La Corona Ready Mix Concrete Plant 3

On September 25, 2019, we, Senior High School students at International Colleges for Excellence, Inc. had our Educational Walkabout at LA CORONA. It is a READY MIX CONCRETE PLANT located in Bacag, Villasis, Pangasinan.

First and foremost, I can say that this is the destination that I enjoyed most in the educational walkabout. I was happy that the personnel gave us a rough understanding of how their system works by explaining and touring us around the plant itself. And I would like to share them with you as well.

Their ready mix concrete is composed mainly of cement, water, and aggregates.

CEMENT

sample cement

The picture below is a cement tank. Obviously, cement is stored there, which is then brought into a cement tower.

Cement tank

Cement tower

But before that, cement will undergo the "cylinder method" of some sort.

Types of cement are different and are classified according to strength. The more the amount of cement, the stronger the structure. In the cement cylinder, you will see how strong the structure would be with certain ratio of cement. They will test it first as a sample to the clients. Of course, the more the amount of cement, the more expensive it is.

WATER

Water is needed, like in any typical concrete construction, but in here, “hindi basta-bastang tubig ang ginagamit, dapat water” (Molano, 2019) Kidding aside, this plant uses water that is tested and considered free from chemicals that may destroy concrete, steel, etc.

In addition, their wastewater does not turn into waste. Instead, it is being used as recycled water for cleaning and other purposes.

AGGREGATES

Actually, it is only this time that I learned what aggregate is. Aggregates vary in sizes (eg. G1) and shape (eg. round), and each has its own purposes. For example, smaller aggregates like 3/8 are used to fill in the gaps between G1-aggregates. Also, aggregates that are not round or are rough are better used, according to the personnel, because they have more friction, which means they will less likely slide from one another and fall apart during an earthquake. Also, the gravel that they are using is really durable that when put in the machine (some sort of grinder, like that) it does not get easily crushed.

This is where they put gravel, sand, and aggregates.

The video below is the conveyor that carries gravel up to the main mixing equipment.

Cement, water, and aggregates are transported by machines and conveyors into the mixer, in a ratio agreed with the client and the company.

The plant guarantees that they don’t cheat in their materials. What’s required is what they  produce.

Main mixing equipment - where everything is being "mixed"

This video below is the summary of how the plant works:

 To summarize, EVERYTHING AND EVERY PROCESS (BIG OR SMALL) HAS ITS PURPOSE AND IS INTENDED TO BUILD BETTER STRUCTURES. Hindi dapat basta-basta; sa lahat ng bagay dapat inilalaan ang makakaya, inilalaan ang tama.