Concrete Products

SEP 2012

Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.

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FEATURE COVER STORY BEAMING WITH PRODUCTIVITY Finfrock dedicates first architectural and structural precast line integrating 3D modeling technology and laser-guided form details By Don Marsh A wave of production technology has prompted a premier precast/prestressed concrete manu- facturer to install laser-guided form prepara- tion and provide crews with mobile devices. This is all in advance of a paper-free shop drawing era, which accentuates productivity gains by the elimination of errors, and team members streamlining tasks which were once measured in hours down to mere minutes. Finfrock recently added to its Orlando, Fla., op- Robert Finfrock Allen Finfrock Dan Finfrock 26 | SEPTEMBER 2012 eration a facility where computer-aided design and manufacturing methods are applied to an ad- vanced architectural/structural precast line and a new, internally developed, precast floor system, called DualDeck, which is geared to mid- and high-rise buildings. The 34,000-sq.-ft. structure houses one of the first U.S. precast/prestressed lines using laser technology driven by 3D mod- eling software for architectural and structural member fabrication. Framed with tapered exte- rior columns and precast wall members, and topped by 80-ft. tees, it has a 40-ft. interior height clearance to accommodate mobile gantry cranes, bridge cranes, and ceiling-mounted lasers. The latter are dedicated to six hydrauli- cally operated tilt tables. With accuracy of 1-2 millimeters, the lasers guide placement of form- work and all inserted materials to the exact lo- cation either on or above the tilt table. "We've been able to install the laser technol- ogy due to our investment in StructureWorks, LLC," says Allen Finfrock, P.E., executive vice president and chief design officer at Finfrock. Founded by precast industry experts, Struc- tureWorks LLC is now solely owned by Finfrock, and distributes two software products world- wide to the precast/prestressed concrete in- dustry: A namesake 3D modeling program used to create project designs and collect all engi- neering details required for architectural and structural components; and, PieceTracker, a product-management system that organizes and disseminates information in real time to help utilize resources more efficiently. "The new facility is built around projecting highly accurate images, automatically generated from the 3D models, directly onto the casting forms and inserted materials, from ceiling- mounted lasers—reducing the need for paper drawings. The addition of laser technology dra- matically increases productivity and capacity, and improves each product's dimensional accu- racy," says President Robert D. Finfrock, P.E. Finfrock served as chairman of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (1992) and its Management Activities Council (1993– 1995). This was followed by designation as a PCI Titan during the Institute's golden anniver- sary observances (2004). Positioning his com- pany at the forefront of 3D modeling and laser-guided form preparation in the U.S. will come as little surprise to competitors and peers, who have seen Finfrock's longtime focus on fabrication and product improvement. STRONG SHELTER The new enclosure at Finfrock's 93-acre plant houses the manufacturing of the new DualDeck Structural System as well as architectural/ struc- tural precast panels. The producer has spent nearly seven years developing the DualDeck Composite Truss, a floor product that does not require ledges or corbels on supporting members. It is comprised of 2.5-in. thick upper and lower precast concrete members, joined together by steel angles and high strength deformed wire. Ideally spanning between 40 feet to more than 60 feet in length, the truss is 12-ft. wide and varies in depth from 12 to 24 inches, de- pending on the length and loading condition. Both top and bottom surfaces are extremely flat, due to being poured on steel forms, and will accommodate direct application of floor and ceiling finishes without field applied top- ping. Accurate placement of electrical conduit, plumbing, and other utilities inside the truss is made possible and practical during the man- ufacturing process through the use of laser lay- out technology. The floor system's labor and time-saving po- tential reflects extensive jobsite experience. Finfrock was an early promoter of design-build, Continued on page 28 WWW.CONCRETEPRODUCTS.COM

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