Buying a concrete mixing plant is a big investment, which requires a detailed analysis of what exactly is needed and where you have to weigh everything carefully.
However, not only the budgeting itself is a major issue, a lot of additional – mostly technical – questions need to be answered already before the final decision is made:
Who could supply a concrete mixing plant that requires only little space on the site?
What kind of preparations on the purchaser’s side are necessary?
How long does it take to install a concrete mixing plant?
How fast can I start the production?
And, if a mobile plant is concerned:
How much effort is necessary to move a concrete mixing plant from one location to another?
This blog provides some answers to these and other FAQs.
How to prepare for an installation of a concrete mixing plant beforehand?
There are certain measures you need to take care of before the installation starts. These are:
1. Water and electrical connections
Make sure the water and electrical connections are installed before the plant installation starts. Check whether the fuse size of the electrical connection and the water supply are adequate. If public utilities don’t provide the required power/water it needs to be considered to use an electric generator and/or a buffer tank for water.
2. Foundations
The foundations need to be built taking into account the local conditions and the static loads of the concrete mixing plant.
Some concrete mixing plants require a low ramp for filling the aggregate bins only, which reduces both taken up space as well as wheel loader operation costs. If the ground is stable it might be sufficient to just put the plant on a steel frame or on concrete slabs.
Other plants might need underground structures, high above-ground foundations as well as high and long ramps, automatically increasing the investment.
Foundations
3. Materials
All materials needed to produce concrete must be available in time and with the required amount. This is important, especially if the production shall start immediately after the installation work is done.
4. Space
Make sure there is enough space on the plot for the plant and all devices used for the installation, such as for the mobile crane. If so, the installation can be carried out as smoothly as possible and no extra time will be needed for unexpected measures. The average space requirement e. g. for a mobile concrete mixing plant is 20 x 50 meters.
How long is the total delivery time of the mobile concrete mixing plant?
The total delivery time includes manufacturing, transportation, installation, commissioning and start of production. If only the manufacturing time is taken into account, the most important steps are ignored: commissioning and start of production.
Suppliers offer different delivery and installation times. The delivery time depends largely on whether the plant will be installed completely at the construction site or completely or at least partly pre-installed at the factory. The installation time for some plants is as long as the actual manufacturing period i.e. several months. Installations often have to take place when it is raining or freezing, conditions that lead to increased crane and personnel costs. A good reason to rather purchase a plant, which already is pre-installed, assembled and tested at the factory to reduce the installation time at the site.
The manufacturing time for a standard plant usually varies between six and sixteen working weeks. If the concrete mixing plant modules are manufactured according to transport dimensions, it is quite easy and cheap to transport the plant to the installation site as well as moving it from one location to another.
Installation, commissioning and start of production of a modern, so called factory assembled concrete mixing plant usually takes 3-8 days. The installation time is short because in this case the equipment, thermal insulations, pipelines and electrical cables are assembled and tested beforehand at the factory. The modules and equipment only need to be connected to each other during the assembly phase and, if the connection is done by using quick connectors, the installation can be done very fast.
How long is the total delivery time of the mobile concrete mixing plant?
If a plant need to be assembled at the building site piece by piece, the installation can take two or even three months. More personnel is needed, cranes and other equipment have to be available at the construction site more or less throughout the full installation period, which significantly increases the costs.
Wall support structures and thermal insulations must be assembled after the installation of the main equipment. In addition it could cost some additional time, if the filling ramp to the aggregate bins had to be built high up.