Competitive edge by diversification
Increasing competitive pressure as well as upcoming opportunities for diversifying on the Northern Ireland market made Acheson & Glover (AG) decide in favor of investing in a versatile in-line aging machine. Since 2008, AG has been successfully operating a state-of-the-art big board paver/block plant producing a wide range of horizontal paving products in multiple sizes and to an outstanding quality standard.
In the past, an off-line tumbling line was used for aging concrete products. For an economical operation of tumbling drums, certain product sizes should not be exceeded. The efficient use of available resources combined with a vision made AG decide in favor of an in-line KBH Dancing Weight aging machine to allow for diversification.
During the site review, some hurdles to be overcome were noticed, such as different conveying heights and limited space for electrical cabinets. The Dancing Weight machine was installed in parallel to the existing dry-side conveyor charged and discharged by fully electric layer pushers.
The installation of fully electric lifting and lowering tables (pop-up tables) allowed for different conveying heights. Limited space for electrical cabinets encouraged KBH to install them on a raised mezzanine. For ease of installation, KBH decided to place all electrical cabinets in an easy-to-install electrical control room as a container solution equipped with electrical quick connects.
Enormous reduction of installation time
This electrical control room required a higher initial investment, which, however, shortened the time needed for installation enormously. Stephen Acheson comments: “The impressive Dancing Weight machine makes it possible to age a big variety of concrete product fully hands off and of course in the pattern in which they are produced in the mold of the paver machine”.
While using the tumbling drum, the cull rate was close to 5 to 10%, and the maximum product size allowed (for economic reasons) was not larger than approximately 200 × 300 mm.
Needless to say, a significant number of staff necessary for product cubing afterwards can now be saved. Operating the Dancing Weight machine has widened the distressed product range significantly.
Nowadays, slabs up to a size of 1.2 × 1 m as well as polygonal shaped product with false joints no longer represent an obstacle in technical and economic terms. The cull rate is virtually 0%. An integrated curling light system is a specialty AG opted for. It allows for superior product cleaning and already gives a bit of a smoother surface, which is one of the most important aspects of the curling feature.
Both the Dancing Weight machine and the curling system are vacuumed using a KBH high-capacity dust extraction system. Larger-sized debris is completely removed from the product layer and transported in a debris box on a reliable debris conveyor. KBH in-line operations are designed to match the pace of the wet-side output. The KBH plant design at AG allows to successfully operate in a 13-15 second cycle time on product with and without face mix.
