The trend of ceramic thin bricks: ice and fire two heavy days

Since entering the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, energy-saving and emission-reduction have been improved to the level of the national strategy. Correspondingly, the ceramic industry that consumes a lot of energy in the production process has also begun to slowly adjust energy-saving and emission-reduction. In particular, after experiencing substantial increases in the costs of energy, raw materials, and human resources in recent years, companies have started to actively seek ways to save energy and reduce emissions, especially energy conservation. Ceramic tile thinning has also been promoted from the perspective of the country and the association. Next, it became one of the projects independently researched and developed by the company.

Although most companies are reluctant to openly admit it, they all agree that before the national standards for energy-saving and emission-reduction of ceramic tiles are introduced, they are more willing to invest in financial and material resources than the mandatory emission reduction measures. Achieve cost control. For many brand companies that are more sensitive to policy and social orientation and have strong strength, they will have a reduction before the introduction of the new standard (whether it is a new standard for thin bricks or a standard for modifying the original basis of ceramic tiles). After thin technology or thinning, the complete product and marketing plan is a matter of course, but it is a rainy day.

As we all know, thin bricks are a trend in the future and are inevitable. However, companies that already have thinning technology and products or even thin sheet manufacturing technologies, or companies that have not yet planned to reduce their thickness, do not seem to be optimistic about the prospects of the thin brick market. Without standard restrictions, it is difficult for most companies to start thinning. If thin-brick manufacturing enterprises and production have not formed scale in the market, it will be difficult to change consumer psychology and habits of consumers. However, is it because of the lack of mandatory policies that restricting the promotion of thin bricks and the market?

The promotion of thin bricks in the market not only needs policy support, but also requires a certain breakthrough in product design and positioning. Different from traditional products, it may be accepted and recognized by the market. The picture shows that after a company launched a new product, it attracted the attention and welcome of many dealers.

From the thin plate to the thin brick The end of 2007, Mona Lisa's first thin plate production line formally put into production, indicating that the thin plate technology can already be realized in our country.

Compared to ceramic tiles, which are mostly in the “overweight” state of the current market, thin plates are quite light. The thickness of a conventional polished brick 300×300 cm size brick is 6-7 mm, 600×600 cm is about 9 mm, and many 800×800 cm sizes reach 12 mm.

According to Xu Ping, an expert in the industry, the calculation book for energy saving and emission reduction of thin bricks calculates that for ceramic tiles with a thickness of 11.3 mm, ceramic tiles thinned down to 5.5 mm can save 5.6779 kg of standard coal per square meter. The raw material transportation energy consumption, the powder preparation energy consumption, and the energy consumption during the transportation process of the product production process do not include the energy consumption of product packaging and storage.

If the thickness of traditional tiles can be reduced by 60%, according to the annual output of 6 billion square meters of wall and floor tiles in 2010, only 3,000-200 million tons of related raw materials can be saved per year, and the annual comprehensive energy consumption can be reduced by about 30.6 billion kilograms. Standard coal, equivalent to a total of 3 Three Gorges Project annual power generation, economic and social benefits are very impressive. Saving 60%, 50%, and 30% of mineral resources, reducing CO2 emissions, and saving water resources have significant benefits. In 2011, the production of wall and floor tiles in China reached 9 billion square meters, and its energy consumption can be reduced even more.

From the usage point of view, the thicker and more solid ceramic tile is different from the traditional consumer's consciousness. In fact, the thickness of the tiles does not affect the use of the features. In particular, after the introduction of the thin plate of the national standard, although only 5mm or even thinner, the physical properties of the thin plate Not bad, in the toughness due to the board products are also stronger than the general ceramic tiles. The industry has also gone through several years from the process of questioning to acceptance and has agreed on the physical properties of the sheet.

In terms of paving, the convenience of the sheet is also more convenient. Unlike the traditional way of using cement, the sheet can only be used with adhesives. On the one hand, it improves the environment of the construction site, and on the other hand, DIY decoration has The possibility of realization. In addition, the lightness of the sheet allows it to have unparalleled advantages in the use of the external walls of the building, reducing the burden on the building load-bearing, and saving energy and reducing consumption for the building.

Although the physical properties such as the strength of thin plates have been recognized by the industry, the inherent thinking of consumers has not changed and there are still many concerns about thin plates. At present, most of the thin slabs are mainly used for dry hanging on the external walls of buildings, or wall arts such as the background wall after art processing are not required for strength and hardness, and even some other sheet products are used for countertops or cabinet doors. The ground becomes the boundary that the thin plate can't break through at present. The cost of as much as 300 or more per square meter after thinning has also become a barrier for the further popularization of thin plates.

Compared with the acceptance of the market, thin plates still have the problem of replacing the entire production equipment and investing a great deal of money for the production enterprises. The strong contrast between high production input and low market yield has made it difficult for sheet metal production to be widely used in the industry. According to incomplete statistics, so far only ceramic plate manufacturers with a thickness of less than or equal to 6mm and a surface area of ​​1.62m2 or more in accordance with the National Standard for Ceramic Plates have produced only Guangdong Mona Lisa, Ningbo Ritai, and Shandong Dehuilai. It is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the scale of thousands of Chinese ceramics production companies.

The attitude of the production enterprises indirectly increased the difficulty of marketing the thin brick products in the market. It was hard to tell whether the Mona Lisa company had repeatedly asked for more competition “invitations” to join the thin brick production ranks.

When the sheet is cold in both the market and production, companies are turning their thinning eyes even more towards thin bricks. Tang Qi, manager of Foshan Oushenno Ceramics Co., Ltd.'s R&D center, believes that not only in the controllability of production, thin bricks can be transformed on the basis of existing equipment, and even without modification, production can be realized; the rest includes late construction and transportation. , Installation, especially construction, do not have to study the construction process alone, but only need to transform the existing construction and installation methods, and it is easier to be accepted by the market and customers. “The market prospects are also better.”

Although not many companies have the same ideas as Tang Qi and Tang Qiqi, they have been able to represent the current trend in the industry.

According to statistics, there are currently about 15 companies in China that are conducting experiments and production of thin bricks, including Nobel, Asia, Dongpeng, Marco Polo, Oushenuo, Jinyitao, Hongyu, Xinzhongyuan, Huiya, Loulan. Leading brands such as this also indicate that the thinning of tiles, although not yet clearly defined, has been overwhelming.

At the level of government, associations and related macro-policies, it is imperative that ceramic tiles be thinned. At the annual meeting of the China Building Sanitary Ceramics Association (Dongguan) in 2009, thin bricks have become a hot topic of discussion among the participants in the industry. In the middle of 2010, the association’s secretary-general, Bin Bin, sent out sounds of energy saving and emission reduction to the industry’s survival and death, and called for ceramic companies to develop in the direction of “thinning and lightweighting”, among which thinning is the key.

In 2011, people in the industry could not forget that in the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, in order to achieve the energy saving and emission reduction targets in the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” and the solemn promise of Wen Hao’s Prime Minister in Copenhagen, Limited power production has become a lingering memory for many ceramic companies.

In the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the building sanitary ceramic industry plans to clearly adhere to “adhere to green development. Comprehensively promote clean production, vigorously promote energy-saving and emission reduction, develop circular economy, increase comprehensive utilization, and achieve sustainable development.” The basic principles of development planning and the clear goal of the industry in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” are: “The proportion of new products that are lightweight, thin, water-saving, and functional has been significantly increased, the industrial structure has been significantly optimized, and the comprehensive utilization of resources and energy saving have been reduced. The platoon achieved significant progress, with energy consumption reductions of 20% in the industry-wide industrial added value, solid waste utilization rate of 70% in the production process, energy consumption per unit of industrial added value, carbon dioxide emissions, and nitrogen oxides and oxidants* The total discharge of pollutants is further reduced."

From March 31st to April 2nd this year, the third annual national architectural sanitation ceramics standardization technical committee third annual meeting and standards review meeting was held in Chengdu. During the annual meeting and the standard review meeting, 180 representatives attended the conference. Participated in the "Seminar for thin ceramic tiles" and "Seminar for the revision of national standards for ceramic tiles". The core of the seminar is to discuss whether to formulate or how to formulate standards for the development of thin bricks and restrictions on thick bricks. The Standards Committee has repeatedly stated that it will introduce relevant standards for ceramic tile thinning this year.

The discussion of ceramic thinning at the macro level is in full swing, and in stark contrast to the coldness that the market reflects on thin bricks.

From the 15 ceramic companies that already have thinning technology and put into operation, the thickness of ceramic tiles after thinning is mostly 5.5mm, and the maximum thickness is not more than 6mm, which has reached the thickness standard of ceramic plates. This is nearly 50% lower than the current thickness of most ceramic tiles around 10mm.

Huang Jianping, Chairman of Aesthetic Ceramics, said in an interview with the media that at the very beginning, he tried to thin the product by 1mm, but he suffered from the crime of “stealing work and cutting materials” in the market, causing consumers to misunderstand and cause a large number of dealers to return the product. . A ceramics company that is also well-known in the industry, its dealer once used thinned new products to participate in bidding in a project bidding, and was rejected by the construction party because of the unpredictable performance.

For a long time, domestic consumers’ understanding of ceramic tile products has remained at the stage of “brick-thick product quality”, and it is feared that buying products that cut corners and materials will bring adverse consequences to the decoration and affect the living environment and quality. Although thin bricks can use traditional methods in paving without the need for new technology with thin sheets, their price is not “close to the people” with thin sheets. The minimum ex-factory price for conventional thin bricks is 85~95 yuan/sq., and the highest price is up to thousands of yuan. The price of decorative products after artistic processing is higher, which exceeds the consumer's psychological expectation. The thinner the product, the cheaper it should be. Why is it more and more expensive?

From the consumer's point of view, whether the ceramic tile is low-carbon, whether the production process is energy-saving and has little relevance to product use, the industry generally believes that the advantages can not become a bright spot to attract consumers. Most netizens expressed the same meaning when discussing whether they would purchase thinned products. People would spend money to buy genuine products without worrying about whether their production processes are energy-efficient. People are willing to pay a high price to buy a product that can not bring more benefits to themselves, especially in the ordinary people do not think there is not much technology content of ceramic products.

While the thinning standards have not yet been introduced, deserted market feedback has left companies with no means to decide whether to implement thinning projects; the enterprises that have already begun to produce thin bricks have had many scruples, and the already fragile thin-brick production circles have become less morale. The expectation of the policy has become a cry for almost all enterprises that support the thinning of tiles.

Universal policy?

The national standard is a weapon that guides and regulates the behavior of enterprises and determines the quality of products. It is also the most important basis for consumers to determine whether a product is qualified or not.

At present, the focus of ceramic tile thinning standards mainly focuses on two aspects. The first is how to establish a thin ceramic tile standard. At present, there are ceramic tile standards in China that are mainly classified into porcelain tiles and ceramic tiles, and are further subdivided into There are glazed and unglazed bricks, from the perspective of use, there are floor tiles, interior wall tiles, exterior wall tiles, square tiles and so on. How to classify the standard establishment and how to classify it? First, after the establishment of a thin ceramic tile standard, whether to "limit thickness"? That is, the thin ceramic tile standard is just as a standard of a new product, such as a ceramic plate standard, or as a new Ceramic tile standard implementation?

In this regard, Dr. Yin Hong once wrote an article in the column of Dr. Yin’s column in this newspaper. He mentioned that “the standardization of ceramic tiles in our country has been integrated twice and was integrated with international standards in 2006. The current national standards for ceramic tiles have been covered. The use of dry-pressed or extruded ceramic tiles for indoor and outdoor use, divided by the thickness of the product 7.5mm, imposes corresponding requirements on the strength properties of the product, and specifies the performance requirements of ceramic tile products less than 7.5mm, not without thin bricks It is not known how the newly established thin ceramic tile industry standards will be harmonized with the ceramic tile national standards. If these basic requirements are to be overcome, the entire ceramic tile system will inevitably be redefined, and it will be impossible to talk about the international standards, and similar products cannot. Entering international trade."

The expectation of the company on the standard mainly focuses on whether there is a related “limited thickness” clause in the standard. If it does not “limit the thickness,” it will simply introduce a standard for a new type of product, such as a thin ceramic tile, and the “ceramic” that has already been released. There is not much difference in the standard of the board. In other words, companies can produce thick bricks as well as thin bricks. As a consumer, between the thick and thin choices, consumption habits are difficult to change in a short period of time, even if the quality standards associated with thin ceramic tiles are met. With the introduction, it is still difficult for most companies to participate in the ceramic tile thinning production camp, but there is no way to talk about the formation of a thin brick "trend" in the terminal.

If the thickness is limited, Dr. Yin also mentioned in the article that "the industry standard for thin ceramic tiles also includes the background that external wall brick companies must make small bricks 3 to 5 mm thick, and these products are often less than the thickness is less than the strength is less than Standard strength requirements for 7.5mm products, if you want to reduce the strength requirements of the standard, not only the problem of the entire ceramic tile system, there is a standard direction, the actual operation is not easy.”

Since the purpose of ceramic tile thinning is to save energy and reduce consumption, it is better to constrain from energy consumption rather than merely tangling ceramic tile thickness problems. Dr. Yin suggested that domestic use of thin bricks should be vigorously promoted. The first standard to be revised is the mandatory national standard “GB21252-2007 Energy Consumption Limit for Building Ceramics Per Unit Product”. In this standard, all energy consumption quotas are measured in units of standard coal consumed per ton of product. Under the guidance of mandatory standards, the thinner the ceramic tile products, the higher the energy consumption, even exceeding the limit, and it should be banned. It does not reflect the essence of saving energy and reducing consumption of thin brick products. The unit of energy consumption limit indicator should be revised to be per square. Standard coal consumed by rice products.

In this way, the specification from the source of energy consumption can allow companies to automatically consciously reduce the thickness of tiles, and the quality standards for thin-shaped tiles have the foundation for realizing the development of the thin-brick market.

At present, it is not yet known how the formulation of the standard will appear in any form, but market experience has confirmed that the prospect of thin bricks will not be much better than that of thin plates simply relying on environmental protection as a selling point.

Enterprise countermeasures So far, none of the products or brands that have become so popular in the market have succeeded in relying solely on national standards. Instead, they have followed the laws of the market and seized the consumer's needs. They are also required for thin bricks. in this way.

The same paving method as traditional tiles solves construction problems. The forthcoming standards will solve consumers' trust in quality, and the rest must rely on the company's own products and marketing strategies to break the market bottleneck and win the chance.

Zheng Shulong, Vice President of OSRAM Technologies, talked to reporters about the development and positioning of thin-bricks in the absence of standards. The key to the development of thin bricks is not only to differentiate themselves from similar products, but also to make them. Different from traditional "thick bricks". Consumers are worried about the performance of thin bricks, which exceeds traditional tiles in terms of strength, toughness, etc., and make fuss about the design and application of thin bricks. Zheng Shulong said: "In the existing national standards for ceramic tiles, the thickness of 7.5mm is used as the boundary, and different physical properties have been stipulated. The current thin-brick performance of Ou Shennuo conforms to the existing national standard of 7.5mm or less."

According to him, Ou Shennuo's research direction in the thin brick, in addition to performance, pay more attention to breakthroughs in product design and texture. Thin bricks are not easy to imitate stone or leather with traditional ceramics, and its thin nature itself is far from the sense of heavy stone. If consumers choose to use fake stone products, they will surely tend to thick bricks. The choice of imitating wood grain, wallpaper, metal plates and other materials can make the characteristics of thin bricks even more incisive. Different from the traditional products, Ou Shennuo not only enhances the performance of the green body, but also adds stone fiber and reduces the water absorption rate. It also makes the products more exquisite and exquisite. “Our thin bricks pay attention to the design, especially the glazed molding is more excellent than the traditional ceramic bricks.” Zheng Shulong believes that since the thin brick in the minds of consumers is its “soft ribs”, then in terms of performance and Appeal to consumers. Moreover, consumers do not have a high requirement for wall thickness, so it is easier for the market to accept wall tiles as a breakthrough for ceramic tiles.

After half a year's time, Hongyu will also conduct technical appraisal on the self-developed 5.5mm thick thin polished tiles in July of this year. Its deputy general manager Ou Jiarui introduced that the development of Hongyu thin bricks is not only the basis for the transformation of existing equipment. On top of that, the transformation of abrasive tools is also one of the major features. Although thin bricks need to be improved in terms of market acceptance, companies themselves should first have thinning technologies and then seek breakthroughs from the market laws.