Mobile Plant Goes Where It’s Needed

ABM EasyBatch at Work on Thai Highway Network

Sraloong Construction Co. in Thailand has been in business for nearly 50 years. To last that long, a company must make sound purchasing decisions regarding the tools that drive its business.

For Bangkok-based Sraloong, that includes the acquisition of an Ammann ABM 90 EasyBatch Asphalt-Mixing Plant. The government of Thailand is investing in infrastructure that improves the transport of agricultural products and reduces travel times across the board. Sraloong, with the help of the ABM EasyBatch, is properly positioned to help provide the asphalt mix essential to the roadbuilding efforts.

The highways that enable these economic boosts are often in rural areas, making mobile asphalt-mixing plants essential. The plants can deliver the needed asphalt mix, regardless of the rural locations where the roadbuilding often occurs. They can fit on small footprints and be relocated during projects to improve access to materials and reduce haul times.

The Ammann plant is being put to work on the expansion of Highway 115, specifically a portion that is being broadened from two lanes to four lanes between Kamphaeng Phet and Phichit. “This project is to extend the connecting road between the northern and central parts of Thailand,” said Mr. Theerapat Theeratrakool, plant manager at Sraloong.

The company turned to the Ammann ABM 90 EasyBatch to maximise its potential during the ongoing work. The plant produces 65 tonnes per hour on the Highway 115 job. While the plant has a higher capacity, that is all the production required for this particular project.

The expansion is a complicated one. “It had to be constructed within limited time and under COVID-19 circumstances,” Mr. Theeratrakool said. “There was also a need to connect to other roads, which were being built by other contractors who were also widening from two to four lanes.”

In addition, the specifications called for precise material quantities and sieve sizes.

The ABM EasyBatch is built for quick transfer and a rapid return to production. As far as the company leaders are concerned, the plant’s easy relocation is its biggest asset.

“We set up close to the jobsite to increase the daily production and reduce the costs of the pavement,” Mr. Theeratrakool said. “It is a super-mobile plant in terms of disassembly and assembly. Only two semi-trailers are needed for transport, which is an improvement over competitive brands.”

“The Ammann ABM 90 EasyBatch is the best choice for a mobile plant,” he said.

As the work progresses, the plant can be relocated to reduce the length and costs of hauls and keep pace with the paving team. That flexibility will also pay off when Highway 115 is completed and the plant has to be moved to a new jobsite in another part of the country.

The plant’s value goes beyond mobility. Both management and operators also praised the as1 Control System. “The as1 can give the exact statistics and store the old information for more than a year,” Mr. Theeratrakool said. “Inspectors for the Department of Highways can retrieve all the information, from the first batch produced until the last.”

Mr. Supachai Naksusuk, plant operator, also commended the as1 system. “After being trained on the as1, I could easily set up the recipe and run the plant in automatic mode,” he said.

The plant will likely be moved to central Thailand when Highway 115 is finished. Wherever it goes, the ABM EasyBatch will be ready to work – and ready to move again as needed.