The five major problems in the ceramic tile industry in 2013 must be eradicated

The rapid development of China's ceramic production process and technology has made the ceramic tile market an individualized product, and the development of the product has begun to be high-end. Chinese tile companies are now targeting high-end markets, emphasizing the adjustment of product structure and increasing value-added products, while also taking into account the overall interests of the industry, through efforts to increase product technology content, increase independent innovation, foster independent brands and other measures to achieve sustainable development . Now we are thinking and summarizing the status quo of our domestic tile industry, and put forward five ideas that the industry needs to change in 2013. We must eradicate these five major drawbacks.

First, "white billets are high-end products"

In the market, tile blanks “have become whiter and higher grades” and have become the mainstream. The reason is that the industry itself misleads consumers. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, foreign high-grade tile products imported from Italy and Spain were all red, and consumers were willing to pay high prices to purchase and enjoy high-end consumption. In the 21st century, the domestic market gradually turned to white tiles, and the market also used “white” as a competitive advantage to suppress imported products and crack down on competitors, thus allowing consumers to gradually form the concept that “the tile blank is a high-end product”. Cognitive.

As mentioned earlier, tile products themselves are surface decoration materials, and the real role of the decorative ceramic tile surface layer, as long as the green body strength, water absorption and other properties in line with product standards, and the body layer does not have a color effect on the surface layer What is the color of the blank, which is white, red and black? After the tile is finished, anyone can see the color of the bottom layer. Therefore, “the more white the ceramic tile is, the more upscale” is purely the industry's own initiative. It is now difficult to change the consumer's white bill consumer concept.

With the continuous reduction and depletion of raw materials, with the industry's clean production, circular economy development and comprehensive use of mine resources policy requirements, tile products must jump out of the "white bill" confinement, expand the use of raw materials, make full use of a wide range of sources The red mud, inferior sand, etc., in turn to develop red billet, gray billet products, to achieve zero emissions ceramic tile production waste. This requires a full range of collaboration and cooperation within the industry. It requires the joint guidance of enterprises, governments, and industry associations. It widely publicizes standards development, policy advocacy, and marketing, especially the sales teams of various companies, as communicators of ceramic tile culture. , should be disseminated from the front and advertised non-white, red tile products. At the same time, companies should do product design for the green body layer and surface decoration layer, gradually upgrade the grade of non-white billet products, and gradually change consumers' "white billet" complex.

Second, "The thickness of the tiles is real."

All along, competition in the market has used “thickness” as a competitive advantage to crack down on opponents. Coupled with the traditional thinking that “many is better,” people generally believe that “thickness of ceramic tiles is good, only real, and it is not cutting corners”. In fact, ceramic tile products are surface decoration materials, and they are artistic products that are artistic, decorative and surface-protective. People really use their surface decoration effects. As long as their breaking strength and carrying capacity meet practical requirements, they can Give full play to the use of tile products.

Compared with natural stone, ceramic tile has many advantages, such as high strength, light weight, aging resistance, corrosion resistance, and good color consistency. Because of its high-temperature firing, the same thickness of tiles resists damage much more than stone. And the better the tile product sintering degree, the higher the resistance to damage, this is the ceramic tile is different from the prominent place of natural stone, it does not need the "heavy feeling" of natural stone. Moreover, the thicker the tiles, the more difficult it is to sinter the product, and the sintering cycle of the same cycle will deteriorate, and its ability to resist damage will deteriorate. This is determined by the tile firing process.

In addition to the consumption of raw materials, thick tiles require more energy consumption to achieve a qualified sintering degree. This is inconsistent with the national policy of “saving energy, saving resources, and reducing emissions” that the country is vigorously advocating. Therefore, for the ceramic industry to achieve sustainable development and low carbon development, it is an inevitable trend to reduce the thickness of ceramic tiles. All people in the industry are urged to publicize to consumers that “the tiles are not as thick as possible” and “tiles can be thinner Some, "especially our market sales personnel, as communicators of the tile culture, must instill in consumers the concept and perception of "tile thinning".

In recent years, the rapid development of the world real estate industry has made the world's ceramic tile production and consumption have achieved greater development. Due to the variety of Chinese ceramic tile products, large quantity, good quality, complete high, medium and low-end products, large selection, and affordable prices, the world Many countries and regions very much favor Chinese ceramic tile products. The proportion of Chinese ceramic tiles in the international market is growing. In recent years, the unprecedented development of the real estate industry in China has closely followed the huge market demand for building walls and floor tiles associated with real estate.

Third, "product design is just a design of texture and texture."

In the current industry, technology innovation and product design are generally separated. It is believed that technological innovation lies in the R&D and innovation of new processes, new materials, and new equipment. Product design is only the design idea of ​​product design, specifications, modeling, and texture matching. In fact, "technological innovation is the core of product design, product design is the embodiment of technological innovation implementation", that is, technological innovation and product design are combined together is a complete innovation, no technological innovation and progress, product design can only stay in the original Changes in the technology platform can not achieve unique creative design and value expression; with technological innovation, no implementation and design to innovative products, the added value of technological innovation can not be reflected, therefore, technological innovation and product design can not be separated .

Product design includes product appearance design, product technology design, product application design and product culture design. Among them, the product appearance design includes design content such as size, shape, surface effect, flower color and texture matching, and the product technical design includes the product. Material selection, formulation, process flow, production equipment, product function and performance, product inspection methods and standards, product intellectual property, and other aspects of design; product application design includes the product application environment, decorative style, construction methods, application notes Other aspects of design; product culture design includes cultural concepts, cultural propaganda, packaging logos, trademarks and theme promotion. Therefore, the scope of product design is very wide and wide, implying the requirements of technological innovation, and ultimately attributing to the manifestation of value.

Fourth, "Tile Industry Has No Patent Achievements"

The tile industry is a traditional industry with a high degree of technological maturity. Various technical materials such as textbooks, periodicals, newspapers, magazines, papers, and patents cover a wide range of technologies. The development of the ceramic tile industry in the past 30 years has itself been brought about by the introduction, imitation, and improvement of foreign tile technology and equipment. The imitation and improvement have become the habit of industry development, and in this environment and conditions, patented technology innovation Not much in itself, there are fewer patented technologies with original and protective value. The existing patented and authorized patent technologies are basically combination innovations or local innovations, and the scope of innovation is narrow. More crucially, industry professionals still have a vague understanding of patents, a lack of patent knowledge, and a weak awareness of patents. As a result, industry professionals generally believe that “the tile industry has no patent achievements.”

According to the Chinese Patent Law, patents have priority and exclusive rights. For patented technologies, whoever applies the first patent, technically difficult patented technologies are generally protected by technical secrets before patent protection is applied. A patented technology that can easily be imitated and smashed through a layer of paper to understand and imitate. The priority is to apply for patent protection. This is the patent protection game rule. At present, many industry bosses do not understand the rules of the game. Once an infringement occurs, they always resort to invalidity and litigation to regain their face. They refuse to admit the fact of infringement.

The industry is not without patents. For example, the patents for the isostatic pressure roller rods of the Ceramic Research Institute, the patented technology of Ou Shennuo's Yuhua Stone, and the patent technology of Dongpeng's Dong Shi are all patented technologies that are novel and highly creative. Under the current legal environment in China, the punishment of infringement is too small, the cost of rights protection is high, and the benefits are too low. This results in difficult patent rights protection and unsatisfactory rights protection. The industry believes that patents cannot be protected and that the application for patents has little effect. Think "the tile industry has no patent". Then I would like to ask myself, there are also many patents and authorized patents in our industry. Are all invalid patent tile companies still trying to apply for patents and claiming how many patents they have? Why do I think that the industry needs to reflect? Industry associations and governments should come forward to rectify the patent order of the ceramic tile industry, promote the orderly development of industrial intellectual property, and establish an atmosphere of mutual respect for intellectual property rights. This will enable the industry to develop in an orderly and sustainable manner.

Fifth, "The thinner the tile product, the better"

At the current stage of development of the industry, the thinning of ceramic tiles is an inevitable trend in the development of the industry. It not only meets the macroeconomic policies of energy conservation, energy conservation, emission reduction, and low carbon, but also meets the needs of the industry for sustainable development and reduction of production costs. However, it does not mean that the thinner the ceramic tile product is, the better the ceramic tile is. It is beneficial to the sintering performance and reduces the energy consumption and resource consumption. The product's fracture modulus is greatly increased, but the breaking strength is still declining, that is, its bearing capacity and resistance to damage. The ability to decline is a fatal change.

Because tile products are too thin, their application environments require high requirements and require more auxiliary supporting materials, which will lead to harsh application conditions, increased application costs, increased application energy consumption or carbon emissions. Therefore, the number of tiles that are thin is the most appropriate. The “carbon footprint” thinking inspired us to analyze and balance the costs, advantages and disadvantages, and total carbon emissions in the entire life cycle of ceramic tile production and application. The optimum thickness cannot be taken into account solely by the advantages of the tile in the production stage. Therefore, I think that tile products are not as thin as possible, but there is an optimal thickness range, and the optimal thickness for different specifications is also different.