Spectra QEST has been working closely with concrete producers for over 20 years, bringing them innovative software solutions in the areas of concrete and aggregates testing, mix design, mix optimisation, mix management, quality control and systems/data integration.
All of Spectra QEST's software products are designed as enterprise grade applications, allowing them to be installed in centralised implementations for medium and large organisations looking to gain the standardisation, efficiency and quality benefits that centralised software systems can bring. Spectra QEST also has significant experience helping companies implement its products as part of centralised solutions.
Spectra QEST's products can help concrete producers in four important areas of their operations:
- Reduction in risk;
- Reduction in mix cost;
- Improvement in reputation for quality; and
- Efficiency gains in mix management and quality control processes .
In order to achieve these aims, a number of issues may be important to a concrete producer. These include having the ability to:
- Easily monitor and reduce production variability within a product, for a plant, and across the organisation;
- Benchmark performance across the organisation to identify well performing areas of the business, as well as areas where improvements may be required;
- Quickly and easily compare mixes both within individual plants and across the organisation to identify anomalies, and hence identify mixes which may have room for improvement;
- Quickly and easily manage and adjust large numbers of mixes across the organisation;
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Optimise mix cost by the analysis of historical performance and the availability of raw materials; and
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Automatically monitor the ongoing performance of mixes, and recommend adjustments to ensure that they remain optimised.
The tasks described above can be broadly broken down into four main categories. For more detail on each area, please click on the relevant link:
Quality Control
Spectra QEST's products give concrete producers the ability to not only ensure compliance with relevant production standards, but also use their quality control data to reduce production variability, benchmark performance and make improvements as required thereby reducing risk and reducing production cost.
Mix Management
Spectra QEST's tool allow concrete producers to quickly and easily adjust large numbers of concrete mixes across the organisation based on factors such as quality control data, raw material availability, and seasonal changes.
Mix Design and Optimisation
Spectra QEST has products that are used by concrete producers to optimise concrete mixes across the organisation based on sound scientific principles combined with the producer's existing mix design, quality control and performance data. The systems can also be used to design new mixes.
Performance Monitoring
Spectra QEST has developed tools that are used by concrete producers to automatically assess key parameters such as concrete strength, density, yield, combined and individual material gradings, batch quantities and testing frequencies to monitor concrete products and recommend adjustments to mixes.
