METROBRICK – About Thin Brick

In September of 2019, Ironrock produced its first thin brick order using its new state of the art edge grinding equipment. The new equipment ensures all manufactured bricks conform to the tight dimensional tolerances required by the Precast Concrete Institute (PCI) Standard for Thin Brick embedded in concrete.

“We see our new edge grinder as a competitive advantage,” says Guy Renkert, Ironrock’s President & CEO and the fifth generation of the Renkert family to run the company. “While our size control has always been the best in the industry, being able to rectify oversized pieces helps improve efficiencies and shorten lead times because scrap and reruns are all but eliminated. We are very excited to have the new equipment up and running. Our precast and tilt-wall customers will see that our new ground edge bricks have tighter size control and fit even better in your formliner than before. This means faster setting, fewer eyebrows or cocked brick and less leakage for faster cleanup, which saves you money.”

Ironrock is a fifth generation, 150+-year-old producer of quality ceramic tile and thin brick under the brand names of Metropolitan Ceramics, Royal Thin Brick, and METROBRICK. The company’s manufacturing operations are based in Canton, Ohio, with close access to raw materials and clean-burning natural gas. For more information about Ironrock’s thin brick products, visit www.ironrock.com.

Here is a simple comparison between full bed brick and thin brick. This infographic was created to show potential energy and resource savings when using a wall system that includes thin brick.

This information does not contain all of the factors that come into play when comparing the complete full and thin brick wall systems. Instead, this is designed as a visual representation to show some inherent advantages in using thin brick.

80% of full brick is never seen. Thin brick allows for more building
options like added insulation and more interior space.

Are you losing energy through your walls? METROBRICK® walls
allow for continuous insulation and create lower utility bills.

Images provided by Thermomass Insulation Systems.

METROBRICK® requires 8 fewer semi trucks to deliver 25,000
sq. ft. of modular surface coverage as compared to full brick.

To fire 700,000 pieces, METROBRICK® uses nearly 1/5 the amount
of natural gas than the same surface coverage of full brick.

METROBRICK® uses 1/5 the amount of material needed to
manufacture the same surface coverage as full brick.

http://metrothinbrick.com/environment/

This year is a special one for METROBRICK’s parent company Ironrock. This year – 2016 – marks the anniversary of 150 years of high-quality brick and tile manufacturing.

In 1866, Jacob Renkert, the company’s founder, began his career in brick manufacturing. Today, Ironrock remains a fifth generation family owned company located in Canton, Ohio. The company is now under the direction of Guy Renkert, President, and CEO.

As is likely to happen in a span of time that includes two world wars and a great depression, the product focus has changed over the years to meet the demands of the day. For example, Jacob Renkert began his career making fire brick for the iron industry. By 1889, he turned his attention to making paving bricks for an ever expanding roadway system. At one time, the Metropolitan Paving Brick Company was the largest road paving brick manufacturer in the world. The company’s heritage also includes the production of structural glazed facing tile and refractory brick.

In the 1970’s the company saw the need for a durable slip resisting tile product for demanding applications and began to focus on the production of extruded quarry tile. Today Ironrock is well known, under the Metropolitan Ceramics® brand, as the largest quarry tile manufacturer in the United States. It was also at this time that the company began its first inroads into manufacturing thin brick with the development of a thin brick panel system that may have been a bit ahead of its time.

With the introduction of METROBRICK® in 2002, Ironrock built on its heritage and returned to the production of thin brick. This time, Ironrock found the market ready for thin brick solutions. Back when Ironrock entered into quarry tile manufacturing they did so with a brand new production facility, one that was designed to extrude and fire thin material. Having a plant that was designed to extrude thin was a great advantage in manufacturing thin brick.

The system was already in place to give the market the type of thin brick it required, one that was consistent, durable, and dependable. Today, METROBRICK® is specified on buildings throughout the country. And METROBRICK® continues to add to its product offering with additional colors and finishes. The most recent examples are a charcoal color and a vertical wire cut finish available in modular size on both flats and corners.

Ironrock is able to celebrate 150 years in brick and tile manufacturing because of a commitment to doing things the right way combined with a willingness to adapt to the needs of a changing market. METROBRICK® is the culmination of those years of experience and dedication.

One visible example of Ironrock’s commitment has been the addition of automation and robotics over the last number of years at key intervals throughout the production process. And as a visible way to pay homage to generations of family leadership over the years, the company has taken to naming various robots on the production floor after key figures. Names such as Hal, Steve, Harry, Amy, and, of course, Jacob can be seen in bold block letters on various robotic arms. Ironrock continues to provide quality products like METROBRICK® because of this commitment to look forward while still honoring the past.