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Test system renders quality of precast concrete elements transparent

• Fig. 1 Sketch drawing: Top and bottom concrete...

  [Photo: Cemex]

• Fig. 2 Soon after compacting the fresh concrete,...

  (Photos/Fotos: Cemex)

Cemex presents a test system that facilitates the Quality Management of semi-precast parts. With this system the company is positioned to meet the future demands of the European market too.

Based on a customer survey of Cemex Beton-Bauteile GmbH in 2008, more than 90 percent of construction companies trust in the technical competency of the precast concrete parts producers all right, however they wish for more innovative offers. Not least of all, the new development meets exactly this demand. The precast concrete parts producer with head office in Bad Dürkheim, applies this test system in the production of double wall elements and ceiling elements. Prior to concrete casting the test system Checker is installed on the bottom reinforcement layer and later on it remains in the construction element. The top and lower concrete layers as well as the casing thickness can be read with one glance.

“The Checker allows the structural engineer to check and understand the concrete layers fast and easily,” Eberhard Küssner, Manager Quality Control explains. “The demands on quality assurance will continue to rise, particularly in the European markets, among other reasons also because of the EC mark of conformity.” 

Reading the Checker is as easy as its functionalities are diverse. Cemex wishes to present a practicable test system for its entire product range and there are manifold combination options in concrete layers and casing thickness as well as the diameters of reinforcements.

This complexity increases with the different national customer demands: Cemex Beton-Bauteile GmbH is not confined to the German market. It exports to the neighboring countries Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands and even to Great Britain and Sweden. By way of example, the French Avis Technique, the market approvals for certain construction products and methods, set very strict requirements to quality assurance. Here the Checker is a further criterion for quality “Made in Germany”.“I am convinced that with our test system Checker, we will increase our market shares in Germany and Europe,” says Eberhard Küssner “because with this innovation we offer our customers a unique and additional quality feature without any additional costs.” ¢