3/20/2023

BERNEGGER BETONFERTIGTEILE GmbH invests in a new factory with AWM's systems

The Bernegger Group’s new precast concrete plant in Dietach, Upper Austria has been put into operation during the past summer. 

The factory, located on a quarry site belonging to the Group, was built with the intention of feeding the market of Upper and Lower Austria. It currently employs about 35 people, including office staff and drivers. The working group is led by Dipl. Ing. Erich Moser, who has followed the project from the very early stages.

Visiting the new factory, you can see few employees because the work is mostly done by a fully automated system for the production of slabs and double walls that includes a carousel system supplied by company Vollert Anlagenbau GmbH, a concrete plant and a series of reinforcement processing machines supplied by AWM of Udine, Italy. All the heaviest operations are left to the machines, which in turn work without the need for constant supervision. They essentially work without an operator.



Reinforcement production is concentrated in a group of machines working together called "Rebar Hub" which includes: 
• the “Lista Bend 16R” multi-line straightening and shaping machine;
• the “BWClattice girder butt-welding and cutting plant;
• the “Autolayer” robot for bars and lattice girders positioning.

Production data are sent from the factory's Master Computer and contain all the information needed to prepare and place reinforcing elements without any manual intervention. 


LISTA BEND
The multi-rotor straightening and shaping machine is equipped with 5 straightening lines working from 5-ton coils to process 8- to 16-mm wires with a maximum bar length of 12 meters and with the ability to bend the wire ends simultaneously with both 90° and "Z" bends (i.e., BF4 and BF5 standards). When required, the diameter change is done automatically, as is the change of the bending mandrel. Once the bars are cut and bent, they are distributed on a chain conveyor that acts as a buffer and allows the “Autolayer” placing robot to pick up the bars.

BWC
The lattice girder butt-welding and cutting plant BWC allows butt-welding and cutting to length of any range of lattice girders, reusing leftovers and avoiding scrap.
An automatic robot picks up one lattice girder at a time from the stock and transports it to the cutting machine, which then inserts the lattice girder into the working area, measures it to the desired length, and then cuts it by means of an automatic shear. The cut lattice girder continues its "journey" to the carousel system by moving on a chain conveyor that passes (runs) under the Lista Bend (to maximize the compactness of the installation) and also acts as a buffer.
When a lattice girder is too short for the required production, it is welded to the next lattice girder: the whole operation is done automatically without manual intervention.

AUTOLAYER
This is the robotic system that allows bars and lattice girders to be transported onto the pallet, picking them up directly from the chain conveyors that act as buffers. It is equipped with two movable gripping units in the longitudinal direction mounted in turn on a movable beam in the transverse direction, allowing the entire pallet surface to be covered. One of the movable units can rotate 90° to position the bars or lattice girders (when producing double walls) in the transverse direction.

The system allows simultaneous transport of either 5 bars or 3 lattice girders, which are then released onto the pallet at the desired time. The release height is programmed to maximize positioning accuracy while avoiding conflict with inserts already on the pallet. The total capacity of the systems is about 5 pallets/hour, which can be increased in the future with small upgrades.

CLICK HERE to know more about REBAR HUB