The kiln is 60 meters long and fires approximately 24,000 bricks at a time.

The firing temperature and method vary depending on the color and shape of the bricks being produced.

Fired bricks are cooled and unloaded from carts before being prepared for shipment.

The Handa Red Brick Building was constructed in 1898, using bricks from the founding days of Okada Brick Factory.

Bricks made by Okada Brick Factory in 1897, when the company was founded, still remain in buildings today over a century later.

All bricks are fired for approximately two days total in the kiln.

The completed bricks are bundled together and wrapped to prevent collapse during transportation.

Bricks are visually inspected for major chips or cracks as part of the final quality control before shipment.

Bricks are dried for 7 to 10 days in a drying room using residual heat from the kiln on the ground floor, with entrance temperature around 40°C and high humidity, and exit temperature around 80°C with lower humidity.

Removed cracked or chipped bricks are reused in the production process rather than discarded.

Okada Brick Factory was founded in 1897 and the word 'Okada Brick' is engraved on the chimney of the factory building itself.

Okada Brick Factory's primary manufacturing commitment is to deliver bricks with the specific color and shape that customers request.

The factory sources Mikawa clay from two different excavation sites and blends them together to stabilize the quality of the final product.

Carts in the kiln move at 2 cm per minute during the firing process.

The Mikawa region is known for its high-quality clay, which serves as the raw material for Okada Brick Factory's production.

The clay is crushed through a two-stage process: first through a smaller roller to refine the clay, then through a larger roller in the second crusher to crush the clay into finer particles.

Kneading the clay ensures uniform composition, moisture content, and particle size before extrusion.

In the vacuum pugmill, air is removed from the clay, and the clay is extruded from a narrowing exit to be molded into shape.

The thickness of bricks is adjusted by changing the width of the wire used in the cutting machine.

Brick size is determined by accounting for shrinkage during drying and firing, so the wet clay is cut larger than the final desired brick dimensions.