Making a mixer

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ROLL WITH IT: A skilled worker fabricates some metal for use on a heavy truck.

Trailer and body maker Gorica has been established since the early 1990s. We paid a visit to watch a concrete truck being born.

Trucks are so common over the Emirates, it is easy to forget that the many different body styles do not simply come off a production line, rather they are designed especially for purpose.

 Today, plenty of firms with a base in the region produce truck bodies, but few have been as long established as Gorica, who have been in Jebel Ali since the start of the 1990s.

All the steelwork is taken care of on site, and designs for the bodies and trailers are also taken care of at the premises, though dustcarts and concrete mixers are co-designed with partners.

It is this can-do approach to engineering that Paul Austin Price, Business Development Manager, Gorica, attributes, in part, to the success of the company. "Our design and innovation has helped, as we draw all our own plans."

"We can manufacture anything, whatever the customer requirements." he said.

Due to the construction boom, Gorica have a very healthy order book, with, perhaps unsurprisingly, concrete mixer bodies seeing the biggest increase in sales.

"We produce around 80 drums per month of which 65 are concrete mixers" said Denis Gulin Deputy General Manager, adding that while mechanical components such as the gearbox are brought in from Europe, all the heavy fabrication is done in-house.

Chassis

Most of the mixer bodies that Gorica make are assembled directly on the rigid chassis of a large truck. In the past the firm has also built special order machines based on a semi-trailer, but these are rare.

To start, the steel to be used for the drum needs to be a fine grade, due to the harsh life the machine will lead.

Pressing matter

"The metal we are using is special, imported from Germany. It is manganese steel which is used for the drums" explained Paul Austin Price, as the first batch of metal is moved into place by a giant overhead gantry crane.

At the start of the production line, the backplate for the mixer drum is the first, and most complicated piece of metal to be fabricated. A large press shapes heavy-gauge steel in to a concave disc.

A second, more specialised machine used a bearing to roll the sides up be several inches. Next, the steel for the drum needs to be cut, so that the drum and the spiral can be assembled.

Clearly, this needs to be carefully done as the pieces have to fit together perfectly, so extensive use of a computer programme is employed to cut accurately.

This electronic process controls a plasma cutter to obtain perfect shapes. "CNC helps us produce more, faster and more effectively" said Denis Gulin.

The technology behind the cutters at Gorica was developed with software engineers ESAB of Sweden.

Welding

After rolling steel for the mixer drums, the containers are welded in sections, complete with the steel that makes up the mixing screw in place.

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