Page 55 - Demo

AAC WORLDWIDE %u2022 2.2025 PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY 55Expansion of existing plantsMany customers choose to establish their AAC production plant in multiple phases. This approach allows for a smaller initial investment to kickstart the project. As the project progresses, the focus can shift to increasing production capacity or expanding the product range. To ensure long-term success, it is essential to consider as many aspects as possible during the design and planning phase to enable the cost-effective and sustainable expansion of a plant. When planning for expansion from the outset, the necessary conversions and the integration of additional plant sections and parts can be carried out during operation for the most part. This forward-looking strategy results in considerable time and cost savings for the customer.One example of successful expansion is the plant of a Mongolian AAC manufacturer. %u2018Mongolian Gold%u2019 (MAK) LLC. became a pioneer in introducing European standards and technologies to Mongolia, starting the MAK Euro Block plant in 2015 and the MAK Euro Cement plant in 2017. The company has become a respected and important brand in the Mongolian construction market. It now operates under the name %u2018MAK Building Materials%u2019, creating more than 1,500 jobs in the construction sector, promoting national production and working with national companies and organizations.In the MAK plant, the preparation area for the steel reinforcement was composed of an automatic mesh welding machine, an automatic spacer welding machine (both starting from coils) in combination with a manual installation for welding cages.Mounting wagons have been supplied along with the required reinforcement frames, needle holders, and sets of needles for lintels and wall panels.Using a single-level gantry and a reinforcement manipulator, the steel parts are coated, dried, and inserted into the moulds. The needle bath is a standalone wax bath equipped with a pillar jib crane for lowering and lifting the beam with needles in and out of the bath.Additionally, a lintel cutter and a collection table for the lintels have been provided in the packaging area. The customer decided on a manual solution for unloading and packaging the panels.All other machinery was already delivered with the order for the initial AAC block plant and used for block production. These components could be left unchanged with the expansion; the operators just have to select different product types/dimensions. In addition, the process flow for the autoclaves had to be adapted for the panel production:Compared to block production, the rate at which pressure/temperature rises or falls in the autoclaves needs to be reduced. This extends the entire hardening process by approximately two to four hours. The various autoclave steps are individually set in the autoclave control system.Installation of plants for the production of reinforced AAC elements from the outsetIn other projects, the customer can opt from the very beginning to set up a plant for the production of reinforced AAC elements, and with a large capacity %u2013Part of the new handling system for MAK