Introduction
We noticed that each of cement/concrete manufacturer has different raw material quality, different raw material composition and also different conditions of plant operations condition such as type of equipment and operation parameters setting. Due to this reason why each of cement/concrete manufacturer will need a tailor made product to achieve their specific requirement related with product quality and/or cost reduction or efficiency target. To provide best support to the customer, and our basic approach is to customize PENTACHEM’s product for each of our customer. We have developed our Research and Development function (R&D) to support our commitment for customizing product. Our R&D function is also combined with Quality Assurance (QA) function to maintain the good quality of our product.
Compressive Strength (Mpa)
Customizing Product Approach
For cement additives, our R&D lab is equipped with laboratory ball mill to enable us to produce cement in lab scale by using actual material sample and composition received from our specific customer, meanwhile for concrete admixture, our R&D concrete lab is also equipped with equipment to enable us to produce concrete in lab scale. With our capability to produce cement and concrete in our R&D lab will support four stages of our customizing product approach in R&D
- Stage-1 : Product screening
Based on the material samples received from customer then we will conduct product screening process in our R&D lab to select some best products alternative that are suitable for the specific customer. - Stage-2 : Customer verification
The sample of best alternative products will be provided to customer for verification stage. The sample will be tested by customer either in lab’s scale and/or in production’s scale (mill trial) - Stage-3 : Commercial
If customer is satisfied with mill trial result then the selected product will be sold to that specific customer. We will use with special product code for each product of each customer - Stage-4 : Improvement stage
After the commercial stage we will still support our customer’s improvement program through the new product development and improve existing product base on new target or goal set by our customer
R&D And Quality Laboratory Facilities
Our Research and Development and Quality (R&D and Quality) is located at our Cikarang plant. The laboratories are equipped with some main instruments to conduct various raw material, cement and concrete test. Below is the list of our R&D laboratory’s main instruments:
- Laboratory Ball Mill, We use this equipment to produce cement in our laboratory based on actual material and composition we receive from customer. This equipment help us to develop specific product for specific customer.
- Automatic Compression Machine, To test mortar compressive strength for 50x50x50 mm specimen (base on ASTM-109), mortar compressive for 40x40x160 mm (base on ASTM-384), compressive and flexural strength for 40x40x160 mm specimen (base on EN-196)
- Compression Testing Machine for Concrete Specimen (cube and cylinder), To test compressive strength of concrete specimen (cube and cylinder) up to 3000 KN
- Mortar and Concrete Preparation Equipment (Automatic Mortar Mixer, Automatic Flow Table, Vibrating table, Concrete Mixer, Mortar and Concrete Mold, Concrete Slump Tester, etc.)
- Pack Set Index Tester, To measure pack set tendency of cement
- Blaine Test Apparatus, To measure particle size of cement (blaine value)
- Cement and Concrete Setting Time Apparatus
- Karl Fisher Titrator, To measure water content in liquid material
- Vibratory Sieve Shaker, To analyze material for concrete
- Chloride Meter, To measure Chloride content in liquid raw material and finished product
- Others Standard Equipment (Oven, Analytical Balance, pH-Meter, Conductivity-Meter etc.) or goal set by our customer