At the forefront of the UK’s precast concrete sector, FP McCann has harnessed cutting-edge machinery and software from Progress Group to revolutionise production. This leveraging of automation and digitalisation enhances production efficiency and quality.
FP MCCANN operates 13 precast plants across Great Britain and Northern Ireland and provides an extensive range of concrete solutions for the industrial, commercial, structural, and infrastructure markets. Six of their plants now feature state-of-the-art reinforcement machinery and software from Progress Group, enhancing their production capabilities and setting new industry standards.
State-of-the-art reinforcement machinery
The manufacturing facility at the Byley site showcases the benefits of the integrated M-System Evolution. This mesh welding plant stands out for welding mesh, while maintaining the highest level of work safety and keeping costs down. “One of the biggest benefits of the machinery is the integration,” says Andrew Slaven, Design Support Manager for FP McCann. “It saves a significant amount of time to have continuity across the design processes by using the same machines. But of course, also the quality of the product is a key benefit.”
Enhancing operational efficiency with software solutions
The ‘profit’ software from Progress Group has been a game-changer for FP McCann’s reinforcement production. It provides realtime visibility of production, helping teams to optimise planning, manage resources and maintain continuous flow. Andrew adds: “The software is the key part that holds everything together. We will be using profit in the new plant in Littleport and will then roll it out across the rest of the business. If we can automate and take away a lot of the manual work in the background by using the software, it makes it a lot more efficient for us.”
The successful collaboration between FP McCann and Progress Group has been instrumental in advancing their production technology. “Working with Progress has been a positive experience over the last few years. Their machinery and software have significantly enhanced our reinforcement production capacity, adapting to the growing demands of our customers,” said David Norry.
Adam McCann, Engineer at FP McCann and part of the family that has built the successful company, adds: “We like to build relationships with the companies we buy machinery and software from – we like to work with them for a long time. That would have been the biggest selling point for me, and of course, Progress Group is a well-known name. We bought the machine first and now have seen that the software elevates it.”
Automation and digitalisation
With automation and digitalisation, FP McCann can stay at the forefront of precast production in the UK. Andrew Slaven states that the experience with Progress Group has been consistently positive since the start, emphasising that the support and integration within the company works very well. “The biggest benefit of automation and digitalisation is time saving, more than anything – being efficient as a business is the priority.”
