The Fiorano production plant

The company's Fiorano plant has obtained EMAS environmental certification. This facility is located in the Fiorano Modenese industrial park, in the province of Modena, on Via Ferrari Carazzoli, and covers a total area of approximately 120,000 m². Industrial activities at this location, which was previously used for agriculture, began in 1962 with the production of ceramic tiles, and have continued up to the present.
Operations at the site are overseen by a Plant Director who reports directly to the company's Technical Department Manager. Approximately 260 people work at the Fiorano plant. The site has two advanced plant systems for the production of single-fired ceramic tiles, overseen by two production managers. The Plant Director, in addition to duties connected to this position, is also responsible for overseeing one of the two plant systems.
The plant has a modern system for producing ceramic tile bodies, which are used both on-site and at other facilities. This system uses the exhaust gases from a turbogas cogeneration unit. The cogeneration unit allows the plant to generate all of its own electric power from the combustion of methane gas, and is designed to produce enough electricity for all operations at the plant. This investment (which was planned and carried out as part of the environmental improvement program) has yielded both environmental and financial benefits. The residual thermal energy of these exhaust fumes can be used to dry the tile bodies, saving a considerable amount of the methane gas needed for this process. The environmental impact is primarily reduced by using a "clean fuel" like methane gas rather than the other types of fuel (such as petroleum derivatives) normally used in heating plants. The environmental benefits extend to the entire surrounding area:

Absence of pollutants such as sulfur compounds (SO2) ,

Approximately 400 kg of CO2 (carbon dioxide) saved with every MWh produced at the plant,

Reduced amounts of CO2 and NO2 as a result of using exhaust fumes from the turbine.

The production cycle is a complete one, made up of the following stages:

• receiving, processing of raw materials for the production of tile bodies
• storage and shipping of tile bodies to other production
• manufacture, packaging, storage, conservation, and shipping of ceramic tiles

The dimension of the plant permits continuous cycle production, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with two periods of downtime during the year. The organizational structure and plant design currently allow potential annual production of approximately 7,800,000 m² of tiles and approximately 300,000 tons of ceramic bodies.