When you visit a beautiful house or a corporate office, what grabs your attention first? In most cases, people are drawn to floor tiles because they occupy a significant amount of visual space. They don’t just look gorgeous, but they also withstand heavy foot traffic without cracking under pressure.
Although high-quality tiles can impress almost anyone, few wonder how such tiles are made. If you’re curious about how tiles are made, then this blog is for you. We’ve shared the complete process of how are tiles manufactured at Orientbell Tile’s biggest Sikandrabad factory for your reference. So, let’s begin by exploring the process shared below.
Step 1: Raw Material Mixing
It’s the first foundational step where raw materials are mixed to form a consistent slurry. The raw materials used at this stage depend on the type of tiles you’re manufacturing, but you’ll usually find clay, quartz, and additives being mixed initially. Here, every material has a crucial role.
For instance, clay provides plasticity, allowing the tiles to take on the desired shape. Similarly, quartz is added to benefit from its unique strength; it helps make tiles more durable. All these raw materials are blended with water to form a smooth slurry. Additives are mixed with water at this stage.
The mixture must be uniform because even slight variations can affect the tile’s strength, colour consistency, and performance.
Step 2: Spray Drying – Preparing the Perfect Powder
Once the slurry is ready, it’s passed through spray dryers to remove excess moisture. For those new to spray dryers, they are tall industrial chambers where hot air is passed to remove moisture.
In these chambers, the slurry is transformed into fine granules. Only 5% to 6% moisture content is left during spray drying. This moisture level is ideal because it’s dry enough to press firmly yet moist enough to bind under pressure. Spray drying ensures uniform particle size and density.
If you skip this step, tiles can easily crack, warp, and weaken during later steps. Those curious about how are ceramic tiles made, should follow this exact sequence, as it’s used to manufacture all types of tile, whether ceramic tiles or vitrified tiles.
Step 3: Shaping and Pressing – Forming the Tile
The powder prepared at step 2 is fed into hydraulic presses fitted with precision moulds. These presses use extremely high pressure to compress the powder into the desired tile size and thickness. This stage is very crucial because it determines the tile’s dimensions and structural integrity.
Modern presses apply consistent pressure across every tile, ensuring uniform density. If the pressure becomes uneven, then the tiles can develop weak spots or surface flaws. At this stage, tiles have taken shape, but they’re still fragile and contain residual moisture.
Step 4: Pre-Line Drying – Stabilising the Structure
If you’re particularly curious about how ceramic tiles are manufactured, then follow along. After step 3, the tiles undergo a controlled drying process. The pre-line drying phase removes any remaining moisture from the tiles in a balanced manner.
Pre-line drying is critical because moisture trapped inside the tile can expand rapidly during the firing stage, causing cracks. Hence, controlled drying is used to stabilise the structure and prepare it for the next step.
After controlled drying, tiles move to the glazing line. A glaze is a thin, glass-like coating applied to the surface. It serves multiple purposes, including providing colour & texture, improving stain resistance, and preparing the tile for design printing. This glaze is applied evenly to prevent surface defects and an inconsistent finish.
Step 6: Digital Design Pressing – Adding Aesthetic Identity
After the tiles are glazed, they move to the digital design printing line. Designs are printed directly onto the glazed surface of all tiles using specialised ceramic inks. This technology allows manufacturers to produce thousands of patterns, from marble and wood textures to abstract and geometric designs. Digital printing ensures clarity, depth, and realistic finishes.
After digital design printing, a transparent protective coating is applied over the design layer. This coating protects tiles from scratches, abrasion, and regular wear. The printed design can quickly fade from tile surfaces if this protective coating isn’t applied. This single step ensures that your tiles remain visually appealing for years.
Step 8: Kiln Firing – The Transformation Stage
The most crucial stage of tile manufacturing is firing. At this stage, tiles are placed in long industrial kilns where temperatures reach around 1200°C. Tiles remain inside for extended periods, allowing the intense heat treatment to eliminate all moisture. It even helps materials fuse, making the body dense and strong. After firing, tiles are left to cool down to prevent thermal shock.
Step 9: Quality Control, Sizing, and Polishing – The Last Steps
Once the floor and wall tiles are cooled, they undergo quality checks to ensure no tile has cracks, surface defects, colour inconsistencies, or other flaws. Even after all these steps, if some tiles require precision sizing, they’re passed to specialised cutting machines to achieve the precise dimensions.
Lastly, final polishing is applied to give the tile surface a smooth, shiny appearance. These tiles then undergo one last sorting and manual inspection process, after which they’re ready to be packed and shipped.
Conclusion
Tile manufacturing processes are interesting and quite layered. Once you understand the complete process, you’ll find it easier to realise why all quality tiles are both durable and visually pleasing. Since we’ve shared the exact process in this blog, you would have gained clarity on how are floor tiles made. If our process impressed you, you should explore our latest tile collection. We have the largest and most diverse tile range, which is difficult to find elsewhere.
Prerna Sharma boasts 12 years of comprehensive experience in content creation and marketing strategies. For the past two years, she has served as the Content Website Editor at Orientbell Tiles, where she has been instrumental in shaping engaging online narratives. Prerna's expertise has been honed through impactful roles at CyberMedia, HT Media, and NIIT University. She holds an MBA in International Business from Amity International Business School and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Asia Pacific Institute of Management.
600×1200 mm
When you visit a beautiful house or a corporate office, what grabs your attention first? In most cases, people are drawn to 
