Orchard Fencing upgrades precast production
Northern Ireland’s Rapid International has supplied Orchard Fencing with a new bespoke static concrete batching plant capable of producing up to 22m3 of concrete per hour.
Located in Erith, South-East London, with depots in Catford and Welling, Orchard aims to use the new plant, which replaces its 30-year-old facility, to boost production, with a target of 1500 precast fencing products per day, in addition to interlocking blocks.
The £2 million upgrade also involved concreting the entire facility, new warehousing, reconditioning of the existing precast machines, two new forklifts, and new Coote Engineering machines and moulds.
With outputs of up to 22m3 per hour, the new plant has three 12.5 tonne aggregate hoppers, with an integral 600mm weighed belt conveyor that discharges into a mixer loading skip. This skip subsequently feeds a 0.75m3 output Rapid RP750 planetary mixer, which is housed on a mixer platform with the production facility.
The platform allows for maximum access for maintenance and cleaning at mixer level.
Two discharge chutes are located under the mixer doors to direct the material into the receiving hoppers on the Coote Engineering dry-cast machines.
Cement is stored in an 80-tonne storage silo, with a screw conveyor, which conveys material from the silo to the weigh hopper. A 500kg cement/powder weigh hopper is included, which is mounted on loadcells with aeration pads and a vibrator to aid in discharging. The plant also features a single-compartment additive weigh system, which offers flexibility in additive batching.
To streamline mixer cleanout, the plant includes a Rapid Jetwash mixer washout system, fitted with three spray heads. The system operates at 2000 psi, offering high-pressure cleaning and maintenance of the mixer.
The plant is fitted with a Pneutrol Dynamix batching control system, which enables the operator to oversee the entire batching process and offers unlimited recipe storage, manual control via the PC, and remote operation. The plant controls are housed in an anti-vandalism control cabin, ensuring security.
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