A driving force behind innovation in precast concrete production

FP McCann is a pioneer in the British precast concrete sector and uses advanced machinery and software from the Progress Group to radically modernize its production. As the largest manufacturer of precast concrete elements in the United Kingdom, the company is investing in automation and digitization to improve production efficiency and quality.

New Standards

FP McCann operates thirteen precast plants across Great Britain and Northern Ireland and offers a comprehensive range of concrete solutions for the industrial, commercial, construction, and infrastructure markets. Six of these plants are now equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and software from the Progress Group for processing reinforcing steel, which enhances their production capabilities and sets new industry standards.

State-of-the-art machines

The production facility in Byley clearly demonstrates the advantages of the integrated M-System Evolution. This mesh welding system stands out for its dual bending system and integrated processing mechanism. The bending system illustrates FP McCann’s commitment to advanced technology, which enables the production of large reinforcement cages for heavy precast elements. “Because we can bend both complete mats and individual bars, it takes us less time to manufacture reinforcement cages,” says David Norry, production manager at the precast plant in Byley. This capability also significantly reduces the amount of rebar required, resulting in cost savings and less material waste.

“One of the biggest advantages of the machines is their integration. Using the same machines ensures continuity in the design processes, which results in significant time savings. But of course, the quality of the product is also a major plus.” Andrew Slaven, design manager at FP McCann, explains that automation via the Progress machines has proven invaluable in Byley and Littleport, two of the company’s key locations for structural and architectural work. “It’s a fantastic tool within our design portfolio and in the way we design products: everything revolves around the machines and their output.” ‎‎

Greater operational efficiency

The Progress Group’s aheadSuite software has radically transformed rebar production at FP McCann. aheadSuite provides both machine operators and production teams with real-time insight into the status of rebar production. Thanks to this real-time insight, the team can optimize scheduling, allocate resources effectively, and ensure a continuous production flow. The software is also used to predict the turnaround time of production orders using machine learning, enabling the team to manage the workload effectively. “The software is the central component that ties everything together. We’re going to use aheadSuite at the new factory in Littleport and then roll it out across the rest of the company. That will be an important step for us, because we have many people who work with PXMLs and software programming. If we can use the software to automate and eliminate much of the manual work that takes place behind the scenes, it will make our operations much more efficient,” said Slaven. In doing so, FP McCann is strengthening its position as a leader in digital innovation within the construction industry.

Strong Partnership

The successful partnership between FP McCann and the Progress Group has played a key role in the further development of production technology. “The collaboration with Progress has been very positive in recent years. Its machines and software have significantly increased our production capacity for reinforcing steel and enable us to keep pace with the growing demand from our customers,” said Norry.

Adam McCann, an engineer at FP McCann and a member of the family that built the successful company, adds: “We believe it’s important to build a strong relationship with the companies from which we purchase our machines and software. We’d like to work with them for the long term. For me, that was the main reason for choosing the Progress Group. Of course, Progress is also a well-known name. We bought the machine first, and now we’re seeing that the software helps us get even more out of it.”

Automation and Digitization

Thanks to automation and digitization, FP McCann can remain at the forefront of the British prefab manufacturing industry. Slaven notes that the experience with the Progress Group has been very positive from the very beginning. He emphasizes that the support and integration within the company are going exceptionally well. “The biggest advantage of automation and digitization is, above all, the time saved. Being efficient as a company is the most important thing for us.”