The extent of ready mix concrete (RMC) used in construction industry determines the maturity of the industry. Due to mechanisation, consumption of cement has increased manifold, but in India, only about 7-8 per cent of the concrete is produced as RMC, while in developed countries it is around 50-55 per cent. In spite of being the second largest producer of cement, the penetration for RMC in India is abysmal. On the positive side, with infrastructure projects line-up and demand from housing picking up, the RMC industry is on a growth path. Read on to get the latest updates on the industry.

RMC is the answer for today’s construction where there is space limitation, shorter deadlines, labour shortage and need for mechanisation. RMC refers to concrete that is batched for delivery from a central plant instead of being mixed on the job site. Each batch of ready mixed concrete is tailor-made according to the specifications of the contractor and is delivered to the contractor in a plastic condition, usually in the cylindrical trucks often known as cement mixers.

RMC has opened a new vista in construction as they are available in all mix designs and volumes. Though RMC cost more than on site concrete, because of the quality and strength, it is in demand when it comes to large infrastructural projects. "The RMC commercial plants produce around 25 million cubic metre of concrete in India. Twenty five million cubic metre consumes around 8-10 mt of cement which is still very low. Say, if we are producing around 200 mt of cement then only about 5 per cent goes into commercial ready mix concrete. In many developed countries, this figure is around 50-55 per cent. So as you can see, in India, this industry still has huge potential to grow," says Anand K Jain, Technical Advisor, Ultratech Cement.

"RMC is produced in proper batching plants which ensure consistency of the mix. The supply and storage of the required ingredients (aggregates, sand, cement and water) is consistent in comparison with the congested environment at the job side. So, the quality of RMC should be higher," says Michael Schmid-Lindenmayer, Managing Director Putzmeister Concrete Machines Pvt Ltd.

"RMC can be ordered in all volumes and mix designs. The know-how on mix design which comes normally along with the decision to use RMC is a great advantage," explains Michael Schmid-Lindenmayer.

Advantages of RMC:

• A centralised concrete batching plant can serve a wide area
• Better quality concrete is produced
• Elimination of storage space for basic materials at site
• Elimination of procurement/hiring of plant and machinery
• Wastage of basic materials is avoided
• Labour associated with production of concrete is eliminated
• Time required is greatly reduced
• Reduction in noise and dust pollution

The world’s first RMC plant was set up 100 years ago, but in India RMC became well known only from the 1990s. Narendra Patel, Chairman, Ariisto Developers & Builders, narrated an interesting anecdote about how the RMC was introduced in India. Manohar Kelkar, an engineer from India, was on a visit to Bauma Exhibition. He was standing near a stall of Putzmeister. The attendant at the stall enquired and Kelkar replied that he was interested in concrete making. The attendant registered his name and address. Kelkar returned to India and after six months, a representative of Putzmeister visited his residence at Pune. The representative requested Kelkar to visit Putzmeister RMC plants in Germany. He visited the RMC plants in Germany and was convinced that the future belongs to RMC. He returned to India, but at that time, import of RMC machinery was not allowed. He approached Miller Mixer and struck a deal, in which Miller was given a certain percentage in profit. This was how the first known RMC plant was set up in India.

Three principal categories:

??Central-mixed concrete, which is completely mixed at the plant and then transported in a truck-mixer or agitator truck. Freshly mixed concrete may be transported in an open dump truck if the jobsite is near the plant. Slight agitation of the concrete during transit prevents segregation of the materials and reduces the amount of slump loss.
??Transit-mixed (also known as truck-mixed) concrete, materials are batched at a central plant and are completely mixed in the truck in transit. Frequently, the concrete is partially mixed in transit and mixing is completed at the jobsite. Transit-mixing keeps the water separate from the cement and aggregates and allows the concrete to be mixed immediately before placement at the construction site. This method avoids the problems of premature hardening and slump loss that result from potential delays in transportation or placement of central-mixed concrete. Additionally, transit-mixing allows concrete to be hauled to construction sites further away from the plant.
??Shrink-mixed concrete is used to increase the truck’s load capacity and retain the advantages of transit-mixed concrete. In shrink-mixed concrete, concrete is partially mixed at the plant to reduce or shrink the volume of the mixture and mixing is completed in transit or at the jobsite.

Major constrains

"Ready mix has still a low penetration rate in India. We estimate that only 7 to 8 per cent of the concrete is produced as ready mix. The RMC business sector is still struggling to convince the Indian customer on the added value which the concept of RMC is providing to the consumer", says Michael Schmid-Lindenmayer.

Initially, in India, RMC was treated as manufactured product. Due to this, sales tax and excise duty were levied by the government. The sales tax and excise duty put together amounted to 32 per cent. This can also be one of the reasons for the slow growth of the industry. Now, the government has done away with excise duty and the manufacturer can claim rebate on sales tax. The input cost is a big constrain, "if you take land on lease or buy it, the cost is very high and adds to the input cost.

Secondly, towns and cities are very congested and the movement is very slow. Therefore the throughput of a transit mixer is very less and the transportation cost becomes very high", says Anand Jain. Then, there are the unorganised RMC manufacturers who offer RMC to end-consumer at discounted prices or at lower rates. Many a times, it is seen that control on quality is not maintained. There are chances of RMC manufacturer making mistakes or negate certain aspects, which puts a question mark on the strength and quality of the concrete. "There should be independent organisation or quality control people to check the quality," recommends Narendra Patel. Taxation is another deterrent, while RMC manufactures have to pay value added tax (VAT), the same is not applicable for on site concrete. The materials are batched at a central plant, and the mixing begins at that plant, so the travelling time from the plant to the site is critical over longer distances. Some sites are far away and RMC has a limited time span between mixing and going-off means that ready mix should be placed within a certain time of batching at the plant, which is also one of the hindrances. "There is no mention of the amount of fly ash used in RMC in India, so there is always doubt about the strength of RMC. In developed countries like Germany the amount of fly ash is always mentioned", laments an RMC user. The boom in construction brought in fly-by-night RMC manufacture, as in India there is no norms or guidelines by government authorities to set up RMC plant, while in developed countries like Germany there are a proper guidelines and standards for manufacturing RMC. The Ready-Mixed Concrete Manufacturers’ Association (RMCMA), an independent body located in Mumbai, ensures checks on quality for its members. "Our external auditors conduct stringent quality check at RMC production facility before issuing a certificate of compliance," says Vijay R Kulkarni, Principal Consultant, RMCMA.

Machinery

As early as 1909, concrete was delivered by a horse-drawn mixer that used paddles turned by the cart’s wheels to mix concrete en route to the jobsite. In 1916, Stephen Stepanian of Ohio, USA developed a self-discharging motorised transit mixer that was the predecessor of the modern ready-mixed concrete truck. Today, the market is flooded with intelligent RMC machinery and the process has been made fully automated to keep pace with the rapid need of the industry.
RMC machinery manufacturers have registered an impressive growth year-on-year. Estimate put the growth to be 100 per cent. The growth is mainly due to the demands for good quality concrete in the tier-2 and tier-3 cities. "Even in tier-2 and tier-3 cities like Kolhapur, Ludhiana, Nashik, Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Mysore, etc all these places are responding positively to the ready mix concrete", says Anand Jain. Debasis Bhattacharya, Ajax Fiori Engineers, confirms the same and adds "we started from tier-3 cities, the market for RMC machinery is growing and we are in the process of setting up offices in major cities of the country". There are also foreign players like Erisim Makina, Wolfgang Kaiblinger and others, who plan to enter the Indian market. "India is a lucrative market", says Cevdet Karaibrahimoglu of Erisim Makina, a Turkish company. "As of now we are not setting up manufacturing facility in India, but we are bringing in our technologies" says Wolfgang Kaiblinger, from Doubrava GmbH & Co KG. New user-friendly machineries.

Growth prospects

The RMC industry was badly hit by 2008-2009 recession. A booming RMC market was brought to a stand still. But now things are looking bright. "The RMC market has picked up in last quarter. And if this continues, things may come back on track," says Ranjeet Moray, Managing Director, Universal Construction Machinery & Equipments Ltd. Universal Construction Machinery & Equipments exports RMC machinery to 45 countries. "Majority of the global players are already active in India. These players try to adjust their global business model to the very competitive Indian market environment keeping their high quality and safety standards at the same time. Also, there is an unorganised sector which consists of a lot of smaller, regional player which offers very competitive prices," points out Michael Schmid-Lindenmayer. With the growth in RMC, the supporting equipment for batching plant has also witnessed a huge demand. The industry has also witnessed a lot of changes, "previously one person was putting a batching plant and he used to supply it to 10 builders, now the trend has changed and all these 10 builders are putting their own plants," said a spokesperson from Readymix Construction Machinery. These changes are mainly because of the new user-friendly high-technology machinery that are easy to operate. "We expect that the dynamics of the Indian market will further increase. In metro cities, the demand for modern construction equipment will increase and in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities, the demand for simple cost-competitive construction machines will grow in a fast pace. The entire development is driven by the requirement for shorter construction times, higher quality and safety" says says Michael Schmid-Lindenmayer.

Optimistic future

The demand for RMC from the commercial and residential segments is expected to grow. The increase in cement capacity and the steadily expanding demand for RMC will see many new RMC plants from organised and unorganised players. With a number of infrastructure projects lined up and compulsory use of RMC in metros and in government projects like Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the future of the RMC industry looks positive.