Construction World November 2015

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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

WET BATCHING PLANT SHOWCASED

Pan Mixers South Africa (PMSA) had a full IMER batching plant assembled at Bauma Conexpo Africa 2015 to demonstrate the advantages of wet batching and mixing.

mixing, where a more consistent quality mix can be obtained,” Quintin Booysen, sales and marketing manager at PMSA, says. “The result is cement savings and less variability in the concrete produced. As infrastructure roll-out intensifies across Africa, more cost-ef- fective ways of producing concrete will be the ultimate goal. At present most concrete is produced on-site in Africa. However, central batching and ready-mix will increase in Africa, as has been the case in South Africa over the last few decades,” Booysen stresses. In conjunction with Kraft Curing Solutions of Germany, PMSA showcased the full Kraft range for the precast sector at Bauma Conexpo Africa 2015. Clients who have installed a full curing system on their PMSA precast brick and paver plants have enjoyed cement savings of up to 30%. Added benefits include reduced stockholding, while increasing the quality of the end product. This is a huge incentive for precast element producers to save money on cement input costs, Booysen stresses. The SPS concrete roof tile plant is ideal for start-up roof tilemanufacturers looking to enter themarket by supplying high-quality concrete roof tiles. This can be done on a smaller machine with a capacity of up to 5 000 tiles a day. “We have upgraded this machinery and managed to deliver a world- class, entry-level roof-tile production plant at a highly competitive price by re-engineering the existing SPS 712 roof tile plant,” Booysen notes. Explaining the theme of ‘Thinking About Concrete? Think PMSA’, Booysen adds: “Companies need to move from an equipment supplier mind-set towards providing a total solution and fit-for-purpose technology. “Companies should also invest in their customers by providing the best possible skills transfer and knowledge sharing in order to upskill customers’ staff. This makes the supplier’s job in terms of support, mainte- nance and upgrading that much easier, increasing customers’ bottom line in the long term.”

“There is an international trend for companies to move away from dry batching using a transit mixer and a Karoo type batching plant for weighing aggregates and mixing, towards wet batching and

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PMSA distributes Imer wet batch plants to a range of industries in Southern Africa.

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MINI-LAB PROVIDES MAXI SERVICE Ten world-class full-service laboratories make up a comprehensive network operated by condition monitoring specialists WearCheck, with the head office in Pinetown, Durban. Here, next to the full- service primary laboratory, is a highly specialised mini-laboratory, which provides niche analysis services.

While one of the core functions of the Pinetown mini-lab is to do prepara- tion for aircraft filter analysis, it also provides several other monitoring services and speciality tests on samples that are not generally processed in the main laboratory. This laboratory processes samples from around the country, where speciality analysis is required. Some of the specialty tests conducted in the mini-lab include the analysis of grease, coolant, Karl Fischer moisture, VPR (varnish potential rating), aircraft and refrigeration. The three highly-specialised technical staff members who operate the mini-lab also conduct field visits to customers in a variety of industries, such as Illovo, Tongaat Hulett, Gud filters, and more. They take samples from gearboxes, turbines, compressors and any other component that needs monitoring. These samples are then processed and analysed in the mini-lab, and the results sent to the customer, with recommendations on what corrective maintenance action should be taken, if any is needed. >

The on-site sampling is a service that is highly sought-after by mini-lab customers. The 10 full-service WearCheck laboratories operate across the African continent and beyond, and are situated in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, with international laboratories in India, Dubai, Ghana, Mozambique and Zambia – at Lumwana mine and Kitwe. WearCheck also has a presence in Cape Town, Rustenburg, Steel- poort, Port Elizabeth, Zimbabwe and Namibia. An 11 full-service laboratory is scheduled to open soon in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). One of the mini-lab technicians, Shane Goslin, will relocate to the DRC to supervise the initial phase of the new laboratory, which will be on-site at the new Kibali Gold Mine, potentially the largest gold mine in Africa. Field and lab technician Shane Goslin, who joined the company at the end of 2014, prepares a tray of engine coolant samples for testing. Goslin will shortly relocate to the DRC to supervise the initial phase of WearCheck’s newest laboratory, which will be on-site at the new Kibali Gold Mine.

Trevor Pillay (left, at microscope) is the senior mini-lab technician, and has been at WearCheck for 26 years. With him is field and lab technician Shashay Rampersad, who has clocked up 13 years at WearCheck.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD NOVEMBER 2015