Data driven deliveries hit the right note for festival goers

Technology interpreted by our extensive experience of highways maintenance helps us to offer customers a best in class experience, even when working to tight deadlines.

A brief with strict time constraints on a busy section of the M6, between junctions 10A – 13, required a reliable and consistent supply of slipform concrete for a refurbishment project. Material had to be delivered within strict possession windows across the 14-week duration.

Working with the main contractor, Extrudakerb, the team needed to conclude these works prior to the start of V Festival, a major music event held in Staffordshire. This would ensure that the thousands of music fans using the M6 to reach the festival weren’t given the blues by roadworks.

The Tarmac Assure system proved to be an invaluable asset in getting these essential works completed on time. The innovation brings together data on slump consistency and delivery vehicle tracking to provide full visibility of concrete deliveries.

On-board monitoring equipment fed information to Extrudakerb on slump consistency during transit, adding water when necessary to ensure a consistent, ready to pour mix arrived on site every time.

Using the technology, Extrudakerb was able to view batch times, transport times, mixing times and water addition, as well as tracking deliveries via GPS to ensure a continuous concrete supply.

Eight delivery vehicles were used in rotation throughout this brief and a Tarmac site technician was on hand to oversee the process. Using the data available via Assure and adopting a ‘one team’ approach, a significantly reduced discharge time of six minutes per load was achieved, with a total of 15,000m³ of concrete poured.

Tarmac’s Walsall plant operated on a permanent night shift for the 14-week duration of the project. Electrical engineers, fitters and shovel fitters were on standby throughout each night to ensure total fleet availability and adherence to safe and legal operation.

Building on many successful years of collaboration with Extrudakerb, the project team were able to conclude their work a week before the start of V Festival, avoiding any inconvenience for festival goers.

James Charlesworth, managing director at Extrudakerb said, “One of the noticeable benefits of working with Tarmac is that they’re very solutions focused. They relish the opportunity to take on complex operational and logistical challenges.

“They invested their time in listening to thoroughly understand the project scope and specification and therefore quickly identified the level of commitment and expertise needed to complete a project with these demands.

“The Tarmac team based in the West Midlands remained contactable both day and night and responded quickly and professionally when plans needed to be flexed and resources needed to be redeployed accordingly.

“Tarmac like to work with purpose and pace, much like ourselves! The results speak for themselves.”