LOPO’s move from clay-facing products toward terracotta facade panels is best understood as a sequence of recorded manufacturing milestones, not as a single overnight transformation.
This guide separates the company’s dated archive from present-day capability. It preserves useful history while showing architects, facade consultants, contractors and buyers what must be verified for a live project.
A dated manufacturing record
The official company timeline begins its clay-product record in 2002 and describes a gradual expansion in processes, facilities and product families. Promotional superlatives have been excluded; the table retains only identifiable company events and their limits.
| Date | Company-history entry | What it does not establish today |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Cornerstone ceremony for LOPO Clay Tile activity in Tangshan Industrial District, Guanqiao, Nan’an, Fujian. | The current contracting entity, ownership, facility list or live capacity. |
| 22 Apr 2003 | LOPO records its first extrusion-moulded clay tile, using vacuum extrusion and tunnel-kiln firing. | Current product geometry, process parameters, standards or test results. |
| 2009 | Cornerstone ceremony for a terracotta-panel facility in Changtai Economic and Technical Development Zone, Zhangzhou. | A commercial-production start date, line count or output at that time. |
| 21 Apr 2011 | The timeline records the first LOPO terracotta rainscreen product. | An industry-first claim or approval of today’s panel/system configuration. |
| 2013 | The terracotta factory expanded its production shop and added a production line. | Whether that line remains active, which products it makes or its current rated output. |
| 2015 | LOPO records development of ceramic-inkjet terracotta tiles. | Availability of every historic pattern, colour, format or finish today. |
| 2021–2022 | The timeline records a new raw-material workshop and third production line, followed by operation of that line in 2022 and introduction of a 3600 mm extra-long tile. | Current order limits, tolerances, yield, capacity, testing or project suitability. |
The 2019 interview remains a historical source
The original page identified the person pictured as Alan Wu and described him in December 2019 as LOPO’s general manager of foreign trade. That title is preserved only as a dated attribution; the image and archive do not establish a current role.
The interview also described “four terracotta-panel production lines” as the then-current position. That number is time-bound to the 2019 account and conflicts with the current history page’s reference to a third line beginning operation in 2022. Neither statement is used as a current line count. A dated factory capability schedule is required instead.
LOPO’s latest dated company-news statement, published on 12 January 2026, describes its Changtai base as approximately 210,000 square metres with three professional terracotta-panel lines of about 300 metres each and company-stated annual capacity of up to two million square metres. An older Facilities page still lists a 260-metre roller kiln and 1.5 million square metres of facade-panel capacity. These are first-party figures from different pages and dates; the difference is not reconciled here, and neither substitutes for confirmed available capacity and delivery programme.
Verify current manufacturing capability
Entity and factory
Confirm the legal manufacturer and contracting entity, registered and production addresses, product responsibility, ownership of each process, audit date and any subcontracted operations.
Product-to-line match
Identify which plant and line will form, dry, fire, cut, finish and inspect the selected product. Record current format, geometry, tolerance, finish and batch limits rather than relying on a historical line count.
Capacity and programme
Request rated and available capacity for the exact product, current commitments, maintenance constraints, tooling lead time, yield assumptions, inspection release, packing and shipment plan. Company-wide annual figures do not guarantee a project slot.
Quality and traceability
Agree controlled drawings, sample and range approval, inspection and test plan, sampling method, acceptance criteria, batch/part IDs, nonconformance control, change authority and replacement records.
Technical evidence
Match declarations, calculations and tests to the product code, dimensions, finish, supports, standard edition, manufacturing site and intended use. A factory milestone does not approve a facade assembly.
Certificates and environmental files
Check issuer, holder, site, scope, standard, edition, issue/expiry status and product coverage. Request project-relevant EPD/LCA or other environmental data where required; “natural clay,” a kiln image or an energy-saving assertion is not a verified result.
LOPO’s current About and Facilities pages describe its product range and equipment. Treat those pages as an enquiry starting point: exact staffing, plant area, equipment, storage and annual-capacity figures should be confirmed in a dated project pack because website figures can describe different entities, facilities or reporting periods.
Build a current evidence pack
- a dated entity and factory profile identifying the proposed production site;
- the current product schedule, catalogue pages, drawings, finish/range samples and manufacturing route;
- line-specific capacity and programme confirmation for the required quantity and variants;
- current certificates and test reports with applicable scope, standard edition and validity;
- project QA, inspection, traceability, nonconformance and change-control arrangements;
- packaging, logistics, site-interface, spare/replacement and after-sales responsibilities; and
- any required environmental document with declared product, site, period, unit and life-cycle boundary.
The company history provides archive context. Use Catalogues & Downloads for dated product references and Certificates & Compliance for the available document register, then request the current files applicable to the exact product, market and project.
Request a dated manufacturing and product pack
Share the project country, product family, formats and finishes, estimated quantity, programme, system interfaces, testing and documentation requirements. LOPO can respond with the current scope instead of asking a historical article to stand in for project evidence.