Though not built as a showcase facility, Lowell Concrete Products' new pipe plant in Lowell, Ind., serves that purpose handily for homegrown automation, driven by labor considerations and a thriving home-building market. Lowell's Bill Austgen, owner of the first totally automated Hawkeye plant in the U.S., has conducted many tours through his facility for producers looking to speed fabrication and minimize product-handling and maintenance-related injuries.

“One hand washes the other,” comments Austgen. “We've been served well by the company for many years. And now, teaming the Hawkeye PipePro with new batch-plant mixers in our dry-cast shop, we sacrifice nothing for the tremendous speed gained.” Hawkeye representatives note that the PipeProIII AutoPlant comprises a totally automatic pipe and manhole manufacturing facility. The entire production process is integrated — from casting product to transporting finished units outdoors for yarding. Other than placing the cage on the pallet, no human interaction is designed into the system.

Behind Lowell Concrete's original property, an 84,000-sq.-ft., insulated precast building houses the PipeProIII plant on a parcel of the company's 82-acre site. A January 2005 start-up was the culmination of more than three years' preparation: procedures initiated in 2002 led to tax abatements granted by June ‘03; groundbreaking for the new plant occurred in Nov. '03; new Hawkeye equipment was introduced mid-year 2004; facility construction wrapped up also in 2004; and, troubleshooting occupied about two months. After a Hawkeye VUP machine is moved to the new building this fall, all dry-cast operations will take place under one roof, as the older facility is dedicated exclusively to wet-cast production.

Currently, 90 percent of Lowell's product is dry cast, including primarily 12- to 96-in.-diameter pipe. The remaining 10 percent includes wet-cast septic tanks, median barriers, and manholes up to 144 in. in diameter. Nearly 70 percent of Lowell's production supplies the area up to and including Indianapolis, where subdivisions are reportedly proliferating. Northbound service extends to the south suburbs of Chicago. As many as 60 loads are delivered per day, transported by five plant-owned semis and about 15 contract vehicles. Though just 10 percent of the company's workload comprises state highway jobs, business has been brisk for the last three years. “Most of the pipe we're making goes right out,” observes Linda Savage, who controls traffic in the front office.

Meeting demand has been easier for Lowell Concrete since its automated system came on line. In the time required previously to fabricate 140 pieces of 12- to 18-in. pipe, 200 units now are produced under automation. Work accomplished by 15 employees in the old plant is handled by six workers in the new facility — one pipe machine operator, one V-ROC operator, two MBK cage-machine operators, one forklift driver to yard the finished product, and one maintenance person, plus a supervisor. Says Austgen, “The hardest part of the day is clean up!”

Yet, greater efficiencies have not been achieved at the expense of personnel; employees have been reassigned. “Instead of reducing the workforce, we enlarged our operations,” Austgen explains. “In particular, we were eager to get rid of functions like depalletizing that might cause repetitive-motion injuries.” Further, he adds, the current 10-hour workday will likely be expanded to two 8-hour shifts next year. Accordingly, employees of proven performance are cultivated in order to meet the demands of a more sophisticated, automated system; for example, a successful cage-fabrication stint is followed by advancement to other stations. Lining the front-office walls, framed certificates awarded to employees who have successfully completed American Concrete Institute courses are a testament to the knowledge of concrete technology acquired by Lowell staff to augment its skills. “We're all about team effort at Lowell,” Austgen emphasizes. “Every employee is essential to the operation.”

While maintaining daily operations, Lowell Concrete is gearing up for certification. The choice among two options being weighed — American Concrete Pipe Association's Q-Cast or National Precast Concrete Association plant certification — will be determined largely by Indiana Department of Transportation requirements. Certification hurdles for the plant will be primarily financial and procedural, as the plant has maintained consistent quality to date through an internal testing program tracking the output of a first-rate workforce and a top-notch production system.

FLOW CHART KEY

1. Pipemaking

   The pipe are manufactured on a PipePro Machine equipped with a three-station rotary turntable. The forms are filled, pressheaded, and demolded simultaneously to maximize machine output and to permit three different products to be manufactured at a time.

2. Demolding

   After the pipe is manufactured, an automatic offbearer transports the finished pipe to a moving floor system. The product is demolded and the jacket returns to an intermediate point directly adjacent to the machine to pickup another pallet and cage. After the pallet and cage are picked, the jacket/pallet/cage is returned to the machine for further production.

3. Curing

   A moving floor system transports the finished pipe into twin curing tunnels. The capacity of the tunnels is designed to permit single, double, or continuous production. After curing, the moving floor transports pipe from the kiln to a robotics processing area.

4. Product/Joint Ring Removal

   At the robotics processing area, a manipulator removes the cured pipe from the moving floor and presents it to a depalletizer. An overhead manipulator clamps the pipe and secures the header. With a combination of lifting and pneumatic tapping, the pallet and header are removed. The joint rings thus removed are automatically fed to cleaners. The pipe is transported to a tipper and a post-processing line.

5. Joint Ring Cleaning and Storage

   The removed joint rings are cleaned by dedicated pallet and header cleaners, picked and placed into an automatic joint ring storage and retrieval area.

6. Joint Ring Retrieval and Feeding

   When the PipePro Machine demands joint rings, the pallets and headers are picked by an overhead manipulator and placed on shuttles for conveyance to the machine.

   The pallet shuttle presents the pallets to an oiling station and then to a cage-placement area. After the cages are placed, the pallet and cage are positioned for pickup by the automatic offbearer.

   The header shuttle presents the headers to the PipePro presshead carousel where they are picked and loaded for oiling and production. No manual handling of pallets and headers are required, even when different pipe sizes are put into production.

7. Post-Processing

   After the pallet and header are removed, the pipe is automatically tipped and conveyed to downline processing stations for deburring, vacuum testing and marking. The processing system automatically adjusts to different pipe diameters as they enter the system, even elliptical pipe. Powered shuttles transport the pipe to the various processing stations and then outdoors for yarding.

8. Pipe Sorting

   Because three different pipe sizes are being manufactured at a time, the system is equipped with three outdoor storage lines. An automatic sorter directs pipe of a given size to each storage line so that like pipe can be easily picked in multiples and transported to the storage yard.

9. Manhole Processing Line

   Manhole products removed from the kiln car are automatically directed to a manhole processing line rather than to the pipe tipper/pipe processing line. The manhole products are spigot deburred, vacuum tested, and marked. The processed manhole is then transferred outdoors for removal and yarding.