Today the applications of scaffolding and formwork are getting more and more diverse and demanding. To answer the same, the sector is now getting enriched with various innovations in the field

 Access scaffolding and support staging requirements all over the world are generally fulfilled with universally accepted steel tubular scaffold systems – from basic tubes and couplers to modular systems such as cuplok etc. However, keeping in mind the ever-challenging needs and demands of market, the industry of scaffolding and formwork today is going through a transition phase being blessed with some exciting innovations.

The article talks about such new innovations in the sector and views of current players as well being aware of its importance.

Innovating in its own way
In formwork, Maini has been providing solutions for concreting of various types of constructions such as buildings, bridges, TG decks, aqueducts etc. in combination with steel and ply and through systems such as metriform, tableform, wallforms etc. Nearly five years ago, Maini diversified into aluminium formwork system particularly for high rise buildings and mass housings.

“Today Maini aluminium formwork system is a well-established solution widely accepted by numerous leading builders and construction companies of India, that drastically reduces slab construction cycle while eliminating the need of plastering,” informs Ashok Mandal, Director, Maini Construction Equipments Pvt. Ltd.

“Besides buildings, we have carefully designed application-based scaffolding solutions for thermal power boilers, shipbuilding yards, cement silos, refineries and monuments to name a few,” adds Mr Mandal. “In addition to design, manufacture and supply, we provide training and technical supervision services during erection and dismantling.”
For more than 60 years, Layher has been into the business of scaffolding systems with high-quality and practically tested. The company has always been experimenting and coming up with new innovative products to meet the increasing demands of the market.

“Layher’s new innovation of this year has been Layher Lightweight which is a latest technology for strong, low-weight scaffolding systems. The unveiling of Layher Lightweight surprised the competition and reinforced our position as a true innovator. Users were impressed and followed in the footsteps of game-changing products,” says Mithilesh Kumar, Director, Layher Scaffolding Systems Pvt. Ltd. “Allround Lightweight ushers in a new dimension in scaffolding systems. It boasts considerable weight saving, increased load-bearing capacity and the new autolock function.”

As a result, the company believes that customers can look forward to lighter, safer scaffolding that is faster and more economical to transport and erection and dismantling.

Pradeep Ghumare, Director, NOE Formwork India Pvt. Ltd. talks about their new product NOEtec which is made to measure formwork for civil and infrastructure projects.

“It is extremely versatile and can be exactly configured to suit any project and site requirements,” says Mr Ghumare. “Whether it is a tunnel with a rectangular or rounded cross-section, underground or cut-and-cover construction, wall formwork or a shoring system, virtually every project can be accomplished using NOEtec’s system components only.”

As the company assures, NOEtec completes challenging jobs using the minimum number of system components i.e. specially designed NOEtec steel girder and its extending girder, which is the heart of the system, unique connection NOEtec bolts, standard lock, strut, collar, header beam and guide pocket.

NOEtec can be used as many types of formworks such as vault, trough, wall, climbing, travelling, soffit, tunnel and integrated travelling formwork.

Commenting on its main features Mr Ghumare adds, “The assembly time for the NOEtec formwork is short and that too with lesser manpower, as compared to the prevailing systems in India. Moreover, NOEtec provides a high degree of safety at work. It is highly durable, and excels through its high load bearing capacity.”

Commitments
The current players seem to be very interested and excited to do more and more innovations in the field to simplify the operations. However, it is also important to see what commitments they are offering in this regard.

On behalf of Layher, Mr Kumar says, “Layher committed to save time, money and can quote more competitive price. As a result customer can achieve greater competitive advantage. Layher’s idea is to make scaffolding erection safer and simpler. A less strenuous, less hazardous working environment means fewer lost man hours.”

Whereas NOE India is commited to introducing its new innovation i.e. NOEtec in India for complicated projects where speed, quality and consistency are called for at relatively lower manpower requirements.

Maini Construction is also committed to provide innovative solutions and quality of equipment while adhering to the required delivery time schedule.

“As value additions, we are offering training on scaffolding systems, usages and safety and technical services such as health check up of scaffolding and supervision services during erection and dismantling through our experienced team of scaffold inspection/technical services officers,” informs Mr Mandal. “We also have a dedicated site execution team for aluminium formwork system for seamless co-ordination between our customers’ site teams and our services team towards smooth execution of projects.”

Current Indian technologies on global platform
To match with the rapid pace of global development, it is always required to improve on the basis of quality and consistency. This makes it necessary to find out where the Indian technologies stand today as compared to the respective global platform. Let’s check out the opinions of present players on this including the standards they are having to offer.

According to Mr Ghumare, “Time is maturing for the need of versatile-cum-high-load formwork and scaffolding system in India. Till date product like NOEtec for measurement purpose of formwork and scaffolding system was missing in India. However, the picture is changing now.”

Mr Kumar says, “Layher products conform to the latest safety standards.They have been certified to DIN ISO and TUV, and awarded numerous national and international quality labels. Rigorous quality management is the key to ensuring that our solutions are safe to use. Still in current India conventional technology still needs to update the same.”

Mr Mandal shares, “As far as scaffolding systems and applications are concerned, Indian companies are well-equipped to provide almost any type of system and services those are globally available.”

He further adds, “In formwork, such as Maini aluminium formwork system, designed and manufactured indigenously, are as good as any other similar system available worldwide, while offering distinct advantage of providing faster deliveries and immediate availability of spare parts.”

End note
Looking at all the aspects and considering them, it can be said that the scaffolding and formwork industry today is experiencing and going through exciting innovations that are very useful and capable also to show their effect for a long run. Moreover, we can say that as the future gets unfolded, industry will only find more such exciting innovations to prosper itself in its own way.

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The unveiling of Layher Lightweight surprised the competition and reinforced our position as a true innovator.

Mithilesh Kumar, Director,
Layher Scaffolding Systems Pvt. Ltd.
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Whether it is a tunnel with a rectangular or rounded cross-section,underground or cut-and-cover construction, wall formwork or a shoring system, virtually every project can be accomplished using NOEtec’s system components only.

Pradeep Ghumare, Director,
NOE Formwork India Pvt. Ltd.
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As far as scaffolding systems and applications are concerned, Indian companies are well-equipped to provide almost any type of system and services those are globally available.

Ashok Mandal, Director,
Maini Construction Equipments Pvt. Ltd.