Automatic Block Machine for Large Housing Projects in Iraq: Output per Shift
18 October 2026 · 6 min read
Quick answer
On QST1800 a 20 second cycle turns out 1,440 pallets in an 8 hour shift, so a 30,000 block day is settled by pallet count, not by the machine. Count the pallets a shift produces, size the curing yard to hold them, and use high-level rack curing where land is short. The machine is the last decision, not the first.
An automatic block machine for large housing projects in Iraq is bought against a schedule, not a catalogue. A housing programme fixes one block type and one weekly volume, and both are written into the supply contract before a supplier is chosen. That decision removes most of the choice: one mould, one pallet size, one cycle, and every later number follows from those three. Size the plant by counting pallets per shift, then choosing the curing style those pallets need, then picking the machine that fills them.
Most buyers work the other way. They compare models by block output, order the largest, and find in the second month that the yard cannot hold the pallets the machine produces. On a 1,400 x 1,400 mm pallet at a 20 second cycle, the machine is not the limit. The yard is. The order that holds on site is pallet count, then curing style, then machine.
What does a housing contract fix before the machine is chosen?
A housing contract fixes the block, the mix and the weekly volume, and it fixes them in writing. Walls usually take one hollow unit and the rest of the works take a solid or a paving unit, and each needs its own mould. Two moulds mean at least two changeovers a week, so the plant is designed around a mould set, not around a machine that can make everything. Ask what the bill of quantities calls for in the first six months, and buy moulds for that list.
The weekly volume is the harder number, because it arrives in blocks and the plant works in pallets. A programme of 30,000 blocks a day is a pallet count multiplied by a piece count. Fix the piece count per pallet on the mould drawing, then multiply by the pallets turned in a shift. Reverse those two and the machine looks oversized on paper and undersized on site.
The QST1800 arithmetic: 1,440 pallets in an 8 hour shift
QST1800 is the frame a 30,000 block day lands on. It weighs 34 t, works at 31.5 MPa, delivers 280 kN of vibration force and draws 104 kW, on a 1,400 x 1,400 x 30 mm pallet with a dry cycle of 15 to 25 seconds. Take the middle of that band, 20 seconds. An 8 hour shift holds 28,800 seconds, so the frame turns 1,440 pallets in a shift with nothing stopping it.
That figure is the one to carry into every other decision. The machine has no opinion on whether those pallets hold six blocks or twenty. At 15 seconds the same frame reaches 1,920 pallets, and at 25 seconds it falls to 1,152. Both ends are real, and the gap between them is yard space, not a sales argument. Take your cycle from the mix and the block, then hold the supplier to it at commissioning.
Why does the curing yard become the bottleneck?
Fresh block cannot be stacked, so every pallet the frame fills has to stand until it carries its own weight. The yard must therefore hold the output of several shifts at once. Count one shift on the 20 second cycle, 1,440 pallets, then multiply by the shifts the block must stand on your mix and in your climate. That product sets the land, not the block figure in the contract.
Most plants fail here. A buyer who checks the machine against the day target and the yard against nothing ends up stacking pallets in the aisle and handling them twice with a forklift. Each extra pass chips an edge and costs a man. The yard is a production department with a pallet count, a footprint and an aisle width, and it should be drawn before the machine foundation is poured.
High-level rack curing against a single-layer yard
Two layouts answer the pallet count. A single-layer yard spreads the pallets on the ground, and its area is the pallet footprint plus aisle multiplied by the pallet count. It is simple, easy to inspect, and it consumes land. A high-level rack system stacks the same pallets in racks served by a transfer car, so the plant uses building height instead of ground. On a housing site where land is committed to buildings, height is the cheaper dimension.
Rack curing is not one product. QSDJ is a rack line with a pallet lifter, a lowering machine, a heavy pallet conveyor, an empty pallet conveyor, a transport sub-car, a shuttle mother car, a charging pile, a control system and a cuber. QSRGY is a finger-car line, single-layer as standard and multi-layer as an option, powered either from a 380 V AC track stepped down to 36 V DC on the running rail or from a 36 V lithium battery with BMS and an automatic charging pile. One is a line, the other is a handling system you can stage.
The cuber and the crew: 3,800 pallets against 1,440
Cured block has to be cubed and moved, and that step has its own rate. The QS-1200A low-position cuber takes 15 to 18 seconds per layer, builds a 1,000 to 1,200 mm square stack to 1,400 mm high, and handles about 3,800 pallets per shift. Set that against 1,440 pallets from the frame in the same shift, and the cuber is not the constraint. It is a buffer with hours to spare.
Labour is the other half, and it is quoted in persons per shift. QSRGY runs the whole plant with 3 to 4 workers. The QSGW closed-loop line, which covers batching and mixing, pre-forming, high-level transfer and curing, dividing and cubing, and packaging, is quoted at 3 to 6 persons per shift. Both assume a yard laid out so that nobody walks to find a pallet.
What should be fixed in the supply contract before the first mould is cut?
Four items belong in writing. The pallet first: 1,400 x 1,400 x 30 mm, its thickness tolerance and the flatness the block face needs. The mould second: the block drawing, the piece count per pallet, and the wear parts that ship with it. The cycle third: the time the supplier will demonstrate at commissioning, on your mix, not the band on the sheet. The yard fourth: the layout drawing, the rack or ground plan, the aisle width and the pallet count it holds.
Add the interfaces that prevent an argument later: who supplies the pallets, who sets the cuber against the machine, and what the acceptance run measures. Run one shift and count the pallets that reached the yard, not the blocks on the truck. Compare with 1,440. If the count lands short, the cause is usually the yard or the mix, and the contract should say who fixes which.
The order that holds on site
Count the pallets a shift produces. Choose the curing style that holds that count on the land and at the height you have. Then choose the machine that fills the pallets at the cycle your mix allows. A buyer who reverses the order pays for a 34 t frame that feeds a yard unable to take 1,440 pallets, and then pays again for the second yard.
Frequently asked questions
How many pallets does a QST1800 produce in one shift?
Take the dry cycle and divide the shift. An 8 hour shift holds 28,800 seconds, so a 20 second cycle gives 1,440 pallets. At 15 seconds the count rises to 1,920, and at 25 seconds it falls to 1,152. The block total is that pallet count multiplied by the piece count of the mould you fit.
Why is the curing yard the limit and not the machine?
Fresh block cannot be stacked, so the yard must hold several shifts of pallets at the same time. One shift at a 20 second cycle fills 1,440 pallets. When the yard is smaller than that, pallets end up in the aisle and get handled twice, which chips edges and slows the crew. Land and rack height set your output, not the frame.
Which curing style suits a site where land is short?
High-level rack curing, because it stacks pallets in racks and uses building height instead of ground. QSDJ is a full rack line with conveyors, transfer cars and a cuber. QSRGY is a finger-car line that runs single-layer as standard and multi-layer as an option, and it operates the whole plant with 3 to 4 workers.
What should the supply contract fix before the mould is cut?
The pallet size and its thickness tolerance, the block drawing and the piece count per pallet, the cycle the supplier will demonstrate at commissioning on your mix, and the yard layout with the pallet count it holds. Add who supplies pallets and what the acceptance run measures, then count pallets for one shift against 1,440.
Does a cuber keep up with a fast pallet machine?
Yes, with margin. The QS-1200A cuber takes 15 to 18 seconds per layer, builds a stack up to 1,400 mm high, and handles about 3,800 pallets per shift. The QST1800 at a 20 second cycle produces 1,440 pallets in the same shift, so the cuber keeps spare hours and works as a buffer between the machine and the yard.
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