The Chinese construction group Baoye has built a demonstration plant for the production of precast concrete elements in Shaoxing, 200 km southwest of Shanghai. The Baoma joint venture between the Chinese construction group and the German plant manufacturer Sommer Precast Technology was established to build the plant.

The great interest of the state dignitaries in the ceremonial opening shows the importance of this showcase project. The Chinese state has set itself the goal of automating the construction sector more in order to increase the speed and effectiveness of construction projects. Precast concrete technology is an essential element of this strategy.

The precast concrete plant is not intended to produce parts, but to demonstrate the functionality of such a plant. It consists of a pallet circulation system, a formwork robot with demoulding function, a concrete distributor, a turning device and a high-bay warehouse as a hardening chamber. The entire fully-functional plant was supplied and installed by Sommer Precast Technology. Unitechnik contributed state-of-the-art computer technology with its UniCam.10 host computer. In addition, the automation specialist from Wiehl was responsible for the entire control technology.

Baoma Managing Director Franz Springmann will convince customers in China of the advantages of this technology in the future. Baoye already operates several precast concrete plants. The next productive precast concrete plants are already being planned.