Around the world

Kouvolan Betoni, a Finnish precast supplier established in 1950’s, recently decided it was time to grow their business. To get ahead of the game called for streamlining the production facility and investing in new technology.

”We wanted to grow our capacity. Very soon we were looking at battery molds,” says CEO Pekka Huotari.

Calculations proved that battery molds would soon pay back the investment in increased capacity. Vertical battery mold, mostly used for casting partition walls, also required less space than for example increasing horizontal casting.

The results of the investment are already showing. Using the battery mold together with FaMe shuttering, Kouvolan Betoni saves time and money and ensures the stable and high product quality.

“Our strength lies in high quality precast concrete. Efficiency, safety and quality are important for us. We are interested in more complicated elements and we are hungry for success”, Huotari sums.

Sohar Precast Contracting Company, SPC, provides precast manufacturing for various end-uses. Ehab Abdelaty, CEO of the Sohar Precast Contracting Company, has a good reason to believe the demand will increase. “In the last couple of years, we have seen the demand for precast concrete grow in the market as the Sultanate has launched large-scale projects related with tourism. Oman must look to precast concrete to expedite its projects and deliver the high quality similar to its neighbors.”

To meet the market requirements, SPC ordered a hollow-core factory from Elematic. “We wanted a reliable manufacturer and technology partner. I was also very pleased with the sales and support that I received at the time of making my decision,” Abdelaty says. We chose the E9 Extruder because of its large size. It allows us to expand production as the market grows.”

Oman Ophiolite is a fairly new operator on Omanis market, although the company stems from the Mohamed & Ahmed Alkhonji LLC, a group with almost 100-year history of providing products and services for various industries. Oman Ophiolite has manufactured precast panels, staircases, and boundary walls. Recently they decided to expand operations and invested in hollow-core slab factory. Elematic delivered the full hollow-core plant with OH cranes and batching and mixing plant. “We looked together for a comprehensive, cost-efficient solution to enable Oman Ophiolite’s expansion to a completely new market sector,” says Curt Lindroth, Area Sales Director, Elematic. Hollow-core slab manufacturing is already up and running, and the aim for Oman Ophiolite is to win big projects such as resorts, shopping malls, hospitals and private housing.

ESA is one of South Africa’s leading manufacturers of precast concrete hollow-core slabs. Their slabs are used in schools, housing, stations, commercial properties and stadiums. The company’s two factories in Benoni West, Gauteng operate 24 hours a day on five days. “We wanted to produce top-quality products backed by excellent service. After much research it was Elematic that impressed us most,” says Craig Webber, Director of ESA. “We are particularly proud of the slabs that we supplied to the Gautrain Rosebank parkade project, as well as the 60,000 m2 of slabs to shopping malls at Bruma Lake and Crown Mines. We recently supplied 30,500 m2 of concrete slabs for Madeira Isles, a 500-unit development in Pretoria,” says Webber. The company estimates to have saved six months in construction time with precast.

Portland Hollowcore’s precast concrete panel production plant in Cape Town manufactures hollow-core slabs for vast social housing projects around the Western Cape. To answer to the quickly growing demand the company has invested in two Elematic Extruders and an Elematic saw enabling faster casting, in more lanes and in better quality. The V & A Waterfront demountable parking system, making use of hollow-core slabs, is one of the company’s other interesting projects. It is possible to move the parking structure, or to sell it to another party for re-erection. The superstructure of the building was done in 60 working days.