WCA March 2009

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news
Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2009 12
Charcon, a specialist in off-site
solutions for the UK’s civil engineering
industry, has significantly increased
production capabilities at its Croft
factory thanks to a new automatic
stirrup bender from MEP, supplied by
Whitelegg Machines of Crawley UK.
Charcon, an Aggregate Industries
UK Ltd business and producer of
pre-cast concrete service protec-
tion systems, has acquired the
automatic stirrup bender to help
speed production and to replace
the factory’s existing manual
bending system.
Paul Saunders, operations manager at Charcon, was responsible for the choice
of automatic stirrup bender to replace the factory’s slow manual bending
system. He said: “It was the reputation of MEP as leaders in the market, and a
visit to see a machine working at a third party site, that convinced me to select
the MEP Focus 12 product to assist our operations.”
The MEP Focus 12 has the capacity to handle diameters from 6mm to 12mm of
cold or hot rolled rebar and can process two wires up to 12mm. Its ease of
set-up and programming by unskilled operatives was an important factor
for Charcon.
Chris Garton, assistant factory manager for Charcon, explained: “Our
expectations of the MEP link bender have been greatly exceeded; it is easily
capable of doing what we bought it for. Though speed is not of the essence
in our business, accuracy most certainly is and this product meets our
specifications.”
Currently, Charcon has 60 standard shapes held in the bender’s computer
graphic memory enabling swift product shape changes, with one-off specials
easily created.
Output is completed during a single shift per day. Charcon’s output is up to 450
tonnes of finished product a week and most items will contain reinforcement.
Whitelegg Machines – UK
Email:
Website:
WAI 2009 president named
The Wire Association International (WAI) Inc has announced the appointment of
Antonio Ayala Reyna as president of the association for a one-year term,
commencing on 1st January 2009. Ayala will serve as the 55th president of the
79 year-old association, headquartered in Guilford, Connecticut with a
subsidiary office in Pune, India. Continuing the efforts of his predecessor, 2008
WAI president Ronald W Reed, Ayala will lead the association’s growth
initiatives, which include further expansion into the Asian markets and
enhancements to its publication, Wire Journal International, and to Interwire,
the association’s flagship trade show and said to be the largest of its kind
in the Americas.
“WAI is steadily becoming more international in scope and the leadership that
Antonio Ayala will provide during his tenure will be critical in our pursuit of
providing services to the worldwide industry,” said WAI executive director,
Steven Fetteroll.
Wire Association International – USA
Fax: +1 203 453 8384 Website:
MEP – supporting construction
The operator station for the stirrup bender m m