Hunnewell Cement’s Construction Materials Testing Laboratory has been accredited since 2009 and, since 2015, it has been operating under the international standard ISO/IEC 17025:2017/2018.
This standard ensures a high level of work performance and staff qualification, incorporating the best international practices accumulated over decades. As a result, the accuracy and reliability of the laboratory’s research are maximized.

To maintain quality control, the laboratory’s operations are inspected annually by the State Accreditation Center. This inspection involves direct observation of work processes, assessment of staff qualifications for specific tasks, review of the laboratory’s normative base, verification of proper registration, recording and documentation of test results, and inspection of the accuracy and compliance of modern equipment and devices with standards and metrological traceability. Normative documents are updated annually.

• In order to continuously improve work processes, the laboratory periodically compares its testing methods for construction materials with both accredited laboratories in Georgia and international laboratories. We have established close cooperation with a laboratory in Bulgaria, which supplies identical test samples to various laboratories across Europe, collects and processes the test results, and shares the findings with participating laboratories.
• Based on the final report, the compliance of the participating laboratories’ results with the standard is determined, allowing an assessment of the accuracy and competency of each laboratory.

The laboratories of our Kaspi and Rustavi cement plants have been participating for over 10 years in Heidelberg Materials’ quarterly Proficiency Testing schemes. These proficiency tests are conducted according to the internationally recognized EN ISO/IEC 17043:2010 standard. A pre-selected cement sample is sent to group laboratories for testing, and its parameters are determined accordingly.

For more than five years now (21 rounds in total), our four concrete laboratories have participated in these qualification tests. The results clearly demonstrate that, in most cases, the results recorded by both our cement and concrete laboratories fully comply with the pre-set targets.

For your information, we have reached an agreement with Heidelberg Materials that our company will continue participating in these programs throughout 2025, with all four of our laboratories taking part in the proficiency testing processes.

• Hunnewell Cement also operates a mobile laboratory equipped with all necessary instruments. This mobile unit allows us to perform tests directly on the construction site, including measurements of air content, concrete consistency (slump test), and temperature of fresh concrete.
  It also facilitates the collection of liquid concrete samples on-site and the determination of hardened concrete strength using non-destructive (Schmidt hammer) methods.

In Hunnewell Cement’s concrete laboratory, all incoming materials intended for concrete production are tested for quality and suitability before being used — whether it is sand, gravel, cement, or various types of plasticizers. We control concrete quality both at the plant and directly on construction sites.

Key parameters tested include:

• Compressive strength,
• Consistency (slump test),
• Temperature,
• Air content,
• Water permeability.

The mobile laboratory provides on-site services to our customers.
At the construction site, concrete samples are molded and labeled with special tags indicating the following information: project name, site address, design characteristics of the concrete, and molding date. The label is signed by the site representative to ensure precise identification of each sample.
All parameters that can be measured during the fresh concrete stage — such as slump, temperature, and air content — are tested on-site. Samples are collected for further compressive strength testing.

Concrete samples are then stored in a curing room at the laboratory, submerged in water at 20±2°C. Compressive strength tests are conducted at 7 and 28 days of age according to EN 206-1 standards.