Unifying criteria for MCR tile production
The brand “techofacil”
was launched in the international environment with an analytical
workshop about the situation of production of quality Micro Concrete
Roofing tiles. Parameters where set for quality, production procedures
and application of MCR. A team of instructors and controllers of
quality who will oversee the faithful compliance were capacitated as
well.
The EcoSur Network knows of the existence of some 650 workshops producing MCR in Latin America, and estimates that at least another 200 more exist, especially in Asia and Africa. The Network maintains contacts with producers in Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Cameroon, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Tajikistan. It is known that many of them produce high quality tiles and roofs, but it is also known that some do not fulfill the quality standards because of lacking knowledge or negligence.
The Network itself cannot be guarantor for compliance of all those who use the technologies and information that is provided, but it recognizes its obligation to share and spread all information that can be useful to producers and users. To comply with this task it is necessary to unify criteria among those who know most about the technology, something that is done periodically.
In June an analytical workshop was organized in which the principal instructors of the technology participated, held at the teaching workshop of Diriamba, Nicaragua. During ten days all steps that have to do with production and use of MCR where discussed, such as the different ways to determine the optimal granular relationship, or different point of views of ways of production. Part of the workshop also got the participants up on the roofs with the carpenters. Exchange of experiences and discussions carried over into lunch period and evening get togethers.
While it must be said that no absolutely new procedures surfaced, there was a strengthening and consolidation of the existing well known rules, but with some new aspects. The intense discussions between Orlando Espinosa who has produced tiles in a variety of countries (among others Mozambique, Vietnam, Tajikistan, Indonesia) and Diego Coloma, prominent producer from Ecuador, endowed a special profundity to all the decisions.
The brand techofacil begins its market in Ecuador, Nicaragua and El Salvador with producers that have taken it upon themselves to fulfill in a totality all the quality norms. Publicity is centralized through the webpage www.techofacil.com and in each country there is a coordination point that oversees the compliance of the norms. The tiles that are sold under the techofacil brand fulfill all known national norms its their important aspects (resistance, impermeability), specifically with the important norms of the European Union, United States and South Africa.
The brand techofacil was registered in Ecuador several years ago and, thanks to international agreements, is protected in several countries of America. In Nicaragua and El Salvador it is being registered and will operate under a license. The “quality control” of the EcoSur Network was revised and adapted by the participants of the workshop and is the instrument of verification for the licensed producers.
