd Floor Conic Investment Building13, Hok Yuen Street,

NEWS IN BRIEF Imerys Ceramics announces price increases for prepared bodies, glazes, raw materials* and kiln furniture for ceramic applications (i.e. sanitaryware, tableware, tiles) and adjacent markets (i.e. fiberglass, hand formers, electrical porcelain).

Effective January 1st 2019, prices will increase between 6.5% to 10% per ton. Actual increases will depend on product grade and packaging type and are subject to provisions in individual contracts. Customers will be notified details of specific increase in due course.

Customers purchasing products on a delivered basis will see additional adjustments due to step changes in global and regional freight markets.

Imerys Ceramics continues to work with its partners to offer competitive rates and monitor and control the impact of rising energy prices. The regulatory environment for mining has a direct impact on our costs.

Prices out of our Thai kaolin operations (Ranong) will increase more significantly than the above mentioned percentages. Increase will be discussed on a case by case basis. Rising costs in mining, manufacturing, maintenance, packaging, quality systems, and environmental compliance and sustainability necessitate the adjustment to pricing.

Furthermore, the industry is currently evolving in an environment of escalating energy costs and increasing inflationary pressures notably, but not limited to, the consequences of the exit of Great Britain from the European Union (i.e. "BREXIT").

Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: + 852 2363 7813 Fax: + 852 2363 7826 Email: Enquiries@AMR4U. com Web Site: www.AMR4U.com

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News

SYRIA

Tile import duty to hit Egyptian imports?

The Syrian Ministry of Economy and Trade issued decree No. 695 to impose £S700 (LE 25) for each square meter of ceramic imported from Arab countries, which are members of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, including Egypt.

The Greater Arab Free Trade Area is an economic alliance between Arab countries for economic integration and lowtariff trade. The Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) came into force on January 1, 2005.

“The Syrian decision threatens the competitiveness of Egyptian ceramics in the foreign markets in general and the Syrian market in particular, which is one of the main promising markets for the Egyptian ceramic product,” member of the board of directors of the Ceramics Division of the Federation of Industries,Bahaa Abdel Majeed, said.

Abdel Majeed referred to Turkey, which is the biggest competitor to Egypt, saying that it cannot directly export to

the Syrian market now.

He pointed out that Egypt’s exports of ceramics and tiles to Syria exceeded LE 500 million during the period between 2013 and 2017.

“The Syrian market comes in the seventh place in Egypt’s export list of ceramic and tile, representing 6 percent of the total exports of the sector to all countries," he stated.

Abdel Majeed affirmed that these fees will lead to a 50 percent increase in export priceswhich threatens the Egyptian ceramics to lose one of its most competitive advantages in foreign markets, especially the Syrian market, compared to exports of ceramics from competitorslikeIran, Turkey and some African countries.

Abdel Majeed called for supporting the cost of shipping to the Syrian market and providing grants for exports of ceramics, similar to the export support given to African countries and some sectors of Egyptian building materials.

He added that most countries

competing withEgyptget an export support for shipping their products.

The Egyptian Ceramic Industry Abdel Majeed stressed that the Egyptian ceramic industry is suffering from a large imbalance in marketing policies as a result of its policies in the competitive countries and the lack of a future vision that can help the industrycompete in international markets.

He added that the industry has become unstable especially after the hike in gas prices and production costs,and due to the industry's inability to compete internationally due to a difference in prices estimated at about $1.5 million per meter, which weakens the demand for Egyptian products.

"The industry has gone through a very critical phase, and some of the reform measures taken by the state have had a negative impact on many sectors. Therefore, we must listen to the manufacturers'demands to

achieve the state's directives and increase exports," he said.

Abdel Majeedsaid that the decision to liberalize the exchange rate had positive results on exporters, butthe results were negative on the importers, which led to a large increasein exports and a reduction inimports.

He revealed that exports to Syria doubled 10 times and the rate of exports to some factories reached 40 percent, which confirms that the country is moving in the right direction and that the economic reform programis positively affectingthe market, but there are many variables that harm the future of Egyptian exports.

He called on the government to intervene in order tolimit the effects of these variables, primarily support shipping and support exporters.

Generally, ceramic exports recorded $55 million in the first four months of 2018, up from $43 million in the same period of 2017, with an increase of 26 percent.

SAUDI ARABIA

RAK completes share purchase of subsidiary RAK Ceramics PJSC, one of the leading ceramics' brands in the world, has announced that it has acquired the remaining minority shares of its joint ventures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and therefore now fully owns its KSA operations Over the last few years RAK Ceramics has been consolidating its global operations and this latest purchase follows acquisitions in Europe, India, and Australia.

Europe and KSA are the company's major export markets, followed by the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. In 2017 around 31.7% of its tile and sanitaryware sales originated from the UAE and 68.3% was the result of its export operations to different regions around the world.

Saudi Arabia is already an important export market for

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RAK Ceramics and with the Kingdom's 'Saudi Vision 2030' already underway the future growth in the region looks promising.

Abdallah Massaad, Group CEO of RAK Ceramics said: "We are pleased to have fully acquired our joint ventures both in Riyadh and Jeddah, enabling us to gain greater control and access into one of our key markets. We are excited about strengthening our global brand in KSA and operating as a single corporate entity across the Kingdom, reporting directly into our global headquarters in Ras Al Khaimah. This latest acquisition is a positive step for us and we are looking forward to fully integrating our Saudi operations. These recent acquisitions reaffirm our commitment to strengthening

our core business interests in line with our Value Creation Plan."

Taking control of its distribution operations in core markets is a key part of RAK Ceramics' Value Creation Plan (VCP). The VCP was initiated in 2014 and designed to unlock hidden value in the business by offloading non-performing businesses and generating cash to reinvest, streamlining company operations, gaining greater control over its distribution networks and uniting RAK Ceramics as one company and one brand, with a single global corporate brand identity.

RAK Ceramics is one of the largest ceramics' brands in the world. Specialising in ceramic and gres porcelain wall and floor tiles, tableware, sanitaryware and faucets, the

company has the capacity to produce 116 million square metres of tiles, 5 million pieces of sanitaryware, 24 million pieces of porcelain tableware and 1 million pieces of faucets per year at its 22 state-ofthe-art plants across the United Arab Emirates, India, Bangladesh and China.

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, RAK Ceramics serves clients in more than 150 countries through its network of operational hubs in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australia.

RAK Ceramics is a publically listed company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in the United Arab Emirates and as a group has an annual turnover of approximately US$1 billion.

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News

INDIA

Fly ash growing in popularity Fly-ash brick industry is receiving a big boost in the district as the raw material is available free of cost. Simhadri Super Thermal Power Plant (SSTPP) of NTPC is supplying fly-ash free of cost to the entrepreneurs. Hence, a greater number of fly ash brick industries are coming up in the district.

With the construction industry using 90 per cent of fly-ash bricks, the demand has been increasing for the bricks in various shapes. The SSTPP is a coal-based power plant with a total installed capacity of the plant is 2,000 MW with four units each with 500 MW. In fact, disposal of

the ash in the thermal power plant is a big issue and majority of the thermal power plants reserving the ash in water ponds.

As the ash reserves increasing, it has become a serious threat to the environment, therefore, power plants are supplying ash free of cost and promoting fly ash bricks at a large scale. Initially, the construction industry rejected the usage of the fly ash bricks. However, after the construction of apartments and multi-storeyed buildings increased, builders are promoting the fly ash bricks as they are cheaper.

Till 2010, there are only 25

major fly ash brick industries in the district and during the past eight years, the number increased to over 200 in the city and in the rural pockets.

Entrepreneurs, who wish to take the ash from the plant, have to arrange lorries and the SSTPP management is giving the raw material free of cost.

Meanwhile, during the past few weeks, the coal from Odisha is not coming to the plant due to various reasons, including heavy rains and other reasons. The plant is now facing less coal stocks and maintaining with reserve stocks. “We are supplying ash both wet and dry free of

cost. However, due to coal shortage, presently fly ash reserves coming down. Due to the shortage of the coal, unit1 (500 MW) was temporarily shut down and presently three units only generating power,� a senior official of SSTPP told The Hans India.

Meanwhile, the demand for fly ash bricks in the construction activity is on the rise. Collector Pravin Kumar directed the SSTPP officials to ensure fly ash to over 200 brick industries. The Collector also directed the District Industries Centre (DIC) General Manager A Ramalingaraju to ensure raw material to the brick industry from the SSTPP.

CHINA/USA

Ceramic market soars as tariffs bite Home renovation demand in the USA is soaring, and so are the costs to do it, thanks to a new round of tariffs on goods imported from China.

The latest round hits about $10 billion worth of Chinese products exclusive to homebuilding and remodeling, according to the US National Association of Home Builders. The tariff starts at 10 percent, but could rise to 25 percent by the end of the year. That would be equivalent to a $2.5 billion tax increase on the industry.

Contractor Justin Sullivan manages home renovation projects in the Washington, D.C., area and says costs are going up so much so fast that he is doing something he has never done in his more than a decade in the remodeling business.

"Clients and contractors are having to set contracts with escalation clauses for projects that are being scheduled for six months from now, largely because we're not sure how far prices are going to go north," he said.

Sullivan said it is a quick education for new clients, who were already fighting to get projects scheduled, given the high demand and labor

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shortage. Higher home values have given homeowners more ready cash and more incentive to improve their investment. Now his clients have one more worry.

"It makes them want to do the project more quickly, trying to get it done. Then it's looking at ways to save money that will bring down the costs so the overall budget doesn't increase," he said. "It puts a little bit more pressure on everyone to try and be as diligent about the costs as possible."

Tariffs have already increased the costs of Canadian lumber as well as steel and aluminum imports. The new round adds everything from wall and floorboard to light fixtures, cabinets, heating and cooling equipment, and the tile for bathrooms and backsplashes.

David Benson is vice president of sales at Maryland-based Architectural Ceramics. He says his prices will go up, especially for mosaic, glass and patterned tile, most of which is not made in the United States.

"It would impact the cost on ceramic and natural stone and glass materials, and it would increase the cost at least 15 to 20 percent of our import duties on those items so costs will go

up for sure," said Benson.

The latest tariffs will also impact materials for countertops, like granite, marble and especially quartz. The U.S. Commerce Department just announced the results of an investigation into illegal "dumping" of Chinese quartz into the U.S., finding, "that exporters received countervailable subsidies ranging from 34.38 to 178.45 percent," according to its release.

As a result it will impose import duties on the quartz in addition to tariffs. In 2017, U.S. imports of certain quartz surface products from China were valued at an estimated $460 million, according to the Commerce Department.

That is already increasing quartz prices, just in anticipation of the new duties.

"I know for fact that one of my distributors stopped ordering three quartz colors because prices are jumping high enough so it's not worth it anymore," said Goran Zucik, sales manager at Rockville, Maryland-based Stone & Tile World. "China was producing them by hand and no one can copy the way they were making some colors.

Some of my cabinet companies

want to use these colors in their remodeled showroom, but I have to tell them that these will not be available."

The move, however, will benefit U.S. quartz-maker Cambria, which filed the complaint with the Commerce Department.

"This determination is the result of the agency's thorough investigation and confirms what the petition alleged—that China has unfairly subsidized quartz surface products to highjack the U.S. market and as a result these unfairly traded imports have flooded the U.S. market," said Marty Davis, president and CEO of Cambria. "This is a critical first step toward restoring a level playing field within our industry, fulfilling the obvious axiom: there is no such thing as free trade without fair trade."

Chinese tile was generally cheaper than U.S.-made tile, so the tariffs will level the playing field for U.S. tile makers, even if it increases costs for consumers.

"There have been three or four manufacturers of porcelain tile right in Tennessee over the past two years that have popped up, so that business will increase, and I think it will help the American market for sure," added Benson.

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INDIA

Bihar hits out at brick polluters In a bid to to tackle air pollution, brick kilns in Bihar, India, without more modern, greener, zig-zag kiln technology are now no longer allowed to function as of September 1.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the forest and environment portfolio, said brick kilns which do not have 'zig-zag technology' are now effectively banned.

At a state environment

ministers' conference in the State, he said, "For making one lakh bricks, 12 tonne coal is used by traditional brick kilns.

The zig-zag technology enables making the same number of bricks by using only 9.9 tonne coal."

Hot air coming out of zig-zag kilns following a three times longer path than the straight line in traditional ones, improving heat transfer, enhanced mixing of fuel and air, thereby leading to

improved combustion and less consumption of coal.

At a conference in late August, attended by Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, Sushil Kumar Modi batted for introducing an online procedure for diversion of forest lands, thus doing away with submitting a hard copy of such proposals to the Centre.

The states should also be empowered to constitute the State Environment Impact

Assessment Authority and State Impact Authorisation Committee without any requiring permission from the Centre, he said.

Raising the issue of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), the Bihar minister said related rules should be notified at the earliest so that the Rs 50,000 crore available under it could be utilised by the states.

International News

Wade expands as outlook improves United Kingdom

N

ew jobs are on the horizon at Wade Ceramics as the company looks to double production at its new site.

The firm has now officially opened a second factory at the former Aynsley China building, in Longton.

A further expansion will allow Wade's Etruria factory to focus on the production of the company's ceramic spirit bottles, while the new Paragon Works factory will produce homeware, kitchenware and fragrances - including their renowned 'gluggle jugs.'

At the moment 15 members of staff are based at Paragon, but 10 new jobs are set to be created in the coming months as part of plans to increase production.

Paul Farmer, managing director at Wade Ceramics said: "We want

to double output at Paragon which will mean more people and more investment, so it is a really exciting time.

"The reason we decided to open a second factory was because our Etruria site is growing and we needed more room, now our intention is to grow the Paragon factory too.

"We will grow and we will continue to grow. At the moment we are producing around 1,250 gluggle jugs a week and we want to get to a stage where we are producing double that amount."

He added: "The ceramics industry is really busy at the moment, not just us but other companies such as Steelite, Portmeirion and Dudson, they are all doing really well, so I think our new factory is a really positive

thing for everyone."READ MO Stoke-on-Trent Lord Mayor, councillor Lilian Dodd, who cut the ribbon to the new site at the opening ceremony in October, said: "There is nothing more exciting than the opening of a new factory.

"Wade Ceramics is doing amazing things at their factory in Etruria and it's great that the company is keeping its core business there while opening a new site in the south of the city.

"There is a resurgence in the city and in our pottery industry and I'm sure that everyone who has been involved with ceramics past, present and future will be very excited about this."

Stoke-on-Trent South MP Jack Brereton was also at the opening.

He said: "I have visited Wade's

Tile trends for 2019?

United States

T

ypical ceramic tile trends are shifting as manufacturers produce products with more daring designs.

Advancements in ceramic tile technology have transformed the industry, from concept to creation, without compromising core function. Artisanal practices are meeting modern-day production allowing manufacturers the ability to exceed standards in performance while dabbling in

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stylistic experimentation.

According to Tile of Spain Consultant, Ryan Fasan, “in 2019 we’re anticipating architectural products that are ideal for high traffic areas, with the broadest range of aesthetics possible.”

Ceramic tile with geometric designs will play a major role in 2019. Inspired by the Art Deco movement, geometric shapes create attractive spaces and sophisticated environments while

being sensitive to the nostalgia of the past eras.

Gone are the days of single finish ceramic tiles. In 2019, we will see layers of finish from matte to gloss and even iridescence, enhancing the depth of floors and walls.

Terrazzo inspired ceramics will remain strong in 2019 but will be reinvented as manufacturers experiment with different colors, shapes, and sizes to suit every project.

Etruria factory and I was blown away by the incredible work the company does, work that people don't realise is going on in this city.

"So it is incredible news that a successful company like Wades is investing and expanding in Stokeon-Trent and I am confident that they will continue to go from strength-to-strength."

NEWS IN BRIEF The Heico Companies announced that its subsidiary Ohmite Manufacturing has completed the acquisition of the electronic components business of Kanthal, a part of Sandvik Group.

Headquartered in Amherst, New York, the acquired business provides a full line of ceramic non-inductive resistors as well as Maxcap double-layer capacitors.

Kanthal’s Globar ceramic resistor products will be combined with Ohmite’s existing A series and OX/OY series product lines to form the new Ohmite Ceramics Resistors Division. The new products will be available on a direct basis from Ohmite as well as through Ohmite’s partnership with leading electronic distributors worldwide. Ohmite further

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News

Chinese entrepreneurs encourage to grow industry Uganda

P

resident Yoweri Museveni has said that the establishment of more factories that manufacture domestically consumed products, such as household ceramics and sanitary ware, will go a long way in saving the country foreign exchange on top of creating more job opportunities in the country.

"Household items such as plates, kettles and cups, among others, are good if they are manufactured in the country because there will be no

transport costs involved. The factories will create jobs and save foreign exchange," he said.

The President made the observations in a meeting with Mr. Zhang Hao, Chairman and Managing Director of the Kapeeka-based Liao Shen Industrial Park in Nakaseke District, who called on him last evening at State House, Entebbe.

Mr. Zhang Hao, led a delegation of Chinese investors that are involved in the manufacture of household ceramics and sanitary ware that

are being undertaken by Huahui International Group. Another Chinese enterprise, Taiyu Group of Companies, is set to manufacture fishnets.

President Museveni said that manufacturing of fishnets within the country will not only help to stop and get rid of imported illegal fishing materials but will also go a long way in the creation of jobs in the fishing industry in Uganda. He thanked the investors for their interest in investing in Uganda.

Mr. Zhang Hao, on his part, noted that their products

are not only targeted for markets in the neighbouring countries of Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but also to the global market.

He told the President that they are interested in establishing a showroom and warehouse of their products in one of the Industrial Parks nearby Kampala City Centre for easy access to the City market and for display to which the President endorsed and gave assurances that a piece of land will be allocated for that purpose.

Photonic technology brings new tile options Europe

A

team of European scientists have developed a set of digital, ceramic tiles that can change colour, pattern, or play videos with a connected smartphone or tablet, turning a bedroom wall or ceiling into a giant cinema screen.

Have you wanted to redecorate your bedroom every day of the week, or watch films on your ceiling? Now you can, thanks to a smart ceramic tile created by European scientists.

Using photonics technology, The 'Luminous Electronic Tile', or LUMENTILE, project mixes the simplicity of a plain ceramic tile with sophisticated touch screen technology to create a light source and unparalleled interaction. All it takes is one tap to change the colour, look or mood of any room in your house.

A combination of ceramic, glass and organic electronics, the luminous tile includes structural materials, solid-state light sources and electronic chips and can be controlled with a central computer, a smart phone or tablet.

This is the first time anyone has tried to embed electronics and photonics into ceramics or glass for a large-scale application. With the ability to play videos or display images,

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the tiles allow the user to turn their walls into a large ‘cinema’ screen, where each A4 sized unit acts as a pixel of the overall display.

Project coordinator, Professor Guido Giuliani of the University of Pavia explains: “This is not just a digital panel to replace an animated poster like you see on the Underground network, but a whole new way of life. You are instantly in control of your own environment: if you don’t like your bathroom in blue, now you can change it to green with one tap. If you like flowery wallpaper, ducks or Christmas trees, that’s up to you.”

Each measuring the size of a standard, rectangular A4 piece of paper with their own internal power source, the tiles can be tailored entirely to the customer’s needs: completely or partially covering the walls of a room, a floor, ceiling, or perhaps total submersion. So long as the pieces tessellate, any shapes will be possible such as hexagonal or triangular ceramic tiles.

The tiles, which can be switched off so that a basic silver, black or white colour can be a default setting, are equipped with an on board micro-controller, and operate on a lexical network invisible to the user.

The surface of each tile has uniform and efficient illumination, achieved by LUMENTILE’s smart light management system, a new approach based on a light guiding slab and spatially selective light extraction.

With the ability to configure the tiles to become ‘smart floor panels’ that recognise when an elderly user is no longer standing or has perhaps fallen, or in security situations where a floor will be sensitive to intruders, the tiles have the capacity to act as a ‘smart’ floor.

“When arranged into a Smart Floor setting,” Giuliani said, “LUMENTILE has the capability to form dynamic paths. The main applications of the LUMENTILE product are in public spaces, for example by creating luminous, interactive floors that create automatic guiding paths. In shopping centres or airports for example, if a customer needs directing to a store or terminal, they can follow an illuminated walkway.”

With its durable nature, the luminous ceramic tile could be used externally: placing it on the outside of a building creates the obvious potential for advertising or changing the colour or appearance. However the tiles can be flat or curved to fit around

columns or uneven contours.

Military vehicles, for example, fitted with this external ‘skin’ crossing a variety of terrains, such as woodland, desert or water would be capable of unlimited camouflage at the flick of a switch.

“It may sound like the stuff of James Bond but external tiles would create a ‘chameleonic skin’, or instant camouflage.

Although we are a long way off this yet, this would allow a car or building to blend completely into its surroundings, and hence ‘disappear’,” Giuliani enthused.

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News

KEDA to invest in massive tile capacity Kenya

C

hinese tiles manufacturer KEDA Ceramic has invested over Sh5.5 billion in boost to the government's Big Four agenda.

Chinese tiles manufacturer KEDA Ceramic has invested over Sh5.5 billion in boost to the government's Big Four agenda.

Administrative manager Ryan Chen said in statement on Monday that the money will be invested in their Kajiado plant in two phases.

"Phase three, which is projected to begin towards the end of 2019, will see the manufacturer invest another USD 25 million (Sh 2.5 billion)," Chen said.

He said Kenya’s strategic position along the Belt and Road initiative has made it an attractive investment destination.

The initiative was rolled out by Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of the Asian economy's interests in Africa.

The Belt and Road strategy involves infrastructure development and investment in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

"We, therefore, not only want to bring our products and technologies to the country but also want to create jobs and transfer skills and expertise to the Kenyan people," Chen said.

"Foreign direct investments are important in the realisation of this initiative and we are playing our part in this regard," he added.

During the China-Africa Summit in September, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed, among other deals, a cooperation agreement within the framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

He also signed the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative.

Uhuru on Friday, also demanded for a more balanced trade between China and Africa to fast-track negotiations to open up its market for Kenyan exports.

"Notwithstanding its strong organic growth prospects, there are meaningful operational synergies with our existing Spanish ceramics company, which we will move quickly to realise.

Even before these synergies, the acquisition of Saloni will be materially earnings accretive in the first full year of ownership and it also continues to increase the geographic diversity of our revenues and earnings.

"Post-completion, over 65%

of Victoria's earnings will be generated from outside the UK – continuing our transformation into a genuinely international flooring business."

Reorganisation at Victoria last year saw the end of carpet manufacturing at Kidderminster after more than 110 years, with the loss of over 60 jobs.

Kidderminster remains the company's head office and the centre of its UK distribution operation.

Victoria reigns in tile sector Spain

V

ictoria, the Kidderminster carpet and floorings group, has been on the takeover trail again, snapping up a Spanish ceramic tile company for £86.2 million.

It is also raising another £60.5 million from a share placing. This will pay for part of the acquisition of the Spanish firm, Saloni, with the rest of the money coming from a new banking facility provided by the company's lenders, HSBC and Barclays.

It follows last year's acquisition of the Keraban tile group in Spain and Italy's Ceramiche Serra for around £290 million in total.

Saloni is a manufacturer of mid to high-end ceramic and porcelain tiles, with its main markets in Spain and France. Last year it generated revenues of £94.7m and earnings of £13.9m.

Victoria's chairman, Geoff Wilding, said: "We believe that Saloni is a high-quality addition to the group.

PALLETS AND SLABS LOGISTIC AUTOMATION SOLUTION FOR CERAMIC INDUSTRY Ta k e a l o o k o n w w w. t e c n o f e r r a r i . i t

we are innovation since 1966 Gruppo TECNOFERRARI S.p.A. con socio unico - Via Ghiarola Vecchia, 91 - 41042 Fiorano Modenese (MO) - ITALY Tel. +39 0536 915000 - Fax +39 0536 915045 - info@tecnoferrari.it - www.tecnoferrari.it pagina pubbli A5_V2.indd 1

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Raw Material News

Reducing the cost of glazes & engobes by clay selection Andrew Sugden, Sushil Panda & Bhaskar Panabaka, Imerys Ceramics, discuss formulation developments geared for economic advantage.

Sanitaryware glazes and tile engobes are commonly formulated with some content of calcined alumina, zinc oxide and zircon. These are amongst the most expensive raw materials used in whiteware ceramics. Consequently, reducing their content can generate significant cost savings. However, as each contributes to important properties, simple reduction in content can have negative impacts on the final properties of the compositions. With consideration of some underlying principles, explanation is given, along with case studies of cost reduction by use of various products from Imerys Ceramics. The optimum balance of cost saving and required performance is achieved based on the understanding of the individual raw materials and formulations, for which collaboration with manufacturers has been undertaken.

A tile engobe is a coating of slip, either white or coloured, whose compositions can be considered as somewhere between those of bodies and of glazes (Fig 1). Notable compared to glazes is the higher content of clays in the raw materials, and a higher content of crystalline phases after firing. Engobes are used on tiles to: • improve the surface finish by acting as an interface between body and glaze; • mask the colour of the underlying body; hence allowing the use of raw materials selected for properties other than fired colour; • eliminate reactions and associated defects caused by the direct contact between glaze and body; • act as an impervious layer to stop the passage of water.

Fig1. Photomicrograph of cross section of a wall tile showing layers of glaze, engobe & body

The requirements of a tile engobe are: • plasticity: this enables the engobe to cover and to adhere to the body surface; • drying time: to be suitable for the next application on the glazing line; • fusibility: to close open porosity and create an impervious layer to prevent water from penetrating from behind onto the glaze surface which would otherwise cause watermarks; • opacity: to mask body defects and body colour; • whiteness: to enhance the visual appearance and better present any decoration; • flatness & smoothness: to improve the glaze aspect; • reduction of faults: such as pinholes on the glaze surface, by regulating the gases evolved from single-firing bodies.

2). Invariably opaque and commonly white, typical thickness after firing is ≈0.5 mm in; from an applied thickness of ≈0.7 to 0.8 mm.

Glazes are used on sanitaryware to: • provide decoration; • mask the colour of the underlying body; • minimise the adherence of dirt and be an easy clean surface; • enhance the impermeability of the ware to the passage of water; • increase the mechanical strength.

Fig 2. Photomicrograph of cross section of a sanitaryware article showing layers of glaze & body

Among the requirements of a sanitaryware glaze: • aesthetics: attractive appearance & colour; • surface: smooth and non-absorbent surface. The surface aspect to be glossy, matt, satin as per the design; • lack of flaws: freedom from flaws such as specks, pinholes & crawls; • resistance: to abrasion & cleaning agents; • appropriate thermal expansion: to be compatible with body to ensure no crazing; • anti-bacterial: some specialised glazes have been developed to have anti-bacterial properties.

Opacifiers are materials added to otherwise transparent or translucent systems to reduce the transmission of light. In whiteware ceramics such can be used in glazes and engobes to minimise the impact of the colour of the underlying body, and as such allows the use raw materials to be selected for properties other than high fired whiteness, such as plasticity, rheology and cost.

Light incident onto a surface, such as a glaze or engobe, will be absorbed, reflected or transmitted, or a combination of all three.

See Graph 1.

Transparent Complete transmission of incident light

Translucenct Partial transmission of incident lightt

Opaque No transmission of incident light

Note : Simplified for illustration purposes. For example not shown, and is likely, are all types light interaction (to greater or lesser extent) at all interfaces.

Graph 1. Types of light interaction with a surface

A sanitaryware glaze is a vitreous coating, along with other glazes, that can be considered a specialised form of glass (Fig

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Although within a continuum, the extent of transmission of light

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Scattering and reflection of incident light occurs when there is a change in refractive index (RI) between two phases or mediums, with the extent proportional to the difference in respective RI. Within a glaze such an effect is imparted by the presence of suitable small, discrete phases imbedded within the glass. These phases could be either solid particles or gas bubbles. With all other parameters being equal, the greater the difference in RI between these phases, the greater the opacifying effect. To ensure no change in perceived colour requires the incident light not to experience preferential interaction according to wavelength (Graph 2).

Formula

RI

Air

-

1.00

Glaze (transparent)

1.50 - 1.60

Corundum

Al2O3

1.77

Zircon (zirconium silicate)

ZrSiO4

1.96

Tin (IV) oxide

SnO2

2.04

Zinc oxide Zirconium oxide (zirconia)

ZnO ZrO2

2.35

Titanium dioxide (anatase)

TiO2

2.52

Titanium dioxide (rutile)

TiO2

2.76

2.10

Table 1. RI for a range of raw materials commonly used or found in glazes & engobes

non-ceramic applications, such as paints and plastics. In ceramics the opacifying effect of the oxide in kaolins is well-recognised for the production of porcelain. However, just as with porcelain, its use in glazes and engobes is associated with discolouration, such as a yellow tone, due to its reactions with other metal oxides especially iron.

4

80

3 75

2

% Transmittance

The perceived colour of light transmitted through systems such as above is equal to the difference in combined wavelengths of the incident light, less the wavelengths of the absorbed and reflected light. Therefore, if the incident light comprises all visible wavelengths, and none are preferentially absorbed or reflected, then the eye will perceive white. Any preferential absorption or reflection of wavelengths of light will lead to colours being perceived.

Name

% Brightness

through a solid can be considered to range from: • transparent: complete transmission of incident light; • translucency: partial transmission of incident light. For bone china bodies, the transmission of 15% of incident light has been considered as giving an aesthetically pleasing appearance; • opaque: no transmission of incident light between adjacent mediums and phases.

70

Transparent glaze

1

Opacified glaze = opacifiying phase

65

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

0

% TiO2 in kaolin

Graph 2. Light interaction with a transparent and opacified glaze

The extent of the opacity effect (Table 1) in any given glaze or engobe is dependent on: • concentration of the opacifying phase (generally, greater increases the opacifying effect). Each system will have an optimum concentration as, for example, with increasing concentration the opacifying phase can become the medium itself; • size of the opacifying phase: smaller increases the opacifying effect; • difference in RI opacifying phase and surrounding glass:greater increases the opacifying effect; • thickness of the glaze & engobe thickness: greater increases the opacifying effect; • other factors, including shape of the opacifying phase and the surface roughness between adjacent mediums and phases.

Materials used to impart an opacifying effect include titanium, tin oxide & bubbles (Graph 3).

• Titanium dioxide or titania, TiO2, is a common opacifier in

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Graph 3. Effect of TiO2, reported as % of the kaolin, on the optical properties of a porcelain body

• Tin (IV) oxide, SnO2, has a long history of use in ceramics, with historically notable examples including Medieval Islamic pottery, Delftware, Iznik ware and Renaissance & Victorian majolica. All of these utilised the opacifying effect of the oxide to produce opaque glazes and engobes to mask the dark fired colour of the underlying earthenware body; this sometimes as attempts to mimic the appearance of Chinese porcelain or to form a neutral background for richly coloured decoration. Although never out of use since development supply difficulties during World War I led to the use of alternatives, and modern use is largely limited to specialised application and studio potters.

• Bubbles or pores: their presence also has some opacifying effect. They can be formed by gases evolved during the decomposition of raw materials which are then trapped within the microstructure of the glaze or engobe. Whilst having the advantage of zero cost they are difficult to control in respect of size and distribution, and they also can be the cause of faults such as blisters, pin-holes and orange peel.

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• Crystals: produced by the partial devitrification of glazes. This process can be difficult to control, although the unpredictability is valued in the specialised technique of macrocrystalline glazes.

The most common opacifying raw material for glazes and engobes is zircon. Two other materials which can also be used to enhance optical properties are calcined alumina and zinc oxides (Table 2): • zircon, or more fully zirconium silicate. Whilst the most Chemical formula

Other names

SG

Melting point oC

Commercial grades

Alumina

Calcined alumina, aluminium Al2O3 oxide, α-Al2O3

3.95

2 072

> 99% Al2O3

Zircon

Zirconium (IV) silicate

ZrO2SiO2

4.56

2 550

> 95% ZrO2SiO2

Zinc oxide

-

ZnO

5.65

1 975

> 99% ZnO

Table 2. Selected properties OD calcined alumina, zircon & zinc oxide

common opacifier for both glazes and engobes, it can also be used to enhance other properties including whiteness. Zirconium silicate is refractory, hard, dense and chemically stable. It has a high refractive index. Key sources are processed mineral sands especially from beach deposits. Annual production is reported to be around 1 million tonnes, of which around 50% is used in various ceramic applications. Traditionally the price of zircon has been highly volatile, although never low. (Fig 3).

Fig 3.

Electronmicrograph of zircon particles

• zinc oxide is the main source of zinc in glaze and engobes.

Whilst zinc is not classed as an opacifier, its use can enhance both the opacity and whiteness of opaque glazes. Its use at low temperatures also has an auxiliary fluxing effect, and can modify the molten flow of the glaze and its thermal expansion.

However, its use has been linked to difficulties with some colouring pigments, especially those containing chromium and iron (Fig 4).

Fig 4. Electronmicrograph of zinc oxides particles

• calcined alumina in glaze and engobes is primarily used as a whitening agent. However, as a source of Al2O3 it can influence the viscosity of the molten glaze, along with final properties such as the coefficient of thermal expansion, chemical durability and mechanical strength. The main source is bauxite processed via the Bayer process (Fig 5).

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Fig 5. Electronmicrograph of calcined alumina particles

Concept: sanitaryware glazes and tile engobes are commonly formulated with some content of calcined alumina, zinc oxide & zircon. These three materials are used to impart particular properties, such as enhancing the fired optical properties.

However, these are amongst the most expensive raw materials used in whiteware ceramics. Imerys Ceramics has a group of ‘added value’ products which can allow manufacturers to reduce the content of alumina, zinc oxide and zircon, and consequently the overall cost whilst maintaining the required final properties.

Case studies: tables 3 and 4 show the range of generalised formulations being of glazes and engobes used across a number of manufacturers of sanitaryware and tiles, wall, floor and vitrified tiles, with whom Imerys Ceramics has undertaken developments.

As can be seen: • zircon: frequently used, and up to 8% in tile engobes & 14% in sanitaryware glazes; • calcined alumina: not used in wall tile engobes, but up to 8% in engobes for floor and glazed vitrified tiles. Low to zero use in sanitaryware glazes; • zinc oxide: not used in tile engobes, but up to 2.5% in sanitaryware glazes.

Wall

Floor

Glazed vitrified tiles 10 - 15

Ball clay

%

0-5

10 - 15

Kaolin

%

15 - 20

15 - 20

15 - 20

K'spar

%

10 - 20

20 - 25

35 - 40

Quartz

%

10 - 20

10 - 20

8 - 10

Frit: HT & LT

%

30 - 40

-

-

Frit: opaque

%

-

15 - 20

5 - 10

Zirconium

%

3-5

3-8

5-8

Calcined alumina

%

-

5-8

5-8

Table 3. Range of generalised tile engobe formulations

Feldspar

%

25.0

Quartz

%

22.5

Calcium carbonate

%

5.0

Kaolin

%

5.0

Dolomite

%

0

Wollastonite

%

0

Talc

%

0

Barium carbonate

%

0

Alumina

%

0

Zircon

%

10.0

Zinc oxide

%

1.0

-

36.0 28.5 15.0 12.0 8.0 10.0 2.0 3.5 1.0 14.0 2.5

Table 4. Range of generalised sanitaryware glaze formulations

Following detailed studies of the individual formulations and raw materials, Imerys Ceramics reformulated the engobes and glazes to

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TrouBLEshooTing

TrAinings

introduce a selection of its products whilst reducing the content of calcined alumina, zinc oxide and zircon. This did not include the direct substitution of raw materials. As can be seen in the table 5 and 6, this resulted in: • reduced cost of the total formulation; • similar or superior final properties.

Std.

Mod.

Std.

Floor tile Frit, kaolin, ball clay, bentonite, feldspar, quartz, calcite

Mod.

Std.

Floor tile

Mod.

Std.

Floor tile

Mod.

Wall tile

%

81.6

72.0

84.2

78.1

81.6

77.0

96.0

87.1

Alumina

%

8.7

8.0

6.9

7.0

8.7

6.0

-

-

Zircon

%

8.7

7.0

8.9

6.0

8.7

6.0

4.0

2.0

Zinc oxide

%

1.0

1.0

-

-

1.0

1.0

-

-

CertiWhite & PowerPlast range

%

-

12.0

-

9.0

-

10.0

-

10.9

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Total

WABS Colour

%

Vit.

Vit.

Vit.

Vit.

Vit.

Vit.

Vit.

Vit.

L*

90.1

92.3

87.0

87.0

90.0

89.9

88.5

88.6

a*

0.08

0.08

0.07

0.12

0.06

0.18

0.3

0.27

4.75

4.62

3.67

3.56

-

15.1

-

9.1

Summary b* 4.91 4.6 2.07 1.85 The use of selected products from Imerys Cost saving % 0.5 10.7 Ceramics has allowed the reduction in content of the expensive raw materials of calcined alumina, zinc oxide & zircon in sanitaryware glazes and tile engobes. In highlighted case studies this resulted in: www.imerys-ceramics.com/technical-support • a 19% reduction in the cost of a sanitaryware glaze, whilst also giving an improved aesthetic Kaolin, feldspar, aspect due to a reduction in pinholes ; quartz, calcite, talc, % • up to 15.1% reduction in the cost of a tile barium carbonate engobe, with either equal or superior whiteness.

News

riching our TEch supporT sErvicEs For Your DAiLY chALLEngEs

A range of added value products from Imerys Ceramics have a range of properties suitable for use in different systems and under different conditions, and include: • for tile engobes: CertiWhite Force, CertiWhite Magic, CertiWhite Plus, PowerPlast ND99, PowerPlast ND71, PowerPlast ND55; • for sanitaryware glazes: KaoShine RC70.

However, as calcined alumina, zinc oxide & zircon contribute to important properties of the final compositions of the glazes and engobes, the simple reduction in content can have negative impacts.

Consequently, the maximum value is not reached by direct substitution of the existing raw materials.

Imerys Ceramics has worked with manufacturers to achieve the optimum balance of cost saving and required performance, based on the understanding of the individual raw materials and formulations.

TEsTing cApABiLiTiEs

Table 5. Four tile engobe formulations

Table 6. Sanitaryware glaze formulation

Std.

Mod.

83.5

76.0

Zircon

%

14.0

10.5

Zinc oxide

%

2.5

1.5

KaoShine RC70

%

-

12.0

100.0

100.0

L*

94.1

94.7

a*

-0.21

-0.16

b*

1.29

1.15

Whiteness

-

85.5

86.9

Gloss

-

117

118

Total

Colour

Pinholes

XX

X

Black spots

X

X

TEchnicAL Total flaws 3x 2x % CostDocuMEnTATion saving 19.9 Flaws (fewer X = better)

Pergamon Press. 1986.

• Ceramic Glazes. Maynard D.C. Borax Holdings. 1980.

References • Electronmicrographs & photomicrographs courtesy of Martin Taylor, Imerys Minerals UK. • Plastic Ball Clays For Engobes And Smaltobbio. Bourgy L; Poilly C. Asian Ceramics. 16-9, 2016.

• Ceramics Glaze Technology. Taylor J.R.: Bull A.C..

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AC 18-9

asian ceramics

21

News Anaylsis

News

22

asian ceramics

Sri Lankan industry calls for support

T

he Sri Lanka Ceramics and Glass Council believes expansion is possible through product diversification and technology transfer to substantially raise export revenue and regain lost ground in international and domestic markets, if provided with Government support.

Listing a number of requests at their 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Sri Lanka Ceramics and Glass Council last Friday called for Government intervention to strengthen and support the industry to move forward.

“In spite of the numerous challenges faced by the ceramics and glass industry, we have been investing in capacity-building and innovation to counter the threats of competition and the high cost of manufacturing, reducing dependency on domestic markets. The Sri Lankan ceramics and glass industry is still working hard to not only survive but is also striving to regain lost ground in international and domestic markets,” Sri Lanka Ceramics and Glass Council President Sanjay Tiwari said while addressing the AGM. He highlighted that the council was working on many ongoing initiatives with all relevant authorities to help the industry, where major initiatives, including advising and lobbying relevant authorities for the introduction of SLS certification for clay roof tiles for all Government construction and housing projects as well as to reinstate the CESS removed on sanitary ware in 2017.

In addition, he said they were requesting that furnace oil be brought in line with crude prices, noting that around 40% of the production cost consisted of high energy prices.

“The council continued to lobby the Government to consider reducing the price of furnace oil which is used extensively in the ceramics and glass industry. Although the Government had reduced the price of furnace oil from Rs. 90 to Rs. 80 per litre in January 2015, it was later raised to Rs. 92 per litre. It was strongly felt that world market prices were not reflected in finalising the current fuel prices.”

Tiwari emphasised that the council had however recommended

AC 18-9

introducing global criteria of fixing the fuel prices based on a formula that is linked to world crude oil prices to bring in more transparency and to have a level playing field for the industry.

“We request the intervention of the Export Development Board (EDB) and all relevant ministries to influence this matter to support the industry,” he added.

He said they were also recommending the removal of PAL from the import of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) allocated mainly for exporters. The industry believes that this will help the two suppliers to offer reduced prices to the ceramics and glass industry.

In terms of the anti-dumping legislation, Tiwari stressed that the regulation had not been able to bear fruit.

“The cheap import of tiles, sanitary ware, glass and tableware from China, India, Indonesia and other Asian suppliers still remains a significant threat to the local industry.

Although the council continues to lobby to have anti-dumping legislation enacted, these efforts have so far failed to bear fruit.”

He said the requirement of floor and roof tiles had gone up tremendously in the recent past with the current focus on infrastructure and investments in real estate. However, in the current context of the total requirement of floor and roof tiles, almost 60% of volume was serviced through imports.

“Due to current restrictions and limitations on clay and silica mining, the industry is too restrained to invest in capacity expansion. This has resulted in cheap material getting dumped in the country. We have been informed that the anti-dumping regulations are ready but awaiting parliamentary approval. The current request to bring in anti-dumping regulations will help consumers get quality products at an affordable price,” he stated.

The council also called for EDB intervention towards improving the ceramics and glass industry by increasing the number of international trade fairs where the local industrialists will have the opportunity to participate and also encourage local entrepreneurs to have their products

displayed at these exhibitions.

Furthermore, they requested assistance for a technology upgrade as well as to promote overseas visits for council members to learn about the latest global technology in the sector.

“We call to provide grants, concessions, subsidies and tax relief to council members to purchase the latest machinery to carry out their Research and Development (R&D) and boost exports.”

Tiwari insisted that the EDB influence the process of obtaining a transparent formula pricing mechanism for all kinds of energy sources from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Litro Gas and Laugfs Gas aligned with global crude oil prices.

The industry also requested to increase import taxes on finished ceramic products, particularly imposing CESS or restrictions on the dumping of low-grade ceramic and glass products in the country Simplifying the existing system to obtain local mining raw material and solving issues with clay, mining and transport were among some of the related challenges that the industry called on the Government to help overcome.

“Re-enforce the ban on asbestos sheets or increase the taxes on imported asbestos fibre and cement, which is used in sheet production.

This will help safeguard the red clay industry, which has already invested heavily in technology and capacity enhancement,” Tiwari pointed out.

Some of the key priorities outlined for next year were increasing the number of red clay roof tiles SLS certification to 50 factories, exploring the possibility of introducing coal power (coal gasification), maximising solar power usage, utilising huge deposits of red clay and sand available in the Yan Oya area in the ceramic and red clay industry.

“During the year under review, our council has been working with all relevant Government authorities to find resolutions to these problems.

We are confident that the authorities will heed our concerns and continue to help build a strong industry that can generate substantial revenue from exports,” Tiwari declared.

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Analysis: Heavy clay

Southern Asian facing up to the material challenge These are indeed interesting times for the brick industries of Southern Asia, but whilst demand undoubtedly remains high – and is increasing – pollution issues, energy consumption and the availability of suitable raw materials remain key problems to address. AC digs through the dirt…

T

he growth in South Asian economies (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal) and population, coupled with urbanization, has resulted in an increasing demand for residential, commercial, industrial, and public buildings as well as other physical infrastructure, resulting in a steady increase in the demand of bricks. Building construction in these countries is estimated to grow at a rate of more than 7.6 % per year between 2018 and 2025. The building stock is expected to multiply five times during this period, resulting in a very large increased demand for building materials, including the most used building material clay bricks.

On individual country basis, solid fired clay bricks are among the most widely used building materials in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. Collectively, these four countries account for 17 % of the global bricks output. Following China, India is the second largest manufacturer of bricks across the globe. No wonder, this very building material holds so much of importance in the Indian architecture. India alone produces over 11 percent of the bricks which are globally produced and has about 1,40,000 brick-making enterprises, who account for about 240 billion bricks per year. India’s brick sector is characterized by traditional firing technologies; reliance on manual labour and low mechanization rate; dominance of smallscale brick kilns; dominance of single raw material (clay) and product (solid clay brick).

Challenges ahead

Availability of clay, especially quality clay for the production of quality heavy clay products has been a major challenge for heavy clay producers in the South Asian region for quite long. Though, clay is one of the most abundant natural mineral materials on earth.

For brick manufacturing, clay must possess some specific properties and characteristics. Such clays must have plasticity, which permits them to be shaped or molded when mixed with water; they must have

24

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AC 18-9

sufficient wet and air-dried strength to maintain their shape after forming. Also, when subjected to appropriate temperatures, the clay particles must fuse together.

It is not unusual to see many of the heavy clay producers in these countries shifting their production units every few years by a few kilometres in order to be in the proximity of clay source. This shifting of production facilities incur huge cost burden on heavy clay producers in these countries.

The indiscriminate usage of top soil in brick making remains a serious issue in South Asian countries. For example, in India, approximately 2.2 billion cubic metre of clay/silt is utilized every year for brick making i.e. top soil of 2200 sq. km of surface land is scooped out up to a depth of 1 metre every year, leaving it infertile for future use.

Given the huge population of the country and depleting agricultural yield, it would be almost impossible to source clay from agricultural fields in coming years. Though, brick producers are aware about the difficulties in coming days in sourcing the clay, but unfortunately, a lot of them have still not invested in the modern technologies, which can reduce the usage of clay significantly.

Alternate materials

Fly ash brick technology has the potential to completely eliminate carbon emissions from India’s large brick-making industry which burns huge amounts of coal and emits millions of tons of carbon dioxide each year. Another significant benefit of the new technology is that unlike clay bricks, which use valuable topsoil as raw material, the new method uses fly ash, an unwanted residue from coal-fired power plants. This fly ash is presently dumped on acres of land, damaging both the environment and the health of populations around power plants.

The use of fly ash is particularly important as, with India’s plans to use coal to expand power production, the generation of fly ash is set to increase while the availability of topsoil is bound to decrease.

A further advantage is that fly ash bricks can be produced in a variety of

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Analysis: Heavy clay

heavy clay strengths and sizes. This means Country Number of brick plants Number of bricks produced Volume of clay used by that apart from their conventional brick industry use in building walls etc. fly India 140,000 240 billion 2.2 billion cubic meters ash bricks can also be used for the construction of a variety of Pakistan 42,000 65- 68 billion 580 million cubic meters infrastructure projects such as Bangladesh 7,000 28-31 billion 220 million cubic meters roads and pavements, dams 1,700 14 billion 105 million cubic meters and bridges.

Nepal Given the numerous benefits of the new fly ash brick technology, health issues. But builders the inventors are providing the technology without invoking the patent. and developers need to The government of India has also issued a number of notifications understand that even fly-ash encouraging its use. In addition, a World Bank project is helping to bricks are eco-friendly and promote the new method by enabling entrepreneurs to earn carbon will benefit them by saving credit revenues to offset some of their initial costs time and cost. More or less However, despite the number of advantages and initiatives taken is the case with pavers which by various agencies, these eco-friendly fly ash bricks are yet to gain are universally accepted popularity among builders and contractors in the country. This despite due to their easy installation, a 2009 notification by the ministry of environment and forests stating zero water clogging, and that only fly ash products must be used within 50 km radius of thermal the ability to be relocated power plants. or shifted. A proper and Commenting on the trend, P Venkateswara Rao, general systematic usage will help secretary, Federation of Andhra Pradesh Fly Ash Brick Manufacturers the developer as well as Associations, says, "Even the state government issued a GO stating the buyer in terms of cost, that all builders - be they private or government - should use fly ash time, maintenance, and bricks for construction. But, even many of the state government appearance of the project." departments are not following the rule.”

On account of coal Vinay Kapoor, managing partner of Ambala based, Navyug based power generation, there is ample availability of fly ash in Industries, which makes fly as bricks, says, "The cost of fly ash bricks the South Asia region. For example, Coal-Based power plants is lower than clay bricks. While each fly ash brick costs around INR consumed ~640 million tonnes of coal by the year end of 2017, 3.50-4.00, a clay brick of the same size costs around INR 5-5.50 which are around three fourths of the total coal used in the country. per brick. By using fly ash bricks, builders can bring down their Fly ash generation, which was 188 million tonnes in 2017 and with construction costs to a large extent. If we don't use the fly ash the present momentum of the capacity addition the numbers, is generated from various industries, it will only become a burden to the expected to increase to ~225 MT by 2020. environment. Continuously utilizing clay bricks will lead to loss of fertile Rules and regs soil, which will invariably affect the food security of the country."

Different countries in the South Asia region has enacted legislations Elaborating on the reasons for the low usage of fly ash brick in to curtail the use of top soil by bricks producers in their respective the construction sector, realtor Mahesh Sharma of Noida based, countries. These legislations and restrictions have made the availability Ashiana Homes told AC, “Most of the builders are aware of fly ash of clay a great cause of concern for heavy clay product producers in bricks, but there is a common misconception among buyers that many regions. conventional clay bricks are better. When we use fly ash bricks, For example, In India, the Ministry of Environment and Forests buyers feel builders are compromising on quality though fly ash of India/State Pollution Control Board in 1999 enacted a regulation bricks are sturdier than clay bricks. Fly ash bricks are more cost that all brick-manufacturing units within a radius of 50 km from any effective due to lesser breakages than clay bricks as well as higher thermal power plant should utilize fly ash, pond ash or bottom ash savings due to lower consumption of cement as lesser mortar joints in optimal proportion for making bricks. The provision is expected to involving cement are used.” protect topsoil and also assist in safe disposal/utilization of fly ash.

Vinay Gupta, Sales Manager with Rana Infra Projects Limited, a The State Pollution Control Board in 2003 has made a regulation for fly ash brick producer in Gurugram says, “Basically there is a lack manufacturers of clay bricks or tiles or blocks for use in construction of awareness in this area. Certain people including developers and activities within a radius of 100 km from coal or lignite based thermal engineers believes that ash is a waste material which can create

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AC 18-9

asian ceramics

25

Analysis: Heavy clay

power plants, to use at least 25% w/w of ash (fly ash, bottom ash or pond ash). In 2008, government even made mandatory provision that all construction agencies within 100km distance from coal or lignite based thermal power plant must only use fly ash based products for construction.

In September 2018, government of one of the states of India (Bihar ) expressed its intention to completely ban traditional clay brick kilns in the state. According to a statement released by the state’s Mines & Geology minister, Vinod Kumar Singh, “Appropriate measures are being taken to ban production of clat bricks by traditional methods.

Production of bricks in such a manner is not only hazardous for public health but also responsible for envoirnmental degradation. These production units would be replaced by the units making bricks using fly ash. Notices has been served to all clay bricks producers to stop production with immediate effect.”

Similarly, The Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kiln Setting Up (control) Law of Bangladesh has imposed a restriction to collect and use soil from agricultural land, hills or hillock as raw material for brick making and enforced that hollow bricks (with at least 50% empty/void) should be produced in modern brick kilns to reduce the use of clay resources as raw materials for brick production. According to the provisions of the law, brick manufacturers can only collect or use clay from dead pond, canal, swamp land, creek, river bed and fallow land with the approval of appropriate authorities.

“The irony is that the law prohibits the use of soil but does not specify which other sources to use. But the brick industry is heavily dependent on soil as the main raw material,” according to Mizanur Rahman, President of Bangladesh Brick Making Owners’ Association.

Unfortunately, the law has not defined the appropriate authorities and not prescribed the procedure. As a result, a number of the 7,000 brick producers in the country are still using top agricultural soil to produce the bricks in the country. Environment Courts are empowered to take any cognizance of any offence punishable under this act. However, only three Environment Courts in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong have been established and functioning.

On the contrary, statistics provided by the Bangladesh’s Department of Environment (DoE), which operates under the Ministry of Environment and Forests presents a different picture. According to DoE, 99% brick kilns in Comilla have adopted low-emission technologies. Meanwhile, 30% brick kilns in Chittagong, 68% in Chandpur, 93% in Feni, 91% in Brahmanbaria, 92% in Noakhali, 68% in Lakshmipur and 28% in Cox’s Bazar have already adopted a modern eco-friendly technology.

According to Md Bodrul Huda, assistant director (technical) of DoE in Chittagong,” The main reason why many kiln owners are still reluctant to convert their kilns into environment-friendly ones is mainly due to financial crisis, a lack of knowledge about the modern technologies and a lack of awareness about the environment.

However, the DoE is working to encourage them to adopt the environment-friendly technologies. We are taking tough measures against the errant brick kiln owners. Anyone running an illegal system will face a maximum one-year jail term or a Tk 100,000 fine or both, while all equipment will be confiscated.”

According to Khondoker Neaz Rahman, a former project manager of the UNDP Green Brick Project in Bangladesh, “Currently, there are around 7,000 active brick kilns in the country and apparently, not many of these have stopped using agricultural topsoil or adopted any of the clean technologies or shifted from residential or agricultural areas. This clearly indicates that there is very little implementation of the law. The alternative materials are relatively friendlier for the environment. The government should immediately amend the law to incorporate and

26

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AC 18-9

A LACK OF ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS PERSISTS AND LEADS TO A RELUCTANCE TO UPGRADE KILNS Closures always looming…

Of the 4,000-odd brick kilns operating in national capital regions of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, less than one fourth have shifted on to the cleaner zig-zag technology to curb pollution levels.

“Only around 722 brick kilns have adopted the zig-zag technology to bring down their emission levels. Under the Graded Response Action Plan, notified by the Union environment ministry, only brick kilns that have adopted the zig-zag technology have been allowed to operate after June 30,” said a member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority.

Zig-zag technology slows down emission of smokes through the chimneys at brick kilns, allowing particulates to settle and leading to a reduction in pollution. Brick kilns fumes are potential sources of PM2.5. “Those that have not adopted the cleaner technology had to close down after June 30. EPCA would take a call on when the brick kilns can resume operations,” said Sunita Narain, member of EPCA. A section of brick kiln owners urged EPCA to not resort to sudden closures as it would lead to heavy losses. “The investment required for switchig over to zig-zag is at least Rs 10 lakh. And we are doing it on our own. So the government should not have forced us to shut shop” said one of the brick kiln owners.

Brick Wall Type

Density of material (Kg/ cubic meter)

Normal Fired clay bricks

1700- 1750

Perforated bricks

1400- 1500

Fly ash bricks

1850- 1900

Hollow concrete blocks

1350- 1400

Resource efficient bricks

694- 783

create demand for the alternative building materials in order to reduce the impacts of conventional brick-making.”

Stakeholder’s viewpoint

Sandeep Dave, Director Marketing - Neptune Industries Limited, a technology supplier to sanitary ware and heavy clay industry says, “The demand for fly-ash is constantly on the rise as people have realised that sustainable construction and environment-friendliness are the needs of the hour. Since fly-ash bricks are green products, they are perfect substitutes to clay bricks, which are expensive as well. Nowadays, with the advent of technology, converting fly-ash into products such as bricks and hollow core slabs is as easy as you like. All these factors put together have given a rise to the demand and resulted in a mature market. Another important factor is the price.

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Analysis: Heavy clay

There are several places where there's no fly-ash but still demand exists and vice-versa. Moreover, the need for qualitative construction is also contributing wholesomely in the growth of the market."

Nilesh Bhatt, Director, Sahjanand Fly-Ash Brick Plant Pvt Ltd, says, "Nowadays 'Green Building Concepts' are very popular in our country; architects and builders are especially concentrating on environment-friendly building materials, as a result of which, there is a huge demand of fly-ash bricks across the country.

He further says, “Crucially, the success of any construction material is directly attributable to the willingness of builders and developers to adopt the same. Fly-ash bricks are undoubtedly a wonder product but it took some time before the construction fraternity embraced them. But now, trends are changing at a decent pace and renowned developers are taking the lead in this direction. India's leading builders and developers such as L&T, Godrej, JMC, Nagarjuna, Magarpatta, and Diamond Group are using fly-ash bricks in huge quantity for their projects."

Wienerberger India, a subsidiary of Austrian heavy clay giant, Wienerberger started production of heavy clay products in the country in 2009 at the state-of-the-art production facility in Kunigal, in the state of Karnataka. The facility is highly automated, engaging robots for material handling and adopts efficient use of locally available raw materials and energy to produce green & sustainable bricks for the Indian Market. With a capacity of over 150 million brick units per annum, it is one of the biggest units of its kind in Asia. The production is environmentally friendly, and runs 365 days a year irrespective of weather conditions.

According to Monnanda Appaiah, Managing Director, Wienerberger India, “ Our endeavour was from the very beginning was to use an extremely resource efficient processes while delivering a product of superior quality. We developed our flagship brand - Porotherm Smart Bricks whose design allows maximum benefits with almost 60 per cent less resource usage. The raw materials that goes into the blend are sourced from clay tanks & locally available, recycled materials like rice husk, granite slurry, coal ash etc., with minimum impact to the environment making this a GREEN product, rated by the two foremost green building authorities in India, IGBC and GRIHA.”

The role of technology

Technology has played a key role in the production of resource efficient bricks and blocks. Production of fly ash bricks has also become possible due to availability of appropriate technology. In coming years, widespread usage of state of the art technology and adaptation to new technology will lead to the production of resource efficient and alternate material bricks.

Manoj Kumar Pillai, Managing Director – Forest Press Machineries Limited says, "There is a considerable market for fly ash bricks in India primarily because of the fact that fly-ash is the cheapest construction material and is available in enormous quantities in the country on account of 200 thermal power plants. In a market like India there is space for everything, whether it's a product or machinery. But the word sustainability means a lot for different divisions of the society. Definitely the quality and price play a vital role. To sustain, we need to offer best quality products with affordable prices and to achieve the quality we need good technology."

Leading heavy clay technology producer from Spain, Verdes started fabricating extruders in India in early 2013 at their branch in Hosur in South India, Verdes Clay & Minerals Equipment Pvt Ltd.

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During last few years, the company has supplied a number of equipments to Indian brick makers, who have improved and modernized their brick plants. During 2016 and 2017 the number of the company’s customers has trebled, as compared to the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. The company’s customers are spread between Gujarat and Haryana in the north and Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south.

Verdes has had to adapt to the local needs by manufacturing a wide range of small machines.

Indian branch of the company offers different models of extruders, grinding, mixing and dosing machines. These equipment’s are used to manufacture a variety of extruded products and standard-sized perforated bricks. Company’s customers in South India have acquired state of the art technology to produce floor tiles, hollow blocks and ceiling blocks.

Government aid?

Government and concerned agencies need to promote production and application of hollow and perforated bricks on a gradual basis by creating enabling environment in their respective countries. This could be done by developing standards for hollow and perforated bricks, making preferential provisions in public procurement policies to use hollow/perforated bricks in public buildings, creating demand for hollow and perforated bricks through awareness and promotion among the consumers. Agencies should support access to finance to buy machineries for brick entrepreneurs willing to produce hollow/perforated bricks. Provide necessary trainings to brick entrepreneurs as well as masons for production and application of hollow/perforated brick.

Pakistan drives for Zig-Zag take-up

Use of Zig-Zag technology in construction and operations of kilns can minimise the effects of burning coal on environment and reduce the fuel consumption up to 30 per cent.

This was stated by Sewa Lamsal, Ambassador of Nepal in Pakistan during the inaugural ceremony of three-day training workshop on “Construction and Understanding Operations of Zig-Zag Bricks Kilns” organised by Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) in collaboration with Ministry of Climate Change, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA).

She asked the kiln owners in Pakistan to adopt this new technology without any fear or hesitation as it gives better quality bricks and reduces coal consumption.

Engineer Khadim Hussain Bhatti, Secretary PEC welcomed the participants and highlighted the recent achievements of PEC at international and national level.

He was of the view that the introduction of environment friendly and energy efficient brick kilns is an effort in the right direction.

The traditional design of brick kilns is not only energy intensive but also put various health hazards and environmental issues, he added.

With the help of modified design, up to 30 per cent reduction in fuel would save millions of dollars spent on coal import beside reduction in carbon emission up to 85 per cent thus controlling environmental degradation, he added.

He further revealed that the production of high quality bricks could be improved up to 95 per cent which is currently less than 70 per cent.

PEC shall facilitate in creating awareness about this technology through trainings, linking indigenous Research and Development organisations and pursuing policy reforms in the sector to encourage and support the kiln owners as well as the society.

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应该是最优质的氧化铝陶瓷研磨球和衬砖

Room 319, No. 12A DongHai West Road, Shinan District, 266071 Qingdao Room 2123, 21 F, No.618 East Yan An Road, Huangpu District, 200001 Shanghai

Analysis: Vietnam

Sanitaryware in capacity rises to meet demand Jahir Ahmed discusses how the rapid growth in domestic sanitaryware production is making Vietnam a country to be reckoned with in the regional, and even global, marketplace.

V

ietnam’s premium sanitaryware products are on the rise with rapidly increasing purchasing power of the domestic consumers. This has led to further expansion of the Vietnamese sanitaryware sector to cater the consumers with premium products. With already a large production capacity of over 25 million pieces per year, Vietnam is now heading towards hitting a massive capacity of 27-28 million units a year by 2020, as expansion plans are going ahead more or less smoothly.

The biggest expansion is coming from formerly state-owned and at present stock market listed Viglacera Corporation that currently has four sanitaryware factories, including new one, the US$21 million Viglacera My Xuan Porcelain Factory, which came into stream this year. Viglacera is one of the top 5 sanitaryware manufacturers producing premium sanitarywares in Vietnam, the others include three subsidiaries of the Japanese owned global majors, Vietnam based Toto Vietnam Ltd, Inax Vietnam Ltd and American Standard Vietnam Ltd. The remaining one is the Taiwanese giant Caesar owned Vietnam Caesar Sanitary Wares Ltd. Most significant of the latest development is the rising trend of installing plant for premium segment of sanitarywares, mostly, porcelain and vitreous china, as demand for such durable quality sanitarywares are increasing steadily in both the domestic and export markets.

Inax Vietnam and American Standard Vietnam’s parent Lixil Group of Japan has been increasing the production capacity of the subsidiaries in Vietnam. Lixil has planned to increase investment in the southern Vietnam where the demand for its products are growing faster. Lixil’s Japan based Group Chairman Toshimasa Iue said the Group will expand its American Standard sanitaryware factory in Binh Duong province in the south, by doubling the production capacity to 800,000 pieces per year.

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Going high-tech

Viglacera My Xuan porcelain factory, the construction of which was started in mid-2016, is part of a large investment the Corporation is going to spend in high-tech new plant, expansion, upgrading and relocation of sanitaryware plants at a cost of about 2 trillion Vietnamese dong (approximately US$86 million) in next 2-3 years, according to the industry sources.

My Xuan factory is the first of the new generation high-tech projects for the Corporation and it is aimed at increasing production capacity, confirming its pioneering role in high technology providing environmentally friendly products and it is an important step in the development, expansion and creation, as well as, in launching a foothold in the southern market of Viglacera, which is expanding rapidly.

Although, Vietnam is a major exporter of sanitarywares in Asia, its import of sanitarywares is growing steadily to feed some of the diverse areas of consumptions that can be met by domestic products with new investment as suggested by the government which encourages investment on latest technologies that offer costefficient manufacturing, high-tech productivity and environment friendly operation.

Industry sources suggest that Viglacera and other domestic and foreign investors in sanitaryware manufacturing will naturally look for latest production technology that minimizes production cost in the present situation of rising wages and increasing cost of energy and raw materials, by abandoning old production systems.

Viglacera believes that My Xuan will enhance its ability to go ahead with automation, mechanization to reduce labor, and to ensure a green environment in production. In My Xuan factory, the whole production area is designed to be airy with glass shutters for natural light and well-ventilated ventilation systems arranged in elevated locations to create a favorable temperature and light environment,

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Analysis: Vietnam

n Vietnam friendly enough for the workers to work comfortably.

The emergence of 0.75 million pieces a year My Xuan porcelain sanitaryware factory with high quality products is expected to change Viglacera’s total production scenario as its total output capacity has now reached 2 million pieces a year, up 60 percent, and planned to double to 4 million by 2020, according to the research of the securities analyst Viet Capital Securities, based in Ho Chi Minh City.

“In our assessment, after the startup of the My Xuan factory, the increase in the proportion of premium products and smart devices will help Viglacera to grow the average selling price by over 50 percent, and cooperation with real estate developers will help consumption grow positively from 2018, while, as expected, the output will grow by 44 percent to largely enhance the sales revenue,” suggests the Hanoi based securities researchers and analyst VNDIRECT Securities Corporation.

Before coming into trial production in the middle of this year of Viglacera’s latest fourth sanitaryware manufacturing facility, Viglacera My Xuan porcelain factory, based in My Xuan A Industrial Zone in Tan Thanh of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, with the possible doubling of the production capacity in 2019-2020 to1.5 million, VNDIRECT Securities said sanitaryware demand is forecasted to grow by 12.9 percent during 2015–2020.

After start-up of commercial production of My Xuan factory, the largest of Viglachera’s four sanitaryware plants, Viglacera’a market share and Vietnam’s capacity and production situation forecast is going to change. Other foreign and local operators are also going into expansion in next two years to expand the growth of the domestic market demand.

However, by 2020, Viglacera expect to commission another new sanitaryware plant, Viglacera Tien Hai Factory, in Tien Hai of Thai Binh province in 2019, while its Viet Tri based Viglacera Viet Tri Sanitary Ware factory will be moved to Phu Ha Industrial Park, in the same province of Phú Thọ in 2019-2020 with expansion of production capacity to 1 million pieces per year from the current 400,000 units a year.

VNDIRECT reported last year that according to the development plan for building materials industry, sanitary ware demand is

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Viglacera Corporation Established in 1974.

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam.

Products: Ceramic sanitarywares, tiles and heavy clay products.

Annual production capacity: Four sanitaryware factories have a total annual production capacity of 2.05 million pieces of sanitarywares, including production capacity of 0.75 million pieces per year of the newly setup My Xuan porcelain sanitaryware factory.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Trademark/brand: Viglacera, known worldwide as a sanitaryware and tile brand.

Others: Viglacera sanitaryware manufacturing units are, Viglacera Thanh Tri Sanitary ware JS Co, Viglacera Viet Tri Sanitary Ware JS Co, and Viglacera Binh Duong Sanitary Ware JS Co.

Viglacera Thanh Tri Sanitary Joint Stock Co Location: Thanh Tri Ward, Hoang Mai Dist, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Product: Full range of quality ceramic sanitarywares.

Annual production capacity: Over 500,000 pieces of porcelain sanitarywares.

Brand: Viglacera.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: Viglacera Thanh Tri Sanitaryware Joint Stock Company is a unit of Viglacera Corporation. Its products compete with leading foreign company manufactured sanitarywares at the domestic markets. It has export markets in Asia and other continents.

AC 18-9

asian ceramics

31

Analysis: Vietnam THE INCREASE IN THE PROPORTION OF PREMIUM PRODUCTS AND SMART DEVICES WILL HELP GROW THE SELLING PRICE BY OVER 50%” Viglacera My Xuan Porcelain Factory

projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.9 percent during 2015-2020.

The supply will also increase by 8.9 percent in expanded factories of Viglacera, Inax and Toto. As a result, the supply and demand will be balanced against the current oversupply of about 2 million units, according to the report.

Under Viglacera’s production till middle of this year, there were 3 sanitaryware manufacturing factories with a total production capacity of an estimated 1.225-1.3 million units per year in Viglacera Thanh Tri Sanitary ware JS Co, based in Thanh Tri Ward of Hoang Mai District in Hanoi, Viglacera Viet Tri Sanitary Ware JS Co in Viet Tri of Phú Thọ province, and Viglacera Binh Duong Sanitary Ware JS Co, located in Tan Dong Hiep of Di An in Binh Duong province.

Toto, Inax, American Standard, Caesar and Viglacera are the five largest manufacturers in the premium sanitaryware segment. Toto entered the high-end segment, while Inax, American Standard, Caesare and Viglacera competed in the mid to higher middle-class segments. VNDIRECT reported last year that in 2016, Toto grabbed high-end segment with 4 percent of the total market shares. Inax focused on low-cost products and distribution system with 30 percent market shares, Caesar excelled in diversity product with 17 percent, and Viglacera concentrated on the middle segment with a 12 percent market share.

In 2016, more than 50 percent of the sanitarywares market was captured by three foreign manufacturers, Inax, Caesar and Toto with production capacity of 3 million, 1.7 million and 0.4 million pieces, respectively. Vietnam Building Ceramic Association (VIBCA) said in 2014-2015 the estimated production capacity and real production were 15.05 million pieces and 12.5 million pieces, respectively. VIBCA said the estimated production capacity and real production jumped to 25 million pieces and 17 million pieces, respectively, in 2016-2017.

Smart products

However, Viglacera brand sanitarywares are increasingly becoming more popular worldwide as well as in Vietnam due to marketing of innovative and smart products and are exported to many countries throughout the world. Viglacera’s extremely user-friendly and most automated ‘V-Smart’ smart toilet is well-reputed for its intelligent, easy-to-use and water saving features.

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Location: My Xuan A Industrial Zone, Tan Thanh, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vietnam Products: Porcelain snitarywares Annual production capacity: 750,000 pieces of porcelain sanitarywares.

Markets: Domestic and export markets Others: Viglacera My Xuan porcelain sanitaryware factory, located in the southern Vietnam province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, is owned by Viglacera Corporation. This newly setup 0.75 million pieces a year production capacity sanitaryware plant is equipped with latest machinery to produce premium quality porcelain sanitarywares for domestic and export markets. It is expected to double production capacity during 20192020, according to the Ho Chi Minh City based Viet Capital Securities researches.

Viglacera Viet Tri Sanitary Ware JSC Location: Viet Tri, Phú Thọ province (will move to Phu Ha IP, Phu Tho), Vietnam.

Product: Full range of quality ceramic sanitarywares.

Annual production capacity: 400,000 pieces (in 2019-2020 1 million pieces) of sanitarywares.

Brand: Viglacera.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: Viglacera Viet Tri sanitaryware plant will move to Phu Ha IP in the same Phu Tho province in 201-2020 and its production capacity will expand to 1 million pieces from the present 400,000 pieces during the period.

Viglacera Binh Duong Sanitary Ware JSC Location: Tan Dong Hiep, Di An, Binh Duong province, Vietnam.

Product: Full range of quality ceramic sanitarywares.

Annual production capacity: Some 400,000 pieces of sanitarywares.

Brand: Viglacera.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: The produced sanitarywares are exported worldwide.

Viglacera Tien Hai Factory Location: Tien Hai Industrial Park, Tien Hai district, Thai Binh province, Vietnam.

Product: Full range of quality ceramic sanitarywares.

Annual production capacity: 1 million pieces of sanitarywares.

Brand: Viglacera.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: The construction of the Viglacera Tien Hai sanitaryware unit of Viglacera Corporation will be completed during 2018-2019.

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Analysis: Vietnam

Building Materials Corporation No.1 (FICO) Location: Ho Chi Minh City (Factories of the subsidiaries are located in different places). Vietnam.

Products: Ceramic sanitary wares and other building materials.

Markets: Domestic and export markets. FICO products are exported to many countries, including, USA, France, Russia, Australia, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan.

Others: FICO is a state-owned company, belonging to the Ministry of Construction, and owner of many ceramic manufacturers, including, Thien Thanh Sanitarywares.

Thien Thanh Sanitaryware JS Company V-Smart is super water saving with automatic discharge and drying, has strong discharge using rinse vortex discharge technology, and it helps to clean all dirt with only 3.8 liters of water per discharge, while ordinary equipment takes 6 litres in one discharge, claims Viglacera. This smart product integrates many advanced modes, convenient for users such as washing mode for women, washing after adjusting tap-water temperature, water pressure, and night light, and this product incorporates various other features, including warm-air drying, automatic deodorization, air purification, spa massage, antibacterial and of enema treatment to help reduce the symptoms of constipation.

Another Vietnamese manufacturer Thien Thanh Sanitaryware JS Company says its sanitarywares are also of premium segment.

It combines diversified models, colors with aesthetics and convenience, especially, it is very easy to install, environmentally friendly, and ideal for any project. Its toilet systems are applied with antibacterial Nano-enamel technology, which helps to protect consumer's health and good for anti-stain.

Its specially designed bidets do not use power, clean the water nozzle before use, have easy to control water jet pressure and they are women-friendly. Based in Binh Chuan industrial zone, Thuan An district of Binh Duong province, adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, the Thien Thanh Sanitaryware Co has export markets worldwide.

While discussing the prospect of the sanitaryware industry of Vietnam, VIBCA noted the advantages existing in the country for the sanitaryware and tile sector development, saying that the economy of Vietnam, with high GDP growth of 7 percent, plusminus, continues to remain stable and there are some government policies that support real estate properties with positive impacts, which impulses the development of the ceramic sanitaryware and tile production.

“Vietnam is an active partner in some of the potential free trade agreements in the world, especially ongoing TPP, which creates favourable conditions to promote exports of Vietnam, including sanitaryware and other building ceramic products, and there is close cooperation between the ceramic industry association and the government bodies, such as, Customs, VCCI, market management, etc, in the prevention and fight against smuggling and trade fraud of building ceramic imports from China to protect the domestic production and also to the benefit of consumers,” noted VIBCA Secretary General Doctor Vu Quoc Hung.

Growing demand

Vietnam’s saniartyware industry is growing faster and most of the expansions is coming up from the porcelain and vitreous sanitaryware sectors due to increasing demand both at the domestic

34

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AC 18-9

Location: Binh Chuan industrial zone, Thuan An district, Binh Duong, Vietnam.

Annual production capacity: Over 700,000 pieces of ceramic sanitarywares.

Products: Ceramic toilet suites, washbasins, urinals, bidets, etc, Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: At Thien Thanh, sanitarwares are produced in a modern production line with technology and machinery imported from Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, and France.

Dong Tam Group Location: Produces at Thien Thanh Sanitaryware factory, Binh Duong, Vietnam Products: Ceramic sanitarywares.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others and Trademark/brand: Ceramic and porcelain tile and rooftile manufacturer Dong Tam markets Thien Thanh sanitarywres at domestic and export markets. Dong Tam is a leading and well-known trademark in Vietnamese ceramicwares since some half a century.

Hao Canh Sanitary Wares Co Ltd Location: Dong Co Commu, Tien Hai Ind. Park, Tien Hai, Thai Binh, Vietnam.

Products: Ceramic sanitarywares.

Annual Production capacity: Some 1.5 million pieces of snitarywares.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: Hao Canh Sanitary wares is one of the major producers of sanitarywares in Vietnam with four sanitaryware production plants.

Founded in 2001, it manufactures advanced ceramic sanitarywares, toilets, washbasins, urinals, etc, of international market standards.

JSC Ceravi Porcelain Factory Location: Tien Hai Industrial Park, Tien Hai, Thai Binh, Vietnam Products: Porcelain sanitarywares Annual production capacity: 1 million pieces of sanitarywares.

Markets: Domestic and export markets Others: Full range of porcelain sanitarywares, specially, of Italian designs.

INAX-Vietnam Sanitary Ware Co Ltd (VINAX) Status: Foreign investment Location: 7 factories, 4 in Hung Yen and 3 in Duong Xa, Vietnam Annual production capacity: 3 million pieces of sanitarywares.

Products: Water closets, lavado, wash basins, urinals, bathtub, etc.

Total investment: US$133 million.

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: INAX Vietnam is a leading manufacturer of ceramic sanitarwares in Vietnam.

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Fully Automatic Tableware Manufacturing System

Process

Variety of Models Takahama Industry Co.,Ltd. http://www.takahama-ind.co.jp

Analysis: Vietnam

Vietnam Caesar Sanitary Wares Joint Stock Co Ltd Status: Foreign investment. Sanitar Co Ltd of Taiwan is the parent company.

Location: Nhon Trach 1 Industrial Zone, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam.

Products: Ceramic sanitarywares.

Annual production capacity: 1.7 million pieces of sanitarywares Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: Ceramic sanitaryware manufacturer Caesar Vietnam was established in 1996, as a fully owned Taiwanese company in Vietnam market for production (in several locations) and sale of quality ceramic sanitarywares.

TOTO Vietnam Co Ltd

and export markets. Vietnam is already the largest manufacturer of ceramic sanitarywares among the ASEAN countries. The region’s four major sanitaryware manufacturing countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, together produced about 35 million pieces of sanitarewares in 2017. A half of their production came from Vietnam, which also had about a half of the region’s total production capacity of some 50 million-plus pieces of sanitarywares last year.

A significant part of the total production capacity of the quality manufacturing is operated by the foreign investors, which include, Japanese Lixil owned Vietnam subsidiaries, Inax and American Standard, Japan’s Toto subsidiary Toto Vietnam, and Taiwanese Caesar owned Vietnam Caesar.

The Vietnamese companies, Viglacera Group, Thien Thanh Sanitary Wares Co, Hao Canh Sanitary Wares Co and JSC Ceravi Porcelain, continuously maintain a significant influence with a half of the country’s total standard sanitaryware capacity in the domestic market, as well as in export shipments, mainly to the East Asian countries. However, Vietnam consumes a large quantity of imported sanitarywares, shipped mostly from the East and Southeast Asian countries.

Vietnam exported around US$115 million worth of sanitarywares in 2017. Main export markets are Japan and Taiwan, which buy some 70 percent of the exported sanitarywares. Other important buyers are USA, Myanmar, Philippines, Cambodia, China, Netherlands, Thailand and India.

In spite of a large domestic production, the diverse market demand and large consumption opened the country as a major importer also. Vietnam imported more than US$95 million worth of sanitarywares last year. The main import sources are China and Thailand, which ship some 80 percent of the imports. Other important sources are India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and USA. When Vietnam’s building materials in general faced a slump situation last year, sanitarywarel market remained stable, according to the Ministry of Construction. This year, the consumption has improved further and expected to be stronger in the export markets, as expected.

Among 8 major domestic manufacturers, Inax, American Standard, Toto, Caesar, Viglacera, Hao Canh Sanitary Wares, Thien Thanh Sanitary Wares, JSC Ceravi Porcelain Factory, the foreign owned Inax, Toto, Caesar and American Standard hold roughly a half of the output of standard quality products in Vietnam, and these local companies are undergoing automation to become better competitive

36

asian ceramics

AC 18-9

Status: Foreign investment Location: Thang Long Industrial Park, Dong Anh Dist, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Products: Full range of ceramic sanitarywares including Washlet.

Annual production capacity: 400,000 pieces of sanitarywares.

Markets: Domestic and export markets Others: With TOTO’s CeFiONtect, technology, the porcelain surface of its sanitarywres is covered with super-smooth enamel, which prevents dirt, bacteria or mold from sticking to the surface. The combination of these features creates a colorless surface for glazed products during use.

American Standard Vietnam Co Ltd Status: Foreign investment Location: An Phú, Thuận An, Bình Dương, near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Annual production capacity: 400,000 pieces of sanitarywares.

Products: A wide range of ceramic sanitarywares and bathroom fixtures.

Markets: Domestic and export markets. Major exporters to Middle East and Europe.

Others: The products include exquisite luxury design to standard range models.

KOHLER Vietnam Status: Foreign investment Location: Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Products: Ceramic sanitarywares (‘Made-in-Vietnam’ KOHLER brand items).

Markets: Domestic and export markets.

Others: In addition to marketing of KOHLER brand sanitarywares produced in different KOHLER factories worldwide, KOHLER Vietnam also sources its world class KOHLER brand OEM products from the leading manufacturers in Vietnam.

in the domestic and export markets.

Toto Vietnam has three sanitaryware factories and those are most up to date and being updated continuously. Japan’s Fujitsu group companies, Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Systems East Limited is engaged in development of a factory system for Toto Vietnam to electronically visualize production status and data on quality, starting from raw materials, and continuing throughout the process, to raise the production efficiency, in mixing of raw materials and adjusting contraction rates.

Toto Vietnam has factories since 2015 with domestic sales offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Min City, and Danang. The factories it operates are linked with the Toto global supply chain. The third factory started operation this year.

IC tags and barcodes are used in its factories to track the progress and quality of the products, collect and digitize a variety of data, including those of work procedures and know-how of skilled

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Analysis: Vietnam

workers. In addition, Fujitsu’s system emphasizes the operability of tablets that employees use to input inspection information, featuring displays with easy-to-understand graphics and touch input functionality, and proprietarily developed applications.

By implementing IoT that puts the information created by the staff, the system enables visualization of trained workers' expertise, which was previously difficult to record as data. It also makes possible analysis with the use of statistical data, leading to stable production of high-quality products.

The Vietnamese sanitaryware factories are relatively new and

equipped with latest technologies. The factories are continuously modernized to ensure competitive edge in the domestic and world markets. Among the factories, Caesar Vietnam is one of the users of latest technologies. Caesar has tripled its glazing output capacity by installing four new Sacmi Gaiotto robotized glazing cells, 3 from the GA-OL series and a GA2000 for the robotized glazing of various ceramic sanitaryware articles.

Based in Ho Chi Min City and a leading Vietnamese producer of complete bathroom furnishing lines, Caesar, owned by Taiwan based Caesar Sanitaryware Co Ltd, operates in Vietnam since last two

Vietnam’s ceramic sanitaryware output (m. pieces) Particulars

2012

Production capacity Real production

2013

2014-2015

2016-2017

13.6

14.7

15.05

25

9.5

10

12.5

17

Source: Vietnam Building Ceramic Association (VIBCA) VIBCA Note: Utilisation of capacity 80-85 percent. 70-75 percent of the production is consumed domestically.

HS Code

Vietnam’s sanitaryware exports product label

6910

Ceramic sinks, washbasins, washbasin pedestals, baths, bidets, water closet pans, flushing cisterns, urinals and similar sanitary fixtures (excluding soap dishes, sponge holders, tooth-brush holders, towel hooks and toilet paper holders)

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2013

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2014

95,604

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2015

110,788

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2016

94,974

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2017

97,647

114,706

Sources: International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.

HS Code

Vietnam’s sanitaryware imports product label

6910

Ceramic sinks, washbasins, washbasin pedestals, baths, bidets, water closet pans, flushing cisterns, urinals and similar sanitary fixtures (excluding soap dishes, sponge holders, tooth-brush holders, towel hooks and toilet paper holders)

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2013

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2014

8,915

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2015

12,088

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2016

21,333

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2017

23,154

95,067

Sources: International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.

HS Code

Vietnam’s sanitaryware exports product label

691090

Ceramic sinks, washbasins, washbasin pedestals, baths, bidets, water closet pans, flushing cisterns, urinals and similar sanitary fixtures (excluding of porcelain or china, soap dishes, sponge holders, tooth-brush holders, towel hooks and toilet paper holders)

1,068

245

493

212

77,769

Ceramic sinks, washbasins, washbasin pedestals, baths, bidets, water closet pans, flushing cisterns, urinals and similar sanitary fixtures of porcelain or china (excluding soap dishes, sponge holders, tooth-brush holders, towel hooks and toilet paper holders)

94,536

110,542

94,482

97,436

36,937

691010

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2013

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2014

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2015

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2016

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2017

Sources: International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.

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asian ceramics

AC 18-9

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Analysis: Vietnam

decades. Vietnam Caesar is one of the topquality sanitaryware manufacturers with sales on the rise both in Vietnam and worldwide.

While supplying the equipment to Caesar, the globally reputed Italian machinery manufacturer Sacmi said the new 7WD offline software release installed on the GA-OL robot, a release specifically designed for this type of application and fully developed by Gaiotto, makes it possible to exploit the full potential of 3D simulation, allowing off-line development of new models without having to use the cell for test runs and optimising cycle times.

Precision control of applied thickness also ensures better glazed piece quality and drastically reduces overspray-related glaze waste.

Caesar opted for the advantageous in-booth dry filtration system that provides huge benefits in terms of glaze retrieval, lower maintenance costs and cleaning. There is no wash water residue to dispose of. Caesar has also opted for the innovative GDA80, the needleless glazing gun characterised by zero maintenance and a durability that far exceeds that of alternative solutions, said Sacmi.

Property development

According to the associations of real estates and developers and institutes of development studies, some one million new houses are going to be built in two years, 2019 and 2020, to accommodate the migrant populations and industrial workers, including the employees of the state-owned organisations, in the cities and urban centres, out of the total demand for accommodations of three million industrial workers alone.

A survey of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) has found that about a half of the country’s 334 industrial parks and Main exporters of sanitarywares to Vietnam

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2012

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2013

manufacturing zones nationwide, employing about 3 million workers need new homes, rental houses, markets, school and other facilities, by 2020. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and its industrial zones alone need new accommodations for about 300,000 workers during the period, according to the HCM City’s People’s Committee.

Hanoi based and HCMC stock market listed real estate developers, Vinhomes, one of the largest selling in Vietnam, is reportedly expected to sell more or less some 300,000 residential units in different urban areas by 2020 for different segments, at prices VND700-1,000 million plus, per 1 to 2 bed-room unit (US$1= Vietnam Dong 23,345, approximately).

Demand for premium property will continue to rise as the middleclass population is estimated to grow to 44 million by 2020 and 95 million by 2030, as estimated by the market research firm Nielsen.

The largest urban markets are the two largest metropolitan cities, Hanoi and HCMC, including their suburbs. HCM City Real Estate Association has reportedly said, in 2017 the real estate market grew at over 4 percent, while the medium and low-end segments saw high demand and accounted for 74 percent of the market.

The domestic real estate developers dominate the market In Vietnam, yet, the foreign direct investment (FDI) is now a major driver.

FDIs, mainly from the Asian countries, such as, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, are prominently active in the high segment properties, including residential, commercial, office block and hospitality sectors. Foreign investors are legally allowed to own, sell and transfer properties. They can own property up to 50 years with the possibility to renew for another 50 years.

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2014

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2015

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2016

World

6,637

8,915

12,088

21,333

23,154

China

2,308

2,520

3,356

7,282

9,622

Thailand

2,386

3,381

5,757

9,573

8,821

0

1

12

209

1,879

Indonesia

340

401

531

917

1,033

Malaysia

203

991

485

131

528

Japan

315

314

495

268

348

Korea, Republic of

462

552

411

437

309

43

111

72

141

180

119

160

212

180

173

Germany

87

59

148

40

123

France

49

4

7

2

54

India

United States of America Italy

Netherlands

63

241

62

204

28

Spain

88

85

80

39

16

Taipei, Chinese

15

6

21

9

7

United Kingdom

0

0

2

23

7

23

9

5

29

6

Singapore

Sources: International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.

40

asian ceramics

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www.asianceramics.com

Analysis: Vietnam HS Code

Vietnam’s sanitaryware imports product label

691010

Ceramic sinks, washbasins, washbasin pedestals, baths, bidets, water closet pans, flushing cisterns, urinals and similar sanitary fixtures of porcelain or china (excluding soap dishes, sponge holders, tooth-brush holders, towel hooks and toilet paper holders)

6,491

11,635

19,914

22,392

Ceramic sinks, washbasins, washbasin pedestals, baths, bidets, water closet pans, flushing cisterns, urinals and similar sanitary fixtures (excluding of porcelain or china, soap dishes, sponge holders, tooth-brush holders, towel hooks and toilet paper holders)

2,425

453

1,419

763

691090

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2013

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2014

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2015

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2016

Imported value in thousand US$ in 2017

90,222

4,845

Sources: International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.

Main importers of Vietnamese sanitarywares

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2012

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2013

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2014

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2015

Exported value in thousand US$ in 2016

World

79,597

95,604

110,788

94,974

97,647

Japan

55,427

68,107

69,845

57,629

54,594

Taipei, Chinese

9,479

11,900

15,667

14,299

14,128

United States of America

3,974

3,926

5,396

2,911

5,284

Myanmar

1,370

2,312

3,583

3,506

4,625

578

179

1,457

3,159

2,661

Cambodia

1,616

1,776

2,137

2,313

2,239

China

1,245

776

267

638

2,209

0

0

1,353

1,248

2,040

Philippines

Netherlands Thailand

213

281

3,455

1,141

1,131

India

139

223

393

578

678

Korea, Republic of Russian Federation Lao People’s Democratic Republic Bangladesh Saudi Arabia Hong Kong, China Kuwait Australia

131

0

3

450

629

1,556

1,226

1,250

350

468

556

157

213

267

435

55

62

116

345

371

90

75

293

275

340

326

614

306

543

326

25

67

165

156

312

6

22

10

71

280

250

127

282

1,155

275

Belgium

62

342

256

382

269

Singapore

94

101

158

127

261

0

68

184

114

185

67

84

129

143

177

0

0

93

88

174

11

50

59

80

137

United Arab Emirates

Panama Qatar Dominican Republic Sri Lanka Canada Italy Malaysia Costa Rica Indonesia

93

96

59

262

123

113

2

223

240

111

67

71

58

7

66

0

0

12

0

48

138

871

245

86

38

Sources: International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, calculations based on UN COMTRADE statistics.

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asian ceramics

41

Analysis: Rajasthan

Rajasthan in fo policies or progress the order of the day?

Yogender Malik examines the role of Rajasthan’s ceramic industry within the wider sub-continental context, and looks at if the growing focus on raw material extraction will be a boost or burden...

T

he State of Rajasthan has been one of the largest contributor towards the growth of Indian ceramic industry. Although, hitherto the state’s contribution in the development of ceramic industry has been only indirect, in the form of largest provider of raw material for the ceramic industry to all the major sub-segments of ceramic industry- tiles, sanitary ware, tableware and insulators.

Despite, the availability of raw materials for ceramic manufacturing, availability of largest ceramic market (Delhi NCR) in the proximity and satisfactory infrastructure, the state has largely failed to emerge as a force in Indian ceramic tile and sanitary ware manufacturing industry.

Though, it would be unfair to say that ceramic industry has not made any progress. This could be true for ceramic tiles and sanitary ware sub-segments, where the state does not contribute much of the national production. But, the state has emerged as one of the largest contributor to ceramic tableware and insulators production in the country.

State of ceramic industry in Rajasthan

Catered by organised sector producer Kajaria Ceramic’s two manufacturing units and a dozen small scale ceramic tile producers, about an equal number of sanitary ware plants and some of the largest producers in tableware and insulators, Rajasthan’s ceramic manufacturing industry has not been able to match the Indian ceramic industry growth rates.

As mentioned at the outset of the article that considering that the state is placed in closed proximity of National Capital Region of Delhi (which is one of the largest consumers of ceramic products), ample availability of raw materials for ceramic manufacturing and satisfactory infrastructure the state has failed to realise its potential in the ceramic manufacturing.

A number of initiatives by a number of private companies to establish manufacturing of ceramic tiles and sanitary ware have

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not been able to produce desired results. Low cost ceramic tile and sanitary ware production in the state of Gujarat has rendered these start-ups as non-competitive. In past few years, even ceramic producers based in Morbi have invested in more than a dozen small scale units in the state, but the experiment has not proved successful for a number of reasons.

According to Surendera Singh Purohit, President of RIICO at Bewar in the state, “State government need to expedite the process of setting up manufacturing units. Disposal of applications at various levels in Rajasthan is very slow and investors do not like long delays. The Rajasthan pollution control board and Environment clearance committees are too slow in disposing the applications”

Ceramic Zones

Realizing that the state has all the ingredients for the development of a successful ceramic manufacturing industry, Rajasthan state government has taken a number of initiatives to attract leading ceramic producers in the country to set up their manufacturing units. Though, the government initiatives have not been able to generate much interest among the leading ceramic producers on account of a number of reasons.

Ghiloth Ceramic Zone, the first initiative dedicated to ceramic manufacturing, which was announced with much fanfare in 2012 has seen very slow growth. Though, in the initial years, there was a keen interest expressed by a number of organised sector tiles and sanitary ware producers in setting up their manufacturing units, but tardy growth in development of infrastructure in the ceramic zone and more importantly the availability of natural gas forced most of the producers to postpone or shelve their plans.

After a gap of five years a midsized sanitary ware producer commenced operations in the Ghiloth Ceramic Zone in November 2017. The manufacturing facility which has the capacity to produce over 3,500 pieces of sanitary ware per day. The company is eyeing this opportunity to make its mark in India

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Analysis: Rajasthan

ocus and abroad as it also plans to sell the products to various nations.

Mr. Niraj Gupta, Director, Global Ceramics Pvt. Ltd. says, “ Glocera is working very hard to bridge the demand and supply gap of the market. In addition to our recently commissioned factory’s success, we are also planning to expand in the near future. We promise to change the expectation bar of customers with our products so much so that when they think about renovating their bathrooms, they think about Glocera.”

Ravi Agarwal, Managing Director, Rajasthan State Gas Ltd, who was present at the same ceremony stated, “ Availablity of natural gas in the ceramic zone will attarct key ceramic producers in the zone in the coming years as natural gas was the only key component missing till now to make Ghiloth ceramic zone as one of the favorites ceramic hubs of investors and manufacturers. Even though Rajasthan has most of the raw materials required for ceramic industry, the state was not able to attract investments in the absence of natural gas supply, which is a major requirement for the industry. With the facility now ready at Neemrana, gas will be available for the all the industrial units in the zone.”

Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) Ltd is in the process of setting up a new ceramic industrial park at Sathana in Ajmer district in the state.

Spread over an area of 100 hectares, this ceramic zone has obtained environmental clearance and will house ten large and mid-sized ceramic producers in next two years.

Anil Khandelwal, Sr. Regional Manager of RIICO Ltd., who is looking after this project says, “ The upcoming zone in Ajmer will house some of the best known names in Indian ceramic industry.

Upon completion, these units will raise the level of ceramic tile and sanitary ware production in the state by manifolds.”

RIICO, which has initiated these zones is a Government enterprise incorporated in1969 as Rajasthan State Industrial & Mineral Development Corporation (RSIMDC) and bi-furcated into Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO) and Rajasthan State Mineral Development Corporation (RSMDC) in 1980. RIICO has pioneered industrialization of the State of Rajasthan by setting up of industrial areas. RIICO also acts as a financial institution by providing loan to large, medium and small scale projects.

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A material advantage

Rajasthan’s largest strategic advantage for ceramic industry is availability of major minerals for ceramic manufacturing in the state. Almost all major minerals required for ceramic industry are available in Rajasthan. Currently, the state accounts for more than 70% of country’s total requirement of ceramic industry’s raw material needs.

The state is endowed with rich reserves of quality ball clay and fire clay, silica sand, feldspar, gypsum, china clay, limestone, talcum and dolomite. The deposits of ball clay and fire clay at Kolayat, Kharduja, Devikot, Baser, silica sand at Bundi and other locations, feldspar at Beawar and Ajmer, gypsum at Nagaur, Ganganagar and Bikaner, china clay at Neem Ka Thana, limestone at Gotan, talcum at Dausa and dolomite at Bhilwara, Alwar and Udaipur are known for their quality in the ceramic industry.

A number of downstream raw material processors have emerged in the states, who have become mainstay of ceramic industry raw material industry. In fact, about 70 % of the ceramic industry’s raw material processors / grinding units are based in Rajasthan, which provides the ceramic industry of the state its greatest strength.

Leading Ceramic producers in Rajasthan Kajaria Ceramics

Kajaria Ceramics, the largest ceramic tile manufacturer in India on capacity basis has a strong presence in the state of Rajasthan. The

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Analysis: Rajasthan

company operates two state of the art ceramic tile manufacturing plants at Gailpur and Multana in the state with a cumulative installed capacity of 37.50 million square meters per annum.

The company has an overall annual manufacturing capacity of 68.37 million square meters, distributed across eight tile plants - one at Sikandrabad (UP), one at Gailpur (Rajasthan), one at Malutana (Rajasthan), four at Morbi (Gujarat) and one at Vijaywada (AP).

Kajaria entered into the state of Rajasthan in March 1998 at Gailpur with an installed capacity of 6 million square meters per annum, The company increased the capacity in phased manner in the subsequent years. The present capacity of Gailpur plant is 31.00 million square meters per annum of ceramic wall, floor and vitrified tiles.

Kajaria commissioned its second plant in the state in January 2016 at Malutana in Alwar district with an installed capacity of 6.50 million square meters per annum of polished vitrified tiles.

Kajaria Ceramics is in the process of investing INR 800 million to expand the existing manufacturing capacity of its polished vitrified tiles plant in Malutana. It will expand the capacity by 5.60 million square meters per annum taking the total manufacturing capacity of polished vitrified tiles to 12.10 million square meters per annum.

The expansion will be completed by March 2019.

According to Ashok Kajaria, Chairman of Kajaria Ceramics, “Going forward, we sense a positive sentiment should emerge in the housing sector after a prolonged lackadaisical environment – which would also augur well for tiles off-take. There is an undoubted advantage of availability of raw materials in the state, but the government should also take some other measures to promote a healthy manufacturing environment in the state.

Rajasthan is the resource base for 90% of the raw materials used in the ceramic industry. Even though Rajasthan government has taken some important decisions like setting up a dedicated ceramic zone and providing it with critical infrastructure. But investments in ceramic manufacturing in the state have been not satisfactory.”

Ceramic tableware

There is no doubt that state of Rajasthan houses some of the best known brand names and tableware manufacturing plants in the country. Bharat Pottery, Clay Craft India, Jaipur Ceramics ( the company was acquired by Clay Craft India in 2014) and Gujarat Borosil’s Hopewell Tableware are some of the most reputed ceramic tableware producers not only on the state level, rather on the national scale. Besides domestic market, these producers are leading exporters of ceramic tableware from the country.

Clay Craft India

With an installed capacity to produce 75,000 pieces of fine bone China per day from its Jaipur based production facility and 1500 tons per annum of acquired business of Jaipur Ceramics, Clay Craft India has emerged as one of the finest and largest producer of premium ceramic tableware products in India.

Established in 1994, the company has carved a niche for itself in domestic and exports market by its high quality and innovative products. With over 10,000 retail outlets and over 150 channel partners including major retailers like Big Bazaar, Home Center, Lifestyle, Spencer, Home shop 18 and Jabong , the company also has corporate clients such as Taj Group, Hyatt Hotels, Pepsi, and Wipro among others. Company also exports its high-end products to the UK, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In 2014, Clay Craft India acquired the other big names in Rajasthan’s and India’s premium quality ceramic tableware

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THE STATE’S LARGEST STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE FOR CERAMIC INDUSTRY IS THE READY AVAILABILITY OF MAJOR MINERALS… Leading ceramic mineral miners and processors in Rajasthan Company

Location

Product

Avinashi Minerals

Sikar

Feldspar, Quartz

Goyal Milling Industries

Alwar

Feldspar, Clays

N Grinding Industries

Bijaji Nagar

Clays

Golcha Minerals

Jaipur

Talc

Golcha Associated Group

Jaipur

Talc

Goyal Minerals Group

Sikar

Talc, Quartz

Wolkem India

Udaipur

Multiple

Shree Grinding Mills

Ajmer

Multiple

Shri Balaji Minerals

Jaipur

Clay

Avani Group of Industries

Udaipur

Talc

Arihant Minerals

Beawar

Multiple

Sagar Minechem

Bhilwara

Clays and feldspar

Bikaner Clays & Minerals

Bikaner

Clays

Tahla Ram and Sons

Bikaner

Clays

Raj Minerals

Bikaner

Clays

Daga Clays

Bikaner

Clays

JLD Minerals

Bikaner

Clays

Shiva Minerals

Ajmer

Quartz

Maya Minerals

Udaipur

Multiple

Barunda Minerals Pvt Limited

Jodhpur

Talc

Nahar Colour and Coatings

Udaipur

Glaze

Hopewell Ceramics

Jaipur

Glaze

Excel Colours & Frits Limited

Jaipur

Glaze

Deepak Mineral Industries

Jaipur

Multiple

Gupta Grinding Mills

Beawar

Clays

Shree Modi Levigated Kaolin Pvt Limited

Sikar

Kaolin

Eros Minerals Pvt Limited

Jaipur

Multiple

WMA India

Beawar

Multiple

United Microns

Beawar

Feldspar and clays

Dileep Ceramics

Jaipur

Glazes

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Analysis: Rajasthan

producer, Jaipur Ceramics Private Limited. With this acquisition, the company become largest manufacturer and retailer of fine bone china and ceramic tableware in the country.

The acquired company, Jaipur Ceramics is spread over 35,000 square meters of area on the outskirts of Jaipur. It is one of the largest and most modern set up in the country to produce bone china tableware with an installed capacity of 1500 TPA, the company claims to export a significant share of its total production. Housing a highly automated computer control firing which maintains a consistency in temperature thus delivering a harmony in wares, by ensuring that no two lots are fired at a different temperature. Jaipur Ceramics also has internationally acclaimed muffle tunnel kiln technology for glost firing, to bring down the black spot problem to zero. Using one of the longest tunnel kiln ( 180 feet) for bisqueting the wares, Jaipur Ceramics has innovatively used roller head technology for smooth firing, by indirect heat, so that the impact of transfers is retained. It also has an in-house facility for making kiln furniture, and can produce tiles & pillars for captive use, in the kiln, which has a capacity of about 18 Tons a month.

According to Bharat Agarwal, Managing Director of Clay Craft India Limited, "Our product line is very versatile and offers wide product options to consumers in terms of varied shapes and colours backed with our quality manufacturing. Our products have been designed to celebrate and reflect the joy of making food and presenting it on a series of colorful and stylish platter. The products go through stringent quality testing to ensure that the finest quality product reaches our consumers.”

Bharat Potteries

Bharat Pottery is another big name in Rajasthan’s ceramic industry.

Based at Jaipur, the company produces tableware products under brand name ‘Bharat’. The company is a leading producer of bone China and porcelain tableware catering to the hotels, restaurants and canteens besides a retail distribution network of 100 touch points covering across the states in India. The company has tie up with major retail chains like Carrefour, Wal-Mart, Metro and even Swarovski. Besides the retail demand, we also expect good volumes from these big chains.”

The company operates three bone china production units and one stoneware production unit. The manufacturing is supported with latest automatic & semi-automatic machines for flatware and hollowware making, finishing, drying, polishing, glazing etc., which gives product an added advantage of strength and surface texture.

Hopewell Tableware

Hopewell Tableware (now acquired by Gujarat Borosil) is a relatively new player in Rajasthan’s ceramic tableware industry.

Established in 2011 at Chomu in Govindgarh district of the state, the company has emerged as one of the fastest growing tableware producers in the country.

The company was acquired by leading glass tableware producer, Gujarat Borosil in 2016 for a consideration of INR 270 million. Postacquisition, Gujarat Borosil carried out an extensive modernisation exercise at Hopewell’s production facility. In the financial year 201718, the company achieved a turnover of INR 1 billion.

Ceramic Insulators

Rajasthan has emerged as one of the leading ceramic insulator production centres in the country. The state accounts for more than 30% of the production of ceramic insulators in India. Towns like Jaipur

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Ceramic tableware producers in Rajasthan Company

Location

Jaipur Ceramics Pvt Ltd

Jaipur

Bharat Potteries Limited

Jaipur

Data Ceramics

Jaipur

Neeraja International

Jaipur

Clay Craft India

Jaipur

Jaipur Glass & Ceramics

Jaipur

Marvel Ceramics

Alwar

Hopewell Tableware

Jaipur

Ceramic insulator producers in Rajasthan Company

Location

Installed Capacity

Bikaner Ceramics Pvt Limited

Bikaner

9000 TPA

Bikaner Porcelain Private Limited

Bikaner

3000 TPA

Modern Insulators

Mount Abu

30,000 TPA

Suraj Insulators

Bikaner

12000 TPA

Adpro Ceramics India Pvt Limited

Jaipur

3000 TPA

AK Ceramics

Bikaner

4000 TPA

SLGK Cera Pvt Ltd

Jaipur

2000 TPA

Ambica Ceramics

Bikaner

3000 TPA

and Bikaner have a strategic advantage in terms of raw material and local craftsmanship. Ceramic insulator manufacturing industry in these cities consists of small-scale units with investment ranging between INR 1 million to INR 20 million. The annual output of the industry in value terms is more than USD 1.5 billion per annum.

Modern Insulators Limited

One of the most recognized names in ceramic insulator production in India, Modern Insulators Ltd (MIL) is a pioneer in aluminous high voltage porcelain insulators in the country. Set up in 1985 in technical collaboration (technology transfer) with Siemens AG, Germany, the company is one of the largest exporters in the country & has been honoured with various export awards from ministry of commerce.

Bikaner Ceramics Pvt Limited

Established in 1965, Bikaner Ceramics Pvt. Ltd. (BCPL) is the oldest industrial unit in Bikaner, Rajasthan. Originally, the company produced ceramic pots and fine china. However, realizing the potential offered by insulator market, the company diversified in production of insulators in 1980’s and in next decade started producing insulators alone to gain the leadership. Today, BCPL is a leading manufacturer of transmission and distribution insulators with vertically integrated mining operations of ball clay. The company produces all kinds of insulators for India’s State Electricity Boards, Power Grid Corporation of India, National Thermal Power Corporation, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and other domestic and international clients.

With an installed production capacity of 9000 tons of insulators per year and mining operations of 75,000 tons of ball clay per year,

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Ceramics Trienniale: a fitting focus?

The Indian Ceramics Triennale in Jaipur this November, celebrated the incredible beauty and versatility of ceramics and endeavoured to show that artistry and creativiity were hand in hand with industrial scale in Rajasthan. This was the State’s attempt to woo investors away from its more headline-grabbing neighbour, Gujarat.

Small ‘house-like’ objects, made of porcelain, screaming minimalism, make one ponder about the things that often go unnoticed and require a certain amount of effort to be discovered.

“Sometimes, without breaking through the shell, one can’t see into the core of things.

But once broken, they are no longer the things that you aspired to see,” reads Saraswati Renate’s project proposal of these 10 to 12 compilations of small yet significant objects, titled Antigravity; conceptualised by the ceramic artist from Auroville.

Kate Malone, a leading ceramic artist from England, has set up a live studio by recreating her own studio back in England, in Jaipur’s Jawahar Kala Kendra.

Rampant with motifs and influences from India, the studio gives a sense of the process in action to the observer who is also encouraged to ask questions to the artist.

Another piece, made with the reject plates of Matrimandir by Priya Sundaravalli, is rampant with intricate details that contribute to the concept of universality. This is nothing but a quick peek into Jawahar Kala Kendra, currently adorned by the ingenious works of 35 ceramic artists from India and 12 international artists, at the country’s first Indian Ceramics Triennale.

When the curators put out an open call for proposals, their only request to the applicants was to think big, and not hold back. “Build, make, create if you want to, we said,” says Madhvi Subrahmanian, renowned artist and one of the members of the curatorial committee. “The triennale was aimed at bringing all of these interesting works together under one roof. Ceramics is not only about pots on pedestals, it is also about the experimental aspect of the material itself, about how people perceive and engage with this material,” adds Madhvi. The curators made a conscious decision to deviate from viewing the artform as inaccessible.

Ceramics has been gaining a lot of practitioners in the last few years, according to Vineet Kacker, the Delhi-based artist who is

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also a part of the curatorial committee. “It is only when we met with Pooja Sood, Director-General of Jawahar Kala Kendra, that this interest became a possibility,” says Vineet.

Jawahar Kala Kendra, the cultural centre run by the Government of Rajasthan, served as the ideal location for exhibiting works of such scale and tenor. Its refurbished architecture has made it possible for hosting large site-specific installations and performative artworks.

The Pink City served as the ideal location for the triennale, owing to its vibrant history with regard to arts and crafts, specially terracotta. “Terracotta finds usage in multiple parts of this massive State with varied creative representations — be it the paper-thin Kagzi pottery from Alwar, the red-and-white clay articles from Pokhran or the wall decorations from Molela, all part of age-old Rajasthani traditions,” says Pooja, adding that the triennale’s intention is to give the people a taste of ceramics that is global and contemporary.

Blue pottery is another artisanal craft that Jaipur is renowned for. “It was revived by Kripal Singh Shekhawat and the triennale has a separate section dedicated to this artist because we rarely get to see his work otherwise. Even though it is a part of our triennale, it is a separate collateral,” says Madhvi.

So far, the response has been overwhelming from all over the world, according to the curators. In fact, many have come forward to contribute to the event as interns. “They are not artists, they wanted to work and help with the triennale. All at their own expense. This is a very encouraging and stimulating response.

The support keeps pouring in,” concludes Madhvi.

The future

Despite, the number of strategic advantages, which the state of Rajasthan enjoys for the production of ceramic products, the industry has not been able to make any mark in the national ceramic production. Whatever progress state’s ceramic industry has made is despite the government, instead of any help from the government or agencies.

Most of the policies/ initiatives taken by the state government in recent years have failed to achieve the desired objectives. A number of stakeholders, with whom Asian Ceramic interacted told on the condition of anonymity, “Red tapisim, tepid response of concerned authorities and non-availability of natural gas has been some of the factors, which have hampered the growth of ceramic industry in the state.”

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Analysis: Rajasthan Relaxing rules, conflicting messages…

In one of the most aggressive moves yet to monetise natural resources, India’s Mines Ministry is pushing to auction 102 mineral blocks in the next six months of the current financial year.

The Ministry’s new thrust to complete the auctions by March 31, 2019 can be gauged from the fact that since 2015, when auction was made mandatory in the allocation of mineral assets to investors through the Mines, Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDRA), only 50 mineral blocks have been auctioned by respective state governments.

The blocks identified to be put up for auction are primarily located in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telengana and Assam, according to a report of the Ministry.

The mineral blocks include 42 limestone, 19 bauxite, 11 manganese ore, 8 copper, 6 iron-ore, 6 graphite, 3 zinc, 2 emerald, 2 gold, 1 ironore and manganese, 1 dolomite and limestone and 1 copper ore.

The government of Jharkhand will auction the highest number of blocks at 20, followed by 16 in Rajasthan and 13 each on Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

In tandem with the thrust to complete the auctions, the Mines Ministry is stepping on the gas to complete framing and unveiling of a new National Mineral Policy (NMP), aimed at incentivising miners to put in bids and at reducing gestation periods in developing the blocks, officials in the Ministry have said.

The NMP would also lay down the amendments to be made to MMDRA and offer a level playing field to investors, the officials added.

The government was also finalising the modalities of offering ‘bundled’ mandatory approvals to each successful bidder to cut down on the inevitable delays in securing approvals from various different government agencies, with investors facing the risk of cost and time overruns in project implementation.

On completion of an auction round, the successful bidder would be offered a composite prospecting and mining licence, which would be bundled with mandatory approvals pre-approved by the government for each of the mineral blocks.

Another vexed issue to be ironed out for the forthcoming round of auction would be the grant of nonexclusive reconnaissance permits (NREPs) which had been introduced through the MMDRA in 2015, but which had found few takers among mining investors.

And yet…

A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed that the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) cleared leases of mining in the Aravalli hills, violating Supreme Court orders. The report, which was tabled in the Rajasthan assembly, also highlighted the prevalence of illegal mining activities in the state along with the glaring inadequacies in their prevention.

As per the CAG report on the economic sector for the financial year ended 31stMarch 2017, about 98.87 lakh tonnes of minerals were illegally mined in five districts of Rajasthan between 201112 and 2016-17. The excavated minerals were worth Rs 204.50 crore. “The department, however, could recover only Rs 25.57 crore against the recoverable amount of Rs 204.50 crore,” said the auditor.

These claims in the report were made after the CAG conducted a joint physical inspection with the representatives of the Mines

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Department in order to assess the environmental compliance of mining leases. The scrutinised districts included Alwar, Jaipur, Sikar, Rajsamand, and Udaipur. It was found that 4,072 cases of illegal excavation, transportation, and storage of minerals were registered in these districts and that only negligible recovery could be made. Mining without a license, mining outside the area of the lease, and excavating minerals without payment of royalties are considered illegal mining activities.

Rajasthan’s rich mineral wealth consists of copper, zinc, lead, rock phosphate, silica sand, limestone, soapstone, marble, and gypsum. Notably, most of these reserves are found in the Aravalli Range and the Supreme Court has prohibited mining operations in the region. In this light, the report also points out the rampant neglect and the lack of deterrence on the part of the authorities in addition to the environmental hazard this is capable of entailing.

The MoEF officials have gone against the directions of the apex court by granting, renewing, and extending leases for areas that formed a part of the Aravalli mountain range. Illegal mining activities not only put stress on the natural resources, such as the forests, rivers, flora, and fauna but also have an adverse impact public health. The Rajasthan has experienced a continuous rise in the number of slow deaths caused due to silicosis from 2013 to 2017. Workers in the mining industries are particularly prone to this disease and the Pollution Control Board of the state has not taken proactive steps to prevent this.

The CAG report also discloses that the pollution board failed to pay adequate attention to matters related to the environmental effects of mining.

Upon properly inspecting the state of affairs, blatant deficiencies were found in the fulfilment of conditions regarding topsoil, plantation, construction of garland drains, overburden dumps, air and noise pollution control measures as well as reclamation and rehabilitation measures.

Between 2010 and 2017, the officials inspected only 28 out of the 136 leases that were selected by mining engineers. The nonsubmission of annual environment statements by leaseholders is another important revelation made in the audit. All of this reinforces the fact that the implementation of policy measures, the Rajasthan Mineral Policy of 2011, meant to curb illegal mining is slack in the state of Rajasthan.

The state government of Rajasthan has levied an environment and health cess on selected mineral proceeds; however, according to the report, only 25.81 percent of the cess was spent during 2011-17. The funds are meant to be sanctioned for activities relating to the protection of the environment and public health as well as the maintenance of ecological balance, especially in mining areas. Even the Rs 295 crore environment management fund remained unutilised in the absence of any guidelines. This is a major failure on the part of the state government.

In order to truly move towards the protection, preservation, and conservation of the environment, concrete measures are required.

This would involve strengthening the supervisions, proper vigilance, modernisation of check posts, incentive schemes, and restoration and reclamation of mined out-pits. The scale of ecological and human consequences of the issue demand putting an end to illegal mining, which means that a lot more attention has to be paid at the regulatory and policy execution levels.

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• An improved user experience: The printers’ new user interface that has been simplified for an intuitive use in most languages.

EFI has also rearranged the user experience to make it more useful in daily operation as a tool to help operators print more consistently at top speeds without stopping.

Higher speeds, high resolution with new plug-and-play printheads Fifth generation EFI Cretaprint printers are more reliable and consistent, giving users greater productivity and opportunity in advanced manufacturing operations. The printers’ new e-D5 printheads offer a high ink discharge and are able to print at higher speeds at high resolutions. The plug-and-play printhead loading features eliminate the need for adjustments. Plus, the

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printers’ tight ink delivery system offers greater efficiency with superior ink recirculation.

“In successive generations of Cretaprint ceramic printers, EFI has revealed its design philosophy: advanced software functionality, reduced ink consumption and simplified production cycle. These advantages mean customers can be more cost-effective in their manufacturing and operate more efficiently,” said Ramón. “Our commitment with the ceramic industry is to continue investing in R&D to continue giving our customers new and better technological solutions in one of the world’s the most digitised industrial manufacturing industries.”

The new 5.0 family of printers covers printing widths from 710 to 1138 mm and can handle up to 12 printhead bars for both printing and decorative effects. Along with the unique EFI Fiery® proServer for Ceramics for image processing and colour management, EFI Cretacolor ceramic inks and Cretaprint customer care service programs, the complete EFI Cretaprint digital ceramic decoration ecosystem gives tile manufacturers the tools to master the challenges of high productivity while meeting evolving market demands.

The EFI Cretaprint exhibit at the 24-28 September Tecnargilla tradeshow is in hall C3, booth 81. For more information about advanced digital ceramic tile decorating using EFI Cretaprint technologies, visit www.efi.com.

About EFI EFI™ is a global technology company, based in Silicon Valley, and is leading the worldwide transformation from analogue to digital imaging. We are passionate about fuelling customer success with products that increase competitiveness and boost productivity. To do that, we develop breakthrough technologies for the manufacturing of signage, packaging, textiles, ceramic tiles, and personalised documents, with a wide range of printers, inks, digital front ends, and a comprehensive business and production workflow suite that transforms and streamlines the entire production process. (www.efi.com).

Follow EFI online: Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EFIPrint Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/efiprint Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EFI.Digital.Print.Technology View us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/EFIDigitalPrintTech

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Analysis: Technical ceramics

Turning technical… diversity the key for a brighter tomorrow Dr. Kambiz Kalantari, Innovation Manager at Lucideon UK, argues the need for traditional ceramic manufacturers to diversify their product range to include technical and advanced ceramics.

T

he Technical Ceramics market is growing rapidly from $5.7 billion in 2017 to $8.0 billion in 2022 [Ref 1]. This high value added market, which mainly serves electronics, healthcare and automotive sectors, has rarely been embraced by major players in traditional ceramics sector such as tableware, sanitaryware and tile manufacturers.

Ceramic manufacturers are often segmented according to their product application into technical and traditional ceramics. Traditional ceramics are derived from naturally occurring raw-materials such as clays and quartz sand. These materials are then made into familiar objects such as tableware, tile, sanitaryware and structural ceramics, e.g. bricks and clay pipes. Technical ceramics, also known as engineering or advanced ceramics, are the products of refined rawmaterials that are categorized as follows: 1.

Oxides such as zirconium and aluminum oxide.

2.

Non-oxides such as borides, nitrides and carbides.

3.

Composites that are a combination of oxides and non-oxides which are amalgamated to enhance certain performance criteria. The engineered ceramic products are exploited in various applications in respect to their performance, e.g. body armour, various coatings in turbines, multi-layer ceramic capacitors and implants.

Ceramic refractories, for example kiln linings or crucibles, is one area that does not fit the binary segmentation of the ceramic market.

This is due to the diversity of the products that at one extreme includes highly engineered refractory fibres or castables and at the other extreme there are more traditional high temperature shaped products like fire bricks that are traditionally manufactured in high volumes.

Cement, although classified as a traditional ceramic, is not included in the scope of this article due to its very different manufacturing process and market drivers.

The barriers…

Traditional ceramic markets rely less on cutting edge innovation than advanced ceramics markets and are mainly driven by

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peripheral variables that affect the cost of manufacturing. A number of these external variables have been listed below together with examples - Governmental Policies Swatch Bharat is one of the best examples which demonstrates the effect of rules and regulations on ceramic markets. The Swatch Bharat campaign, which was officially launched in October 2014, is a mission in India aimed at cleaning up the infrastructure through the construction of household and community toilets.

The campaign has impacted ceramic manufacturing in India by increasing the sanitaryware market by up to 15% in 2017[Read further Ref 2].

- Geopolitical Factors Since manufacturing of traditional ceramics often relies on economy of scale, any uncertainty in the market place has the potential to negatively affect the amount produced, which undermines the profitability of manufacturers. The UK Brexit, which is due in March 2019, has already raised concerns with UK ceramic manufacturers who are aiming to pre-empt any market threats from Chinese ceramic imports [Read further Ref 3].

- Environmental Policies Ceramic manufacturing is an energy intensive process that contributes to CO2 emissions either directly through materials reactions or the energy required for raw-materials preparation, drying and firing. For instance, in December 2017, a programme called “Measures of arranging industrial companies to retreat from the city and go back to the industrial parks” was issued by the government of Luozheng district of Linyi, China. The smaller manufacturers could not meet the demands of the environmental legislation programme, hence a third of ceramic manufacturers in Luozheng were forced into closure [Read Further Ref 4 ]

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Analysis: Technical ceramics

- Price of Energy The cost of manufacturing traditional ceramics relies heavily on energy prices. Accurate prediction of the price of energy has always been a challenge for the traditional ceramic industry and has driven the manufacturing landscape of the industry. This was recently demonstrated in the ceramic industry of Indonesia.

The rising energy price in ASEAN domestic markets made the production cost uneconomic in Indonesia, diminishing tile production capacity by one third. Consequently, the Chinese manufacturers took advantage of the higher energy prices for Indonesian manufacturers and increased their market share of ceramic tiles in Indonesia [Read more Ref 5].

With the ever-increasing VUCA (volatile- uncertain-complexambiguous) environment in the aforementioned external factors, it has been very challenging for traditional ceramic leaders to maintain their profitability. This has forced the manufacturers to diversify into manufacturing higher-end traditional ceramics. Anti-bacterial coatings, along with thinner sanitation items are the major trends in the sanitaryware market, together with design led initiatives and new business models. Tiles and tableware had a complete change of face due to ink jet printing.

However, these innovations are limited due to the defensive nature of the traditional ceramic market. Furthermore, technologies for manufacturing high-end traditional ceramic articles are rarely knowledge based and readily available for most of the players in the market, hence the diversification toward high-end customized pieces has not created a unique selling point for traditional ceramic manufacturers. Consequently, technologies were not able to secure a safe market position for traditional ceramic manufacturers leaving them to the uncertainity of the external market factors such as regulations and fuel cost.

For example, Inkjet printing is the latest technology in the traditional ceramic market (initiated in 2005). This proven technology enables manufacturers to create aesthetically superior ceramic items. The inkjet printing market has expanded year on year from 2014 to 2017 and it is expected that, in China alone, a further 4500 printers will be installed in traditional ceramic manufacturing lines in the next five years [Read more Ref 6]. In other words, there will be even more manufacturers with access to the latest technology in the traditional ceramic market and capable of producing high-end ceramic articles. Consequently, this will make competition fiercer in the high-end traditional ceramic market sector, again leaving the volatile uncontrollable external factors as the main criteria for success in the market-place.

To further emphasise the limitation for product innovation in traditional ceramic sectors, Canos and Buforn [Read more Ref 7] reviewed the innovations in the Spanish market in a quest to find the next game-changing innovation.

They have identified this to be a technology that can be customised to client needs while also decreasing manufacturing costs (one such example might be a surface coating on a ceramic article that is implemented per customer request). In my opinion, by viewing the current technologies for customisation, like 3D printing, it is very unlikely that a single technology will alter the status quo of mass customisation in the traditional ceramic market. This will still leave us answering the question of how a traditional ceramic manufacturer can differentiate its products from the competitors.

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Opportunity knocks

The ceramic processing similarity between technical and traditional ceramic manufacturing identifies advanced or technical ceramics as one area that traditional ceramic manufacturers could consider for diversification. One of the best examples is the Morimura Group which comprises both traditional ceramic focused companies, including Noritake and TOTO Ltd, and technical ceramic companies such as NGK which manufactures technical ceramics for automotive and electronics markets.

The main steps in manufacturing ceramic products are independent of the type of the final product, either technical or traditional. In the schematic in this article, (CERAMIC MANUFACTURING) we demonstrate the main steps of ceramic processing.

1. Raw-Materials Preparation Traditional ceramics use common clay minerals known as plastic clays that are hydrated aluminium silicates resulting from the weathering of rocks. Advanced ceramic products are mainly based on oxides, nitrides, carbides and borides.

Although the types of raw materials differ from technical to traditional ceramics, the steps of raw-material preparation and concepts are similar. Provided that the raw materials have gone through primary grindings in the quarries, the first step of the manufacturing comprises of activities (such as pre-drying, preblending and weathering, if required) to create a homogenised blend of raw materials. Both traditional ceramics and technical ceramics often require a secondary grinding step before shaping. Depending on the final product, this may include dry or wet milling, dry screening and spray drying. Some materials will also go through a calcination step to improve their properties.

For example, dead-burning of dolomite and magnesite at 1800OC is essential for manufacturing high performance refractory products. The calcination process is also applicable for fabrication of electro-ceramics, to ensure that the final phase purity is achieved prior to forming of the components.

2. Shaping or Forming of the Ware Forming of traditional ceramics product is dominated by plastic forming; however, with the rising price of energy, a number of other forming techniques such as dry pressing and pressure casting are being increasingly used. In many cases, the aesthetic qualities are the main factor for choosing a forming technique. In contrast, the technical ceramics shaping method is selected to provide the required functional performance. Due to similar characteristics of ceramic green bodies, the majority of forming techniques are shared between technical and traditional ceramics sectors. Pressure casting, which is a variation of

Figure 1 - Stages in Manufacturing of Ceramics

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Analysis: Technical ceramics

slip casting that uses high pressure air, is mainly driven by the sanitaryware and tableware industries. The technique that can create a more detailed ceramic article in a shorter timescale has been adopted by some of the technical ceramics manufacturers when in need of more complex shapes.

3. Drying of the Ware Drying processes are different in traditional and advanced ceramic manufacturing because the choice of the technique depends on the sensitivity of raw materials to drying and final shape of the products which is quite different between technical and traditional products. The approaches vary from microwave drying, which is tuned to very specific applications, to tunnel drying which is well established in the traditional ceramics industry.

In contrast to the complexities of the dryer designs, the materials principles are the same in both technical and traditional ceramics manufacturing - the majority of the techniques provide an initial warming up section in a high humidity atmosphere, followed by the main drying step at higher temperatures and drier air to remove the last few percent of the water or additives. In both traditional and technical ceramics manufacturing, heat from the drying air can be recovered and reused in the process.

4. Firing or Sintering of the Ware The key process of ceramic manufacturing is firing, which is responsible for the properties of the manufactured ware such as resistance to water and chemicals, mechanical strength, optical performance, electrical and magnetic properties. The firing cycle of traditional ceramics relies on physio-chemical changes in the raw materials as they are exposed to high temperatures. For example, a monoporosa (single firing of glaze and ceramic body) ceramic wall tile is designed to have a non-shrinkable, highly porous body. The firing process is engineered to accommodate several reactions in the ceramic body and glaze to provide an aesthetically desirable tile that can meet the performance criteria for application, e.g. water absorption and mechanical properties. The firing is controlled up to 950OC to provide time for clay reactions, and to make sure that the body is emptied of carbonates incorporated in the raw materials before the glaze has melted (to eliminate any space for removal of carbon dioxide). The maximum firing temperature and dwell time are

designed to make sure that the glaze is melted in a controlled manner and results in a smooth surface finish. The cooling is carried out as quickly as possible before the temperature reaches close to 573OC, which corresponds to quartz inversion.

The same controlled process is required for technical ceramic manufacturing. This is especially the case when, for example, the final grain size of the material affects the performance and properties of the ceramic products. For example, grain size of Barium Titanate (BT), which is the main material that is used as a dielectric in capacitors, affects its electronic performance, or in the case of biomaterials such as Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), the fracture toughness is of high importance and directly relates to the abundance of grain boundaries that is controlled by the sintering process.

Either via intermittent or continuous kilns, the process of sintering or firing of ceramics must be engineered to provide a consistent atmosphere and temperature control throughout the firing chamber.

The sintering apparatus designs vary but the main drivers are defined by better control of the firing process and reduction of energy and time of firing.

The similarity between manufacturing and operation of traditional and technical ceramics opens opportunities for traditional ceramics manufacturers to diversify into the production of technical ceramics.

The technical ceramic sector, in contrast to traditional ceramic manufacturing, is less affected by VUCA environment and more reliant on knowledge and therefore offers, in some respects, a safer market position that traditional ceramics manufacturers.

Market drivers

Unlike the traditional ceramic market, the advanced ceramics market is highly fragmented with the presence of many small and large companies [Ref 8]. The wide product range has created a wide market space that is often dominated by the organisations which can make higher performance products. Along with capital, entering the advanced ceramic market relies on the necessary technical knowledge to create a high-performance product. A review of the key players in the technical ceramics market confirms the important role that materials engineering knowledge plays in the advanced ceramic market.

Saint-Gobain, with the turnover of EUR 39.1 Billion in 2016, comprises three main business sectors: innovative and high performance materials, construction, which includes both interior and

Lucideon Flash Sintering Technology Demonstrates a High TRL Innovative Development to Decrease Energy Consumption of Manufacturing Ceramics

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Analysis: Technical ceramics

exterior solutions, and building distribution [Ref 9]. The corporation submitted 390 new patents in 2016 and was granted 211 US patents in the same year. This puts Saint-Gobain’s ranking at number 158 of Intellectual Property Owners Association’s (IPO) and highlights the importance of knowledge and expertise in the technical ceramics sector. Other ceramic manufacturers are also present on the IPO list; for example, Kyocera, who are mainly focused on manufacturing of fine ceramics and semiconductors, is positioned at number 103 in IPO list of 2016. In addition to patents that are an indicator of the knowledge of the advanced ceramics sector, the R&D budget of the companies showcase the importance of innovation in this sector.

For instance, Corning Inc. (turnover of $9.4 B in 2016) is divided into manufacturing for display technologies, optical communication, environmental technologies, specialty materials and life sciences. The R&D spending of Corning in 2016 was reported to be more than $700 million. In addition other corporations like SCHOTT AG, CoorsTek Inc, Morgan Advanced Materials and RHI AG have spent a considerable budget on research and development of products for new applications as well.

Knowledge as power

Apart from a few technical ceramics manufacturers that still follow an artisan developed way of manufacturing ceramics, the majority of the high-level knowledge of making technical ceramics is available in literature. However, the basic knowledge for the fabrication of technical ceramics would not be sufficient to enter a competitive market driven by the performance of final products.

In a market that is less populated by start-up companies, new experience can be acquired via established professional entities that are at the cutting edge of materials developments such as universities and research organisations.

Universities are often the go-to place for low technology readiness level (TRL) ideas. The proof of concept of a new solution or idea will be tested via students and researchers, supervised by academics that specialise in specific ceramic fields such as biomaterials, electro-ceramics, refractories and glass.

Selected capable academics within universities have the potential to deliver tangible research and create innovative expertise.

However, often the lack of industry experience and understanding of conditions in the manufacturing environment along with long timescales of delivery, dominated by education system timescales of awarding degrees, can create non-exploitable knowledge for the industry. Examples, such as selection of hardly available, costly raw-materials to enhance performance or advancing the materials properties via using lab-scaled processes that are not scalable, demonstrate the often less effective nature of some of the solutions provided in the academic space.

It is important to highlight the role of some of the existing programmes that have formed a close network between universities and the target industry, and that have the potential to create directed research to be applied in the ceramic industry. For instance, CDP (Center of Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics) led by the North Carolina State University, the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Sheffield (UK) aims to develop innovative solutions for industries based on capacitor and piezoelectric materials. The centre is in collaboration with the supply chain and manufacturers of electro-ceramics; hence the low TRL research is directly applicable, to be developed further into manufacturing solutions [Read more Ref 10].

In addition to universities, materials research and technology

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centres provide services that can create competitive knowledge for entering the technical ceramics market or diversifying within this sector to produce new high performance products. The majority of these commercial researchers are focused on higher TRLs which provide applicable solutions and required knowledge for manufacturing. The successful research organisations are driven by market needs via working in collaboration with a network of industries. The pace of development is fast in these organisations as they are operated by the professional researchers and consultants in the various ceramic industries. In addition to delivering on the low TRL research, these organisations are capable of bringing the ideas from the laboratory to the factory floor. For example, flash sintering is a flagship technology that is an innovative solution for low energy, fast firing of ceramics and was adopted by Lucideon in 2012. The technology has since been developed into a larger scale manufacturing environment that makes it much more convenient for industry to adopt and use in manufacturing, figure below [Read more Ref 11] .

The future

The traditional ceramic market is driven by external factors such as environmental policies and price of energy, making it more challenging for manufacturers to manage market threats in an ever increasing VUCA environment. Similarities of production, supply chain and processing knowledge makes manufacturing of technical or advanced ceramics a clear choice for traditional ceramic manufacturers to diversify their product range and secure a more stable market position. The main barrier to entering the technical ceramics market is the required specific knowledge and expertise required to create a distinguished market position and to meet the needs of end users. Knowledge can be acquired via universities or materials research, development and commercialisation organisations.

The future of ceramic manufacturing is promising for those organisations that are willing to look outside the factory walls to collaborate and create strong networks of customers and technology providers to enhance their competitiveness.

Lucideon is facilitating this collaborative environment amongst manufacturers of technical ceramics, traditional ceramics and technology providers by creating a Ceramic Park in the UK [Read more Ref 12]. The global materials technology organisation is committed to the growth of the traditional and advanced ceramics sectors by providing its materials expertise, facilities and pioneering spirit to expedite the journey from research and development to commercial products and processes.

References

1. BCC Research, Apr 2018, Code AVM156A 2. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/sanitarywareindustry-growing-at-10-15-says-geberit-in-india-head/article22044912. ece1 3. Asian Ceramics 18-1, p16 4. Asian Ceramics 18-2, p14 5. Asian Ceramics 18-3, p24 6. Asian Ceramics 18-3, p52 7. P. C. Canos and P. C. Buforn. Qualicer 2018.

8. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160907005765/en/ Top-5-Vendors-Global-Advanced-Ceramics-Market 9. Ceramic Industry Sep2017, p11 10. https://www.cdp.ncsu.edu/about-us/ 11. https://www.lucideon.com/materials-technologies/flash-sintering 12. Asian Ceramics 18-3, p19

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Talking Shop

Talking Shop

Bangladesh eyes a tech ceramic stake AC is in conversation with Dr Md Fakhrul Islam, Professor, Department of Glass and Ceramic Engineering (GCE), BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh, about the opportunities for the country to spread its wings more into the technical ceramic sector…

AC: What is the present scenario of the ceramics industry in Bangladesh?

Dr Md Fakhrul Islam (FAK) The ceramics sector is booming in Bangladesh. The ceramics industry in Bangladesh started its journey in the late 1950s. Since then the local ceramics industry has mainly been focusing on producing traditional ceramics namely tableware, sanitaryware, insulators and tiles. Glass is also a kind of ceramic and its main raw material is sand.

Currently, more than 70 ceramics companies are in operation in the country and about 25 more are expected to go into operation within a year. Bangladesh earned more than USD 42 million through export of ceramic products last year to 50 different countries of which 95 percent is tableware. More than 0.5 million people are employed in the ceramics sector in Bangladesh.

However, Bangladesh's share of export was only 0.97 percent in the global ceramics market compared to China's 61 percent. It is clear that there is plenty of scope to improve the ceramics sector in future.

The main raw materials are clay, feldspar and quartz. In addition, some chemical additives are being used for shaping and colouring the products. Some of the raw materials and most of the machineries are usually imported. However, this should not be our approach; we should be able to optimise and take advantage of locally available raw materials and design kilns as the key part of the ceramics plant including refractories, insulators and control systems of the plants.

In recent years, the field of ceramics has expanded to include a much wider array of functional applications beyond traditional ceramics. This is referred to as “advanced ceramics” which focuses on issues such as energy conservation, water filtration, electronic and biomedical applications. The global market of advanced ceramics is expected to reach around USD 135 billion by 2024. Unfortunately, till now Bangladesh has not been able to enter this major high-tech ceramics market.

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AC: How can the local ceramics industry take advantage of global innovations made in the industry?

(FAK) In the 21st century, ceramics is no longer limited to only tiles, tableware or sanitaryware; rather it has expanded its domain from engineering ceramics such as cutting tools, bearings, gears, etc, to electroceramics, biomedical, and aerospace—it even encompasses emerging technologies like nanotechnology. In recent years, developed countries such as Japan and US and EU nations have been focusing on the production of antibacterial and self-cleaning tiles and sanitaryware.

Although in Bangladesh there are a number of ceramics companies that are using high-tech precision machineries to produce high-quality tiles and sanitaryware, they are still not producing antibacterial and selfcleaning products which will be a prerequisite to export ceramic products. To survive in this competitive free-economy market, the quality of the products should satisfy stringent global requirements. Especially when it comes to tableware, heavy metal and toxic elements should be kept within the prescribed limit put forth by the importing country. For quality control and quality assurance of tableware, it should be tested with high-tech precision equipment. Our local industry should have a product development cell that will continuously work on the gradual enhancement of product quality—product diversification, in particular, to fulfil the requirement of the global market.

Other important aspects of ceramic materials are water, exhaust noxus gas and liquid effluents ceramics filter. In Bangladesh this domain remains unexplored. The field of high-temperature refractory materials, one of the most efficient thermal barrier materials, has not yet entered the ceramics market in Bangladesh. This is something that remains to be addressed by the ceramics industry.

It is to be noted that high-temperature refractory materials are one of the most important and most costly materials for all industries where high temperature is used such as the ceramics, glass, steel, chemical and processing industries. All these refractory materials are mostly imported which costs a lot of foreign currency. The ceramics industry uses a huge amount of grinding balls mostly manufactured

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Talking Shop

from ceramic materials, which can also be produced locally instead of being imported, since the number of ceramics companies is growing at a fast pace. Similarly, ceramic cutting tools, gears, saggers (a kind of ceramic container), and hip and knee replacement implant-producing factories may be potential areas of investment in the field of ceramics.

AC: When it comes to research and the needs of the evolving ceramics industry, what is collaboration like?

(FAK) I would say that the scope of research in the ceramics sector in Bangladesh is very high. Undergraduate and post-graduate studies in the field of ceramics have already been initiated in Bangladesh and students are getting state-of-the-art knowledge on ceramic science and technology and are capable to render scientific and technological knowledge sharing with the industry. Industry-academia collaborative research recently started under a project called HEQEP of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh to bridge the gap between the academicians and the industry. The project is targeted to develop new technology to be used by the industry to spin-off the new product.

The Department of Glass and Ceramic Engineering (GCE), BUET is working in a project along with Shinepukur Ceramics Ltd for the fabrication of ultra-light weight, heat-insulating ceramic fibre that will have tremendous energy-saving capability. Till now these ceramic fibres have been imported from abroad. GCE, BUET has also developed a low-cost candle-type water filter for the purification of potable water. The efficiency of our filter is comparable with that of imported candle water filters. Bullet-proof ceramics used for ballistic vest has also been developed using appropriate ceramics material at GCE, BUET. Department of GCE, BUET has also partnered with DBL Group—DBL Ceramics in particular—to initially develop metallurgical grade silicon by melting sand and has targeted to develop solargrade silicon through extensive research and development.

Heat preservation is a big target worldwide as it is an integral part of the 'Industrial Revolution' and currently, we are working on it with Nasir Glass for the research and development of high-temperature refractories such as AZS, Magnesia Chrome Brick, etc.

The commercial production of these above-mentioned products will save a huge amount of foreign currency and also help to develop local technology. It will create new employment opportunities as well.

Collaborative research for the development of ceramic products and product diversification is essential for technological development as well as to reduce the dependence on costly imported foreign technologies. GCE, BUET has always been enthusiastic and actively involved to solve various industrial problems related to the products including quality control and quality assurance of the industrial products and initial raw materials.

Quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) are the most vital components in the production of industrial goods. To ensure this, a state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with cutting-edge equipment and machineries is of paramount importance. Keeping this in mind, GCE, BUET has already developed a sophisticated laboratory to accomplish the QC/QA of our industrial products. All this equipment such as Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), XRF, XRD, UV-Vis-NIR, etc, are instrumental for carrying out research and development of advanced ceramic products. The Honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh has been kind enough to give approval onprinciple to establish a cutting-edge tech-based float glass plant to produce architectural sheet glass and solar-grade glass under the patronage of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) in technical collaboration with GCE, BUET.

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Do you produce or spray ceramics?

We make the machines.

Nieuwkoop

喷压 涂机 机 vsmmetaal.nl Pressing and spraying machines

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Insight

TURKEY Table 1 1,957,438 1,328,287 1,313,891 922,415 557,792 460,728 304,633 296,329 254,066 216,630

Germany France United Kingdom Italy USA Israel Netherlands Sweden Bulgaria Czech Rep.

Table 1

Leading sanitaryware export destinations (no. pieces)

2014

7,310,831

2015

6,958,165

2016

8,240,099

2017

12,194,616

Total sanitaryware exports (no. pieces)

Table 1 Table 1 2014 2015 2016 2017

214,605 190,664

152,787

163,745

Total sanitaryware imports (no. pieces)

China Germany Italy Russian Federation India Austria Hungary Free Zones

33,770 36,694 22,176 18,668 6,038 4,262 3,568 4,193

Leading sanitaryware import sources (no. pieces)

1

1

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Table 1

Table 1 2014 2015 2016 2017

2014 2015 2016 2017

83,956,514 77,900,449 80,887,192 89,512,785

Total tile exports (sq metres)

2,789,310 1,882,488 3,016,712 1,256,097

Total tile imports (sq metres)

Table 1 Germany USA Israel UK Canada France Romania Greece Cyprus

Table 1

10,819,624 10,678,992 10,853,762 8,332,377 8,025,809 4,690,116 3,456,680 2,159,689 2,088,436

Leading tile export destinations (sq metres)

Italy Spain China India Germany USA France

329,285 310,981 360,399 128,902 47,967 31,808 11,661

Leading tile import sources (sq metres)

1

1 Table 1 Germany UK Italy Spain Sweden USA France Poland

Table 1

5,952,016 3,056,883 2,638,833 3,130,471 2,464,573 1,292,374 1,559,293 1,208,295

Leading tableware export destinations (Kg)

1

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China Egypt Bangladesh India Poland UAE Tunisia

27,547,288 1,098,818 347,807 271,409 193,276 178,513 134,312

Leading tableware import sources (Kg)

1

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Hunter and the hunted

s t h g u tho

ty n e w t r e v o r o f p a e h c n e e b s a “C hi n a h e o p le b u y p y h w s ’ t a h t , y d a e r l a s r y ea ce” la p st ir f e h t in re e h t fro m

Disorder.

Dear Diary,

wars, belligerent actions by some countries Well, this year is romping along splendidly with trade something or other from other countries all’ who shall remain infamous, threats of ‘the mother of g year, I already find myself yearning excitin an What . others from else’ and ‘don’t threaten us or , there is also the still ongoing spat course Of year. for the more dull and boring times of yester e though business in Asia seems to Strang well. as d Englan dled Befud Brexit and between the EU volatility with currency exchange less for wish all could we be resilient and sturdy enough though with everyone will seriously war trade to t rates. It is yet to be seen if the US Presidents attemp he indulges with certain which course of ZTE is it unless China is impact Asia. His main target g through the illegal sale creatin were they issues ty protection. Strange given the national securi have an overall effect would trade war of technology. We shall see. It’s debatable if an all-out though One Belt One degree certain a to base er custom its given China has been diversifying to support the place in now are that Road initiatives and simply speaking the supply routes often said that Generals, It’s . flexible and robust are world the of ns Amazo WalMarts, Alibaba's and be said of this trade dispute – the US unfortunately, plan for the last war, I think the same may didn’t work last time and will likely fail is trying to fight its perceived enemies with weapons that China also seems to have misread the again Then .

1980’s the this time as they were obsolete by and surmised that Xi had a friendship es determination of Trump to follow up on his election promis They too were wrong. war. trade a avoid and right things with Trump that would see d every month I was writing about yet Most years seem to develop a theme, one year it seeme impact of new technologies. This year the or another abuse of health and safety in the workplace disruption caused by the US, UK, the isn’t it If tion. disrup about be to the theme seems mostly ments policies then it is the reaction govern of more or Chinese, Philippines or any one of a score to these policies in the financial and economic markets. in Asia? I sat down recently with a But how is disruption affecting actual ceramic companies well as the USA and other markets as e Europ in ss Chinese tableware supplier, one with busine As for myself mostly I’m supplying and a company manly supplying to tile companies in Asia. ries. indust ic ceram materials to and from Asia for many

by Donald Trump's trade war. Not being For the tableware company, the boss was nonplussed ss regularly he was confused as to American and not living in America but traveling on busine going to save or create American was else ere anywh and e how a trade war with China, Europ lose at least the same number of jobs jobs. ‘Whilst he might open a steel mill or mine he will in retail or logistics – he’s just doing it people ores, steved , drivers from the supply chain, truck really want to pay more money for cans Ameri do , to satisfy his support base in the swing States y, wont that hurt the economy?’ He also items they have grown used to getting cheaply & quickl g Chinese exports cheaper and makin value losing been pointed out rightly that the RMB has duties offsetting to a degree export and the Chinese government may reduce business taxes but as we have previously that only Not War! The in ed includ were the tariffs even if ceramics corporations and they are big very in , people of lot noted the supply chains and retail employ a ‘I’m not going to lose jobs. ss and their certainly going to do their best to protect their busine or want this want don’t I , course of same, the business even if the situation stays t get the volumes or canno buyers can Ameri the ically realist but worse it to get can tariffs even if they effect the prices they need from other countries. The Ameri Union imposes. Look, in ean Europ ceramics won’t be as bad as the ADD that the

*The views expressed in this piece reflect those of the author, and not of the magazine or its staff

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Hunter and the hunted

the end, the American reta il industry needs cheap pro – let’s say its “50 points” ducts. For ceramicware the – it y have targets $2. But that $1 price includ means if the product lands in America at $1 then they can sell it at es the delivery and wareh ousing in America, maybe sometimes the target is “60 distribution. And points”. That demand for Trump doesn’t care about, pro most of the money is made fit isn’t going to change and this is what Most of what they buy isn in America or by American ’t going to be possible at corporations. the prices or volumes Ch telling you I don’t think I’ll ina supplies. So, I’m lose business. But what I do get is the disruption. The want problems with supply. customers don’t So, I have to prepare pre sentations to explain what plans are for if there is a trade war. Where will I buy my contingency from, ship from, can I ma somewhere else, can I hav ke the product e then claim that is the Count the unfinished product shipped to a third country for fini ry of Origin for tariff purpos but I’m losing time and mo es. I suppose I’m not losing shing and ney doing presentations. business I have to investigate makin countries, maybe Turkey or Portugal. That might be g things in other unrealistic but I still have make a presentation to the to go to America to corporate headquarters’. insight into what a real bus Tha iness is doing even if Chine t sounds fairly positive though and gives and GDP – the fear and unc se stocks are down as we ll as investment ertainty are the real proble ms.

But what about the tile foc used supplier. Their view are Italian was also interes of ting, ‘China has been che their Chinese business, given they ap for over twenty years why people buy from there already, that’s in the first place and also nowadays China has imp the quality was not always roved a lot. It is not so bac kward certainly around the so good. But east, in some ways they hav coast and the more advanced on metho e better things and technology than the West. Ne wer infrastructure, ds of payment or technolog expect the cheaper prices y. but it is not going to happen But still some buyers from the West factories and business is now. One of the big things the government addressin to affect our g the environmental proble this before they don’t car e abo ms & pollution, I talk to our customers I hav ut but now it is very important and you can’t avo id e lot of what the Chinese ma to say to them to stop just thinking about the pric it. Now when e because a ke now is better than what reopen factories and new the West can do. Also, you factories cost a lot of invest cannot just engineers, so if there is a ment. Then you need all of the skills and trade war how are you goi ng to start making these again – not quickly. Even products all over the the manual and dirt indust n there is another thing, in Europe now, who wants ry, young people just don to be working in ’t want to do this.’

Likewise, I can’t say I’ve not the same pressures of pro iced that the trade war or threat of it has cost bus iness. Mostly it is duct price, speed of delive ry rather than the rantings of supposed world leaders thro and service which are the critical factors than tabloid media barons wing tantrums. I don’t thin or social media trolls are k anyone other enj the fear of strife is palpab le so far, the faux outrages oying the current derangement but whilst day to day struggle to ma might affect market sentim intain and grow business. ent but not the Until next time, Your humble servant, William Hunter

*The views expressed in this piece reflect those of the author, and not of the magazine or its staff

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