Rock slabs will grow explosively in 2020. Will the ceramics industry continue to heat up in slab production lines in 2021? What are the room for improvement in the production technology and processing technology of domestic rock slabs?

Guests (in no particular order):

Song Rongshe, Chairman and General Manager of Honghu Meihao Ultra-thin Slate

Zhang Dailan, Vice President of Production, Gold Medal Enterprise 

Chen Shuifu, General Manager of Keda Electromechanical

Li Zhanhua, Director and Executive Deputy General Manager of Modena Technology

Peng Jichang, General Manager of Xinjingtai Machinery

Zhang Tianjie, General Manager of Guoci Kanglitai

Ding Jiansheng, Chairman of Aitao Electromechanical

Zhou Qingtian, General Manager of Xinpeng Mould

Wei Chengjie, General Manager of Jingtao Electromechanical Ceramics Division

01

Breakthroughs and difficulties in rock slab technology

 Song Rongshe

Meihaoyou experimented to produce 2mm thick sheets, which was relatively successful. But the current application market is not ideal. First, the application scenarios of 2mm thick sheets are still unclear; second, when the terminal is used, handling is a pain point, and the damage rate of too thin sheets during transportation is too high; third, large dimensions are prone to problems in processing. If it is a small 2mm thick rock slab, the problem may not be too big. In addition, the processing performance requirements will be doubled.

 Chen Shuifu 

The main technical difficulties of rock slabs are: one is the problem of cutting and cracking, which is a special performance requirement for the later processing of the slab; the other is the thermal stability of the product itself during the use of the product, especially when some rock slab products are being cut. After being applied to countertops, coffee table boards, etc., thermal stability is particularly critical. 

Zhang Tianjie 

For the new applications of rock slabs, the application of digital mold glaze technology on rock slabs makes the application of rock slabs on decorative panels handy. Due to the large size of the rock slab press, the time and cost of changing the mold are high, and it cannot be randomized, and the mold of the thin plate is more difficult to realize. The digital mold perfectly solves this problem. The digital mold brings the application of rock slab to a wider range of applications. field. As a decorative panel application, it has irreplaceable properties for other materials.

 Li Zhanhua

There are currently ten double-layer slab kilns in Asia, all built by Modena, and nine of them are in China. The reason why the rock slab double-layer kiln is designed is because the quality of the rock slab is the first, but the cost must be taken into consideration. In order to ensure the quality, it is not recommended to use a kiln that is too wide or too long, otherwise it will be difficult to guarantee the quality of the slabs. Double-layer kilns have more cost advantages, saving workshops and saving more than 10% of energy consumption. Therefore, the rock slab double-layer kiln can not only have high product quality as a guarantee, but also help ceramic companies have a cost advantage when they are in cost competition.

 Ding Jiansheng

At present, the most difficult part of rock slab processing lies in the special-shaped processing adapted to the furniture market. There are many requirements for personalized processing, and the use efficiency of processing equipment is very low. Most of the products are still manual, which is difficult to meet the batch processing requirements of the furniture market. In the future, the bottleneck of rock slab development will be limited to deep processing. It is necessary to form a relatively complete industrial chain in the field of deep processing of rock slabs. There are relatively good equipment in batch, intelligent and flexible processing, which can adapt to various specifications and quickly Land conversion, so that the rock slab processing equipment has a qualitative improvement over the previous traditional cutting processing, and the entire industry chain of rock slabs can be opened up.

 Wei Chengjie 

The difficulty of the digital line is the identification of front-end and back-end codes, including pattern matching and tracking. From a digital point of view, the pattern tracking is to reflect the relatively smooth texture, that is, the texture of all tiles can be completely matched or nearly completely matched. The difficulty of inkjet, there are certain technical difficulties for the uploading of design drawings. Because the size of the large board will be large, the number of drawings, including equipment operation and speed, must be able to keep up accordingly, whether it is from the operating efficiency of the equipment itself or whether the inkjet equipment can meet the needs of the market. Words are one of the biggest difficulties of inkjet.

02

Popular products of slate

Chen Shuifu 

The rock slab market is very large. In the second half of 2020, small rock slabs will become a new hot spot. In fact, small rock slabs replace, for example, 800×800mm floor tiles. The specifications of small rock slabs are mainly 750×1500mm, 800×1600mm, and 900×1800mm. According to customer feedback and research on the market, Xiaoyanban's market growth is very large. In addition, the newly-built rock slab production line is a composite production line, which can make both large rock slabs and small rock slabs.

 Zhou Qingtian

At the end of 2020, many customers in ceramic producing areas such as Guangdong and Jiajiang in Sichuan began to use 16800 presses to produce 750×1500mm rock slabs. It can be seen that rock slabs represented by 750×1500mm are favored by customers. Compared with the early 800×800mm throwing Glazed tiles have their advantages in terms of paving. It is expected that in the first half of 2021, the slabs of this specification will have a lot of room for development. If slabs are used to pave walls and floors, the market demand for slabs will increase. In 2021, after the production of slate increases, it is expected that the slate products on the market will increase rapidly. Regarding the application scenarios and services of Yanban, there will be a variety of scenes in full bloom.

03

The development trend of the rock slab industry

Chen Shuifu 

In the first half of 2021, the development speed of rock slabs will gradually slow down. If the digestion is better in the first half of the year, there may be a wave of climax in the second half, but it may also be delayed. In 2021, the overseas new crown epidemic will be gradually brought under control. Whether it is ceramics or ceramic machine companies, their overseas markets will also gradually recover, and it is expected that there will be a potential incremental market. In the domestic market, the key depends on how rock slabs accelerate product application and digest production capacity. If the development is considerable, the domestic market will usher in a new spring.

 Zhou Qingtian

In 2021, rock slab technology may be used to make ceramic tiles back. In fact, the production of rock slabs in China has changed in terms of fabrics, presses, and molds. Linear fabrics are used to produce traditional ceramic tiles, but belt fabrics are now used to produce rock slabs. If we use rock slab technology to make traditional ceramic tiles, many production line problems will be solved, which is also a development direction. To promote the development of ceramic tiles through rock slab technology, the future development direction of the ceramic industry is still very broad.

 Zhang Tianjie 

Rock slabs now have more than 100 production lines, and there will also be more room in the future. I think rock slabs will become a new category. This category may be reversed. We are now making ceramic tiles into rock slabs, and in the future we will use rock slab crafts to produce ceramic tiles. As the performance, performance and function of rock slabs will be stronger than that of ceramic tiles, and the products will be more abundant, there may be no tiles in the future, only rock slabs.

 Ding Jiansheng 

The future development direction of Yanban:

The first is that it is necessary to customize and produce good rock slab processing products according to the batch, flexible, and intelligent production line of rock slab processing equipment. This is an important research and development direction of rock slabs. Only in this way can the individual needs of customers for rock slab processing be met.

The second is to develop some simple and convenient single-machine tools or small processing equipment for some small dealers across the country. Only in this way can we meet the demands of dealers or small manufacturers for industrial products and equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to be more economical in terms of price and have more processing functions.

The third is that for thin slabs, the composite of rock slabs is a development direction. The characteristics of glue required by different composite materials are different. Products such as rock-board composite wood, glass, stainless steel, and aluminum honeycomb materials will also become a bright spot in the future.

04

Slate domestic equipment & imported equipment

Zhang Dailan 

At present, the hardware for rock slabs in China is basically the brands of Systrom, Sacmi, Keda, and Litai. In fact, everyone's hardware strength is similar, what we need is a breakthrough in soft power. Only by combining soft and hard power can we make products that meet market demand.

 Zhou Qingtian 

Domestic rock slab forming equipment can adapt to the rapid changes of different specifications and surface textures of rock slabs in China. In recent years, in the formation of rock slab body, we have not copied foreign rock slab technology, but have taken the road of domestic rock slab ceramic equipment together, which is also the lifeline of domestic ceramic equipment. In addition to the development of rock slabs in the future, there will be many changes on the surface of the rock slabs. This is the direction we need to study carefully.

The core advantage of the domestic rock slab mold is that the thickness difference of the bricks can reach 0.1-0.2mm. In the past, it was not possible to achieve this level when making ceramic tiles. The reason is that the method of rock slab molds is different from that of ordinary traditional molds, and their effects are also different. In the past, the master mold was made by engraving and laser, but now the rock slab mold made is made with three acids, namely nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid. The accuracy of the mold is increased by about ten times.

 Zhang Tianjie 

The texture, expressive method and decorative effect of the rock slab surface are one of the most notable features of the rock slab. There is no way to guarantee the quality of the product with traditional glazing technology, and it is also difficult to solve the problem of glaze peeling and the problems of uneven glaze and uneven color. This requires digital glaze to complete. At present, the domestic digital glaze has been widely used, and it is relatively cost-effective, and its performance is not inferior to the imported digital glaze. As far as the current situation is concerned, rock slabs are still in their infancy, but in the future, in 2021 or 2022, I think domestic digital glazes will be widely adopted, which has considerable advantages in terms of technology, cost and cost performance.

 Wei Chengjie 

For the future localization of equipment, I am full of expectations and optimism. It is believed that the localization of equipment will gradually or partially replace imported equipment. Whether it is from the localization of equipment, or the later service, response speed, and response speed, domestic companies have huge advantages.

05

Thoughts on the Development of Slate Industry

 Zhang Dailan 

Call on everyone to develop the rock slab business healthily and extend its life cycle. Everyone should focus on building the slate brand, protect the slate market, and let the slate develop healthily. 

 Peng Jichang

Slate will not repeat the systemic vicious competition of the past. From the perspective of China and even the world, most of the companies in Shangyanban are now leading companies, and these companies are excellent in many aspects such as brand influence, financial strength, sales ability, and sustainable development. Many production lines do not even ask for a one or two years to pay back their costs. They are long-term investments and have detailed business plans. At the same time, there are more than 100 large slate slab production lines in China, compared with more than 2,000 ceramic tile production lines, it is still too early to talk about surplus.

 Ding Jiansheng 

The future is to develop some unique and explosive products for the application of rock slabs. If these are done well, a good way will be found in the application of rock slabs. The multi-faceted resource integration of slate manufacturers will break the boundaries of some industries in the future, so there will be more innovative products. Through the development of innovative products, the application scene of rock slabs will be further broadened, so that the application of rock slabs is not only for paving the ground and walls, but also for the field of furniture. In the application of slate furniture, this road is a relatively long process.

06

Suggestions for rock slab manufacturers

 Zhang Dailan 

The enterprise must have a clear positioning of the product application, first determine the use and then determine the production. The positioning direction determines the subsequent hardware and software matching. To make a good rock slab, high-end hardware equipment, firing control system, technical process, standard system, quality control system, etc. are required to be superimposed, so as to make a good rock slab for users.

Rock slab manufacturers must start with a breakthrough in thinking, and high-end products must be oriented to consumers by quality, not by quantity. There is little chance that good quality and low price exist in high-end customized products, and it must be exchanged for another price. Therefore, do not make rock slabs based on mass production. If mass production is based on the way of producing ceramic tiles, the scope of use will be limited.

 Chen Shuifu 

In addition to brand competition, Yanban’s competition now focuses more on cost and price competition. How to improve the core competitiveness of slate enterprises? How to apply rock slabs to thousands of households? The core point is to reduce the cost of the entire industrial chain of rock slabs, including production, transportation, processing and paving, so as to build an efficient rock slab production line with larger output and lower overall cost.

07

Cutting cracks in rock slab processing

Zhang Dailan

It can be set as a rock slab for home furnishing and furniture customization applications, and the other is a large slab that is used to paste walls and pave the floor. The processing performance of rock slabs is very important. Without systematic operation and management, the processing performance and processing facilities will not be recognized by consumers. If you do not consider the problem with the user's thinking and cannot solve the user's actual problem, then the product will fail.

Li Zhanhua

In the second half of 2020, rock slab products have made great progress in cutting and cracking. The technical design basis of the Modena kiln itself emphasizes the design of cooling, which is very important to the performance of the fired product. From the beginning, I was deeply aware that the rock slab is not only used for paving the ground and the wall, but also for processing. And its processing performance is very important. The reason why Modena’s slab kiln is so high that it even uses many high-end Italian accessories is to solve the problem of cutting cracks.

08

Expectations and suggestions for rock slab standards

Song Rongshe 

If we have a standard for rock slabs, it will contribute to the healthy development of the industry, and we can provide corresponding guidance in product acceptance and application. The standard customization of rock slabs must conform to national conditions and industry rules.

Li Zhanhua 

The rock slab is a product of ceramics and must meet the standards of ceramic products. If it is a public product, a standard must be issued as soon as possible. But if it is only defined as a high-end niche product, then this standard need not be set too early or too high. In the end, the standard can still be set by the corporate brand.

 Peng Jichang 

The slate standard cannot be based on a certain company or a special application, such as water absorption, abrasion resistance, cutting performance, etc., and a specific requirement cannot be used as the industry-wide standard, otherwise the health of the large slate will be affected. development of. Regardless of the product, as long as it meets the application scenario and blossoms, differentiated development will have a broader future. In short, "Leaving the application to talk about standards is also a hooliganism."

(Source of the article: Ceramic Information-Official Account, Invasion and Deletion)