Metric has had some pretty high level antagonists. Napoleon banned it when he became Emperor, but it only returned after Waterloo. The British Empire opposed it, mostly because it was a French idea. When their Empire fell, they finally went Metric, too. So why do we stay resolute? Perhaps because we are so big, and our manufacturing is largely for our own markets.
But in a business like ours, where most ceramic tile and stone are made overseas, metric is the primary measurement by which our products are made & sold. We should be at the forefront of change. Well, now come two articles you may have missed, that I bring to your attention.
First, is a very well timed article by Bob Sanelli, of the Terrazzo, Tile & Marble Association of Canada, which appears in the November "TileLetter". The second is a paragraph under the Newsline section of December’s "STONE WORLD". Both address metric usage in our industry; Bob points out that when we do use it, we often use it wrong & "STONE WORLD" points out we better learn quick. "Any firm wishing to participate in federally funded construction work must do so in metric,"says Thomas Rutherford, P.E. & Chairman of the Construction Subcommittee of the federal Interagency Council on Metric Policy.
OK, guys! I’m a believer. One millimeter is almost 25 times more accurate than an inch. And with 95% of the world using it, including most of those who make our products . . .
Bob’s points are that too often, when we do use metric, we show products in inches first, followed by centimeters in brackets. Two mistakes; 1 since our tiles are cut to metric in the first place, the metric should be the primary measurement. 2 also, according to Bob, engineering drawings and architectural documents use millimeters, not centimeters.
Therefore, a marble slab should be listed as 30mm (1-1/4") and a marble tile 305mm x 305mm x 10mm (12"x12"x3/8").
For more info on the debate, read the articles, or contact;
(C) THE LINLEY COMPANY