Brick Manufacturers: How We are Bricks Made?

All over the world, millions of bricks are manufactured for construction projects, engineering projects and plenty of other purposes. Although the basic principles of manufacture are fairly uniform, individual manufacturing plants tailor their production to fit their particular raw materials and operation. Essentially, brick are produced by mixing ground clay with water, forming the clay into the desired shape, and drying and firing. In ancient times, all molding was performed by hand. However, since the invention of brick-making machines during the latter part of the 19th century, the majority of brick produced in the United States have been machine made. The manufacturing process has six general phases: 1) mining and storage of raw materials, 2) preparing raw materials, 3) forming the brick, 4) drying, 5) firing and cooling and 6) de-hacking and storing finished products (see Figure 1).

All over the world, millions of bricks are manufactured for construction projects, engineering projects and plenty of other purposes. Although the basic principles of manufacture are fairly uniform, individual manufacturing plants tailor their production to fit their particular raw materials and operation. Essentially, brick are produced by mixing ground clay with water, forming the clay into the desired shape, and drying and firing. In ancient times, all molding was performed by hand. However, since the invention of brick-making machines during the latter part of the 19th century, the majority of brick produced in the United States have been machine made. The manufacturing process has six general phases: 1) mining and storage of raw materials, 2) preparing raw materials, 3) forming the brick, 4) drying, 5) firing and cooling and 6) de-hacking and storing finished products (see Figure 1).