Building Materials Weighing Case: Automatic Quantitative Loading and Unattended Weighing for a Cement and Aggregate Plant
Case Category: Building Materials Weighing Cases
Provided by Xuzhou Spear Weighing Equipment Co., Ltd.
Case Description
The client is a large building materials enterprise in northern China, producing cement, clinker, sand, gravel, and ready-mix aggregate. The plant dispatches more than 500 trucks per day, including bulk cement tankers, dump trucks, and flatbed trailers. With rising demand from construction sites, infrastructure projects, and concrete mixing stations, the plant needed to improve loading accuracy, reduce dispatch time, and eliminate overloading and material giveaway.
The client decided to build a fully automated weighing and loading station that could control the discharge of bulk materials precisely, identify vehicles automatically, record all transactions, and connect with its ERP and sales platform for real-time order and inventory management.
Customer Challenge
- Manual loading relied on operator experience, causing frequent overloading or short loading of cement and aggregate.
- Overloaded trucks were fined at weigh stations, creating financial losses and damaging the company’s reputation.
- Loading time was long, with each bulk cement tanker taking 15–20 minutes, causing vehicle congestion inside the plant.
- Dust, vibration, and outdoor conditions damaged ordinary weighing equipment, leading to frequent failures and downtime.
- Paper-based records were slow, inaccurate, and impossible to reconcile with ERP orders and inventory in real time.
- There was a risk of drivers substituting vehicles or tampering with weight records to obtain more material.
- The plant could not provide real-time dispatch data to customers or management, reducing overall service quality.
Our Solution
Xuzhou Spear Weighing Equipment Co., Ltd. designed a complete building materials weighing and quantitative loading solution based on the plant layout and material characteristics. The system included:
- Heavy-duty digital truck scale: 3 × 18 m platform with reinforced steel beams, IP68 digital load cells, and anti-corrosion coating, suitable for heavy bulk vehicles and dusty outdoor conditions.
- Automatic quantitative loading system: PLC-controlled discharge valves and belt feeders with real-time weight feedback from the truck scale; loading stops automatically when the preset weight is reached, with coarse and fine feeding stages for high accuracy.
- Unattended weighing system: RFID/IC card readers, license plate recognition cameras, barrier gates, traffic lights, LED guide displays, and voice prompts enabling driver self-service weighing.
- Anti-cheating and safety: Infrared beam sensors to confirm the truck is fully on the platform, video snapshot capture, electrostatic grounding detection, and overload alarms.
- Dust-proof and weatherproof design: Sealed junction boxes, protective canopies, and IP65/IP68 components to withstand cement dust and outdoor conditions.
- Data management platform: Real-time cloud upload of all weighing and loading records, automatic ticket printing, and open interfaces for ERP, sales, and inventory systems.
Results
- Loading accuracy greatly improved: Error reduced to within ±0.1%, virtually eliminating overloading fines and material giveaway.
- Loading time shortened: Bulk cement tanker loading time reduced from 15–20 minutes to about 8–10 minutes, increasing daily dispatch capacity.
- Labor costs reduced: Unattended weighing and automatic loading reduced 3–4 operators per shift.
- Equipment reliability improved: Dust-proof and corrosion-resistant design extended maintenance intervals and reduced annual maintenance costs by about 25%.
- Fraud prevention strengthened: Triple verification by card, license plate, and video eliminated vehicle substitution and weight tampering.
- Real-time data visibility: Management can monitor dispatch, inventory, and loading status anytime via the cloud platform.
- ERP integration completed: Weighing and loading data automatically synchronize with ERP and sales systems, enabling accurate billing and inventory control.
- Customer satisfaction improved: Faster dispatch and accurate weights reduced delivery delays and customer complaints.
Testimonial
“The automatic quantitative loading and unattended weighing system from Xuzhou Spear Weighing Equipment Co., Ltd. has brought our building materials plant to a new level. Overloading fines have basically disappeared, loading is much faster, and all data is automatically synced with our ERP. The equipment is strong enough for cement dust and heavy trucks, and the anti-cheating features protect our profits. The Spear team handled design, installation, and training professionally, and their after-sales support is responsive and reliable.”
— General Manager, the building materials enterprise
Xuzhou Spear Weighing Equipment Co., Ltd.
Your trusted partner for intelligent weighing solutions in the building materials industry.