Lafarge South Africa, one of the country's largest ready-mix concrete companies, is to fully automate its concrete batch plants countrywide.
Some 40 plants are being updated and automated, the projects commenced in December 2001 and are to continue over a period of two years. The project is being handled by Base Control Systems of Johannesburg, which is also supplying the complex realtime resource scheduling system - vital to the delivery of a product such as ready mixed concrete - with its short shelf-life.
At present, all batching is done manually, after receiving an order from a central order-taking system, with the operator weighing ingredients by pushbutton, releasing from silos into weigh hoppers, and then into the mixing medium (usually the delivery truck). This method is open to errors on the part of the operator, who may over batch the quantity of product needed for a required quantity of ready-mix. The ingredients going into the mix include cement, aggregates (sand and gravel), water and admixtures such as accelerators (for faster setting).
Adroit Technologies was chosen as the scada supplier for the automatic batch control system developed by Base Control Systems, for its ease of operation and its realtime graphic representation. A Modicon PLC serves as the front end for each batch control system, and a computer driving two monitors acts as the operator interface.
"By automating the batching process, and by installing realtime resource scheduling systems", says Tim Victor of Base Controls, "Lafarge South Africa will enjoy a far more efficient readymix concrete production and delivery operation".
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