Keeping Melbourne Moving

Major Engineering & Plant Services Installed Plant Goes Live.

A new concrete batching plant will support the development of critical infrastructure for Melbourne - the city’s Metro Tunnel rail project. The plant was successfully installed and delivered to Holcim Australia by the Engineering & Plant Services team.

“The Dry Beton 100 high-production plant will operate adjacent to the tunnel entrance location where the impressive tunnel boring machine will be launched later this year,” says Engineering & Plant Services’ Project Manager Jon Bruce.

The plant will play a critical role in the city’s rail project, operating continuously throughout the three-year tunnelling endeavour.

The plant was supplied by SIMEM, an Italian company who excel in the design, engineering and manufacturing of specialised plant and machinery for the construction industry. It’s the first of its kind to be delivered by Engineering & Plant Services in Australia.

The plant is modular and already partially pre-assembled on arrival as part of a consignment of fourteen 40-foot containers.

“These innovative design features allow for rapid assembly of the major plant systems. The assembly took place on the Holcim site by GIS technicians in a little under six weeks,” says Jon Bruce.

“We were really impressed by the quality of the build and the speed at which the plant came together,” says Holcim site Project Manager Shaun Navaretna.

“Final commissioning is still underway, and we are excited to see what this plant can really do. There are high expectations for the plant’s performance to ensure we meet the Metro Tunnel project’s requirements.”

The Dry Beton 100 plant offers a production capacity of 120m3 of concrete per hour and has fully automated aggregate, cement, water and chemical dosing functions.

“The introduction of this plant into this market is a huge stepping stone for us” said Australia National Key Account Manager Horst Hendrich.

“The delivery of this project shows that high-performance concrete plants, suited to our client’s needs, can now be delivered by Engineering & Plant Services. We’re excited to explore the opportunities for the entire range of SIMEM plants, and other supported technologies, with our customer base here in Australia.”

Engineering & Plant Services provides world-class solutions to the New Zealand and Australian concrete and infrastructure industries. With global partners SANY and SIMEM, our expert team delivers integrated concrete mixers, pumping solutions, vertical and horizontal cement silos, concrete batching plants, recycling plants, fixed and mobile plant and related solutions.

Engineering & Plant Services support partners through the full product lifecycle. This includes leading technical support, ongoing parts and service, and options for refurbishment to extend the life and return of partner’s investments.

Technical overview:

• 1 x 10m3 loading hopper feeding onto a motor-driven radial conveyor.
• 5 x 26m3 heaped capacity storage hoppers, each featuring two pneumatic discharge gates with integrated level detection systems.
• 1 x 1050mm width horizontal weigh conveyor driven onto an inclined belt for delivery into a 9m3 aggregates holding hopper.
• 3 x 100m3 and 1 x 70m3 vertical cement silos feeding through their own five tonne cement weigh hopper.
• 1 x 2,000 litre water weigh hopper directly above loading chute combined with the admixture delivery system.
• 1 x 11kW dust extraction system automatically returning collected dust back into the loading cycle.
• 1 x drive-thru style load bay with auto-open close rear doors.
• 1 x vertical stair access arrangement.