Pump-powered Locking System boosts Roof Tile Production in Australia

An Enerpac pump-powered door handling system is helping boosting production at the Australian CSR Monier Roof Tile Plant, Darra, Brisbane (Queensland). The system ensures all doors on the curing chambers are handled in a quick and efficient manner, ensuring production rates are maintained with no stoppages.

Roof tiles are manufactured in batches and then cured in a heated chamber. Declining factory productivity prompted CSR Monier to ask manufacturing and process improvement services company, Heltec Pty Ltd of Queensland, to review concrete roof tiles production from the factory’s 20 curing chambers.

Following an analysis of the roof tile production process, Heltec refurbished the concrete curing chambers to improve insulation, hence providing a higher humidity and ensuring consistent temperature across the chamber. All chambers must be completely sealed and airtight, to ensure that the exothermic reaction produced by the fresh concrete tiles can be taken advantage of.

Frame mounted licking

system

Options for automated doors that could provide an airtight room on such an old structure were limited. A custom door was designed; however the site needed a way to handle them in a prompt manner to accommodate the fast-paced manufacturing environment. Heltec developed a frame-mounted, custom push bar locking system powered by an Enerpac XC2 pump and RC59 cylinder. Once the large steel door of the heat chamber is in the closed position, the frame is moved into place. The operator then turns on XC2 pump which in turn activates the Enerpac RC59 cylinder, pushing the bar to lock the chamber door. Once locked, the frame mounted, push bar locking system is released. Mounted on rail above the chamber doors, it can easily travel between the factory’s 20 chambers.

In addition to its labour-saving benefits, the Enerpac pump-powered locking system also ensures a reduced manual handling risk to the operator. Heltec advised that they favoured the Enerpac XC2 over other brands due to its reliability and quality along with the technical support that Enerpac provided, which made designing the system easier.

Improved tile quality

Initial results from using the refurbished chambers have a 50% reduction in the variation of resultant tile strength across the room, enabling greater daily production volume. Coupled with this was a 47% reduction in the variation across the chamber for residual moisture in the tiles prior to packaging, meaning storage times in the yard for the final stages of the tile curing process can be reduced and the product dispatched to customers quicker.

“The Enerpac XC2 pump and RC59 cylinder has played an important role ensuring that all chamber doors are not only handled in an efficient manner, but also in a safer way,” said Peter Stephens of Heltec Pty Ltd.