Materials

Certified ceilings for shipbuilding

The specialised manufacturing company Lautex provides ceilings – metal panels, cassettes, gratings, and decorative profiles – for the shipbuilding and construction industries, offering a wide variety of fire-resistant and also customised solutions.

Approximately 80 percent of Lautex’s products are manufactured for use in the shipbuilding industry, to be installed mainly aboard cruise ships.

According to Mr. Jukka Vappula, Managing Director for Oy Lautex Ab, the company’s turnover is on the increase.

”In 2019, our turnover was 12 million euros, which is some 30 percent higher than in the previous year,” he says.

The company’s newest product innovations include LTX-340 and Sandwich ceiling panels.

”They are light weight and 0-join, screwless, with excellent acoustic properties, and can be opened with no need for hatches.”

”The Sandwich panels have a maximum span of 2.8 metres, with a height of just 32 millimetres. Such panels are ideal for space-saving onboard installations,” Mr. Vappula suggests.

”Both types of panels have been utilised in the construction of the Costa Smeralda, the latest cruise ship manufactured by Meyer Turku shipyard.”

The new types of metal panels can also be used for refurbishing and building construction applications.

Recently, Lautex has invested in new high-tech edging, shaping and perforating machines, as well as glue-joint presses, and performed the latest update at a paint shop. ”New personnel has also been recruited. The company now employs 57 professionals,” Mr. Vappula recounts.

Lautex is also strongly involved in sustainability projects within the shipbuilding industry. ”We are currently operating with full capacity. Things are looking good.”

Text by: Ari Mononen
Photos: Kari Palsila

More information: www.lautex.fi