Mesh welding system results in substantial savings in Dubai

With its more than 15 years of experience, Hard Precast Building Systems (HPBS) is one of the leading precast concrete companies in the United Arab Emirates and has a workforce of 120 people in total at present. The company offers a wide range of services, including redesign, manufacturing, logistics, and installation covering all kinds of application using precast elements. Founded in 2005, HPBS is a pioneer in the market of high-quality precast products such as insulated sandwich walls, cladding walls, prestressed hollow-core slabs covering spans of up to 24 meters, precast and prestressed beams and columns as well as footings. The field of structural engineering has seen a remarkable development over the past ten years, which has led to a significant increase in the use of precast wall elements in the various projects. Nevertheless, wall panels are still the company‘s key product.

Most recently, HPBS has taken an important step towards the automation of the carousel plant, integrating a flexible mesh welding plant of the BlueMesh series. This cost-efficient system of Progress Maschinen & Automation, a company of the Progress Group, is particularly suitable for factories with the highest quality requirements at medium production outputs.

Strengthening market competitiveness in precast applications

The new system is welding reinforcing wire mesh from the coil according to individual specifications and results in considerable reductions in labor costs and cutting scrap. So far, the reinforcement production included manual work stations for providing the mesh with openings. Whereas the mesh is produced with the corresponding openings with the aid of the new M-System BlueMesh in an automated process from now on. HPBS is manufacturing in two shifts per day, and the daily output of the mesh welding plant is about 3,000 m² (8 to 9 tons) at full capacity. On a normal day, these are between 1,500 and 2,000 m², that is to say 4 to 5 tons.

The new plant convinces by its high level of technology but also by its efficiency in respect of energy, floor space requirement and costs. Moreover, it stands out by a specific characteristic – the production of wire mesh with a special size of 8 x 4 m. The mesh units manufactured just in time are produced with a maximum mesh width of 4 m and precisely fitting to the specified precast element size and shape, including any possible openings. The mesh welding plant was conceived so as to allow additional functions such as 3D mesh and additional diameters in the future.

The investment decision was taken in favor of Progress

The Progress Group that is known for their quality products and the satisfaction of their customers was in the position to plan the production, delivery and installation of the machines required within a very short time. In addition to the mesh welding plant, a stirrup

bending machine of the

EBA S-Line was commissioned. This sturdy and high-performance machine serves the manufacture of reinforcing stirrups in various shapes, being used as spacers between wall and floor elements as well as for the connection between two walls. Regarding the implementation of the project, Hard Precast attached great importance to tailor-made complete solutions from a single source.

The company is convinced that the new plant will significantly contribute to an increase in the productivity of the production of customized precast concrete elements and is very optimistic about the future thanks to the new Progress technology.