Wet cast innovator cuts costs and increases output with cornerstone automation

One of the leading innovators of wet cast manufactured stone is EP Henry Corp. Based in Woodbury, New Jersey, USA, the firm is the oldest family-owned and operated manufacturer of precast concrete products in North America. Founded in 1903 by Edward P. Henry, EP Henry manufactures a wide range of paving stone and retaining wall products, including pavers, slabs, permeable pavers, wall systems, cast veneer stone, and accessories. Along with its Woodbury plant, EP Henry also operates manufacturing facilities in Wrightstown and Vineland, New Jersey, as well as Parker Ford, Pennsylvania, USA. The ?rm’s market encompasses a 10-state region along the mid-Atlantic states and extending west to Ohio. While EP Henry’s four plants employ high levels of automation for most production operations, one type of product – corner-tones for cast wall systems – had eluded automation at-tempts for many years. That is until 2017, when demand for its wet cast single- and double-sided Cast Stone Wall (?gs. 1-4) threatened to outstrip the capacity of its key Wrightstown production line. “We were using a primarily manual process to create our cornerstone pieces,” notes John Ravelli, EP Henry Vice President of Manufacturing. “We would hand load individual molds on a vibrating table and remove excess material by hand as well. There was a lot of waste and it was very labor intensive. We had to run two shifts with 10 workers on each shift to meet demand.” ....