9/14/2012
Since 1995, the company BE Beton-Elemente GmbH + Co KG, located in Steißlingen, has been producing double walls, floor slabs and other extensive precast concrete units on a modern circulation plant.
The high demand due to a continuously growing customer base required the output increase of the plant. Thus, the company decided to expand the existing production in the beginning of 2011. Peter Dieterle, Managing Director of BE, reports: "It was important for us to achieve a considerable increase in output and quality in the field of moulding and demoulding. Furthermore, we planned to introduce another manual formwork station by combining the existing two pallet stations in one station", Peter Dieterle points out. The declared target of the project participants is to reduce the pallet replacement cycle time of the plant without additional personnel from 16 to 12 minutes. During the 4-week winter break in December 2011 / January 2012 the output increase and upgrading of the plant was completely realized by Weckenmann.
"Thanks to the newly developed TWIN-Z formwork robot, we could realize a unique concept for our customer", the responsible Project Manager of Weckenmann, Dietmar Kiene, is pleased to say. "The requested reduction of cycle time in just one pallet position could only be ensured by the TWIN-Z robot. The second manual formwork station increases our output in the field of formwork up to 35%", according to Peter Dieterle. The additional manual formwork station obtained due to the new formwork robot concept is used to reduce shortages. Precast concrete parts with a high manual formwork effort can be produced within a quick plant cycle time without slowing down the production process.
The new TWIN-Z robot achieves a higher placement precision and a quicker mode of operation at the same time. In addition, a laser station ensures the final quality check before reaching the concrete station. With the replacement of the complete formwork system by shutters with integrated magnets that are perfectly adjusted to the TWIN-Z robot, the project was completed. By upgrading the plant, BE Beton-Elemente made an important step towards quality assurance and adherence to delivery dates. Peter Dieterle: "We are pleased, that we realized the necessary investment. The result also confirms that Weckenmann was the right partner for this project."
