On the way to the top

Contemporary production of precast concrete stairs

Fig. 1 The silo is fed via the outside bucket conveyor supplied by company WMW.

Fig. 2 The floor truck supplied by WMW in the production building.

Fig. 3 The row-type silo plant with dosing flaps and weighing conveyor at the head end of the production building.

Fig. 4 The truck discharge bunker with ground level access feeding the double belt conveyor by means of a discharge conveyor.

Fig. 5 The production hopper for special aggregates: big bag discharge through outside hoppers and dosing conveyor possible.

Fig. 6 Inside the feeding bunker where the aggregates are transported to the double belt conveyor by the transverse conveyor belt: material bunker for 20 m³ of gravel with discharge conveyor.

Fig. 7 The cone mixer type KKN 750/1125 of Kniele at mixer level.

Fig. 8 In this way, the raw materials are carried from the double belt conveyor into the single silos.

Fig. 9 The mixer is fed with raw materials by a skip elevator with safety device.

Fig. 10 View from the control platform into the production building.

The concrete manufacturing plant Gilne Treppenbau located near Osnabrück (Germany) is an owner-managed company in the second generation. Managing directors are Matthias Neyer und Thomas Gilhaus. The company name derives from both surnames. The concrete plant has been manufacturing concrete staircases in various designs for decades. Biger sales program and higher requirements on concrete quality made a reconstruction of the concrete plant necessary.

At the beginning, the company was specialized in spiral staircases. Owing to this niche product the company was steadily growing in the market of concrete staircases. Twelve years ago, they started to manufacture and deliver complete staircases. The current sales program of the family-run business includes precast concrete staircases, landings, concrete spiral staircases, balconies and natural stone. The customer base was growing internationally as well. Thus, the company these days is not only supplying to construction sites throughout Germany but also to sites abroad. However, also precast...