# Do the Morbi manual's daily output figures count boxes or square metres, and which should a unit use to work out gas per square metre?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/morbi-output-tables-boxes-square-metres-or-tonnes

The Morbi manual labels typical unit output as boxes a day, while the project report from the same study prints the same wall and floor numbers as square metres a day. For vitrified tile the two differ by exactly the 1.44 square metres in a box, so the manual's box label fits there.

## The same table in two reports

- Manual, table 3, headed Production (Boxes/day), small, medium and large unit: wall tile 2,500, 3,500 and 7,500; floor tile 3,000, 4,000 and 7,000; vitrified tile (medium and large only) 4,000 and 8,000; sanitary ware 300, 600 and 1,000.
- Polishing project report, table 1.3, headed Production (m2/day or MT/day), meaning square metres a day (m2) or tonnes a day (MT): wall tile 2,500, 3,500 and 7,500; floor tile 3,000, 4,000 and 7,000; vitrified tile 5,760 and 11,520; sanitary ware 4, 8 and 14, in tonnes.
- The report says sanitary ware output is measured in tonnes. The manual does not.

## Vitrified tile: the two reports agree

The manual says a vitrified tile box holds 4 tiles of 600 by 600 millimetres, 1.44 square metres. 4,000 boxes x 1.44 = 5,760 and 8,000 x 1.44 = 11,520, exactly the report's figures. The totals tie the same way: 12,000 boxes x 1.44 = 17,280 square metres. So for vitrified tile the manual's box label and the report's square metre label describe the same output.

## Wall and floor tile: same numbers, different labels

Here the numbers are identical, though the labels differ. A wall tile box is between 0.83 and 1.39 square metres, depending on size, so a box and a square metre are close but not equal. At least one label looks wrong for these two products, and I cannot tell which.

One clue is in the gas table. The manual's typical gas use per day is 2,500, 3,500 and 7,500 scm (standard cubic metres) for wall tile and 3,000, 4,000 and 7,000 for floor tile. Each is exactly 1.00 scm for every unit of output in the output table, in all six cells. Six measured plants would not land on exactly 1.00 six times. My reading is that one column was filled in from the other. The 1.00 scm per unit is also below the manual's table 7 range of 1.28 to 1.8 scm per square metre for wall and floor tile, which points the same way. Treat 1.00 as a rounded rule, not a measurement.

## Sanitary ware: the tonnes reading ties, the manual's does not

The report's 4, 8 and 14 tonnes a day, against the manual's gas of 400, 800 and 1,400 scm a day, is exactly 100 scm for each tonne in all three. That sits inside the manual's own range of 81.48 to 110 scm for each tonne of sanitary ware. The manual's 300, 600 and 1,000 look like pieces or boxes, not tonnes, and give no tie to its gas figures.

## The Total column is a sum of three typical units

Wall tile total 13,500 is 2,500 + 3,500 + 7,500. Floor 14,000 is 3,000 + 4,000 + 7,000. Sanitary ware 1,900 is 300 + 600 + 1,000. None is the cluster's output. Do not read it as a daily total for Morbi.

## What to use

- For your own unit, square metres packed or tonnes packed from your own records, and say which.
- If you quote the manual for wall or floor tile, say its label and the report's label differ.
- For vitrified tile the check works: 20,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) over 5,760 square metres is 3.47 kWh a square metre, and gas of 9,000 over 5,760 is 1.56 scm, which is inside the manual's range of 1.51 to 2.11.

## The ties, worked

- Vitrified, medium unit: 4,000 boxes x 1.44 = 5,760 square metres; gas 9,000 / 5,760 = 1.56 scm; power 20,000 / 5,760 = 3.47 kWh
- Vitrified, large unit: 8,000 boxes x 1.44 = 11,520 square metres; gas 20,000 / 11,520 = 1.74 scm; power 40,000 / 11,520 = 3.47 kWh
- Wall tile, medium: gas 3,500 / output 3,500 = 1.00; floor tile, medium: 4,000 / 4,000 = 1.00
- Sanitary ware: 400 / 4 = 100, 800 / 8 = 100, 1,400 / 14 = 100 scm a tonne

Vitrified power of 3.47 kWh a square metre is about 6.4% below the low end of the manual's range, 3.71. The range comes from a wider set of audited units, so the gap is not an error in either.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so a unit's own gas, oil and power lines are on file to set beside the report's figures. It does not measure a kiln or replace an audit.

- [Morbi tile box to square metres](https://senseible.earth/answers/morbi-tile-box-to-square-metres)
- [Morbi gas and power per square metre](https://senseible.earth/answers/morbi-tile-gas-and-power-per-square-metre)
- [Morbi cluster energy and carbon](https://senseible.earth/answers/morbi-ceramic-cluster-carbon-footprint)

Sources: [BEE, Manual on Energy Conservation Measures in Ceramic Industry, Morbi cluster (SAMEEEKSHA)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Morbi_Ceramic_Cluster.pdf), [BEE, Detailed project report: energy conservation in polishing section, Morbi (SAMEEEKSHA)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/dpr/MRV_CRM3.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Tables are from the April 2010 Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) manual (tables 3 and 6, section 2.2.2) and the polishing project report (table 1.3). Both are 2009 to 2010 audit data.