| Innovative technology in one of the world’s most modern plain roofing tile plants
The Lenti Works, the first Creaton settlement abroad, was built with a total investment volume of around 20 million 7 in a pure construction time of only ten months. In the first development phase it provides an annual capacity of approx. 21 million plain clay roofing tiles and extruded interlocking tiles. It is planned to build a second plant here in the foreseeable future.
1 Introduction
Life is tranquil in Lenti, a small spa town situated in a corner where the borders of Hungary, Austria and Slovenia meet. Here, where among others also many Germans come to recuperate, there is nothing to suggest that not far from the town gates one of the most modern roofi ng tile factories in the world – equipped by Lingl – is located.
Even the approach to the Lenti Factory offers the expert a pleasing view. An ingenious colour concept gives each building its own appearance. This applies especially to the production and management building (126 x 45 m), which, covered in ceramic facing tiles, must be considered as its own advertisement.
Creaton AG has a history dating back meanwhile some 120 years. With company seats both in Wertingen and Autenried, Creaton has made many acquisitions over the years, mostly in the plain roofi ng tile sector, where the company now claims the position of market leader. At present Creaton produces in excess of 160 million plain clay roofi ng tiles per annum (incl. accessories) at seven different locations with altogether 12 plants. Creaton Lenti is the fi rst operation outside Germany, whereby the main reason for choosing this location was purely geographic.
2 Location at Lenti
This region yields abundant amounts of particularly high quality raw materials. At this stage the company estimates that the 6 million m³ of loess loam owned by the company will secure production at Lenti for the next 100 years. By investing in a new plant in Hungary Creaton has strengthened its position in the important markets in Hungary, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia.
This new plant, which was constructed in only ten months with an investment of approx. 20 million 7, has a yearly capacity of approx. 21 million plain roofi ng tiles and extruded interlocking tiles in its fi rst phase. The innovative technology used makes this plant one of the most modern plain roofi ng tile plants in the world, whereby ease of access to all machinery impresses visually in the fi rst instance.This indicates that professionals carried out planning and construction
of the entire interior.
3 Works planning
The technological highlight must without doubt be the newlydeveloped and patented dryer pallet and H-cassette circuit system , which requires both less space and machinery than previous conventional concepts. Another remarkable feature is the Manager-Info-System used here for the fi rst time, which provides open communication between the offi ce and the production areas. The advantage of this system is that all relevant data can be accessed from anywhere within the Creaton plant network, allowing the user to gain information  such as energy consumption or productivity whenever required.
At the early stages of planning various plant constructors were invited by Creaton to a Workshop, where the most economical solutions for this new plant were developed. After the start of construction work at the beginning of January 2005, the traditional Kiln Festival took place in Lenti already on the 15th April, celebrating the fi rst fi red plain roofing tile to leave the new kiln. By the end of May 2005, which was
the offi cial commissioning date, one million plain tiles (80%
of capacity) had already been produced and the full 100%
output was achieved during the summer.
4 Production
The current annual requirement of raw material is extracted twice a year from the clay pit, which is only 300 m away from the plant. The clay – according to Creaton this is the best material available to them at present – is taken from the stockpile via a wheel-loader and dosed through a box feeder. Arriving in the plant after preparation and a storage time of six weeks, the extruded clay columns are cut by a universal punch – with sizes of up to 500 mm long and an output of 60 punches per minute.
Now the green tiles are stacked onto stacking pallets and then transported into the dryer . This dryer has a max. capacity of 64 800 roofi ng tiles in only 24 hours. Then automatic grippers set two green tiles at a time onto an H-cassette.
Now the tiles travel into the tunnel kiln, which is fi red with natural gas and fi res the tiles at a temperature of 1 040°C in a firing time of 13.4 hours. The tunnel kiln is equipped with side burners in the heating up zone and roof burner groups in the main fi ring zone. The tunnel kiln dimensions are:
94.43 m long, 5.40 m wide and 1.71 or 1.81 m high. This means a kiln load of 24 H-cassettes high, 10 H-cassettes wide and 5 rows deep. Larger buffer zones, such as in other plants, were avoided, as it was decided at the beginning of the planning stage that the kiln would be operative around the clock in a three-shift operation, seven days per week. Lenti is therefore able to manage with kiln car storage of max. 4 hours plus up to 1 hour in other areas of the plant.
Once the tiles have exited the tunnel kiln and quality control has taken place, automatic grippers unload the kiln cars, group the fi nished products and form small packs of up to eight pieces, then rows and layers. It takes a total of around two days from preparation to despatch (without aging time). The tiles are then sent onto the Hungarian market, where Creaton hopes to double its market share from 10% to 20%, and also to the neighbouring countries Austria, Croatia and Slovenia. This technology enables Lenti to produce roofi ng tiles of the highest quality, which are found in the upper price range.
5 Outlook
The location at Lenti offers Creaton such great potential that a
second plant will be constructed here in the foreseeable future.
Plans for this have already been made during the construction
of Phase I. The expansion will then encompass the production
of pressed interlocking tiles
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