Holcim Romania inaugurates Progresu Regional Laboratory to provide more technical assistance services
Bucharest, June 10th, 2013 – Holcim Romania, one of the leading cement, concrete and aggregates producers, announces the expansion of the services provided by Progresu Regional Laboratory, near Bucharest. The lab is operated by the Technical Center, which provides state-of-the-art technical support and consultancy services for all constructions applications.
In order to expand the services provided by Progresu lab, Holcim Romania has invested over EUR 350,000 over the past 6 months. The lab trials are used to develop the technical solutions that Holcim Romania consultants from the Technical Center provide to their customers from all construction sectors: civil and industrial constructions, prefabs, road or railway infrastructure works.
The Technical Center is equipped with mobile labs so as to offer technical assistance directly on the worksite, through quality checks of the ready-mix or hardened concrete from the structural elements of a construction, as well as of the ready-made layers composing the road makeup.
Progresu Laboratory is the second regional center opened by Holcim Romania, after the one in Turda, which provides similar services in the north-western part of the country. Over the past two years, the company has invested over EUR 600,000 in upgrading the two laboratories.
„We have invested in these labs as we wanted to provide construction companies with access to the high quality technology we use in Holcim plants. Our aim is for the Bucharest center to provide services for all types of construction and infrastructure works that will take place over the following period. Holcim is thus strengthening its cooperation with its customers, based on a new approach which comprises not only developing new products, but offering also technical assistance, performing lab trials and evolving into application consulting”, declared Rossen Papazov, Marketing and Sales Manager Holcim Romania.
The specialists of Progresu Lab formulate usual or special concrete mixes, optimize mixes depending on the application and the placement technology, monitor the performances of the constituent materials, and perform trials on usual concrete or high-performance concrete samples.
Progresu lab performs physical and mechanical trials for self-compacting concretes, with regard to their spreading capacity, viscosity, confined flow ability, and segregation resistance, as well as determinations of durability characteristics.
Holcim lab staff monitors the quality of simple and reinforced concrete structures, through destructive or non-destructive trials, such as ultrasound impulse method, superficial and compound hardness testing. They also use special equipment to determine the position and orientation of the rebars, as well as the thickness of the concrete layer, monitoring the evolution of concrete strength in situ.
On the segment of infrastructure works, Holcim lab has the capacity to conduct all necessary checks for the improvement and stabilization of all types of soil (cohesive and non-cohesive), as well as to assess the quality of the performed works.
To date, Holcim has invested over EUR 700 million in Romania, in implementing the best available technologies in its manufacturing facilities. In 2013, Holcim Romania will invest EUR 18 million in maintenance works, streamlining of production and lowering of energy consumption.
About Holcim Romania
Holcim (Romania) S.A. owns 2 cement plants in Câmpulung and Alesd, one grinding station and a cement terminal in Turda, 15 ecological ready-mix stations, 3 aggregates sites, 2 special binders stations and one cement terminal in Bucharest. Holcim (Romania) SA employs around 1,000 people. For additional information, please visit the company’s website at www.holcim.ro
Holcim is one of the leading providers of cement and aggregates (sand and gravel), concrete and asphalt, as well as related services. The Group holds minority and majority interests in about 70 countries on all continents.
