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 The parent company of I-XL Industries Ltd. was established in 1912 as the Redcliff Pressed Brick Company, utilizing local red-burning clay and cheap local natural gas to produce the popular red brick.
By 1929, the company with the I-XL ("I excel") trademark was in a position to acquire the Medicine Hat Brick and Tile Company. In 1953, the first tunnel kiln was constructed at the Medicine Hat Brick and Tile. Automatic handling equipment and development of new ceramic bodies has enabled I-XL Industries Ltd. to become the largest producer of fired clay products in Western Canada.
Today, clays are quarried at modern, open pit mining sites and stockpiled at I-XL plants. Here, two different processes are used to form the clay into bricks. In the dry press process, huge, high pressure mechanical presses compress the clay into brick moulds. In the extrusion process, water is mixed with the clay before it is extruded through a die and then sliced into bricks. Different moulds and dies produce a variety of sizes and shapes. The formed bricks are then fired at temperatures ranging up to 1100°C/2000°F.
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