Title of the talk: “Ceramic Odyssey- Tiles & Beyond”

Date: 13th, November 2014

As a part of the Platform Lecture Series being organised by the Sushant University, Mr. Abhishek Somany, Joint Managing Director of Somany Ceramics Ltd., delivered a talk on “Ceramic Odyssey – Tiles & Beyond” sharing his rich experience in the Ceramic Industry and International Marketing. The enlightening talk introduced to the audience not only some of the new age technology Somany has brought to the Indian market including Slip shields (patented), Germ free and Industrial tiles, but has also given an insight to the future of tile making. The introduction to evolution of Ceramic tile Industry through centuries from Mesopotamian civilization to the present day technology driven production enriched the audience with a less known story. Some of the ground breaking products under research or implementation across the world like tiles producing electricity using kinetic energy (walkers), solar tiles and active tiles (that expunge nitrogen from air improving oxygen content) amazed the audience.

The presentation summed up with the acknowledgement that ceramics are a part of our lives from being used in mobile phones to space shuttles, clearly indicating it being the preferred material in the future. Being in the tile industry for decades, tapping the potential of a material and introducing state of art technology in India, Somany Ceramics also gives back to the society through an active training effort under their CSR Programme. As a part of their ‘Tile Master Programme’, masons are professionally trained in state of the art workmanship for tile laying, equipping them to improve their productivity rate by 25% and reducing the wastage by 50%. The session concluded with an interactive dialogue between participants and Mr. Somany regarding various aspects of ceramic tiles from manufacturing, customisation, recycling, and innovation through exterior cladding use.