A major manufacturer of ceramic tableware in South East Asia approached us on a recent visit to the country to discuss a major concern they had with the durability of some of their decals. They were questioning as to why some of their products started off as bright, shiny and colourful but finished off dull and white. Discussions took place looking at the production process and discussing their glaze and colour suppliers. From the information gathered a plan of action was put into place to take back to the factory. These recommendations were implemented by the factory concerned and duly retested to show a marked improvement in the durability resistance of the finished product. Although a small amount of time and expense was incurred to find the root cause of the problem the final benefits were more than beneficial to the manufacturer in ensuring continued quality of product and reduction in possible customer returns.

During a visit with a major importer of ceramic articles out of China we were shown a range of dual-coloured mugs which were either cracking when used or were cracking whilst sitting on the shops shelves. The importer was at lengths to ascertain the reasons for the high number of customer returns and subsequently asked us to investigate. Initial tests were carried out to check the thermal shock resistance (by boiling water method) of the product. These tests proved categorically that there was an inherent weakness within the product. Upon conversation with the importer and their subsequent conversation with the Asian manufacturer it became apparent that they were using different coloured glazes to achieve the desired effect. Thermal expansion tests on all the different coloured glazes and the ceramic body were carried out and showed too great a difference between them. If the manufacturer/importer had had the samples tested for thermal shock endurance prior to shipment this problem would have been highlighted earlier and saved on expensive costs of shipment, distribution and furthermore full product recall.