Rectified Tile was first introduced in the early 1990’s.
In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Coverings, we sat down with Ceramic tile and stone writer, speaker, blogger, product designer and consultant Ryan Fasan to talk about how the tile and stone industry has changed since the show began in 1990. This week we are bringing you back at 1993.
The late 1980’s and early 1990’s was a time of several big tile innovations that revolutionized the industry in its modernization of techniques that had been used for centuries. As technical proficiency continued to grow, manufacturers turned their focus to finding solutions that would reduce costs and optimize the implementation of their new processes.
Fasan highlighted two key innovations that were especially influential in accomplishing that goal 1993. Closed-loop production diverted wasted water to settlement ponds in order to remove the sediments that contaminated it. This allowed both the liquids and the solids to be re-used and restored to the production stream. This process both not only conserved water, but kept costs down.  The second innovation was the  co-generation of electricity. Ball-mills, large mixers that are used in the first phase of raw material processing, were used to capture wasted energy to use as electricity to light offices and warehouses.
These advances lowered manufacturing costs and optimized the new innovations that were helping the tile industry to grow. In turn, this allowed manufacturers to produce larger tiles in larger quantities. In 1993, standard floor tiles went from 8×8” to 18×18” and standard wall tiles jumped from 8×8” to 12×18”, showing the immediate results of these innovations.
Look out for our next post in this series in February, as we jump forward to 1998.