The whole world realises that something must be done to reduce the environmental impact of the way we live today. Despite some dubious science attached to reduc-tion of our Carbon Footprint, it is still a fact that we are now quickly polluting our environment.
全球已经形成共识要降低我们现今的生活方式对环境的影响必须有所行动。尽管已经有一些还不成熟的科学方法被用于减少碳足迹，然而毋庸置疑的是我们现在还在迅速地污染着我们的生存环境。
The ceramic industry is a big user of energy and environmental resource throughout the manufactur-ing process, from extracting and shipping raw materials, through wa-ter pollution and a huge energy re-quirement for firing. Once the prod-uct is made there is additional cost for shipping. When manufacturing processes are not controlled the amount of waste products produced can be very significant.
陶瓷工业在整个生产过程中会消耗大量的能源和环境资源。这些能源与环境资源包括原材料的获取和运输，废水排放及烧制时所消耗的大量能源。成品一旦出来，还有运输成本。如厂家没有控制好生产过程，生产出来的次品率将会很高,从而导致生产成本高企。
In Europe it is accepted that re-ducing the environmental burden needs to be managed in such a way as to allow manufacturing to contin-ue but at the same time reducing waste to a minimum. This is done using many techniques which com-bined produce real saving to the en-vironment, real savings on cost and real increases in profits. Added to this the worlds biggest buyers also take corporate responsibility very seriously particularly when selecting suppliers and so those manufactur-ers who can formerly demonstrate their environmental credentials have a much higher success rate when it comes to sales
在欧洲，人们都普遍认同要以一种恰当的方式去减少生产对环境的影响。这种方式实现在生产持续的同时将污染最小化，这个方式结合了许多真正能减少环境污染、节约成本和提升利润的技术，从而在持续生产的同时把污染最小化。此外，世界上最大的买家们也认真地担起了相应的责任，他们倾向于选择那些更重视环保的供应商。
For many years the idea of lean manufacturing has been high on the agenda of the better European man-ufacturers. Some years ago Ceram (the British Ceramic Research Asso-ciation) conducted a study on the time taken from the date an order was placed on a factory to the time it was delivered and found that typi-cally the period was around 14 days. Of this 10 days were spent adding no value to the product. A lot of time was spent moving product from one part of a factory to anoth-er, searching and recovering ware boards and having the product standing waiting for the next pro-cess. Whilst it is not possible to re-duce the non-added value time by 100% reorganising the manufactur-ing process and utilising lean manu-facturing techniques led to a reduc-tion of 8 working days. This meant that individual products used over 50% less resource.
多年以来，优秀的欧洲企业都把高效生产作为他们工作日程里的首要任务。几年前，Ceram(英国陶瓷研究协会)对陶瓷工厂的备货生产时间———即从工厂接到订单之日起到交货的时间做了一个研究，发现这个过程所花费的时间通常为14天左右。而在这14天里，有10天的时间是花在没有对产品增值的环节上，大部分用在货物的挪移，翻找和修补产品托板及产品在下一道工序前的等候上。尽管不可能100%地减少花在无增值的工作上的时间，然而通过重新整组生产进程和利用高效生产技术，可将上述所花的时间减少8个工作日。这意味着生产单件产品少用了50%的资源!
The kiln is an obvious heavy user of energy and in many cases one of the biggest sources of pollu-tion in a ceramics factory. Whilst modern kilns use the most efficient insulation materials and burners many old kilns can also be made to use less energy. For example using a good insulation material can vastly reduce the wasted energy absorbed by a kiln car base.
窑炉需要使用大量的能源，在很多情况下，它是陶瓷工厂里最大的污染源。但即使是旧窑也能像现代的窑炉一样通过使用最有效的耐火材料和好的烧嘴来减少对能源的消耗。例如使用一些好的耐火材料就能大大地减少窑车底部对热能的吸收。
Having a good understanding of how “heat work” rather than temperature is a key indicator of how efficiently a kiln is firing is an essential skill for the kiln manager. Low cost pyrometric device is still one of the simplest and best ways to map out what is happening in a kiln. Efficient firing every time signifi-cantly reduces the energy used dur-ing the process and also vastly im-proves yields.
