The Slats are held in place with plastic spacers which seem more complicated and likely to break than other designs I have seen.  The directions were easy to follow and I put it together in about 45 minutes by myself.  When put together it seems sturdy enough- would like to re-review when it has been 1 year.  It is overly sized for our queen sized mattress so there is a 1-2 inch gap on sides.