ABUS EOT cranes and light weight crane systems in a production plant for concrete mixers and transit mixers in India

Concrete is an almost universally usable construction material. However, not all concretes are equal. Various kinds and types of concrete allow the properties of the concretes to meet the requirements in question. Different compositions of concrete make it possible to fulfil such characteristics as load-bearing capacity, safety, and protection from heat, moisture, fire, and noise. The right ratio of the different materials that concrete is composed of is very important when mixing different kinds of concrete. Then it is imperative to quickly transport this building material to the building site and to spread it as soon as possible in order to correctly use the concrete.

One of the leading producers in India for concrete mixing systems, for transit mixers, and for concrete pumps is the company Ajax Fiori (www.ajax-engg.com) with headquarters in Bangalore in the south of India. The company was founded in 1992 and was based on a partnership with the Italian company Fiori S.p.A. There are two more production plants in India in addition to headquarters. A sales network of over 30 agents ensures customer proximity. A service network of about 100 service and repair points guarantees the continual availability of concrete mixing systems and trucks. A new state-of-art plant of the company is to be found at Doddaballapura to the north of Bangalore. The complete production and final assembly of the transit mixers is situated here with an average output time of less than 40 minutes.

Producing these robust vehicles in such a short processing time requires a high production competence which in turn relies on suitable material flow solutions. The company ElectroMech (www.emech.com), the Indian partner of ABUS Kransysteme GmbH, ensures the required materials are supplied to the individual work stations along the automated assembly line by making use of a solution that combines several EOT cranes with light weight crane systems. 12 single girder EOT cranes in total work in the top transport level: they have lifting capacities of between 2 and 4 tonnes and spans between 6.33 and 22.60 metres. All cranes feature monorail trolleys type E. These compactly designed hoists have very favourable installation dimensions and come with two direct drives as trolley travel drives for cross travelling. This particular wire rope hoist is one of the most popular ones in the lower load capacity range of between 1 and 16 tonnes. The EOT cranes are used to transport to their assembly stations larger and heavier components such as the concrete mixing drum of the concrete mixing transport trucks. Smaller and less heavy components are transported by suspended rail systems at individual work stations. A total of 10 single girder EHB cranes for SWLs of up to 1,250 kg are installed at the different work stations. Double girder cranes ZHB are used for loads weighing up to 2,000 kg. Both types of crane are characterised by ease of movement. The components processed in the assembly line have loads of between 500 and 1,600 kg: long and cross travelling are both done manually. Electric lifting and lowering of the loads is carried out by diverse electric chain hoists of the ABUCompact series. They can lift loads weighing up to 4,000 kg depending on the design.

Productivity in this production plant has increased 2.5 fold thanks to this combination of EOT cranes and suspended rail systems ensuring the individual assembly stations are continually supplied with material.