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Mobile concrete factories - an idea that's on its way
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| 29 Sep 2013 |
Dealers wanted - please contact: [email protected]
You might think that the world’s largest industry, one that produces some 11,000 million tonnes of product every year and has been around for at least a couple of millennia, would have seen and developed just about everything imaginable. But when Gary Troke, an industrial designer and inventor from Canada started thinking of ways to complete a personal project he hit upon a revolutionary new concept, one that could very well change the way housing and infrastructure is built in North Africa and the Middle East.
It started in 2002 when Troke wanted to enhance a property he had just developed with pave stones, retaining walls and other concrete products. “When I was told that some items were not commercially available and what I could get would cost over a quarter of a million dollars, I was astonished”, says Troke, 67. “I knew that basic concrete is made from Portland cement, sand and water and that this formula employed by the Romans some 2,000 years ago hadn't changed much since”.
The DM-185 is a self-contained stone and concrete manufacturing facility designed for the production of a wide range of concrete products.
So why the high cost? With a little research, he discovered that materials typically make up only about 10% of a products price and that the greatest expense lies in the high capital costs of constructing and operating a concrete processing mill and then the transportation of finished products to the job site. So Troke, with a keen sense of the practical and experienced with such diverse undertakings as un-cluttering choked waterways in Nigeria, textile processes in Egypt and designing commercial display systems for North America got down to the business of developing what has come to be known as Stonemaker.
Started as a means to produce 20 cm square pave stones in high volume it has over the course of 11 years been continuously developed and refined to the point where it is now a portable, completely self-contained concrete factory. Stonemaker has two main features that could have a significant impact on build projects throughout North Africa & the Middle East; their ability to manufacture practically any concrete product, from stamping out pave stones and bricks, pouring foundations and curbs to pressing hollow blocks and even roof tiles. The second point is portability, the factories are trailer mounted and towable, so they can be brought directly on to the work site behind a truck or delivered by barge. “What really defines Stonemaker is not only its ability to go anywhere you can take a truck but the range of products it produces once it's there” says Troke, “the only things you need to bring to a job site is cement powder and diesel fuel to run the power plant. The other requirements are normally already on site.”
Concrete is produced by combining 3 base ingredients; aggregate (sand and/or stone), cement powder (commonly referred to as Portland) and water which acts as a catalyst between the aggregate and Portland and allows them to bind together providing hardened products.
Within the industry there are two basic variants of concrete used; wet or ready mix, used for pouring foundations, support columns, or anywhere that it needs to flow into cavities or be pumped. The other is known as dry or mortar mix, used for manufacturing blocks, bricks, stones, pavers, etc. Dry mix, as the name suggests, utilizes little water and when formed in a compression chamber produces a very durable product at a quickened cure rate. To switch from production of one to the other, you adjust the amount of Portland, water and possibly the aggregate size. Until now, each production type was distinct and normally produced at separate facilities. “We've brought them together and allow the user to change from one production type to the other in seconds by simply adjusting the ingredient inputs via factory control panel. Ultimately, what we wanted to offer was the capacity to produce differing sizes of solid blocks or bricks with the dry mix, be able to switch over to pouring for a foundation with ready mix or over to hollow block manufacturing, all with minimal disruption in the production cycle. It was a tremendous challenge, but these are the needs on practically any build site, you have to have all the capabilities or you’re just a niche product”, states Troke.
The concept has won not only critical acclaim but recognition for innovation. “When we had the attorneys conduct a global search of its patentability we were amazed with the results”, says Troke. The search conducted in 2009 by Gowling, Henderson and Lafleur, Canada's top patent agents, came back that not only did they have 57 claims to originality but that they would receive a concept patent in all countries that are members of the World Intellectual Property Organization. “A concept patent is the holy grail of patents, and one of extremely high value”, adds Troke.
Either of the two current factory configurations; one higher volume and more computerized, manufacturers products as structurally sound as those from established mills. Ingredient and mix consistency are essential where building standards are to be maintained. “Preparing concrete is like preparing any recipe, says Troke, if you don't use the right amount of ingredients and if they aren't mixed properly you are not going to get the best results. And to ensure standards can be met and maintained, they include a test mechanism on each factory so products can be tested before being applied. “Currently it can take a week or more to send samples out and get results back, remote locations can offer even more protracted result time and this invariably adds to job costs.”
Commercial application has begun in North America and though the company has not yet begun marketing/sales, word is beginning to spread. “We've held preliminary discussions about emergency relief assistance, military application and a whole host of needs. And we view developing nations in particular as a very important element in our overall corporate strategy. Our plan is to begin establishing dealerships and joint venture partnerships across Africa & the Middle East beginning later this year” comments Troke “not only do we see thousands of factories being applied commercially but we'll be partnering with Government and NGO's to help facilitate Low Cost Housing Units (LCHU's) and infrastructure builds where it wasn't feasible before”. According to United Nations’ estimates there are currently more than a billion people world-wide with either inadequate housing or no housing at all. Additionally, the UN calls for the construction of some 21 million LCHU's every year for the near future. “In the developed world, we see Stonemaker's factories as being used for somewhat different purposes than developing nations but there are many similarities. Lowering build costs is a major concern anywhere” comments Troke “not only do we reduce product costs by some 75% but Stonemaker factories are used as a means to customize projects and allow tailoring builds to customer demand. The same thing applies in developing nations; individualizing projects will play an ever increasing role and allow the factories to move to production of higher value products over time.
Initially the company will supply the factories from its production facilities in North America and ship in kit form via container to their final destination where they will be made ready for operation. R&D and operational training will continue to take place in Canada as well. Eventually the company would like to see manufacturing and more technical responsibilities take place in the region. “We view ourselves as a technology organization and want the factories locally made wherever practical. We've spent 3 years doing developmental work on Stonemaker in Egypt and the region provides great opportunities from all standpoints.”
Though the concept was originally intended for American and European markets Troke says that the more they studied it, the more they realized the possibilities globally. There are numerous factors, he states, “in most cases there is limited or no access to building supply centres and even if there were, holding the massive amounts of inventory that a portable factory is capable of producing would render the products cost prohibitive outside most urban settings, we aim to make procurement and transportation a less significant factor in build projects and bring the costs down from an average of 70% in the developing world to the 20% level in developed countries. Additionally, Stonemaker's low capital cost makes financing feasible and not requiring site impact or environmental assessments makes the paper work much easier. “Though we recognize challenges still need to be overcome the technology is now both affordable and available. By working with local partners we intend to play a major role in developing North African and Middle Eastern housing and infrastructure.”, Troke says. It is an idea whose time may well have come and one that's worth building on.
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