In Malemort-sur-Corrèze, France, CRP produces its concrete manhole bases (wastewater and stormwater) on a fully automated, robotised line designed and installed by ALFI Technologies. One manhole base every 90 seconds, two operators at most, no manual handling. The project won the Technology & Digital Award at the 2024 Precast Concrete Trophies (Trophées de la Préfa Béton) organised by FIB, the French precast concrete federation.
A one-of-a-kind specification
In January 2020, CRP wrote a specification with no equivalent: produce manhole bases automatically with consistent quality, without polystyrene inserts, without lubricant sprayed by an operator, and with less concrete. To meet it, CRP had designed its own automatic moulds upstream.
Ten months of trials before choosing
In February 2020, CRP shortlisted the three best technical offers. For ten months, each supplier ran daily automated demoulding trials in prototype moulds. In November 2020, after these iterative casting trials, CRP ordered the complete line from ALFI Technologies.
A line run by two people
- one manhole base cast every 90 seconds;
- 320 bases per 8-hour shift, i.e. 960 bases per day at full capacity;
- 2 operators at most for the whole line and the batching plant;
- no manual handling and no lubricant spraying by an operator.
Less concrete, less waste
- parts more than 25% lighter on average, so less sand and gravel;
- 35% less cement, thanks to this weight reduction and the replacement of about 30% of the cement with a low-carbon binder;
- a scrap rate below 1%;
- zero consumable waste: no more single-use expanded polystyrene inserts.
From order to full production
Assembly started in February 2022 in CRP’s new plant, and production started at reduced speed in September 2022. Since June 2023, the line has been running perfectly and meets every requirement of the specification.
Recognised by the industry
On 6 June 2024 in Paris, CRP received the Technology & Digital Award of the Precast Concrete Trophies for this line, built in partnership with ALFI Technologies. Read the FIB press kit (in French).
The line on video
Your project
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