The multinational increases its commitment to its ultra-compact Dekton® stone with a new factory equipped with the most advanced technologies worldwide in machinery for large format production, sustainability and energy efficiency. Located within its Cantoria Industrial Park, the new facility of almost 40,000m2 that houses the third production line brings the current Dekton® manufacturing facilities to a total surface area of 140,000m2, and will allow an annual production of 1.5 million slabs (9.5 million m2/year).
Following the technological and innovative achievement in 2013 with the launch of Dekton®, the Cosentino Group’s ultra-compact stone manufactured with the exclusive TSP technology (Particle Sintering Technology), the Spanish company has redoubled its commitment to this product and has built a new manufacturing plant to house a third production line. Given the growing commercial success of Dekton® in all the markets where Cosentino operates, the company has taken on the challenge of expanding its first infrastructure by almost 40,000 m2, which until now housed two lines, to increase production capacity through a pioneering facility that incorporates the latest manufacturing, sustainability, energy efficiency and logistics connection technologies.
With a total investment of 120 million €, the total built industrial surface area for the manufacture of Dekton® now amounts to 140,000m2 which, in addition to housing the current three production lines, in the extension already has all the engineering work completed to house a future fourth line in the short term. This investment also translates into a considerable increase in production capacity, given that the high efficiency of the third line allows for the production of almost twice as many 4 and 8 mm boards as the existing lines 1 and 2 combined. Overall, the total annual production capacity of Dekton® will be able to reach 1.5 million slabs/year (almost 10 million m2/year).
Dekton® line 3 has been designed incorporating the advantages of the most advanced technologies in automation, robotisation and machinery for large format production. In this way, the line can produce final slabs from 2,600×1,000 mm up to the maximum format currently available on the market of 3,300×1,630 mm, in accordance with the applications most in demand by customers. It has also made it possible to incorporate a system for manufacturing slabs with a full body design, ensuring the aesthetic and physical-mechanical quality that characterises Dekton® throughout the whole piece.
Last year, Cosentino’s engineering team tackled the challenge of extending the Dekton® industrial buildings by almost 40,000 m2 as a whole, with all the machinery foundations in less than 9 months. The work has been unique both in terms of the execution time and the total integration with the existing facilities. To this end, the typology of the building has been maintained by building prefabricated concrete pillars up to 29 m high and a welded metal structure. This enclosure houses a «full equip» line, unique in the world, which combines the advantages of the high productivity provided by pressing by compaction in a continuous roller press (PCR) of atomised powder for fine thicknesses, together with the traditional pressing technology with a hydraulic press with mould.
With 4 new 200-metre long kilns, bringing the total number of kilns for the three current production lines to 9, the new installation contains the largest presses in the world (30,000 tonnes), providing maximum production capacity for the entire production line, and in all the thicknesses offered by Dekton®: 4,8,12,20 and 30 mm. It also has an exhaustive quality control of the processes, with its own laboratory in the plant, as well as the final quality of the production, with 100% of the slabs verified.
In terms of logistics, the new plant has generated the expansion of the automated logistics warehouse that Cosentino has in its Industrial Park with an investment of more than 14 million €. Specifically, the logistics centre has been increased by three additional aisles with a capacity of 150,000 boards in stock, plus two preparation modules capable of having more than 6,000 boards fully automatically available in 8 hours. This logistics warehouse can now store 450,000 boards in total, and prepare orders regardless of the board reference of up to 18,000 boards in 8 hours, both on trestles loaded on lorries and in containers, and with all operations 100% automated. Finally, with an investment of €5 million, the output of the new Dekton® infrastructure has been connected to this warehouse 100% automatically, increasing the safety and efficiency of operations.
All of the above has been carried out while maintaining the commitment to sustainability that gave birth to Dekton®. Thus, the design of the plant was carried out under the concept of integral reuse. Reuse during the manufacturing process of all surplus material (atomised powder and slab waste reused in the manufacturing process itself); of heat (reuse of the heat in the kiln chimney in the thermal processes of slab drying and production of atomised powder); of water (reuse during the production of these surpluses), as well as incorporating the most pioneering systems at present for the optimisation of energy consumption and emissions.
For example, it is worth highlighting the heat and water recovery project associated with the new line 3, whereby an autonomous system recovers part of the water and the latent and sensible heat from the atomiser’s exhaust gases. This energy is used to heat the air entering the atomiser and reduce gas consumption. This measure will make it possible to introduce approximately 15% savings in natural gas consumption per hour of production.
In this regard, it is worth remembering the high sustainability standards of Dekton®, declared a Carbon Neutral product for its entire life cycle from 2019, which has the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), and which was recently awarded Zero Waste certification by AENOR, guaranteeing that more than 90% of the waste generated in the production process is recycled, recovered or stored as raw material.
Milestones of the new Dekton® line
-Total investment of 120 million €.
-Construction of 38,480m2 for part of the new line 3 (total extension of Dekton® halls: 140,000m2)
-Largest production capacity on the market:
-Line 3: 743,665 slabs / year (4 Mill. m2/year).
-L1+L2+L3: 1.5 million slabs/year (9.5 million m2/year)
-World’s largest hydraulic presses (30.000 tn)
-4 furnaces of 200 metres in length (9 furnaces in total for the 3 current lines).
Full body decorating technology (through-vein)
-Production capacity of any format from 2,600×1,000 mm up to the maximum format of 3,300×1,630 mm.
-Thicknesses 4,8,12,20 and 30 mm
-Productivity of almost twice as many boards in 4 and 8 mm compared to lines 1 and 2.