Requirements for the concrete mixing plant
The company PRDM Trakt Sp. z o.o. was looking for a new concrete mixing plant that would be making concrete for their own needs. Trakt decided to buy Mini Cobra C40, which has hourly capacity that matched company's requirements.
The delivery contract was signed just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the basic configuration of the Mini Cobra C40 model, the customer requested one significant change. For the aggregate conveyance customer chose a belt conveyor instead of the using skip hoist. An additional requirement was to design the plant layout in the L-shape form. This means that the aggregate bins were rotated by 90 degrees in relation to the main module.
For the lifting conveyor Tecwill decided to use an extra holding hopper above the mixer. It plays a significant role of the aggregate buffer for one full batch. In many competitive solutions that use a belt conveyor, the aggregate is being dosed directly to the mixer. Thus, it is a bottleneck in the production process that reduces the capacity declared by manufacturers. In the Mini Cobra model, Tecwill avoided such a situation and guaranteed reaching the nominal capacity of the concrete plant.
Concrete batching plant equipment
The plant model ordered by customer has 4-bins aggregate module, 2 cement silos and full winter equipment. It is also prepared to connect heating container in the future. Mini Cobra C40 is equipped in highest quality planetary mixer Lapa 1000 TY manufactured in Finland.
The production process of the plant, availability of all the necessary components as well as the installation process and startup of the plant were the significant challenges related to the pandemic. Plant delivery had to be postponed few days due to lockdown of the Italian market, from which the cement silo equipment comes. The readiness of the plant turned out to be on the same time as readiness of all the foundation works made by customer.
Installation of concrete mixing plant during COVID-19
The additional challenge was the process of organizing the trip for Tecwill personnel coming from Finland. All the air traffic was locked down therefore Tecwill personnel had to come to Poland by ferry with middle stop in Sweden. Entering Poland was only possible for travelers doing business related trips. Tecwill arranged all necessary documents for the frontier guards that enabled to cross the border, in result the personnel arrived at the jobsite in time.
Apart from the basic tools and work clothes, Tecwill staff was equipped with personal protective equipment and sanitizers. The entire installation process was carried out in a sanitary regime, keeping a distance wherever possible.
Remote online education and start-up of concrete plant
First phase of training, after the installation process, was done remotely. New plant operator was sitting alone in the control room and remote assistance was given by Tecwill people from Gdańsk and Joensuu office. This way the process and getting familiar with control system interface and functions minimized face to face interaction. Tecwill specialist assisted operator during startup of the plant and concrete sample production. The decision to split the training into two phases reduced by half the total time of being together in small control room.
From the pandemic point of view the crucial aspect was the fact that the batching plant modules were fully equipped, preinstalled, insulated and factory tested. This reduced the number of days required for installation work at the customer's site and reduced the time for customer and Tecwill personnel working closely together. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Buyer and the Supplier, the assembly was carried out according to the time schedule. Moreover, thanks to the precautionary measures taken to minimize the possibility of virus transmission, none of the installation team got infected.
Both Buyer and Supplier proved that with good commitment it is possible to deliver and quickly install a mixing plant in that difficult time of pandemic. That was achievable thanks to maintaining Covid-19 protecting measures and the concept of ready installed Cobra mobile plant.
