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Case Study

MEP: Visit to Milton Pipes at Sittingbourne

MEP Mini Syntax hard at work at Milton Concrete Products, Sittingbourne, Kent

Established just after the Second World War and still a very successful private company, Milton Pipes of Sittingbourne are the major UK supplier of precast concrete products for the UK civil engineering and construction industry.

Integral to their products, that include large inspection chambers, caissons and soakaway components, is formed steel reinforcement (rebar); without which castings of the size produced by Milton would not be viable.

MEP ring forming

Many years ago the rebar was formed by hand, with machinery taking over in due course. It was 5 years ago that Milton started to research the market for new higher speed production equipment and through the UK distributor, Whitelegg Machines of Dorking, became aware of the MEP range of rebar production machines.

Following extensive trials and visits to the Italian factory by Milton's wire shop foreman, Mr Martin Forster and his team, a MEP Mini-Syntax was commissioned at Sittingbourne.

High Speed Re-Bar Forming with Mini Syntax

The Mini-Syntax, together with a patented anti twist feed roller system, now produces at least 35 tonnes of mixed product a week, a multi-fold increase on the two previous machines it replaced. Wire diameters handled are from 8 to 25mm, with the capability of processing two 16mm bars simultaneously.

Easily programmable via its touch screen computer, the Mini-Syntax at Milton Pipes tackles on average 10 product size changes per day, with output only governed by the manual process of handling and stacking of the finished shapes.

Milton completed shapes

In the five years that Milton have operated their Mini-Syntax system, maintenance and downtime have been minimal with just 4 bearings, 2 oil seals, a hydraulic valve and an oil pipe requiring replacement.

Whitelegg offer an immediate countrywide call out service should problems occur. For critical parts an overnight courier delivery service from Italy is available.