The past six weeks, I have had the privilege of spending my time at Thomas Concrete Group’s center for research, development, and laboratory testing – C-Lab. It’s been incredibly exciting and probably the trainee rotation I’ve been looking forward to the most this year.
C-Lab has three main areas: material- and laboratory testing, technical consultation and damage investigations, and research and development. I’ve had the chance to split my time between material- and laboratory testing and research and development. It’s been amazing to work in close proximity to the concrete experts here, and to learn from their knowledge and insights on various projects and challenges.
During my time here, I participated in a research project that Boliden is running with Thomas Concrete Group. The project looks at how an SCM product from Boliden’s copper smelting plant reacts with different types of cement and additives, to learn how this pozzolan product could possibly replace parts of traditional cement in concrete production. It’s been incredibly interesting to get an inside look at this project, especially since new alternative binders are one of the biggest challenges and opportunities in the industry today.
When I wasn’t busy with the testing, I also got to join in on material- and laboratory testing. The laboratory at C-Lab is accredited by SWEDAC for several different types of testing of fresh and hardened concrete, aggregates, and binders. I have been involved in testing, among other things, compressive strength, various types of freeze-thaw testing, setting times of cement, and moisture content. The laboratory staff here are not only very knowledgeable but also very kind to take time out of their day to explain things to me, and I really appreciate how well they took care of me during my time here.
A fun thing I got to do during my time here was to attend “Cementdagen 2025” in Stockholm, a customer event organized annually by Heidelberg Materials Sweden. This year’s theme was Diversity and Inclusion, so during the day, we listened to several interesting lectures on the theme as well as on cement, of course. Personally, I found it interesting to hear an update on the plans for the CCS plant in Slite, but also interesting to meet a lot people from the industry and hear their thoughts and ideas.
C-Lab has recently gotten a new operations manager focused on developing the business and working methods. Since the lab is accredited, it’s important that everything is traceable and validated, which can make it more challenging to change working methods. But now there are a lot of plans on how the business will be streamlined and modernized, so it’s been interesting to see this work up close.
Now I’m looking forward to my next rotation at the precast division, where I’ll spend a few weeks with the design team, sales team, and in production!
// Clara
