CONCRETE
MOBILITY
IN A COMPANY-FIRST, GOUGH INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS IS KEEPING A CONCRETE BATCHING PLANT – SIMEM’S ZINGO DOS – IN STOCK IN AUSTRALIA, AS THE COMPANY BELIEVES THE BATCH PLANT IS WELL SUITED FOR A WIDE RANGE OF PROJECTS.
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n a report in 2014, Deloitte found from a survey that labour comprised a large percentage of cost-share in public infrastructure projects. The survey showed cost-share of total project cost came to about 23 per cent for roads and 31 per cent for rail. Respondents indicated that labour costs, equipment and other capital, materials, and other intermediate inputs (including subcontractors) were all significant factors in total project costs. As a large component of the total project cost, cutting down labour requirements could be the key to winning some contracts, so long as it does not affect production or quality. Project equipment can play a large role in reducing the number of personnel needed for operation, with streamlined processes and advanced technology. To this end, Gough Industrial Solutions has begun to offer the Simem Zingo Dos, a semiautomated concrete batching plant, keeping it in stock for Australia. Horst Hendrich, Gough Industrial Solutions National Key Account Manager, says the company believes there will be high demand for this plant and wants the industry to have quick access to it if needed. “We have recently done a trip around South Australia, Victoria and NSW and we spoke to a number of smaller companies that are interested,” Mr. Hendrich says.
Gough Industrial Solutions believes there will be high demand for its semi-automated concrete batching plant.
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“It would even be suited to major companies that have a larger plant in a remote location that is only doing a small number of cubic metres of concrete per week.” One of the major benefits of the Zingo Dos plant, Mr. Hendrich says, is that it is designed to be operated by a single person. “The loader driver can actually operate the plant alone using a tablet, and it can produce a number of different mixes each day if required,” he says. “All mix designs go into the batch computer and it memorises those so if a customer rings up asking for an old mix, the plant will automatically know the tolerances for that.” The Zingo Dos can produce up to 60 cubic metres of concrete per hour and is designed to use aggregates between one and 40 millimetres, and cement and water with a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. “The more concrete you can produce, the more projects will open up to you. Even smaller plants may be losing out if they have to transport smaller amounts of material long distances and pump the concrete into the site, which is another cost,” Mr.
Hendrich says. “This plant is mobile, so it can be transferred to different project sites, which eliminates the need to transport the concrete long distances.” He says the Zingo Dos is a mobile dry batching plant with wheel loader aggregates dosing. There are no foundation requirements and very minimal civil works required to get the plant up and running. “Larger plants can require excavation and foundation laying, so the Zingo Dos reduces the overall infrastructure costs. Quite often, if you are placing the plant in the place of an older plant, we can use part of the foundations for that to secure the Zingo Dos.” The Zingo Dos plant model includes two silos, which would typically hold generalpurpose cement powder and slag. They are mixed with the cement as part of a standard formula. The loader driver simply has to transfer material from the ground bins into the plant. “You can produce any concrete design with this plant and have that run for the day, or every batch could be a different design. The loader driver can simply pull up the design using the tablet,” Mr. Hendrich says. The tablet uses a system called Simem@tic, which handles the semiautonomous plant. The operator can
