WHY EVEN AUTOMATE YOUR PRODUCTION?

When it comes to automation there are two questions that come up: Is it necessary to automate production processes of pre-stressed hollow core elements? Will there be no more people working in production if we automate?

First, we need to understand where we are today in the means of industrialisation. It all began in 1760 with the steam power mechanisation, it developed into the mass production or so-called industry 2.0 and from that to the industry 3.0, which was the first one with computers. We are now living in the 4.0 internet, data analytics and connectivity era and are entering the mass customization era, the industry 5.0 – the era where we will be working alongside machines.
Not only robots!
Automation is so much more than robots substituting humans. The main purpose of automation is to reduce heavy and sometimes dangerous human labour, so to make the production more efficient and safer, but – against common belief – without wiping out the need of humans entirely. It is the usage of specialized machinery and computers, that can produce without needing human labour. The goal is an intelligent production plant using data for an automated production, where humans only manage the machinery and don’t need to work on the product anymore.

Data and machinery driven production

Data needs to be transferred to the machines. The planning quality is way higher with automated machinery, which is connected to the right software. Fewer human resources are needed, who are machine operators and not heavy labourer. Given the work force crisis, especially for craft jobs, less human resources needed are a benefit. Also, manpower is one of the biggest costs, which overall need to be kept low to stay competitively relevant.

The right data usage leads to less waste and even mistakes can be reduced, which ultimately leads to less complaints and satisfied customers. The efficiency has increased as well as the quality. The efficiency is achieved with up to 50% less manpower, capable to manage different stages of the production process with less manual work and preventing extra working hours. The quality is better because automatization improves the consistency and reliability. With current prices and considering the ultimate goal of sustainable production, automation is the future.
The automated machinery and software solutions are the efficient tools of modern production.

There is no automation without software
Data needs to be incorporated in the production. Storage control, stack planning and productivity reports as well as design planning, are the main focuses of the software in a precast plant. Stack planning is essential, as a company needs to know in which order the products need to be delivered – so in which order they need to be produced. With the right software solutions productivity reports can be implemented, which can help with an analysis on how to make the plant more intelligent too. This is also a benefit of a detailed design planning with the newest software solutions.

Automation in the production of pre-stressed Hollow core products
Enhanced machinery automation can be achieved also with a concrete delivery system with flying buckets and an automatic ordering of concrete as well as the automatic unloading of concrete in the production machine. With the production machinery automatically running, the machine operator can – while production – work on another tasks.
The tracing with the plotter, which is marking the slabs were to make the cut outs – with extreme precision! This is accurate for less than a millimetre – which cannot be achieved by hand. With this machine also the wheep wholes can be drilled. Though making openings still (for now) needs to be manually.
The sawing of the cured slabs can again be done fully automatedly, which makes the production flow safer, faster, and more accurate. This results in a cleaner factory, with less people in the hall who will work more safely and efficiently – with automation.
Less waste, less mistakes, more safety, and higher quality in a shorter amount of time.

Progress Precast India Pvt. Ltd
Web : www.progress.group/en/