As a leading enterprise in China's building ceramics industry, General Ceramics Group has consistently ranked among the "World's Top 100 Ceramic and Bathroom Brands" and the "Global Top 30 Tile Brands" for many years. Recently, visiting General Ceramics Group's production base in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, we observed the following:

1. In 2021, the company took the lead in introducing two double-decker kilns, resulting in a significant decrease in unit energy consumption and a substantial increase in output per capita. The total number of production personnel for these two lines is less than 200.

2. The company has comprehensively implemented intelligent and digital transformation, enabling the traceability of each tile and allowing any quality fluctuation to be pinpointed to a specific stage.

3. The glaze line continuously integrates new equipment and technologies, compatible with all current mainstream processes, effectively handling "small batch, multi-variety" orders.

4. The company fully benchmarks against the 5A standard, introducing AI visual inspection equipment, spectrometers, etc., ensuring products exceed national standards before leaving the factory.

5. The company established a "Durability Technology R&D Center," focusing on "wear resistance, stain resistance, and aesthetic durability" to meet user expectations for product quality throughout its entire lifecycle.

By boldly investing in advanced intelligent manufacturing equipment, building a flexible innovation ecosystem, and reshaping quality trust with the 5A standard, General Ceramics Group is comprehensively enhancing its core competitiveness. These initiatives have not only opened new prospects for the company's development but also provided a high-quality model for industry transformation.

01 Bold Adoption of Advanced Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment: Reconstructing Production with Intelligence and Digitalization

The industry's pursuit for ceramic factories was once manifested in aspects like "high output, fast firing, and minimal product changeovers." However, General Ceramics Group's manufacturing upgrade has long surpassed this stage. The key lies in its courage to adopt technologically innovative equipment in crucial processes and connect all factory equipment through digital systems, building a "digital" factory, thereby establishing core advantages in efficiency and quality control.

A typical manifestation of this strategic layout is General's Zhaoqing base taking the lead in introducing two double-decker kilns for slab production in 2021. This is not merely an equipment update but a forward-looking exploration for quality enhancement. The double-decker kilns concentrate the capacity of four traditional production lines into two, meaning double the output with the same workforce and land footprint. The direct benefits are a significant reduction in unit energy consumption and a substantial increase in output per capita. It is reported that the total number of production personnel for the two double-decker kilns is currently less than 200, an extremely clear advantage compared to traditional production lines.

Hardware is the skeleton, but digitalization is the nervous system. Beyond substantial investment in production equipment, General Ceramics Group has also built a full-process data collection system covering everything from raw material feeding to finished product warehousing. This means that the raw material batch and glaze quality used for each tile become traceable. Tens of thousands of parameters, from press pressure and glaze line settings to kiln firing curves, are recorded in real-time. This brings two revolutionary changes: First, precise traceability. Any minor quality fluctuation can be pinpointed by the system to a specific stage, reducing traditional troubleshooting that took hours to mere seconds. Second, management leapfrog. The data platform streamlines report and statistical work that previously required multiple departments to just two or three people, upgrading management decisions from "experience-driven" to "data-driven."

Amid intensified industry consolidation in the building ceramics sector, General Ceramics Group's approach of reorganizing production through the integration of intelligence and digitalization has built a formidable moat in cost control and quality stability.

02 Leveraging Flexibility and Open Innovation to Jointly Navigate Market Shifts with Partners

As the primary purchasers of tiles shift from large-scale property developer procurement to end consumers, demand for small-batch, customized, and high-value-added products is increasingly strong. While most companies still grapple with the reduction of large orders, General Ceramics Group has adopted a different strategy: transforming the factory from a "standardized production line" into a "flexible innovation platform" and engaging in "open innovation" with supply chain partners to respond swiftly to market changes.

The "parallel line design" and "transfer system" in General's slab production workshop exemplify flexibility. Through flexible production line planning, products of different specifications and processes can be intelligently scheduled between the two lines. For instance, a product requiring special granular material can have the process applied at a specific glaze station on Line 2 and then be transferred to Line 1's kiln for firing. This production model effectively handles "small batch, multi-variety" orders.

Supporting this flexible production capability is General Ceramics Group's continuous innovation and upgrade of new processes and technologies. It is understood that the glaze lines in General's factory undergo technical upgrades annually based on process trends. They invest heavily in introducing equipment like Airpower glaze spray cabinets and positioned adhesive granule machines, aiming to create an "open testing ground" compatible with all current mainstream and cutting-edge processes.

Furthermore, General Ceramics Group maintains collaborative R&D with several top glaze companies in the industry, enabling rapid application of process innovations in products. In 2025, General Tiles launched the new "General Advanced Matte" series, incorporating processes such as velour glaze, reproduction glaze, and ultra-fine granules, all of which are the cream of the crop selected from thousands of trials. This open innovation ecosystem based on flexibility allows General Ceramics Group to respond quickly to market demands, maintaining a leading edge in market competition.

03 Reshaping Brand Trust with the 5A Standard: Proactively Embracing the Era of Quality Transparency

With consumption upgrades and information democratization, end-users' understanding of tiles is becoming increasingly sophisticated and professional. General Ceramics Group boldly confronts this trend towards quality transparency, viewing the new national standard "Quality Grading of Consumer Goods - Ceramic Tiles" (hereinafter referred to as the "5A standard"), formally implemented in December 2025, as a strategic opportunity to enhance brand trust.

As one of the first ceramic enterprises in the industry to pass the 5A-grade tile quality inspection, General Ceramics Group has unique insights into quality management. Long before the 5A standard was introduced, General Tiles proposed a new brand positioning: "Focus on durable technology, create durable tiles," concentrating on the three characteristics of "wear resistance, stain resistance, and aesthetic durability." This precisely addresses consumer concerns about the value of products throughout their entire lifecycle. To this end, General Ceramics Group also established a "Durability Technology R&D Center," shifting its R&D focus from "pattern design" to "full-cycle user experience," truly achieving a strategic leap from "selling a tile" to "delivering a life solution that stands the test of time."