Founded in 1956, Les Industries de Ciment La Guadeloupe (ICG) is a third-generation family business specializing in concrete products. The site, located in the Beauce region, employs nearly 90 people and has two production plants – one dedicated to manufacturing circular manholes and an assortment of concrete pipes and another to the production of concrete structures such as sumps, box culverts, lamp post bases, rainwater treatment units, etc.
An Ambitious Entrepreneur in Action
Building on her father's legacy, the company's owner Virginie Gilbert was eager to revitalize and modernize the factory's production methods. Automation offered several advantages: a reduction in production costs, improved consistency in product quality, ability to respond more accurately to the required standards of major contractors and most importantly, an increased competitive edge.
In pursuing these goals, Les Industries de Ciment La Guadeloupe partnered with MARCOTTE and its team of experts to develop an automation solution adapted to their unique process to increase the company's productivity and help it reach its business objectives.
After the solution was installed in both plants, the entire team noticed immediate improvements – first in terms of the consistent quality of its product: "With such precision in achieving the water/cement ratio, the Marcotte solution leaves no room for error," says Gilbert. All the parameters – the material properties from different sources, density, absorption, granularity, moisture content and temperature are taken into account to adequately balance the mixtures and ensure a consistent, quality product. And this is only the beginning; with access to auto-generated history and batch data parameters, the Les industries de Ciment La Guadeloupe team can continuously improve their product quality.
Historically, MARCOTTE's customers have noticed an average increase of 30% in their hourly production following the installation of our systems.
Virginie Gilbert was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly and easily her employees were able to master Marcotte's software: "The solution's visual interface is easy to use and speeds up the learning curve. It increased my employees' productivity while reducing the risk of human errors." Before automation, the company was rotating four people to control its batching process; only three are required now. Miss Gilbert is assured that she can quickly train a new staff member when needed.
In terms of benefits to the owner and her team, compliance with provincial standards is critical. Gilbert aspires to secure higher and higher-level contracts from different tiers of government contracts. The MBatch is 100% compliant with the BNQ (Quebec Standardization Office) makes it even easier to achieve this quality seal. Similarly, the MARCOTTE solution will live up to her future ambitions, as it is also compliant with CSA standards observed throughout Canada and the United States.
In short, the future looks bright for Les industries de Ciment La Guadeloupe. We predict that its orders and profitability will grow significantly in the coming months and its profitability. MARCOTTE is proud to have had the chance to contribute to this process modernization and wishes tremendous success to the entire team at Les industries de Ciment La Guadeloupe!
Case Study Summary