Technology is power

Expanding the range and sales markets, increasing labour productivity 4-fold: a new digital printing line is being tested at the Dobrush Porcelain Factory

The Dobrush Porcelain Factory is actively testing new equipment. The Spanish digital printing machine was purchased for more than 300,000 Euros. It is planned to pay off the investment in two and a half years. Competition made the company dare to make such a purchase. Porcelain in Belarus is made only at the Dobrush factory, but imported dishes are also brought there. However, ‘digital’ dishes enjoy the greatest popularity in foreign markets. It was impossible to lose such a niche in fashionable tableware trends. Now, Dobrush dishes with digital printing are bought in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, with an exclusive order for German buyers also being prepared.

‘Digital’ dishes enjoy the greatest popularity in foreign markets

Drawings on the plates are produced at high temperatures, so dishes can be safely put in dishwashers and microwave ovens. This opens the door to the restaurant business. Moreover, the printing machine can apply any pattern to the plates. For comparison: it is impossible to decorate the entire surface of the dish with a decal — a technology for applying an image to ceramic or glass items. The image, known as the ‘decal’, is transferred to the ceramics from the paper base, and then is fixed by high-temperature firing. Customers previously had to wait for such goods. Now it is simple to add the necessary print to the system and beautiful plates are soon moving along the conveyor belt. In an hour, 400 porcelain items are decorated on a digital printing line. Just one plate can also be created — according to an individual order.
The company’s product catalogue contains 5,000 items. Due to the new Spanish equipment, the range will expand, which will also affect profits. Last year, the plant sold $10m tableware while this year the figure will increase by another two million. The growth is also taking place thanks to the new digital printing technology.
Sales specialist Yekaterina Nester takes from the shelf the most interesting examples of such tableware, “This is the Sherwood collection. Look at the texture — if you touch it with your hand, it looks like the plate is made of wood.”
Up to 6,000 plates can be made per shift while the required labour resources have halved. The result is simple arithmetic: labour productivity has quadrupled thanks to the digital printing line.
There are three ways to produce tableware at a factory: moulding, casting and pressing.
“These are the cups with a name that makes you think about travel: Express. They are made by moulding,” says the foreman of the production site, Sergei Levkov.
“We take the mass, cut it on a plastic cutter, put it in a mould, then dry it at a temperature of 170 degrees. Then the cup goes to the adapter machine, where the edges are smoothed and the handle is attached,” adds the specialist. 

Spanish digital printing machine has great possibilities

One person makes cuts for 4,000 of these handles per shift. Then the cups are sent to the first and second firing. There is also an isostatic pressing section. The dishes are made here under high pressure. It is impossible to make cups on such equipment, but plates can be created almost of any shape and diameter. The maximum diameter is 30cm, this is for Italian pasta. Up to 400 plates come out of the press in an hour.
“There is a minimum of scrap due to the automation of the process, which reduces the cost price,” says Anna Falaleeva, head of the foundry, moulding and firing department, leading us through the isostatic pressing section.
Two more presses are planned to be purchased here next year.
The factory produces more than two million units every month, with 80 percent going for export, mostly to the Russian Federation. As far as the non-CIS states are concerned, these are Germany, France, and the Czech Republic. Applications come even from Switzerland and Finland.
New ideas that find their fans in different parts of the world are born in the artistic laboratory. All these are new samples of tableware. You won’t see them on store shelves yet. 

It is now possible to apply any pattern on plates

The Dobrush Porcelain Factory is currently preparing for the New Year. Everywhere you look, there are tigers: figurines with pensive eyes, glasses with brutal animal images, Christmas tree decorations and even an ascetic black-and-white print on plates and cups.
Yelena Kolesnikova has been working at the plant for 33 years. She is one of the six painters in the company and the most experienced of them all. Millions of plates and cups that people have bought over the years retain the warmth of her hands.
“There is little time left until the New Year, that’s why it’s so hot here, as thousands of souvenirs need to be painted. I paint about twenty tigers a day. Each one takes half an hour.”
No matter how the porcelain industry develops, hand-painted tableware will always be appreciated. That’s why the tableware sets decorated by painters are the most expensive. This is the brand of the factory. 



Tip
If you come to the store and do not know if the porcelain in front of you is real, shine a flashlight on the bottom of the plate or cup. If it shines through, it’s porcelain, if not — it’s like ceramics. You can also knock on the plate with a pencil: porcelain rings like crystal.

By Arina Yanova
Photos by Ivan Yarivanovich