PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN CERAMIC TILES

How many products can you say are truly born of South African soil? For over 40 years, Ceramic Industries has been producing just such a product – one made from locally quarried materials in local factories.

While the technology that makes them keeps changing, the basic ingredients of great quality tiles remain the same: clay, fire, water and air. Ceramic Industries combines these four natural elements to produce fashionable, resilient, safe, long-lasting products that are a favourite with South Africans.

The company began in 1976 and today it employs over 1 100 people in seven South African factories. Ongoing training and a commitment to teamwork across all the factories make it an enviable place to work. There are opportunities to advance in a field that combines science, engineering and design. What’s more, the company is fully aware of its place in its communities, and several outreach programmes show they’re rooted in their environment. Their employees do great things in and out of working hours – they upgrade the infrastructure of day-care centres in the area, offer knowledge-sharing sessions at schools, do neighbourhood clean-ups, host sports days and more. So much, in fact, the company must produce a newsletter to cover it all.

Ceramic Industries may use some of the most advanced Italian machinery, but it’s local knowledge that has made them the success they are today. Understanding the technical requirements and particular tastes of the different segments of the local market is behind the huge popularity of their products – today, one out of every two ceramic tiles bought in the country originated in one of their factories.

The investment in machinery has also made their factories more earth-friendly, reducing emissions and water use. Heat from the kilns at most factories is now recycled for use in other processes, while water is recycled for use in as many applications as possible.

And what about that South African soil? Even the quarries they use as a source of their raw materials are restored to their original state as far as possible.

www.ceramic.co.za