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Our precast concrete products are manufactured in a 33,000 square foot insulated steel and precast plant. Variable heights throughout allow production of a wide variety of concrete products. Current one shift production of the facility 500,000 to 800,000 square feet of precast products per annum, depending upon the mix of products being produced at any given time.
A recently built third building is a 7,200 square foot shop with a 21’ high ceiling. Currently used to store aggregate and rebar for the nuclear contract, it is fully insulated and has in-floor heating to allow expanded production of precast panels.
Equipment
Fritz Concrete Plot Plan
(click to view larger version)
- 200’ x 8’ heated steel casting bed (Floor Plan Area A)—for manufacturing rolled rib finish panels. Supplied and installed prices depend on layout complexity (e.g. door and window openings, feature bands), colour, and distance from plant to installation site.
- 100’ x 8’ heated steel casting bed (Area B)—for manufacturing ribbed panels with exposed aggregate finishes between the ribs. These panels are poured with the outside facing down. They sell for $17 to $20 per square foot.
- 2,000 square foot heated on-floor production area (Area C)—primarily for producing panels with exposed aggregate, but also for manufacturing sand blast and acid etched finished panels. The floor is covered with fibreglass and plywood.
- 12,896 square foot production area with a 29’ ceiling (Area D)—for production of very large exposed aggregate panels (up to 28’ high), sand blasted and acid etched panels, and thin brick surface panels. This area is currently being used for the production of the RWCs for EnergySolutions.
- 7,200 square foot heated in floor production area with 21 foot ceilings. This area is currently being used for dry storage of aggregate and sand for the Energy Solutions containers. This is also where the rebar cages for the containers are built.
- Lifting equipment—Areas A, B, and C are equipped with three top running bridge cranes of 3, 5, and 7 tonnes. The bridge spans 30’ and is 300’ long through areas A, B, and C and into a loading area at the side of the plant. It intersects with a 15 tonne outdoor Munck Crane which rides on a 60’ bridge that runs from the yard at the back of the plant to the front. Area D is serviced with a 15 tonne crane with a bridge width of 58’ and a runway of 120’. Additional lifting capacity is provided by a 3 tonne monorail hoist, a 40 tonne forklift, JCB Loadall 530 loader, and a John Deere 280 Skid Steer.
- Very sophisticated computerized batching system and mixer—purchased from ORU Concrete Production Systems in Italy.
- Steam boiler—to heat the casting beds and floors.
Material Handling
- The aggregate and cement handling system is unique in that no conveyors or front end loaders are required to fill the bins. Sand and stone are stored in two pairs of steam-heated, underground bins with 25 tonnes and 125 tonnes capacity. An aggregate supplier delivers aggregate as it is needed. Standard cement is stored in a 40 tonne silo into which powdered cement is blown. Specialty cement mixes are stored in a 20 tonne silo.
- Fritz has developed a mechanical cradling device to invert the RWCs safely and quickly without using a high cost 30 tonne crane.
Special Casting Beds
- Fritz was first in the precast industry to develop a system for pouring a smooth ribbed panel with exposed aggregate finish between the ribs. We achieved this using hydraulics and pouring the panels face down into moulds. We utilize a casting bed with a unique rail system that runs parallel to the bed, on which rides a forming machine for manufacturing decorative ribbed panels face side up.
- Fritz has developed an air powered system for moving concrete buckets from the batch plant to the shop floor without the use of a forklift.
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