It turns out that well-known Italian companies are doing this, look where you are!

In the past two years, on the one hand, a large number of domestic second- and third-tier ceramic tile brands have been fiercely competing in the market. On the other hand, imported ceramic tiles have found a new way in the high-end market and become popular. Why imported bricks have become popular? The reasons behind them are not going to be analyzed in this article. However, one of the purposes of this visit to Italy is to have close and in-depth contact with imported bricks.

So, after many contacts, the interview with Italian ROMANI tiles and Italian VERSACE tiles was finally confirmed.

ROMANI Tiles

Fully automated production control, quality assurance

At the main production factory of ROMANI tiles, the author interviewed Mr. Thomas Huang, the head of its Chinese subsidiary, and accompanied by the person in charge of his factory production, visited the production factory and ceramic tile exhibition hall of ROMANI tiles .

▲The inspection team visited ROMANI Group Company

ROMANI Group has a total of 5 ceramic tile brands and 3 factories. This time the author visited its main factory, which covers an area of ​​about 60,000 square meters. It currently has 3 kilns, 5 glazing lines, a daily production capacity of about 18,000 square meters per day, and 5 presses of different types. The factory has a high degree of automation and control. The total number of employees in the group's three factories and five brands is only 486, including 8 regional managers in China.

Compared with domestic factories, ROMANI’s factories do have more advantages. Whether it is energy conservation and environmental protection or automation and strict control.

First of all, the factory building adopts a large-scale natural lighting design, which is quite representative in terms of environmental protection and energy saving. In addition to the electricity used for production, all the electricity used for living and working in the office is solved by solar power generation, which can be said to be quite energy-saving.

Secondly, the factory has a high degree of automation. The author and his party did not see many workers in the production workshop, and the production lines were all proceeding in an orderly manner. Huang Yuehong introduced, "Production has been fully automated from raw material storage to production scheduling to kilns and subsequent processing and testing and packaging. The raw material workshop has its own control room, and digital control is implemented in the control room, which can implementUnderstand the current raw material production status at all times, such as: how much material is being milled, how much is being homogenized, how much slurry is in the underground slurry tank, etc. The whole production line of ceramic tiles is also arranged in an orderly manner. What model and brand of ceramic tiles are produced today and how many cubic meters are produced, how many are tomorrow, and how many are the day after tomorrow are all clearly visible on the electronic display. ”

▲ROMANI GROUP COMPANY FACTORY< /p>

The automated inspection and sorting system and packaging system are also fully implemented in the factory. The automated sorting system can very conveniently detect the surface texture, color, flatness, size, etc. of ceramic tile products. Any defective products found will be automatically sorted out on subsequent lines. After sorting is completed, automatic packaging, automatic palletizing, and final stacking are completed automatically in one line.

It is reported that the factory is currently renovating the No. 3 kiln. The kiln will be an intelligent kiln. After the renovation is completed, it will achieve comprehensive temperature control and intelligent management and control of the firing environment. The kiln has Learning ability, it can automatically adjust its own fuel volume and burning environment in real time according to specific conditions. "I think that the current automated production technology in Italy is very mature, so the future development of ceramic tile production technology will be more towards functional technology." Huang Yuehong said.

Third, the factory’s planning and control are relatively strict. The author understands that the factory's general production schedule is to arrange daily work in detail for more than a month. If there are special circumstances that need to be adjusted in the middle, just make an intervention adjustment. Sunday is a public holiday for Italian workers and they do not go to work. All subsequent processing processes such as the glazing line will be stopped, leaving the kiln to continue operating. The kiln is firing the green products that were planned and stored before firing.

In addition to automation systems and planning systemsIn addition to production scheduling control, ROMANI is also very strict in overall control of the production system. For example, the planned production schedule and planned collection of raw materials are subject to strict planning control, and the stockpiles of raw materials are usually purchased on demand.

In order to strictly control product quality, two sets of testing systems are implemented in the ROMANI factory. One is the testing system responsible for the production department. Under this system, comprehensive control of the produced products is achieved; the other is controlled by the sales department. A well-controlled random inspection system ensures checks and balances between inspection systems to ultimately control product quality.

VERSACE Tiles

Inheriting classics and crossing boundaries with creativity

VERSACE brand entered the Chinese market in 1997, and its clothing brand is widely recognized by the Chinese people. At the VERSACE ceramic tile headquarters, its Asia marketing director GIANFRANCO ROSI accepted an interview with the inspection team.

▲The inspection team visited the VERSACE ceramic tile headquarters

“We are very happy that the brand has been widely loved by Chinese consumers in recent years. As a luxury clothing brand, its crossover in the ceramic tile industry is itself a pioneering work. Although many luxury brands have tried to cross-border Development, but so far, our brand is the only one that has crossed over into the ceramic tile industry and developed very well. Our brand has not only crossed over into ceramic tiles, but also into many fields. Just look at the display space you see now. Almost all the items inside are Versace products, such as sofas, lamps, ceramic cups, ceramic tiles, etc. "GIANFRANCO ROSI said that the reason why they can produce this cross-border ceramic tile product is mainly because of its cross-border innovation. Determined by genes and cultural heritage. In this regard, GIANFRANCOROSI made four explanations.

First of all, this kind of cross-border production of other products by luxury clothing brands is a pioneering behavior. It is an innovative behavior in itself and has its advantages and leadership.

At the same time, the brand’s years of market development have given it wide recognition among consumer groups. Coupled with the brand’s own classic and iconic texture applications and color matching, it also conveys the brand’s own taste and recognition all the time. Knowledge. This transmission and inheritance always influence and strengthen each other.

▲The inspection team visited the VERSACE ceramic tile headquarters

“Although the product is crossing borders, the brand culture and connotation it carries are always the same. For example, the combination of black and gold tones, the application of back-shaped textures, the Queen Medusa avatar logo, etc. This type of product is identifiable. The high-quality brand output is also reflected in the ceramic tiles, and consumers can recognize it at a glance.” GIANFRANCO ROSI said that the product designers and factories of ceramic tiles will fully communicate with the fashion designers of the brand headquarters in the early stage of the development of each product. Promote the understanding and application of the popular elements of the current season's brands, thereby maintaining the unified transmission and communication of the brand's tone.

Third, VERSACE tiles also have their own historical inheritance advantages in Italy, a country with a long history of architectural craftsmanship. For example, in ancient Rome, people knew how to carve marble into building bricks. The history of this aesthetic and handicraft made Italians always know how to achieve it, and their understanding was higher.

Fourth, Chinese consumers’ understanding of the VERSACE brand culture is much higher than that of consumers in other countries. “We also have a particularly good partner in the Chinese market—East Railway Group Hangzhou Giovanni Economic and Trade Co., Ltd., both in terms of human, financial and material resources, it is rare that East Rail Giovanni has great enthusiasm for brand promotion, "GIANFRANCO ROSI said, therefore, for the Chinese market of VERSACE ceramic tiles.They are extremely confident about the future.

Regarding the brand’s future plans for the Chinese market, GIANFRANCO ROSI said, “We will pay close attention to consumer market changes and make timely adjustments in response, hoping to use more good products to meet the needs of consumers in the Chinese market.< /p>

Little Thoughts: The Greatest Path to Simplicity, the Unity of Knowledge and Action

Although the inspection was in Italy, after this round of visits, the author remembered Wang Yangming's "unity of knowledge and action", and even more reminded of the essence of Taoist culture: "Tao to simplicity."

How to say? In fact, looking back at the interviews with these companies, it is not difficult to find that whether it is the modern production technology of the ROMANI factory or its strict quality control; or the DNA inheritance of VERSACE ceramic tiles and the insistence on the output of a unified brand tone, they are fundamentally different. There are not many principles or techniques that Chinese people don’t know – it’s the so-called simplicity.

Just imagine, what is the basis of ROMANI’s series of modern technologies? Isn’t it okay to introduce this entire set of automation technologies into China? Nowadays, exchanges between China and foreign countries are so frequent and world trade is so developed. Is it difficult to buy a piece of technical equipment? Apparently not difficult. However, why are there still many domestic enterprises and factories that are unsatisfactory?

Obviously not, it’s just that knowledge and action are inconsistent. It’s just that the habits of workers and all managers don’t really want to change. It is easy for you to introduce a set of equipment, but it is difficult for everyone to strictly abide by the planned production schedule and the rules of equipment use and operation. It’s not that domestic companies don’t know, it’s that they haven’t done it.

Let’s take another look at the inheritance and innovation of the VERSACE ceramic tile brand. Don’t Chinese people know how to build a brand? Don’t you know that a century-old enterprise relies on inheritance? Apparently not. So, here’s another one: It’s not that I don’t know, I just don’t do it.

02. DesignInsights and thoughts about the company Tecnografica and Origostyle

Keywords: materials, creative design, technology, system , Materials

Whether in Tecnografica or Origostyle, what the author and his team saw did not look like a design company. If they had not made an appointment with the design company in advance, they would have mistakenly thought that they were walking into a small material processing company. Factory or material display company.

Large library of natural materials

The two design companies inspected this time have their own large material display areas. In this area, the company's professional team is responsible for material collection, spending a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to collect hundreds of thousands of materials from all over the world. A material that contains a variety of original materials. There are natural stones, artificial masonry materials, natural wood, and even some mottled murals on the walls. It can be said to be all-encompassing.

This includes masonry from the walls of a French castle, bluestone slabs from a small town in Spain, wood taken from an old building in a corner of Switzerland, and dilapidated bricks with murals from the inner walls of medieval churches. Stones... some are pure natural stones, mixed with traces of human carvings; some are bricks and tiles made by humans, which have retained the breath of time after being washed away by the years; after they are simply classified and partitioned, they lie quietly in the design company In the huge material library, there is a quiet and peaceful atmosphere - waiting for the designer to awaken their second life.

▲Tecnografica Company

Paolo Lambertim, the owner of Tecnografica, was wearing a mottled wall stone and proudly told the author: "This is a natural material we specially brought back from India, and we also have materials found from China." Between words , full of pride in these materials.

Rubes Corradini, the person in charge of Origostyle, couldn’t put it down for some of the stones he bought from a French castle. His eyes were particularly bright when he looked at the stones. When he introduced those “treasures” to the author and his party, he was full of passion for his career. and love, "Every two months or so, these materials will be updated and supplemented. Therefore, the work of collecting materials is also very busy, and is carried out by dedicated personnel. I am also responsible for part of it. There are many here that we personally drove to pull back. ."

Regarding how to collect these materials, Rubes said that he mainly learned from various channels where there are some special materials, and then went on field trips to collect them and bring them back if appropriate.

Research on professional presentation technology

In addition to the large, classified material display area, a particularly important area is the design company's various experimental production lines and equipment areas similar to small factories. Digital engraving machines, inkjet machines, high-definition scanning equipment, photography areas, various manual manufacturing links, texture areas for various materials, etc.

▲Tecnografica company

At Tecnografica, Paolo Lambertim’s introduction was very informative. In the hand-made area, he stopped to let us carefully observe the hand-made pattern making process of the two designers. "She needs to find a way to bring out the layering and texture of this old wood. Therefore, the material needs to be sanded, scraped and painted. This takes time to do slowly." Paolo pointed to a female craftsman at work. The designer introduced, "There are many handmade designers like us. In our company, there are more than 80 designers in charge of design, half of whom are responsible for graphic design of patterns, and the other half He is responsible for finding ways to perfectly present the designed patterns on different materials using various techniques.”

Design is a technology and a system, not just graphic creativity

Paolo emphasized in an interview with the author and his party: "As a designer, the inspiration and imagination of the design are of course very important, but the decorative texture of the design must take into account the possibility of its realization in materials. We are a design company As a technology company, our design is not as simple as imagined, it requires very professional technology.” From the beginning of the interview, Paolo emphasized the word “technology” when introducing his company. I didn't understand it at first, but after visiting the various production experimental areas presented by the company, seeing the operation sites of various equipment, and seeing the busy work of designers dressed in technician uniforms, I understood. The author also saw from the business card of Tecnografica Design&Technology Company and the picture album that is uniformly delivered to the outside world that the two words design&technology (design and technology) have always appeared in a prominent position, which reflects the importance that this design company attaches to technology.

▲Origostyle Company

Coincidentally, at Origostyle, interviewee Rubes Corradini holds the same view. He emphasized in an interview: "Design should not be separated from materials and technology. They should be a system and closely related to each other." For the understanding of design, he believes that it must be: from the collection of original materials and the flash of inspiration. , to creative thinking and repeated adjustments and polishing, until the product is finally presented based on technology and different materials. This is an entire inseparable system and should not be separated. If any link is missing or the connection is not tight enough, will affect the final product.

The last part of the visit to the design company that the author and his party were arranged to attend was the graphic designer part. The two design companies coincidentally adopted the same visiting sequence. Perhaps, this sequence was accidental. However, compared with domestic design companies, the difference in their systematic understanding and execution of design is worth pondering.

Thinking: The reason why Italian design is great is inseparable from its systematic design thinking

There is an old saying: It is difficult to paint the skin of a tiger but its bones; people today have a saying: There are thousands of good-looking faces, but there is only one interesting soul. This shows that whether it is a person or an object, the importance of its charm and soul is self-evident. This kind of soul attached to the object is the most special existence in the world, and it is the key to determining the essence and characteristics of a thing. point. Therefore, the human soul is more important than the skin, and the inner content of things is more important than the carrier.

The key to why Italian ceramic tiles have charm, durability and aura lies not only in the quality of the hardware of the tiles themselves, but also in the temperament and charm they convey when attached to the tiles - like Possessing the soul of life, it exhales its own breath, shows its own personality, and conveys the designer's experience in the first few months or even years of creating it on every brick that is carefully designed and manufactured.The emotions and attitudes that rub shoulders with each other and are entangled with each other.

Observe carefully and appreciate a good product. The size of its bricks, the color of the surface, the depth of the texture, the thickness of the lines, and the roughness of the touch all convey something that seems to be absent. Fresh breath. In these textures, traces of time are locked, quiet time is precipitated, vivid memories are salvaged, or special emotions are sealed in dust... In short, the excellent Italian ceramic tiles are finally presented to you. Products are like living things, they have their own unique soul and charm.

So, what gives Italian tiles their soul?

Starting around 1984, China's building ceramics industry has developed to the present day and has become the largest in the world in terms of scale. It also occupies a position that cannot be ignored in terms of hardware production technology and other hardware aspects. But why do domestic ceramic tile products still fail to lead the world? Tile trend? Even though the ceramic industry exhibition held every year in Guangzhou, China has already become the largest ceramic equipment technology exhibition in Asia and even the world, why do Chinese people still make a "pilgrimage" to the Bologna exhibition in Italy year after year? Do you still regard the Bologna Exhibition as the vane for the world's ceramic tile fashion trends, the latest technology and product design?

What the author and his team have seen and heard above may be able to inspire your thinking. Perhaps, this secret is hidden in the long process of material collection of the design company, hidden in its massive material library, hidden in the days and nights when designers create works, and hidden in the design company's powerful systematic thinking system! If some designs create bodies, then their designs nurture souls.

03. Interviews and thoughts with material and equipment suppliers

Keywords: professional, leading, comprehensive, cosmopolitan

2 days trip inIt seemed too rushed for an interview in a foreign country. In particular, local companies are also rushing to set up their exhibitions before the exhibition and receive customers from all over the world who come here for inspection. Therefore, during our in-depth factory interviews, we could only selectively interview SITI B&T Group, a company with a full line of production equipment, and COLOROBBIA, a well-known glaze and ink company. Even so, a glimpse of the whole thing reveals a small part of the phenomenon presented by these two companies, which may inspire some thinking.

For most ceramic people in China, SITI B&T’s inkjet equipment and COLOROBBIA’s inks are familiar. In particular, between 2009 and 2015, with the explosive development of ceramic inkjet technology in China's ceramic field, a large number of Italian and Spanish ceramic inkjet equipment and ink companies were widely recognized in the industry. The two interviewed companies are also more widely recognized at this stage, although their layout in the Chinese market was much earlier than this year, and their product lines are far more than just inkjet technology products.

SITI B&T

Arrived in the Chinese market in 1989 and witnessed the leapfrog development of Chinese technology

For people in the Chinese ceramic industry, System and Sacmi are considered the two largest brands in the Italian equipment industry. In comparison, SITI B&T seems to be less famous. The author learned from interviews that in the local Italian and even European markets, the popularity of this brand is no less than that of the above two equipment companies, especially in terms of the leadership of new technologies and the completeness of production line products. Juan Antonio Cavilla, the relevant person in charge of the company, revealed in an interview with the author: The company's production equipment products are truly full-line equipment, from source raw material equipment to kiln equipment to post-kiln engineering and final packaging equipment. Products are sold all over the world. As early as 1989, a piece of raw material equipment was sold to a factory in Gaoming, Foshan. Since then, it has successively interacted with the Chinese market to varying degrees. Today, it not only sells equipment in China, but also has a kiln manufacturing factory in Gaoming, Foshan, China.

  Regarding the Chinese market, Juan Antonio Cavilla said that SITI B&T can almost be said to have witnessed the rapid development of equipment technology in this market. "We have more than 2,000 customers in China. In the 30 years from 1989 to 2019, China's equipment technology development has been a leap-forward development. The development has changed with each passing day and achieved rapid growth." He said that in the early days of China, The equipment market is relatively backward and the equipment is extensive. However, as the architectural ceramics market matures, equipment technology is catching up by leaps and bounds. On the one hand, it greatly accommodates the entry of overseas imported equipment. On the other hand, local equipment companies grow rapidly, eventually forming the local forces. This growth rate is astonishing. "Currently, the kilns produced by B&T's kiln production base in China are also sold in China and around the world. This has created a certain scale effect."

▲SITI B&T Company

Juan Antonio Cavilla revealed that there is a big gap between the Chinese and Italian markets. Although they are relatively close to each other in terms of equipment technology and production technology, there are big differences in specific production management and production method requirements, such as scale differences. For example, there are certain differences in the degree of automation, environmental protection requirements, standardization of raw materials, etc. But this difference has gradually narrowed over the years. During the interview, Juan Antonio Cavilla particularly emphasized one point: "Italy pays more attention to improving the details of products. Each company is trying its best to make products that are different from others and that others cannot copy." He further elaborated that although China The market competition between China and Italy is becoming increasingly fierce, but when it comes to insisting on differentiation, Italian companies seem to be more stubborn, which is also their characteristic.

Regarding the future direction of equipment technology improvement, Juan Antonio Cavilla said: The focus will be on ceramic large platesIn the direction of production technology, and at the same time, in the direction of outstanding improvements in detail and personalization, we are trying to find ways to achieve details at some existing technical levels. For example, the surface of wood grain tiles shows more superposition effects, further highlights the details of the simulation of marble patterns, and achieves breakthroughs in the mixing and superposition of some creative textures, etc. In short, these technologies will not only be breakthroughs in glaze or ink materials, but also improvements in process technology.

At the end of the interview, Juan Antonio Cavilla gave a high evaluation of the development speed and current situation of China's equipment technology. He believed that China has a promising future.

COLOROBBIA new product

Fully polished dry granules, digital spray glaze, dry material suitable for large boards

Due to time issues, COLOROBBIA’s interview was actually a visit. Tian Xiaoqian, China regional R&D and new business development director, Yao Qin, design director, and Silvano Chinodi, Italian engineer, received the inspection team.

For the Chinese market, Silvano Chinodi said that Chinese people also particularly like double-sided products, and many manufacturers use larger amounts of glazes to produce glossy ceramic tile products. COLOROBBIA's products have good performance in terms of wear resistance and anti-skid, and meet market demand.

Tian Xiaoqian introduced that the latest cutting-edge product of COLOROBBIA is digital glaze, which is also known as water-based ink in China. This ink is printed through full digital printing and can be printed on the surface of ceramic tiles without any abrasive tools. Create the desired bump and precise texture to match the bump. Due to the difficulty in controlling the thickness of water-based ink and physical properties, many technologies cannot achieve this stacking effect, so it is a world-class cutting-edge technology.

▲COLOROBBIA Company

In the display area, the author saw a black and white striped concave and convex tile product. The concave and convex effect on the product is outstanding and the touch is very obvious. The black texture and white lines accurately match the concave and convex, and the boundaries of different colors are clear and unfuzzy. . "The glaze spray volume of this product starts from 200 mg, which is considered the cutting-edge technology in the inkjet industry."

It is reported that among the newly launched products of COLOROBBIA, there are many popular effect inks, such as white ink, dry granule, peeling ink, etc. used in marble patterns. Another dry product that is particularly suitable for thin ceramic large plates, it can greatly reduce the moisture content in the production process, making the green body more stable and energy-saving during the product production process. In addition, a dry granular polished glaze product is also its flagship product. It has better flatness and higher transparency, which is suitable for the needs of the Chinese market.

The author learned at the visit site that after the author, a Chinese ceramic industry inspection team of 30 people will arrive at COLOROBBIA for inspection and visit. This team is a well-known domestic ceramic tile company that organizes its group company executives and dealers to participate. It is said that they come to the Bologna exhibition every year and will definitely come to Modena to visit the factory, and COLOROBBIA is one of the must-have project destinations in their itinerary.

Thinking: The Chinese market is a market that cannot be ignored in the development of Italian raw material equipment

Although the inspection trip was rushed and only a glimpse, the author saw that these Italian companies undoubtedly attach great importance to the Chinese market.

Whether it’s B&T’s Gaoming factory, COLOROBBIA’s Jiangsu factory, or a large group of Chinese customer groups visiting and inspecting.On the one hand, we have seen the importance that well-known Italian advanced equipment and raw material companies attach to the Chinese market, and on the other hand, we have also seen the dependence of the Chinese market on them.

During the interview, the author tried to deliberately mention that he wanted them to see the shortcomings of the Chinese market from their own perspective, but what pleased the author was that, without exception, these companies were full of awe for the Chinese market. . The author did not just join the ceramic industry media today. I remember that when I first entered the industry in 2009, I interviewed many Italian and Spanish companies that produced inkjet equipment. At that time, their views on the Chinese market and Chinese equipment technology were obviously much better. Very disdainful. Now, ten years later, raw material and equipment manufacturers who made a special trip to Italy asked similar questions to Italians. Their answers have changed significantly from tone to perspective.

Perhaps, there is an Italian ceramic key here - adapting to market changes and paying attention to the Chinese market is also one of the keys to its development.

Being in a foreign country and in a hurry, although the investigation could not be really in-depth, it was not just a superficial taste. Next, the China Ceramics Network investigation team will continue to dig and think deeply, and will bring more manuscript information and inspiring thoughts to everyone. Please stay tuned for follow-up reports.