Construction World February 2020

Training for batchers – KEY FOR QUALITY CONCRETE PRODUCTION T he Concrete Institute’s School of Concrete Technology will this year offer a special one-day course for

• Lower production costs; and • Higher client satisfaction and sales volumes. ̸7KH FRXUVH RIIHUHG E\ WKH 6FKRRO RI Concrete Technology will provide batchers and staff at a batch plant with the essential concrete education and theory WR FRPSHWHQWO\ SURGXFH TXDOLW\ UHDG\PL[ FRQFUHWH 7KH WUDLQLQJ ZLOO DOVR EHQHͤW EDWFK plant supervisors, laboratory staff, sales and staff and even general labourers involved ZLWK EDWFKLQJ̹ 0DJZD]D DGGV Topics covered will include: • Batchers’ responsibilities; • The concrete materials and their HIIHFW RQ WKH FRQFUHWH PL[ • Fresh properties of concrete - and the tests to check it; • %DVLFV RI PL[ GHVLJQ LQFOXGLQJ WKH control of the water content; • Testing for the hardened properties of concrete; and • Basic management of a batch plant, including implement Quality • Control systems. The course (SCT15) will be presented in 0LGUDQG RQ -XQH 'XUEDQ RQ -XO\ &DSH 7RZQ RQ 6HSWHPEHU DQG 3RUW (OL]DEHWK RQ 2FWREHU )RU IXUWKHU LQIRUPDWLRQ FRQWDFW -RKQ 5R[EXUJK on 011 315 0300 or email MRKQU#WKHFRQFUHWHLQVWLWXWH RUJ ]D ƒ

concrete batchers and batch plant staff in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and 3RUW (OL]DEHWK 0DWWKHZV 0DJZD]D OHFWXUHU DW WKH School of Concrete Technology, says batching – the process of measuring and combining concrete ingredients according WR WKH SUHGHWHUPLQHG PL[ GHVLJQ ̰ LV a vital element of concrete production which ensures high and uniform quality of UHDG\PL[ FRQFUHWH IRU HDFK EDWFK SURGXFHG by a batching plant. ̸7KH GXUDELOLW\ RI D VWUXFWXUH LV KLJKO\ dependent on the quality of the concrete used to build it. Therefore, it is essential to precisely and meticulously select the concrete ingredients and this can only be achieved by a competent batcher. ,W LV IRU H[DPSOH LPSRUWDQW WR PDLQWDLQ the water-cement ratio constantly at the set value and a skilled batcher will be able to adapt his or her production to cater for the ZDWHU FRQWHQW LQ WKH DJJUHJDWH̹ 0DJZD]D H[SODLQV He says proper batching offers several EHQHͤWV LQFOXGLQJ • Low variability in plastic and hardened concrete properties; • %HWWHU SODQW HͦFLHQF\

Matthews Magwaza, lecturer at the School of Concrete Technology.

33

CONSTRUCTION WORLD FEBRUARY 2020