Field service in California: Addition of admix counters, buttons and switches for a 3rd cement silo
Some jobs requires you to travel. This one took our team to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada — a concrete and construction company operated by Myers & Sons Construction in the Yosemite area of California.
The request came through our partner Command Alkon: the plant needed an extension of its manual control console. Additional admixture displays, more controls for adding a silo. The existing system was working well - it just needed to do more.
What "Expanding a Console" Actually Means
The manual control console of a concrete plant is the direct interface of the operator with the facility - hopper valves, additive valves, displays showing material totals. When production needs increase, or the configuration of the facility evolves, these consoles must evolve with them.
For this project, the scope of work included:
- Modification of the the installation of a manual station for plants P2294 and P2453, with a new admix display and a Feed/Discharge selector
- Running all new cables to the Marcotte panel and connecting in parallel to existing inputs and outputs - without disrupting what was already working
- The addition of a 3rd hopper valve (positions 1 and 2) to the P2294 panel, as well as a 9th additive display with its own selector
Wiring in parallel on an existing system is a precision job. Each connection must be correct on the first try - you can't test properly until the plant is running, and you don't want to debug wiring in the middle of a production shift.
Testing and approval
Once the wiring was completed, our technician Jean-Sébastien tested each button and switch on the extended console. For the admix that did not have material available during the visit, pulses were manually simulated to verify that each display would accumulate and show the correct totals in actual production.
The operator of the plant, Colby, reviewed the work done and confirmed his satisfaction before our technician's departure.
Total travel duration: 2 days of travel, 2 days on site.
The value of an on-site intervention
Sending a technician to the other end of the continent is not the right decision for every job. But for a system modification that affects the existing control wiring of an operational facility, remote support has real limits. It requires someone capable of tracing the wire, testing the signal, and handing the console back to the operator knowing it works.
That is what this job required, and that is what we delivered.
Solution Instrumentation performs panel modifications on-site, system expansions, and control console upgrades for concrete, asphalt, and aggregate production facilities across North America. We work with Command Alkon, Marcotte systems, and most major concrete plant control platforms.