Coral Gables, FL (December 4, 2024) – Cosentino, the global leader in producing sustainable surfaces for architecture and design, has announced plans to develop a Circular Technology Quarry “CT Quarry”, a first-of-its-kind industrial scale plant that will produce innovative recycled raw materials for Europe’s construction, glass and ceramic sectors. Cosentino was awarded an investment of nearly $95 million from the European Commission Innovation Fund, of which the “CT Quarry” was the only Spanish medium-scale project out of the 85 net-zero projects selected for the grants.
The Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest financing programs for the implementation of innovative net-zero and low-carbon emissions technologies, and one of the key tools of the European Green Deal Plan. “We are proud to have this important project selected by the Innovation Fund, which we believe will be the biggest turning point in the sector globally for more than a decade,” explained Valentin Tijeras, VP of Global Product, R&D, and Quality at Cosentino.
With the goal to divert waste away from landfills, the “CT Quarry” factory will process more than 100,000 tons of industrial sludge from Cosentino’s manufacturing process yearly. The industrial waste combined with other materials will produce more than 247,000 tons/year of raw materials to be utilized for specifically defined industrial applications in Europe. Moreover, the project integrates the use of renewable fuels and electric energy, while recovering process heat, which is expected to achieve an absolute GHG emissions reduction of more than one million tons of CO₂ over 10 years.
Industry 4.0: becoming a connected factory through automation and robotization
Cosentino’s Industrial Hub in Cantoria (Almeria), which spans nearly 990 acres, has a total of nine factories and a fully automated logistics warehouse, which has transformed into a Smart Factory with more than 70,000 monitored variables that ensure quality control. Additionally, 96 automated robots were developed entirely by Cosentino’s R&D&I team. The company created a Datalake, which centralizes all the information generated in the operation of the business including supply of raw materials, production, management and customers.
Through advanced analytical tools and Artificial Intelligence, the company has become a Data-Driven organization that has allowed important advances for efficiency and decision making. On the manufacturing side, the company is committed to the “Connected Factory” concept, which means a single platform is used to store, visualize and exploit IoT data, in addition to providing service to other auxiliary applications intended for production.
Creating efficiency with data management optimization and Artificial Intelligence
Most recently, Cosentino initiated another project with Celonis, a world-leading firm in intelligence and process mining. In just seven weeks, teams from both companies developed an AI assistant for credit blocking management capable of analyzing blocked orders in a matter of seconds. This allows managers to process up to five times more orders per day without additional risks.
Another key achievement for Cosentino has been the “Smart Connect” project developed by the company’s Digital Business Unit and Business Technology areas to create efficiencies for commercial activity and relationships with customers. Committed to digitalization and data management to ensure optimization of processes, the company uses the Agile methodology in a SCRUM framework to ensure a customer-focused strategy for the five business verticals: kitchen & bath, fabricators, architects, designers, and end consumers. Platforms such as We Professional, eCosentino and C.Top Design make up the “Cosentino Ecosystem”, a collective with more than 300,000 professionals.
Álvaro Sánchez-Apellaniz, Cosentino’s Chief Strategy & Data Officer, explains, “with this B2B and B2C digitalization strategy, we manage to strengthen communication and connection with our customer ecosystem, which also links and feeds back to our commercial network and with the Cosentino distribution Centers & City showrooms, generating new business opportunities.” With plans to open their first sustainably-led factory in the U.S. in Jacksonville, FL by 2028, these projects pave the way for more innovative manufacturing processes in the industry.
Cosentino is also paving the way for sustainability in the U.S. with plans to open their first sustainably-led factory in Jacksonville, FL by 2028. Together, these initiatives represent significant strides in reshaping global manufacturing processes.
About Cosentino
Cosentino is a global family-owned company that produces and distributes high value innovative and sustainable surfaces for architecture and design. As a leading company, Cosentino imagines and anticipates, together with its customers and partners, design solutions that offer value and inspiration to people’s lives. This goal is made possible by pioneering brands that are leaders in their respective segments such as Silestone®, Dekton® and Sensa by Cosentino®. These innovative surfaces allow the creation of unique environments and design for the home and public spaces.
Cosentino currently distributes its products in more than 120 countries, from its headquarters in Almeria (Spain), and it’s present with its own assets in 32 of them. The multinational has nine factories (eight in Almería, Spain and one in Brazil), one intelligent logistic platform in Spain, and more of 150 commercial and business units throughout the world. More than 90 percent of Cosentino Group’s financial turnover comes from international markets. www.cosentino.com
