Porcelanosa doubles its most automated plant and pushes large-format output to 2.4 million sqm
Tile Wars · companies · · Tile Wars Editorial
The Vila-real group adds a third pressing line and a second kiln to Plant 4, dedicated to XTONE and XLIGHT, in one of the most aggressive industrial bets in Spanish ceramics for large slabs.
Vila-real. Porcelanosa has completed the expansion of Plant 4, the facility it opened in 2023 with a 55-million-euro investment and which has become the centerpiece of its large-format porcelain strategy. With the new line already running, capacity jumps from 1.3 to 2.4 million square meters a year, doubling the volume available for the XTONE and XLIGHT brands.
The upgrade adds a third complete pressing and glazing line and a second kiln, mirroring the technology installed when the plant first started up. At the heart of the project is once again Sacmi Continua+ , the mould-less press technology behind the group's slabs of up to 320 × 160 cm.
More formats, thinner slabs, shorter lead times The new kiln unlocks two formats that were not part of Vila-real's industrial catalogue until now: 3 mm thickness , aimed at furniture and bespoke applications, and 160 × 160 cm floor tiles. They join the existing range of 6, 12, 20 and 30 mm thicknesses. Doubling output also means shorter delivery times on highly specified projects where speed matters as much as design.
Automation pushed to the edge Plant 4 now runs three pressing lines, two kilns and a raw materials management system with 40 silos , after adding 16 to the original 24. Polishing, grinding and reclassification machinery has been doubled, and the adjoining logistics centre grows to 8,000 sqm, taking the entire large-format complex past 48,000 operating sqm. Headcount rises by 50 to 175.
What it says about the sector The move lands at a time when Spanish ceramics is still adjusting capacity and fighting energy and CO₂ costs. Against that backdrop, Porcelanosa is doing the opposite of much of the cluster: concentrating investment in its newest, most automated and most efficient plant , and pointing it at the segment where margin is still defensible — large format, technical thicknesses and architecture and contract projects.
The picture is clear. While parts of the Castellón district live with ongoing adjustments and rolling layoffs, the Soriano and Colonques family group is reinforcing its XTONE and XLIGHT muscle with Italian technology from Sacmi, alongside 4,500 in-house solar panels (2.4 MWp), heat recovery from kilns, 100% water reuse and full recycling of process waste. It is the bet of a player convinced the next decade of porcelain will be won in large format, thin slabs and short lead times.