Post by WIRTGEN GROUP

Retrofit for the future: A milestone project for Benninghoven in Lithuania. At its site in Marijampolė, Lithuanian company Alkestra is not only operating a Benninghoven TBA, but also a third-party asphalt mixing plant that has been in operation since 1998. Unfortunately, the control system of the third-party plant was increasingly causing problems. While the plant itself was still operational, the braking system of the loading silo’s inclined skip kept failing. Also, the plant was still being operated with an outdated control console, meaning manual operation in place of a clearly structured digital process overview. Seeing as individual repairs would have only postponed the issue, this called for a greater overhaul. Thanks to the strong track record and good working relationship Alkestra had from operating the Benninghoven TBA and another plant in Alytus, contacting Benninghoven to inquire about retrofitting its failing third-party plant was the obvious choice: Local contacts, no language barriers, fast turnaround on spare parts and a 24/7 remote service to ensure round-the-clock availability when needed. Benninghoven was quick to respond, providing Alkestra with a tailored retrofit solution and easy integration into its third-party plant. The package comprised: a renewal of the winch unit on the lateral loading silo, including the brake control system, as well as the complete modernization of the plant control system using the powerful BLS 4. Benninghoven also went on to replace sensors and frequency converters to further ensure future-proof operation. Where the third-party plant once featured an outdated control console with countless buttons, the plant now runs intuitively, backed by intelligent lifecycle management with regular updates and hardware upgrades – making sure that the technology in place remains state-of-the-art well into the future.