The broadcast is now starting. All attendees are in listen-only mode. Good afternoon. Welcome to PCI's webinar series. Today's presentation is How Leading Precasters are Delivering Excellence, Power Principle, a Concrete Delivery Case Study. This webinar is sponsored by Ultraspan. My name is Nicole Clough, Marketing Coordinator at PCI, and I will be your moderator for this session. Before I turn the controls over to your presenters for today, I have a few introductory items to note. Earlier today, we sent an email to all registered attendees with the presentation handout. The handout for this webinar can also be found in the handout section of your webinar pane. If you cannot download the handout, please email PCIMarketing at marketing at PCI.org as shown on your screen. All attending lines are muted. The GoToWebinar Toolbox has an area for you to raise your hand. If you raise your hand, you will receive a private chat message from me. If you have a question, please type it into the questions pane, and I will be keeping track of your questions and will read them to the presenter during the Q&A period. Also, a pop-up survey will appear after the webinar ends. Today's presentation will be recorded and uploaded to the PCI eLearning Center. PCI is a registered provider of AIA CES, but today's presentation does not contain content that has been endorsed by AIA. Any questions about the content of this webinar should be directed to PCI. The program content does not constitute approval by PCI, nor does it necessarily reflect the views or positions of PCI or those of its respective officers, directors, members, or employees. Questions related to specific products or publications will be addressed at the end of the presentation. Our presenters today are Judy Danilchuk, General Manager at Ultraspan. Judy is an experienced business professional with expertise in operations, finance, and business strategy and execution. She has been with Ultraspan for over 20 years, many of those years leading initiatives on efficiencies, cost savings, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and other activities that drive operational excellence. As part of her role as General Manager, she leads the business performance team in charge of finding solutions that deliver quantifiable results to precast producers. As an advisory board member of the Manufacturers Association and serving on the board of various organizations, she is passionate about other businesses and thrives on their success. Joining Judy is Wilson Santiago, Senior Engineering Specialist at Ultraspan. Wilson has a diverse science and engineering background with a B.S.C. in physics from the University of Winnipeg and a B.S.C. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is an experienced professional with expertise in project management, machine design, and execution. Wilson has led new product development and implementation projects in concrete production for most of his 10 years of experience in a design and manufacturing environment. I will now hand the controls over so we can begin our presentation. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. First, I would like to let you know that Wilson, unfortunately, is unable to present this afternoon due to a personal matter. But in his place, Adam Formicevich, Business Development Manager, who many of you know, will be joining us later in the presentation. I want to thank all who attended our last webinars for joining us again today. And for those who are here for the first time, welcome and thank you. And I trust you will find this information valuable. It is our pleasure to be presenting today and we are really excited to share some findings with you. First, a brief introduction to our company. Ultraspan is right here in North America with offices in Winnipeg, Canada. We are part of the Progress Group out of Europe. We have several manufacturing plants, service centers, and local presence across the globe. Our experience extends to over 55 years of continued support to more than 500 plants worldwide. Innovative technology and a unique in-house R&D precast facility in Europe have contributed to position Progress Group as the leading supplier of technology for the precast concrete industry. In terms of numbers, we're the number one machinery supplier in the industry with over $250 million in sales, over 640 employees, and customers across 76 countries. Today, we'll focus on North America, specifically the U.S. and Canada from our local headquarters here in Winnipeg. Here's a quick reference of some of the projects we've had the honor of supporting worldwide. A complete precast plant in Thailand, a hollow core plant in Belgium, and here a double wall plant in Germany. And, of course, over 50 plants in North America. In today's webinar, we will take you through a real-life example of the power principle and how you can leverage this principle to recapture time, labor, and money while increasing safety. To do this, we will share a real-world example of a producer, Stubby's Precast, and efforts to improve concrete delivery. Now, let's continue to see how we are going to do that. We will start with a brief overview of the power principle, elaborate on the focus of the case study, concrete delivery, cover off a quick overview of Stubby's Precast, and then dive right into the power principle. Well, what is it? It all starts with P for problem identification. Cover off a quick overview of the past and then dive right into the power principle and action. The power principle. Well, what is it? It all starts with P for problem identification. What is the problem? What is that problem costing us? What are the causes and so on? If you're familiar with our previous webinars, this flows back into CLR. C for cycle time, R for rework, and L for labor. Once you have identified the problem and that it is in fact a problem, it's time to solve it. The next step is O, opportunity development. This is an in-depth analysis of the current constraints, goals, and options to solve the problem culminating in selection of the ideal solution. Then once you have selected the solution, it's on to W, work implementation. Getting down to getting it done and implementing the selected solution. It's not simply enough anymore to just have that working solution, though. We are striving for excellence. E, excellence through optimization. Further analysis and adjustment of the implemented solution to maximize returns and efficiency. Then once the solution is optimized, we can begin looking at the results. R, did we solve the problem originally identified in P? Are we hitting those goals we set for ourselves in O? Is implementation smooth and exciting at W? And any additional optimization that's there through E. Once we are satisfied with the results, we can call the project a success and move back to P to start it all over again in a new area. So that is the power principle. Now let's get into a real-life case study to see the power principle in action. So in this case, we're going to talk about concrete delivery. As alluded to earlier, this webinar will focus on the application of that power principle in concrete delivery. So why concrete delivery? They say you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Well, we say you can't pour a double tea without concrete delivery. It's quite simply a process that affects every producer. Regardless of your location, plant size, products produced, every precaster must get concrete where you need it, when you need it. It's an often overlooked and unplanned-for process that can lead to huge disruptions in production, quality, efficiency, and safety. Let's look for a minute at a widely recognized model for identifying waste. Here we see the eight wastes of lean, sometimes referred to as Tim Woods, of areas of waste to consider. O for overproduction, production that is more than needed or before it is needed. O for overprocessing, duplicate or redundant work that is not required. D for defects, efforts caused by rework, scrap, and incorrect information. And S for skills, underutilizing those people's talents, skills, and knowledge. In looking at these eight types of waste, we can quickly identify that concrete delivery directly or indirectly impacts five of these types of waste. We'd be looking at transportation, movement, weighting, defects, and skills. I'm sure every precaster has experienced problems in these areas tied to concrete delivery. Our intention is not to explain this, but to provide you with tools to solve these problems. So, let's get into the case study. First, a little background information on Stubbies Precast. Herb Stubbie founded Stubbies in 1982 in Ontario, Canada, with the first design and manufacture of concrete hog feeders. In 2001, with the introduction of the Holocore flooring system, Stubbies entered the commercial and residential markets. And in 2020, Stubbies was able to start offering customers their total precast structure. Since then, Stubbies has enjoyed continuous innovation and growth in the concrete sector, including machinery, manufacturing facilities, and expansion into other markets. Regarded as a highly reputable award-winning company, Stubbies team proudly delivers quality and speed of erection to their clients. Each day, Stubbies employees challenge the norm by going above and beyond to meet the demands of an ever-changing industry. At this time, I will turn the presentation over to Adam to go into the details of this project and how Stubbies leveraged the power principles of Stubbies. And to improve their concrete delivery. Thanks, Judy. Well, let's begin with P, problem identification. So, to understand the problem, we first must look at the current system and current delivery process to verify and quantify the problem. When we looked at their previous method for concrete delivery at Stubbies, the process involved moving concrete from the mixer to a bucket, which was then moved to the production area via a forklift. From there, it was actually picked up by an overhead crane and brought to the extruder where an employee had to manually dump into the extruder hopper. Now, this is a very typical delivery system, and I'm sure the majority of producers have a process very similar to this. But just how efficient is this? Well, let's actually go over the numbers and see. So, if we start with labor, one employee is needed to operate the forklift, one to operate the crane, and another to operate the bucket that dumps concrete into the extruder. A total of three employees required for concrete delivery for entirety of the pouring process. Next, if we go to look at cycle time, for optimal production, Stubbies determined that they required a constant delivery of 2.1 yards of concrete every 4 and a half minutes. With the complexity of the system, the 4.5 minute delivery time wasn't always possible to achieve. This was slowing down production and increases overall cycle time. Next, let's look at capital equipment required. The first one is a bucket. Now, it's not a huge deal, but it should also just be noted. One forklift, which is a sizable capital investment, and one crane. And anybody who has ever run a precast plant will tell you the problems and headaches associated with the managing and assigning of crane usage. Oh, I'm sure some will tell you of the beautiful crane ballet that they choreographed to maximize production and crane utilization. But personally, I'd rather have to limit my choreography skills. And then finally, safety issues. So, with the number of moving parts and equipment in the working and high traffic areas, this creates multiple potential safety hazards. Excess hazards that I'm sure everyone would like to avoid. So, if we put this into a basic decision matrix, we can identify where improvements are possible. So, this is just a basic 3 tiered scoring system for green showing a objective is achieved. Yellow as it's somewhat or sometimes achieved and red for not achieved. So, when we look at labor, we see there is a forklift and crane operator required as well as an employer required to manually dump it. The casting area. So, reducing labor in this existing method is not achieved at all and presents 3 easily improvable sections for cycle time. This is somewhat achieve as indicated in yellow, meaning there are occasions when the requirement cannot always be hit. For freeing up capital, it is indicated here again in red as it requires constant use of both the forklift and the overhead crane with bucket to be able to produce and deliver concrete. And then lastly, in terms of safety, while both the forklift and overhead cranes create safety concerns, while the crane interaction of the plant is somewhat achieved with good operator supervision. So, it is possible, but not great, but when we add up all these factors, labor cycle time, capital equipment usage and safety, it is clear that this is a problem that if solved can greatly increase production in the plant and is worth investigating further. So, let's look at how we evaluate options and find the opportunity. That's going to work for us. Opportunity development. So, when we look at opportunity development, we can break it down into 4 main categories that will lead to a final decision. Primary requirements and constraints. So, what does it have to do? And what are the possible constraints from, from achieving those requirements? Secondary requirements. What are they either must or nice to have? Then next is preliminary design. So, what can we hit, what can we design to hit the most of the above requirements? Case analysis, how much are we hitting or exceeding those requirements by? And then finally, final selection. Are we moving forward with an opportunity and with what, which one are we moving forward? So, to begin to understand the opportunities and develop a solution, we first need to understand the constraints and requirements. Let's begin with the batch constraints identified at stubbies. Now, their existing mixer can produce 2.1 yards every 3 minutes. So, this is well above the 2.1 yards for every 4 and a half minutes. So, this leaves us with the requirement to transport 2.1 yards from the batch plant to the casting area every 45 minutes. So, this will become our primary requirement. Next, we look at secondary requirements. So, what are the possible constraints from, from achieving those requirements? And what are they either must or nice to have? And then finally, final selection. Next, we look at secondary requirements. So, for secondary requirements, these are the other elements that we identified as important to the project. The issues first discussed in problem identification. So, in case of stubbies, this included labor reduction, cycle time, freeing up capital equipment for other production and processes. And finally, but not least, obviously safety. So, we have our primary and secondary opportunities. We can begin with preliminary design and solutions. So, as many of you probably know, typically opportunity development begins with brainstorming session to bring all ideas and concepts out. But I'll save you guys that adventure as it appears drone concrete delivery technology isn't quite as advanced as some of the members of our team believed it had. It was. So, the obvious solution here, and for good reason was a flying to bucket together with a line distributor. The flying bucket would receive concrete from the mixer travel along the track system attached to the columns and deliver concrete to the line distributor. Once delivered the line distributor would take the concrete to the extruder or the casting area as required. So, additional automation was planned to be added. To have the line distributor follow the extruder and automatically measure the concrete level of the concrete to dump when needed. So, a pretty great system if I do say so myself, but how does it measure up to our primary and secondary requirements for delivering concrete? So, to make sure we hit the delivery requirements, numerous time studies were prepared. Like the 1 you see here, so this covers all motion in the system. So the bars in green at the top. Show the movement of the flying bucket from the mixer to the production area. The red bars are the line distributor moving from the casting area to accept concrete from the flying bucket and the blue bar is the required delivery time. So, that 4 and a half minute timeline that we have. You can see at the 3 minute and 40 second mark here highlighted in red. That the line distributor had has delivered its 1st load of concrete. This is the beginning of the 4 and a half minute casting period that we need to stay with it. If we follow the flying bucket, it moves back to the mixer to pick up a fresh batch of concrete and returns to the production area by 5 minutes and 55 seconds. After the transfer to the line distributor, the concrete makes final arrival to the casting area at 7 minutes and 35 seconds, a complete cycle time of 3 minutes and 55 seconds. With this schedule and setup, we are able to hit the primary requirement of 2.1 yards in 4 and a half minutes. With that confirmed, let's direct our attention to the secondary requirements. So, using the same analysis that we used before, we can look at the secondary issues and see if they can be resolved. Labor reduction. The system that we've come up with is a completely automated system from batch plant to extruder, eliminating all labor. So, all of your things achieved there. Cycle time, as we just covered, the delivery requirements can be achieved with additional time to spare. Freeing up capital. The forklift and crane can now be utilized wherever else they are required. Safety. Well, travel in high traffic areas can be eliminated, moving concrete into the air and out of the way without the use of forklifts or cranes. So, it looks like we have a great solution. And there's only one last thing to do. Select it. Which brings us on to work implementation. So, now that we have a solution, it's selected, it's time to get working. So, the solution itself is very simple, consisting of only 2 main components. The flying bucket that brings the concrete from the batch plant to the appropriate production location. And the line distributor, which takes the concrete from the flying bucket to the final casting area. For this project, the flying bucket was a rollover drum style with a capacity of 2.5 yards. The rollover style is preferred in this application to limit consolidation of concrete while maintaining rapid delivery. The line distributor is a semi-portal gantry system with a clamshell distributor bucket. When we say semi-portal, what we mean is that one side is mounted on a beam. Attached to the columns and the other side rides on rails on the ground. Now, the clamshell distributor provides a narrow discharge area. Providing improved accuracy and ensuring a cleaner working environment. And the gates themselves actually make it a lot easier to control the rate of discharge since we are going to be automating it. So, in this application, it was automated with a distributor. So, as I just mentioned, the line distributor is mounting on a beam at one end on the rail on the other. Now, with proper measurements and design, it's a nicely designed line distributor. We're going to be using it for a few more projects. And we're going to be using it for a few more projects. But, for now, the line distributor is a semi-portal gantry system with a capacity of 2.5 yards. The line distributor is a semi-portal gantry system. And we're going to be using it for a few more projects. Now, with proper measurements and design, it nicely fits directly into place without much work. With the flying bucket, it rides actually on a track system suspended from the columns. So, for this particular installation, what we actually did was we removed a section of the track. Attached that piece of track to the flying bucket, so it was already mounted in the tracking system. And then we lifted that to the level of the track and reconnected the tracks together to install the flying bucket. So, it's a quick and simple installation of the complete overall system. So, once everything was installed, the next step was programming and controls. Now, this is actually a pretty straightforward process, as most everything can be pre-programmed from the factory, including sensors, timings, and everything else. However, to ensure proper operation and safety, all the features had to be tested on-site. The main area being the integration between the batch plant, the flying bucket, and the line distributor. Just to ensure they're all communicating effectively and efficiently. So, overall, the entire work implementation phase took about two weeks to complete on-site. And the results, they look something like the following. So, once we have a working system, we move on to excellence through optimization. So, as discussed earlier, it's not simply enough to hit your targets, we are looking to exceed them. So, with the newly implemented concrete delivery system, Stubbys realized that they could further increase production speeds above their previous expectations. So, these productivity gains created a new requirement on the concrete delivery system. Increasing our previous requirement for 2.1 yards every 4.5 minutes to 2.1 yards every 4 minutes. The original cycle time on the concrete delivery system was 3 minutes and 55 seconds. So, we were able to hit that mark, but it was very close. Any small delay from batch plant, et cetera, could reduce production efficiency. So, we looked into optimizing the system. Now, I'll bring it back to the original time study from the earlier slide. So, what we can notice here is there was a small opportunity to tighten up the overall cycle time. So, the main one being at the 2 minute mark, where the flying bucket had to wait for the line distributor to move from the casting area to accept the concrete. With some small additional programming, we were actually able to eliminate that waiting time by having the line distributor predict the arrival of the flying bucket and move to accept it. With those optimization opportunities, here is the new time study. So, the cycle time has actually been reduced to 3 minutes and 25 seconds, which is a 13% reduction. Now, with the 35 second grace period, concrete delivery will not be in bottleneck. And will, in fact, provide a buffer for other processes in the system. So, now with the system optimized, let's take a look at the results. So, with the new system, StubWheels is actually able to automate the delivery of concrete to the casting area faster than they need it. Ensuring maximum casting speeds and optimal efficiencies. 3 rate laborers were freed up from concrete delivery, allowing them to be utilized in high value areas of production. They freed up their cranes, freed up the forklift and increased overall casting speed and reduced cycle time. They've also opened the floor space that could be used for additional production, storage, or you name it. And all of this while greatly increasing their plant safety. So, when we look back at our original decision matrix from earlier, we can see that all of these objectives set out were achieved. We've reduced the labor for the forklift operator, crane operator, and the operator manually dumping at the casting area. We've increased our concrete delivery capacity to 2.1 yards every under 4 minutes. And we were able to reallocate our capital assets, the forklift and the overhead cranes. And finally, we've increased overall safety in the plant. So, now that we have all of our results achieved, we can call this project a success and move on to the next one. So, which brings us to a final recap of the power principle. So, again, P, problem identification. What is the problem? Is it a problem? What is causing it? What are the costs? Opportunity development. What are some of the ways we can solve this problem? And which one is best? Work implementation. We have a solution. Now, let's get it working. E, excellence through optimization. Striving for excellence. How can we make it better? And then finally, our results. Did we achieve what we set out to achieve? So, we're going to move on to the next one. E, excellence through optimization. Striving for excellence. How can we make it better? And then finally, our results. Did we achieve what we set out to achieve? Perfect. And that brings us back to the end of the power principle. I hope you guys found this a little bit inspirational and continue working on your plant efficiencies to contribute to increase your bottom lines. Which ultimately makes your life and the life of those around you more productive and easier. If we can contribute to improve both, we've accomplished our mission. And now we can open up to questions. Thank you, Judy and Adam, for a great and informative presentation. We do have a few questions that came in. The first question being, how long was the whole process from start to finish? That's a good question. This would really depend on your operation. In this particular case, design, manufacturing and implementation took about five months. Thank you. Have you conducted an economic impact assessment of the solution? If so, what did the results look like in this particular case study? And do you think that this application would yield positive results in other similar plants? Well, we, we did look at the numbers. We were not necessarily at liberty to share those specific numbers, but it did create very positive financial benefits as well as most businesses should. And yes, we definitely, there'd be opportunities and other operations that are anything similar to that. There could be some financial gains for sure. Sounds good. How long will the implementation and transition of the CDS take? This was already kind of mentioned in the presentation, but it was, it was about two weeks total. We can work around your plant operations, so you don't have to worry about any downtime. The entire process, like I said, would take about two weeks. Sounds good. How is the handshake handled between FB and LD? That's a good question. It is handled through strategically placed sensors and, sorry, strategically placed lasers and reflectors. What are the training requirements for a system like this? It's an automated system, so very minimal training is required in this particular case. A couple hours just to understand where all the sensors and reflectors were. You mentioned other forms of waste. So, what other benefits does the system provide? There are a lot of other benefits you can get. For defects, you can get rapid delivery. So, casting is uninterrupted. For skills, we free up skilled labor to be used elsewhere. There are other numerous benefits, but it depends on your operation. You can contact us further and we can help you out. Do you see solutions like this working in outdoor production? Yes. Yeah, there are numerous outdoor plants with concrete delivery. Automated concrete delivery, we'll say. Sounds good. Is space an issue? No, it is not. We can create a custom solution for your plant that works with most plant dimensions. Yeah, we can work with most height and width requirements. What sort of maintenance will this add to? It's a good question. You know, the maintenance of the system will be comparable, if not less, than the maintenance that is done to the capital equipment that it eliminates. So, very minimal. Sounds good. That does look like all the questions that have come through for this webinar. So, on behalf of PCI, I'd like to thank our presenters for their time and for their questions. Thank you again and have a great day and stay safe. Thank you.

webinar

concrete delivery

Ultraspan

automation

labor efficiency

cycle time

safety