EST.1927

From handicraft to state-of-the art technology

We have been producing tiles for three generations.

We started in 1927, in an entirely handicraft manner by

kneading and moulding clay manually, drying in the sun and

firing approximately fifty thousand tiles per year under the

open sky.

In the 40’s, already with the second generation, we started the

Company’s expansion and mechanisation with the

introduction of extrusion and pressing processes.

During the decade of the 60’s, we constructed a new factory,

the F1. Besides being equipped with more advanced systems,

it had a paste preparation, moulding, pressing, drying and

continuous firing line.

In 1980, with the collaboration of the third generation, we

began our investment in a second production line, the F2,

which is completely separate from the existing premises.

This new unit marked the start of automation at the Company

seeing as systems enabling the automatic loading and

unloading of tiles are assembled from the paste preparation

up to the exit of the tunnel kiln with one hundred meters in

length.

During the entire decade of the eighties, we researched

processes and developed systems that allowed us to optimise

the production of the F2 up to nineteen million tiles per year

and obtain the expertise to construct the F3 in 1991, a new

entirely automated factory.

We developed the concept of “ceramic roofing” at this unit,

since its production system is entirely adjusted not only to

manufacture tiles but also fittings.

At the same time, we assembled an engobing line, which

allowed us to be the first Portuguese company to launch tiles

with special surface treatment in the market.

At the end of the 90’s decade, we achieved a total production of

approximately thirty million pieces per year and we

continued to think of the future by setting up a new

preparation plant, immediately considered exemplary at a

European level. It has a production capacity of one hundred

and eighty thousand tones per year.

On the cover: Kiln car

On the left: Preparation plant, ensilaging of clays

Above: Artisan kiln in the 40’s

On the left: Preparation plant, roller

At the bottom: Clay silo

On the right: Clay shredder

For three generations, we have researched, invested in new

technological processes and improved the quality of our

products. We were the first company in our field to receive the

NP EN ISO 9001:2000 quality certificate.

In 2002, on completing 75 years of activity, we started a new

industrial unit.

By combining the expertise of a German company (the world

leader in the design of tiles and study of respective matrices)

to our long experience in tile manufacturing using state-of-

the-art technology in manufacturing, command and control

processes (which are totally computerised), as well as in

automation processes resorting to robotics, the new unit is

clearly innovative vis-à-vis the production systems in the

Iberian market.

We use plaster moulds (a procedure that involves great

technical sophistication only used in some top French and

German companies, but which permit the sizing of rips

otherwise impossible to achieve using traditional moulding

processes) as well as a perfect surface finish for the pieces.

This finish improves the final aspect of engobed tiles and

largely avoids the settling of dirt and moss in natural tiles.

We use the “hydrocasing” technique in firing, which besides

decreasing heat losses, ensures the perfect homogenisation

of temperature conditions in the entire kiln section.

We use individual horizontal H-shaped refractory supports,

which allows us to fire a tile at higher temperatures without

any deformations. This leads to much lower porosity and

therefore much greater resistance to aggressive atmospheric

agents.

At the beginning of the 21 century, we continue to produce

tiles with greater rigor, greater efficiency and greater quality.

On the left: Triple press

Above: Partial view of the new factory unit

At the centre: Plaster moulds

On the left/above: Kiln car

On the left/centre: Unload robot

On the left /below: Engobing lines

In the centre: Mini-pack

On the right: Partial view of the kiln

Above: Partial view of a clay pit

On the right: Gaseous effluent treatment filter

We concern ourselves with environmental quality

We intend to ensure the environmental quality bequeathed to

us by our ancestors for future generations.

For this reason, our concern for the preservation of the

environment is always present in all the production phases of

the Company.

We have our own clay pits with a clay reserve exceeding

twenty years of production, from which we extract almost all

the raw material we use by performing integrated work

contemplating extraction, ground replacement and

reforestation in order to reconstruct the pre-existing natural

landscape by eliminating the negative effects of the mining

operation.

We recycle all the by-products arising from the productive

process, regardless of whether these are raw wastes from

cutting or pressing operations or whether these are

breakages of already dry products.

We reuse the water employed in the production of matrices or

in the engobing lines and in humidifying pastes. This

substantially decreases the quantities required of water

intake.

In all the manufacturing phases, we give preference to

processes providing a decrease in energy consumption, in

particular, we use the “hydrocasing” system in firing, where

there is a prevalence of costs in the ceramics industry.

Presently, this guarantees the best energy efficiency in the

firing of tiles.

We filter and treat exhaust gases from the kiln chimney and

ensure a quality far above the levels authorised by the

environmental standards for pollution control. We produce

ceramic tiles, the only roof covering material that by

ensuring total sealing enables an exchange of humidity with

the exterior, favouring internal environmental comfort.

I2/05.04/CI

Albergaria

2480-071 Juncal

Portugal

Tel +351 244 479 200

Fax +351 244 479 201

www.coelhodasilva.pt

info@coelhodasilva.pt