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Historical Background on Bricks and Brickmaking- IV
However, this happy state of affairs was not to continue forever! Owners of brickworks began to feel uneasy about the growing popularity of concrete (which up to this time had been used mainly as flooring material). Its potential as a more flexible material, both in terms of time and cost, than brick was realized by the construction industry and thus bricks became displaced by it.
Other factors were, paradoxically, over-production of bricks due to fierce competition in the industry. This led to a dramatic fall in prices, and consequently a great loss in profits, as supply exceeded demand. Gradually, many hundreds of the smaller brickworks fell victim to this boom and bust economy and, after first laying off men for long periods of time, they were forced into closure. Larger works held out for some years after, but with competition as it was, they had to either amalgamate or close altogether. The surviving works were then concentrated into a few areas, which could now produce all the bricks the country might require, if the industry was not to disappear altogether.
Of the many hundreds of brickworks that have ceased production, not a lot (if anything at all) remains to give us an insight into what actually went on there. An odd chimney, remains of an old kiln, bits of old buildings and possibly a flooded clay hole. Fortunately quite a lot of brick works stamped their name on a percentage of their products and, if you search carefully, you can quite often come across an unbroken brick with the name of the works stamped on it. Such a brick might be the only clue we have as to what was once a thriving industry and are all that now remains of many brick works long since gone. So it is still possible to trace this industry and each named brick will have its own story to tell.
In Zhengtai, our biggest success comes from the customers' success. We believe in providing not only the quality machine, but also to work closely with our customers from the beginning of their project to the end. For many years, Zhengtai has aimed to form a very helpful service team so that at anytime in anywhere our customers can benefit from it.
