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Hanson Opens Doors to New State-of-the-Art Facility
A window to the future of the concrete industry opened in late March with a view of Hanson Pipe & Precast’s new, fully automated facility in Houston, Texas. Featured in the Houston facility is state-of-the-art equipment, some of which are “firsts” in the world for a facility of its kind. The 100,000-square-foot facility, Hanson’s largest to date, will replace the production capacity of six packerhead machines at two existing Houston facilities.
Houston is one of Hanson’s largest markets, and the new facility was built in response to the area’s growth. Much of the product to be manufactured by the new facility, such as underground stormwater drainage systems, will be used to combat devastating floods like the one caused by Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.
Much of the new equipment in the new Houston facility is being used for the very first time. All manufacturing, transport and post-processing operations are fully automated. Pipe will be produced on the three-station automated Hawkeye PipePro96 machine that will enable the facility to produce more than 500 tons of product per shift. The PipePro96 includes forms for producing various diameters of pipe. The machine can manufacture six 24-inch (600 mm) pipe; four 30-inch (750 mm) pipe; and two 48-inch (1200 mm) pipe in one production cycle of the machine.
After the pipe is produced, it is unloaded from the PipePro to a moving floor system. This moving floor is part of a circulating kiln system that transports the pipe through curing chambers. Hanson will be one of a few pipe facilities in North America to use this method of curing. The system, which controls heat and humidity independently, is designed to allow continuous production.
A manipulator moves the cured pipe to a depalletizer where the top and bottom pallets are removed, cleaned and stored in a pallet retrieval area. The pipe is then robotically rotated 90 degrees, deburred, vacuum tested, labeled and taken out of the facility and sorted by size. The removal of the finished product from the sorting area by forklift trucks is the last step of the production process.
Another technology featured at the Houston facility is Hawkeye’s new synchronized vibration technology. This vibration technology ensures a dense, well-compacted product. The form sets are fitted with attachments including replaceable, machined jacket and core tops that permit tight tolerances and simpler form maintenance.
Any three sizes can be produced at the same time by the PipePro, increasing production flexibility and decreasing response time to customers. Production can operate as a single shift, double shift or an around-the-clock three-shift operation. Form changeover time is less than one hour. The robotic handling and post-processing equipment automatically adjust to any pipe size, eliminating changeover time.
Hanson’s new Houston facility marks many “firsts” for the company and the industry. The increase in capacity, marked by the ability to produce an average of one pipe per minute of runtime, is due in large part to new technology that will be employed at the Houston facility. The facility features fully automated production; everything from batching concrete to production, through curing, post production activities, and preparation for storage is automated. “We are proud to have built such a state-of-the-art facility,” said Clifford Hahne, Hanson’s South Central Region president. “This new facility represents an advancement for Hanson and for the concrete industry.”
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