New production plant for hollow core flooring specialist Fingo Guideways for the production of hollow core flooring in good hands with Hendriks
Belgian producer Fingo offers a broad selection of reinforced and prestressed hollow core flooring. The company produces the floors in its own plants. The company was looking for an expert and proven partner to manufacture the guideways, on which the floors are produced, for its new production plant in Ham. They found that partner in Hendriks precon.
Quality and Innovation
Fingo has been actively involved in the production of various concrete products for almost 75 years. Over 45 years ago, the company decided to focus on the production of concrete hollow core flooring. Today, the company has a production capacity of 1,350,000 m2 of hollow core flooring per year and as such belongs among the most important players on the market. The hollow core flooring is available in reinforced or prestressed versions, with a smooth or rough underside at the option of the client.
Quality and innovation have been a high priority for Fingo since its foundation. Motivated by its desire for innovation, the company constructed a new plant in Ham: a fully automated production plant for the production of prestressed hollow core flooring.
Fully Automated Production
Maarten Kreemers, Production Director at Fingo: ‘Production takes place on 150-metre-long guideways with an in-house developed substructure. This substructure also includes the heating elements designed to accelerate the concrete hardening process. Tracks are welded on the steel guideway on which the fully automated production machine drives. This machine extrudes the hollow core flooring from the concrete mix over a 150-metre distance. Once the cores have hardened, they are cut to size by another machine.’
Excellent Cooperation
Fingo sought out a reliable partner for the guideways able to contribute its own ideas to the company. ‘We found that partner in Hendriks precon,’ says Maarten Kreemers. ‘We first met at a trade fair, but quickly took the next steps. The guideways were designed in-house by Fingo and the production of the guideways had to meet very high accuracy requirements. One of the areas for attention is the tracks on which the machine drives. The tracks have to be extremely accurate in a longitudinal as well as transverse direction.’
Hendriks precon supplied 12-metre-long guideway components for the 150-metre-long and 1.20‑metre-wide guideways. In total, sixteen 150-metre production lines were constructed. It took 4 months for the Hendriks precon welding robots to complete their work on the guideways, particularly to produce the edge details.
When asked about the cooperation with Hendriks precon, Maarten Kreemers responds as follows: ‘The initial contact was quickly followed by a proposal and the plans were further drawn up and detailed by Hendriks precon. After making a few minor adjustments, the guideways were put into production. A smooth way of working that very much appeals to us. Furthermore, communication with Hendriks precon is very good and the quality of the work was an improvement for us in comparison to the past. In short, a partner we like to work with.’