In 2014, Portugal-based tableware manufacturer Porcelanas da Costa Verde SA installed Sama’s “hybrid” technology for isostatic pressing of cup bodies and pressure casting of handles.

SGCDpro Washington Liaison Walt Sanders attended a December 2016 meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers’ Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Coalition. He assembled the following notes on the meeting.

For the purposes of this discussion, a “fast firing” is defined as a firing duration from ambient to ambient within 180 min or less. The primary benefits of implementing a fast-firing protocol include: significantly reducing energy consumption per payload, reduced scrap and re-fire, lowered labor costs, shorter production lead times, and more reliable product consistency.

This weekly roundup highlights the ceramic, glass, refractories, brick and related news stories that garnered the most attention during the previous week.

The staff of the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) will celebrate the first-ever National Tile Day on February 23, 2017, with a tour of Clemson University’s new 140,000-sq-ft Football Operations Building.

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 30 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations.

Net sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 were $2.2 billion, up 9% vs. the prior year’s fourth quarter.

Ceramic tile is the most frequently used floor covering.

The company recently eliminated its siloed business structure and centralized operations.

This is the highest annual rate since 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Census Bureau.