Crowning glory Tondach

CROWNING GLORY

Austrian ceramic roof tile manufacturer, Tondach AG established its first Hungarian subsidiary over 20 years ago. Thanks to its large capacities, innovative production technique and unique product designs, Tondach Magyarország Zrt is today a key contributor to the group’s European operations. Edina Beale reports.

Tondach AG is the leading ceramic roof tile maker in central and eastern Europe. The company began its international expansion in 1992 and today operates 34 factories in 11 countries. Tondach’s innovative and predominantly natural roof covering solutions and extensive customer service make it a leader in the sector. Due to state-of-the-art technologies, all subsidiaries operate efficient production processes and manufacture premium quality products.

Hungary was one of the first countries Tondach entered; the company built its fifth production site there three years ago. Today Tondach Magyarország Zrt plays a vital role in the group’s European operations, as it provides nearly a quarter of the group’s total turnover. The most recent Tondach plant in Hungary was built in Békéscsaba boosting the domestic capacity by 70 per cent. This state-of-the-art facility is the largest roof tile factory in Europe, with a capability of producing 30 million roof and 2.5 million profile tiles a year. Whilst providing fast and efficient service for the domestic market, where the company is a market leader, half of the total production is distributed to foreign markets including Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria and the Ukraine.

Engobe technique to increase durability

The narrowed market opportunities in the last two years have encouraged Tondach to focus on quality more than ever, and to aim at satisfying the needs of customers with the highest expectations. Tondach’s use of the engobe technique for manufacturing its products enables the company to guarantee high standards.

What is engobe or in another words soil paint? Engobe is a natural colouring material that contains clay minerals, and has been used by potters for thousands of years to create better colours and smooth surfaces of their pottery products and to make them more durable. Similar to this ancient technique, today the engobe is applied by modern computer-controlled specialist dispenser machines to the dry and raw clay tile before the kiln process. Thanks to this modern technology one roof tile could receive a design with three different shades of colours. This enables Tondach to create such unique colours as bronze, silver or sand antique. During the kiln process the engobe chemically merges with the clay and burns in the surface. This means that the engobe is not a coating material but becomes part of the ceramic product during the production process. For this reason, the surface of the product is particularly resistant. Ceramic roof tiles manufactured with engobe technology have extremely good durability; they are water, moss and dirt resistant and provide strong protection against all weather conditions including storms, icy rain and sunshine. In addition to these advantages they are also fire and frost proof products.

Extensive range and unique design

The Tondach XXL roof tiles are made of excellent quality basic materials combined with the most modern production technology in the Csaba II Tondach plant in

Tondach enhances the aesthetics and quality of its roofing tiles with Ceric Technologies dry preparation lines

Ceric Technologies is a long-standing innovation partner of Tondach Gleinstätten AG, one of the leading suppliers of clay roofing solutions in Central and South-Eastern Europe. Over the years, Ceric Technologies has become the technological partner of Tondach for the supply of turnkey plants and dry preparation lines. Dry preparation is known to eliminate limestone grains in the clay thanks to fine grinding (98% < 200 μm) in vertical mills. It gives rooftiles an exceptional surface finish, which is very important for Tondach’s high quality standards. After delivering a complete line at the Unterpremstätten plant including a water seal Casing kiln, Ceric Technologies further strengthened its ties with his customer in 2003/2004 by installing a complete dry preparation line at the Serbian plant of Kanjiza thus contributing to the enhanced quality and aesthetics of the customer’s products. In 2007/2008, the French heavy clay engineering company also supplied the Békéscsaba plant with a complete line (excluding the kiln and kiln cars) in Eastern Hungary near the border with Romania. The delivery also included a dry preparation plant. The annual production of the factory is 30 millions rooftiles (10/m2) and 750,000 flat accessories. Convinced by the efficiency and innovative characteristics of the dry process masterfully implemented by its technological partner, the group also opted for Ceric Technologies dry preparation plant which was implemented at its Czech factory of Hranice.

Békéscsaba, southeast Hungary. The XXL roof tiles were launched in the Hungarian market in 2009 and they have found unqualified success among the architects, building constructors and developers.

The XXL roof tiles are offered in diverse engobe colours and in four different shapes. One of the most popular large-size roof tiles, the Twist, exudes harmony. The modern, simple-style Bolero is the ’big brother’ of Tondach’s popular roof tile, the Polka. Tango+ is the large-size version of the Tango roof tile used mostly for roof renovations.

The Amadeus glass-glazed ceramic roof tile developed by Tondach is a unique solution in the premium category. From September 2012 customers with high expectations have been able to purchase the most special member of the Tondach XXL family range, the Rumba in Amadeus glass glazed design, which provides a Mediterranian look for the roof due to its curved shapes.

Besides their stunning looks, the sleek and glossy Amadeus glass-glazed roof tiles have excellent resistivity: their self-cleaning and rain-resistant surfaces protect them from dirt, moss, acid, alkali and UV light. Whilst they are in use these roof tiles do not fade, they stay free from bird dirt and do not get damaged by acid rain, so that they will look as good as new even after 30 years. In order to guarantee this, Tondach offers customers a roof system package that includes the necessary ceramic

and non-ceramic fixtures and fittings besides the roof tiles. Customers who are looking for a unique style are able to choose from a variety of ceramic roof decorations.

The Hungarian subsidiary with its large capacities and unique production technique has enabled Tondach to become the leading clay roof tile manufacturer in Hungary, acquiring 80 per cent of the domestic market. Continuing this success, the company’s high quality premium products will be the crowning glory of many new buildings in the future. n