Factory Setup

The SL-Deck is produced on traditional casting beds of typically 80-150-meter length.

Abeo has developed and patented a machine (the LAC machine) for casting the arch-shaped light-aggregate concrete blocks, which can be supplied for up to 3.6-meter wide SL-deck production.

One LAC machine is able to cover production on up to 4 casting beds of 3.6-meter width and 150-meter length equivalent to 2.160 m2 gross production per day.

The LAC machine enables manufacturers of the SL-Deck to cast a 100 m bed of lightweight concrete in app. 30 minutes, completing up to 3 m per minute. Casting is done fully automatic based on an input file generated by the production planning software provided by Abeo.

The SL-deck casting machine makes it possible to leave out individual lightweight blocks and thus choose exactly where the low weight is needed. This provides the highest level of flexibility in a low-weight and low-cost slab.

Maintenance and cleaning is made easy by full access to all moving parts. Another benefit of the LAC machine is the very low operating costs and high level of reliability. Due to the simple and robust design of the machine, costly shutdowns and repairs are rare despite producing hundreds of thousands of blocks every year.

In addition to the LAC machine, Abeo supplies licensees with a service and maintenance package, formwork, hand tools and other equipment designed specifically for SL-Deck production.

Lujabetoni is the largest precast concrete producer in Finland with app. 750 employees and annual sales of more than €140 million. In 2018, the producer introduced the SL-deck under their own brand name “Superlaatta” (Super Slab in english).

In 2018, Lujabetoni concluded the acquisition of a large factory building close to Helsinki. With the new production facilities, Lujabetoni significantly increases the SL-deck production capacity after a succesful product launch, where the entire production capacity was sold out in just a few months.

Following the launch of the SL-deck on the Finnish market, Lujabetoni has experienced an enormous demand for SL-decks that has not been possible to satisfy with the first production line in Siilinjärvi. In order to keep up with demand, Lujabetoni decided to invest in new and much bigger production facilities in Järvenpää, just 46 km from Helsinki.

“We presented the SL-deck to the market in December and our full-year production capacity is already been sold out. We wanted to quickly increase our capacity to our most important target market, the residential market in the Helsinki metropolitan area. With the investment, we now add hundreds of thousands m2 of annual Superlaatta (SL-deck) capacity to the Finnish market,” says Mikko Isotalo, CEO of Lujabetoni.

The acquisition was carried out on 8 February 2018 and includes app. 30,000 m2 of production space, 5,000 m2 of office space and around 25 hectars of land making it the largest precast factory in Finland in terms of its size.

In addition to SL-decks, the new factory will also include production of partition walls, wall elements and a variety of specialty elements for residential projects.

“The location of the factory is excellent, when considering Finland’s most important markets – the capital city area, Tampere and Turku – and we have room and possibilities to increase production capacity further,” says Kari Turunen, head of the precast division at Lujabetoni.

The investment totals around €25 million and is the largest ever made by Lujabetoni.

Tindall Corporation is one of America’s largest precast concrete producers with around 1,500 employees and 5 factories located in South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas.

Abeo and Tindall has made a partnership for the Southeastern part of the USA, where Tindall will be introducing the SL-deck to the American market under their own brand name ‘T-SLAB’.

President and CEO of Tindall, Greg Force, says:

“The SL-deck is a perfect complement to our systems approach to building construction, and I personally believe it will help further drive the adoption of total precast construction in the residential, commercial, and institutional sectors.

This is one of the most well-thought-out products that I’ve encountered during my nearly 40 years in this industry. Tindall and Abeo share similar mindsets, placing creativity and progressive thinking at the forefront, and we are very much looking forward to the partnership.”

The first SL-deck factories will be located in South Carolina and Virginia, from where Tindall will be able to serve the important markets around Atlanta, Charlotte and up to Washington D.C. The long-term plan is to expand production facilities to other locations in order to supply the entire Southeastern USA.

Until now, SL-decks have existed in 2.4-meter and 3-meter wide versions. However, for the American market, Abeo has developed a new 3.6-meter (12 feet) wide SL-deck to be introduced by Tindall. In combination with the SL-deck’s low weight and high flexibility, the wider slabs make it possible to reduce installation costs further and achieve even more flexibility for openings, loads, diaphragm forces, cast-in solutions etc.