Use of Ready Mix and Concrete

Use of Ready Mix and Concrete

RMC is generally looked upon as a costly product rather than a facility to get an appropriate quality product on site as and when required.The first cost of RMC may seem higher . However, there are several hidden advantages which can cause considerable reduction in cost to the owner. Since they cannot be accurately determined, they are ignored while evaluating the cost of RMC over site mixed produced concrete.

The following points answer the above question:

·     Generally speaking, the quality of concrete will be superior than site mixed concrete. However ,it will greatly depend on the controls and checks exercised at site and at RMC producer's plant.

·     There is a considerable wastage of materials on site due to poor storage conditions and repeated shifting of the mixer location. This is prevented if RMC is used.

·     In most cities, the plot area is barely sufficient to store reinforcement steel, formwork, concrete and other construction materials. Using RMC can cause less congestion and better housekeeping on the site resulting in efficient working environment.

·     Obtaining RMC at site can reduce supervision and labor costs which would otherwise be required for batching and mixing of concrete at site.

·     Many sites in cities, house their work force on the site itself to reduce the time and cost of daily travel. This creates unsafe and unhygienic conditions on the site as well as for the surrounding areas. This will reduce to a certain extent if RMC is utilized.

·     Fluctuation of raw material prices and their availability has always caused delays and problems of inventory and storage for site producers of concrete. This is totally avoided when RMC is used.

·     RMC plants have proper facilities to store and accurately batch concrete admixtures (chemical and mineral). To improve properties of concrete both in plastic and in hardened stage this accuracy is useful.

·     In general, RMC plants have superior and accurate batching arrangements than the weigh batchers used on site.

·     RMC plants have superior mixers than the rotating drum mixers generally used for mixing concrete materials at site.

·     RMC plants have efficient batching and mixing, facilities which improve both quality and speed of concrete production.

·     Temperature control of concrete in extreme weather conditions can be exercised in a much better manner than done at site.

·     RMC helps encourage" mechanization and new technologies like pumped concrete bulk transportation of cement production of self-compacting concrete and high strength high performance concrete.

·     New materials like micro silica and fibers can be safely used in RMC which in conventional concrete may pose problems.

·     Introduction of RMC improves the rate of supply of concrete in the formwork and thereby automatically improves quality of formwork, layout of reinforcement steel and its detailing and safety / strength of scaffolding and staging.