Opportunity

The Italians have been doing concrete since Roman times and this new system of precast concrete foundations is the new state-of-the art in Europe.  Now a master licensee is sought for the US.

This innovative precast footing and foundation wall system is about cutting costs, increasing quality and speeding the process of light to very heavy-duty construction.  It is a disruptive innovation in a field that is still using methods developed in Roman times. There is significant amount of knowhow that the inventor, Civil Engineering Professor Mose Monachino, can share to smooth the product launch and gain early advocates among project owners and two patents to prevent others from entering the market.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage

The precast foundation system offers a sustainable competitive advantage to the precast company that gains the national master license.  This is a totally new product category for precast companies, gaining them below-ground work that they do not currently profit from.  Plus some footing shell designs will be generic so they can be produced when the precast plant has a gap in its production schedule, thereby lowering its unemployment insurance costs and helping to retain quality employees.

Contractors using the system will have fewer weather delays, saving overtime and completion deadline penalties.  Contractors using the system will win more bids and grow their business.  Owners will stretch construction budgets and get higher quality and earlier completion dates.  Even state highway departments are specifying precast in new applications like bridge abutments to manage initial and lifetime costs and speed the construction process.

YouTube Video of Precast Column Footing Installation (above thumbnail)

Current Technology Being Replaced

In the US today footings for structures are concrete is poured into lumber or steel forms assembled on-site according to an engineers design.  This is known as  "cast-in-place".  Steel reinforcement bars (rebar) are often embedded in the concrete in complex patterns and wired for temporary support until the concrete sets.  Rebar often extends our of the footing to be the connection to a foundation wall or column.  Special welded or mechanical connections are needed to connect cast footings with precast walls or columns.

On-site fabrication of rebar for footings is labor intensive and adds days to construction schedules.  It is difficult to obtain consistent quality for rebar placement using current field techniques.

The Monachino Precast Integrated Footing System

The Monachino system is enables the complex aspects of a footing to be manufactured in the controlled environment of a factory.  It eliminates the need for formwork set-up and take-down and rebar fabrication and assembly on-site.

The Monachino system allows the rebar for a running or pier footing to be fabricated in a factory, cast into a concrete shell to hold it together for shipping and then the bulk of the concrete is added on-site but without the need for errecting and tearing down forms.  The shell is the form. 

The innovative Monachino method allows use of computer-controlled mechanical rebar benders in a precast factory to increase productivity and quality.  Proprietary molds for the various footing formats hold the rebar in place without temporary supports until the concrete shell is poured in the factory.  This relatively light unit is then trucked to the construction site and placed with hydraulic lifing arms and "fingers". 

Built-in levelers with feet speed leveling each footing unit.  Straight rebar is added after placement to connect the units, so after the final pour they become a single mass.  The shells acts as the formwork, holding in the final pour.  This way most of the footings mass is added on-site and therefore does not have to be trucked from the precast plant. 

This technology moves far beyond the current footing construction methods that date to Roman times.  It permits the proven advantages of precast concrete structures to be applied to the first stage of every project, the footings.  Precast has proven to be dependable and durable method of construction and precast footings will have the same advantages and market acceptance.

Cast-in-Place Connection Strength and Durability with Precast Speed and Savings

The Monachino system allows precast foundation walls to be safely set on the the precast footings before they are filled with a final pour of concrete on-site.  This allows the precast wall and footing to become one unit, just as wholly cast-in-place allow now.  This innovation gives precast the same structural strengh as cast--in-place without mechanical or welded connectors now used to connect cast-in-place footings with precast walls or columns.  So now project designers can now get the benefits of cast-in-place connections in a precast project with the speed and savings of the precast method.

YouTube Video of Precast Footing & Retaining Wall Install

Applications

Building wall foundations, building column foundations, retaining walls, tunnel arches, dams, bridge abutments 

Patent drawing of tunnel application and color

illustration of rebar in tunnel footing and floor

Types of Projects

Transportation, commercial, industrial, military, marine, residential

• More of the early construction becomes weather independent
• Below-grade formwork is susceptible to rain damage and slumping
• More construction can be mobilized off-site for a fast on-site installation en masse
• Scale-able footing size in fine increments in adjustable molds
• Rebar can be bent and cut with computer controlled equipment in factory
• Molds hold rebar accurately and firmly in place until concrete for shell is set
• Bladders fill the openings for rebar in the molds until the concrete sets
• Precast retaining wall and tunnel arch rebar can be interlaced on-site with the footings just as they are in cast-in-place
• Technology implemented in Italy with several licensees there

Development Stage of the Product

The precast footing system has been in use in Italy for several years and there are licensees there.  Licensing is underway across Europe.  Mold system is well established.  Automated rebar benders and cutting equipment is well-proven by other firms with years of operating installations. Videos of the casting system in operation are available.  High-volume production equipment for automated form removal in-plant are under late stage development (but would be a separate licens).  The system has not yet been implemented in North America so there is a huge opportunity.

Molds for wall footing, column footing and retaining malls in green in operation in Italy  YouTube video of footing casting process.

Technology in producton in Italy (Retaining Wall)

Intellectual Property

The Monachino system is protected by two US patents, 6367214 and 6408581, copyrighted drawings and specifications, and trade secrets.  Further patents are possible. 

Mold drawings & specifications, casting process consulting, high-volume automated mold remover engineering.  Marketing and business development.  Mold fabrication also available.

System developed by a well-repected Professor of Civil Engineering who has many patents in concrete techology.  He had his own precast concrete factory where the techniques were developed and is now focused on licensing his innovations around the world.  Family members manufacture the mold system in Europe and can provide the first or an ongoing supply of molds going forward.

Rebar of wall and footing interlock while enjoying the benefits of precast

Inventive Spark

New freeways in Italy's mountains had lots of high retaining walls and back-covered tunnels.  Space for on-site work was tight and formwork labor costly and in short supply.  Project budgets were tight and contractors were seeking a cost advantage.  The inventor saw the challenges and came up with this system as the solution.  Italy was an early innovator and adopter of precast techniques.  Many precast plants use Italian production equipment and send their plant manager to Italy to learn new methods and systems to increase productivity and quality.

Master US Licensee Wanted

The owner's objective is to have the Monachino precast footings available to every construction project in the US.  A master licensee would build national distribution through its own precast plants and by sub-licensing the system to quality precast companies in other areas.  For more information please contact Clyde Hanson.