Having participated in bauma Africa 2013, technology supplier for the precast concrete industry, Progress Group, tells Engineering News it relished the opportunity to register for this year’s event – BAUMA CONEXPO AFRICA – to increase the group’s familiarity with local industries and to draw new investors.

Progress Group is a consortium of six mechanical engineering companies, namely Ebawe Anlagentechnik, Progress Maschinen & Automation, Tecnocom, Echo Precast Engineering, Ultra-Span Technologies and Progress. Ebawe and Progress merged in 1998, which led to the formation of Progress Maschinen & Automation. Tecnocom, Echo Precast Engineering and Ultra-Span Technologies joined the consortium between 2010 and 2013.

As the product portfolios of the individual companies complement each other, Progress Group considers itself to be the leading technology supplier in precast concrete products.

While Ebawe develops turnkey carousel plants for the precast concrete industry, Progress Maschinen & Automation develops coil processing machinery and plants. Tecnocom, meanwhile, develops moulding systems and special solutions for the precast concrete industry, while Echo Precast Engineering and Ultra-Span Technologies produce machinery and plants for prestressed concrete products, especially hollow core slabs.

Ebawe marketing head Katja Smolinski notes that the economic situation in Africa is booming, especially for tourists and immigrants. “More apartments and hotels are required and building should be fast, cost-effective and of a high quality, which is what precast panel building is all about and what Progress Group can offer,” she says.

First Carousel Plant for Precast Concrete Panels in India

For the construction of a new housing project in Bangalore, India, India-based construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji & Co, which specialises in the construction of residential buildings erected with precast concrete panels, decided, in July 2013, to invest in what it considered to be state-of-the-art technology. The company, therefore, reached out to Ebawe for the delivery and installation of an automated precast factory in Bangalore.

The plant, which was completed just two months later, in September 2013, is used to manufacture wall and floor panels and is the first carousel system of its kind in India.

Shapoorji Pallonji & Co’s project, called the New Haven project has a built-up area of 1.7-million square feet and comprises 35 towers in total. It is a green township designed by internationally acclaimed architects from the US and, with the new precast plant, about 70 flats can be erected per month.

Ebawe not only presented Shapoorji Pallonji & Co with an appropriate solution, but also met a short deadline. The project started in July 2013 and the first precast elements were manufactured six months later. This included the two-month shipment.

Shapoorji Pallonji & Co highlights the reliability and excellent delivery time of Ebawe as its reason for success.

Unique Demo Plant in Belgium

Echo Precast Engineering, meanwhile, invested in a test facility last year – a fully operational plant for the production of prestressed concrete elements that is based in Houthalen, Belgium.

The test plant comprises two production beds – 50 m long and 1.2 m wide – as well as a special bed, used for slab production, which is 36 m long and 1.5 m wide. The plant also features a batching plant with five aggregate pits, two cement silos and a planetary mixer for the production of high-quality concrete. There is also a concrete laboratory with all the necessary measuring equipment.

The primary reason for this venture is so that new products can be tested immediately under real factory conditions, reducing time to market and ensuring that products have a high degree of maturity when delivered to customers. The company is already successfully testing its newest generation of extruders, plotters and fully automatic sawing machines.

Beside the prestressed hollow core slabs, Echo Precast Engineering can produce an extensive range of concrete elements at this plant, including hollow core slabs with insulation or incorporated heating and cooling systems, beams, lintels, gutters and foundation piles with peaks.

Belgium software company I-Theses’ Autofloor-Software manages the plant. The complete layout drawing is prepared in AutoFloor and production documentation – worksheets, labels, bed layouts and bills – can be generated in BedPlanner.

Additionally, it is possible to create files in PXML, an open data interface created by Progress Group. The PXML format allows for data exchanges with the Echo Precast Engineering bed plotter and the Echo Precast Engineering automatic sawing machine.

The test plant helps Echo Precast Engineering understand what really matters to customers. For example, targets such as reducing variable costs by reducing cement consumption and changeover time have become the primary focus.

However, the test plant not only supports Echo Precast Engineering’s innovation activities, but is also used to demonstrate all machines to customers.

Battery Moulds: Refining the Precast Industry

Tecnocom uses battery moulds designed for the vertical casting of reinforced concrete elements with a considerable surface area in a single layer and in various sizes.

Vertical battery moulds are ideal for manufacturing reinforced large concrete elements. Panels can be produced in a variety of thicknesses and sizes. The mobile vertical pouring bays can be used to cast numerous elements simultaneously. The greatest advantage of a vertical battery mould is the high production, while occupying a relatively small amount of space.

The company explains that a variety of concrete elements can be cast between the steel bulkheads and that the number of bulkheads determines the number of elements manufactured and can be adapted to meet production capacity requirements.

Battery moulds can be supplied as a single mould, with one series of pouring bays, or a double mould with two series of pouring bays on either side of a fixed central matrix. The number of pouring bays required depends on the number of prefabricated panels being produced and, therefore, the customers required capacity.

Further, customers can choose to install a heating system to accelerate the concrete curing process. Vibrators on the bulkheads guarantee the effective compacting of the freshly poured concrete.