Global demand for cement, the binder in concrete, is forecast to reach 4.7 billion tonnes in 2017, with sales expected to expand by more than +5% a year over the next four years, according to research company Freedonia.
While this represents a slight decline in pace from the 2007 to 2012 period, altogether, Freedonia's figures constitute a fairly robust outlook for this key construction material.
At the same time there is a drive among the concrete construction sector's equipment manufacturers to produce more versatile and efficient equipment, fuelled by the ever-present need for contractors to improve productivity.
New technology is playing a big role in the latest developments. Telematics systems that allow machines to be monitored remotely are spreading to every corner of the construction industry, for instance, often aiming to help to improve efficiency and performance of equipment.
Putzmeister has been focussing on computer-controlled interaction between man and machine for its truck-mounted concrete pumps. It has developed a new radio remote control for its 38-5 truck-mounted concrete pumps, the Ergonic 2.0.
Designed to conserve energy and reduce emissions, the device monitors the interaction between outriggers, boom movements and pump functions. The control unit is larger yet lighter than its predecessor, with a high-resolution colour screen, and boasts new safety features such as guaranteeing the boom can only be moved in a permitted working envelope.
Specific machine settings are transferred via a chip card and the radio remote control can be used for other Putzmeister truck-mounted concrete pumps simply by exchanging the chip.
Manufacturers in the falsework and formwork sector have also been working to develop equipment and techniques to improve efficiency and flexibility for contractors. Doka, for instance, has a range of modular formwork that can be tailored to the complex demands of the energy sector, where fast construction progress is important.
Doka offers specific systems for building tanks, silos and cooling towers as well as specific systems for dam construction. Its SK175 cooling-tower formwork, for example, is a fully mechanised, self-climbing system for pouring 1.5 m high sections that is said to produce precise forming within short cycling times.
Peri also tailored its working platforms to the needs of the energy sector with a contract to support construction of the 1,600 MW coal-fired Eemshaven power plant in Groningen, the Netherlands. Its Peri Up Rosett Flex modular scaffolding system provided safe access for welding and insulation work on the plant's two 35 m high, 64 m long filters for flue gas desulphurisation. Assembly of the modular scaffolding for the 35 m high working platform was carried out using a guardrail in advance, making rope protection unnecessary. In addition, the Peri scaffolding worked around the existing steel structure as well as those walkways already mounted.
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