2005 - Putzmeister

Title StoryHigh standards of quality16Dubai’s construction industry is runningflat-out. It features a company that hasbeen making significant changes to thecity’s skyline for years: UNIVERSALCONCRETE PRODUCTS LTD. CO(UNIMIX) LLC. The company has provedrepeatedly that it belongs among Dubai’sleading ready-mixed concrete manufacturers.Meanwhile, UNIMIX has even wonthe contract to supply and place the concretefor the prestigious Burj Dubai,which, at over 700 m high, is the tallestbuilding in the world. UNIMIX orderedthe concrete pumps and distributionbooms required for this project fromPutzmeister. .The list of impressive high-rise buildings,for which UNIMIX has supplied theconcrete and provided the pump serviceover the past years, is long and the namesof the buildings have meanwhile becomewell-known terms. Take, for example, the7-star Burj Al Arab hotel, the 309 and355 metre high hotel and office towers ofEmirates Towers, the 51 floors of theMarina Crown Tower luxury apartmentcomplex and many more.For the construction of these landmarks ofmodern architecture, UNIMIX is not onlyinvolved as the supplier of high-qualityconcrete, but also uses its concrete pumpsand booms on the construction sites. Withan average age of only four years, theUNIMIX fleet is relatively young and themachines are well-maintained. ”Our balancedstrategy has led to controlled growthand considerable sales growth. It is thebalance of high-quality products, customerorientationand company strengths thatUNIMIX has to thank for its position in themarket and its involvement in numeroushigh-rise projects,“ says the UNIMIXmanaging director Khalid MohamadS.Bakhit with pride.Within just 4 years, the company has doubledits capacity. It has invested not only inmodern concrete mixing plants and truckmixers, but also in concrete pumps andbooms. E.R. Menon, Technical Director ofUNIMIX managing director Khalid Mohd S. Al Bakhit(centre), Technical Director E.R. Menon (left) andworkshop manager J.P. SantoshUNIMIX: ”To meet the growing requirementsof the market, we are implementingan active investment policy.“ The companycurrently operates 120 truck mixers,20 truck-mounted concrete pumps, 16 stationaryconcrete pumps and 36 stationarybooms. The UNIMIX mixing plants producedapproximately 1,500,000 m 3 of concretein 2004, around 75 % of this was pumped.Well-trained employees –economic concrete pumpsThe service lives of the typical wear partsplay an important role for pumping thesequantities. This is not only with regard tothe procurement costs of the new parts, butalso because of the machine downtimesduring replacement of worn parts. UNI-MIX workshop leader J.P. Santos givessome figures: ”We replace the S transfertubes on our Putzmeister concrete pumpsafter approximately 120,000 m 3 and thespectacle wear plates after pumping anaverage of 80,000 m 3 of concrete. As forthe delivery line, our booms are equippedwith double-layer Proline pipes. They willlast up to 100,000 m 3 !“15UNIMIX proudly decorates its truck mixer drums with pictures of its most spectacular and sophisticated construction sites. This painting of the future Burj Dubai is very new.17The production of high-quality concrete isa science. Skilled concrete technologists atUNIMIX develop various mixture breakdowns:concrete with 100 N/mm 2 compressivestrength, self-compressed concrete withlow heat of hydration and also concretetypes of high strength with equally highelasticity. The quality of the cement supplied,microsilicate, fly ash and other fineparticles is monitored in our own laboratoryjust as is the high standard of the endproduct concrete.Incidentally – the various concrete mixturesmentioned above will also be implementedby UNIMIX and pumped withPutzmeister high-performance pumps forthe prestigious Burj Dubai, the tallest towerin the world at well over 700 m. Whenasked about the status of the preparations,E.R. Menon holds back on the details: ”Indetailed tests, Putzmeister testing engineershave checked the pumpability of this extremelysuperior concrete and simulated thehigh pressures expected. We will reveal thefinal pumping height at a later date. UNI-MIX has, however, already decided on the7-10 members of the concrete team. Theyare our best, most experienced people!“6PM 3652 GBOne of the UNIMIX BSA 14000 HP-D high-pressure concrete pumps. On the right is a UNIMIX truck mixer decoratedwith the Burj Al Arab.7PM 3652 GB