At our factories we begin with the selection of raw materials, which we then work on in order to render them homogeneous, suitable for extrusion and for subsequent pressing. After pressing, the tiles are placed on wooden frames and enter a drier, controlled by a processing computer.
The drier gets rid of the residual water in the tiles in the course of a 24 hour cycle. At this point in the process, the dried tiles are taken from the wooden frames with the help of a robot system and sent to the setting machine following which they are loaded onto the surface trucks.
During the firing at more than 1000 degrees centigrade, the surface of the tiles merges with the glaze ensuring a permanent finish. In this setting machine there is also a glazing machine which works both with ceramic discs and with aerographs, allowing us to produce both glazed tiles in different colours and aged mat tiles.
The system described above allows costs to be greatly reduced in comparison with the traditional “double-firing” system, but obviously means light colour blotches are possible in the contact points between the tiles when they were on the packaging machine, before the firing.
Obviously once these tiles lie on the roof of the building, these imperfections are absolutely invisible, while the benefits which result from only one firing and from the reduced cost are lasting.