The traditional company Betonwerk Oschatz has supplied building projects with demanding precast concrete elements for more than 25 years. The precast plant installed in 1995 has been modernised for the latest technology standards several times and received several rewards for this. "Robot technology increasingly changes our working methods. Manual processes are automated, which continually increases our plant productivity," explains Managing Director Birgit Zocher. They trust in plant-specialist Vollert as a know-how partner. The last project included a new vacuum turning unit, installed in the double-wall production in 2012. Modernisation of the shuttering area and the cleaning processes took place in 2018.
State-of-the-art machine technology, thought-through in all details
"Highly efficient robot technology has ensured high precision and clean, reliable processes since April," explains Markus Schenk, Senior Sales Manager at Vollert. The new SMART SET robot line takes over deshuttering fully automatically and is controlled by CAD/CAM, as well as plotting the contours for the element floor slabs and double walls to be produced. The shuttering profiles of many different lengths are subsequently positioned, and installation parts such as magnets for e-sockets are placed, at high speed and with great precision. Up to four magnets can be placed at the same time. State-of-the-art laser and camera systems monitor this process. A SMART STORE magazining robot was newly installed as well. It takes care of interim storage of the shuttering profiles in the storage magazines, or puts them back to the supply route to the next shuttering process. "The new robot technology and automated processes enable us to feed 5-6 circulation pallets through this work area every hour," says Birgit Zocher. "The individual robots also have separate safety areas, so that work can continue even if one robot area has a fault." "This was a challenge in terms of space, since a work platform for reinforcement preparation is placed right on top of the area in some places in addition to the limited footprint. However, we have been able to find an optimal solution for this, summarises Markus Schenk.
A SMART CLEAN cleaning station was newly installed. The SMART SET deshuttering robot takes over the profiles and places them on a roller track, where they are supplied to the shutter cleaner. Cleaning takes place conventionally with disc and roll brushes. Subsequently, separating agent is applied by spraying nozzles in the integrated separating agent removal unit. A pallet cleaner clears the surface of adhering concrete residues and glue, with rotating roller brushes and a steel scraper unit. An integrated spray unit with rotation nozzles then automatically sprays the steel sheet and the side rails with separation agent, as soon as the pallet moves into the working area.
