ForConstructionPros.com

Tired of paying workers to stand around waiting for the ready-mix truck to bring your concrete? A volumetric mixer that lets you make concrete as needed on the jobsite might be the answer, particularly for contractors doing smaller jobs.

What is a volumetric mixer?

A volumetric mixer or mobile batch mixer is a machine that can be taken to jobsites and used to produce concrete or masonry grout. You might think of these mixers as mini-concrete plants. They are capable of making any type of concrete desired by adjusting the materials put in the mix. What is different in this approach compared to buying concrete from a ready mix plant is that the user buys the components needed to make concrete and mixes them himself on-site instead of buying premixed concrete.

There is almost no concrete waste with volumetric mixers because only the amount of concrete needed for the specific task is made. Dealing with leftover concrete has become an environmental issue because of the limited places for safe disposal, so there is value in avoiding excess concrete production.

Having a volumetric mixer eliminates concrete quality problems caused by traffic jams or ready-mix truck breakdowns.

"A drum truck has a limited amount of time for them to drop their load or it becomes what they call a hot load, and the only way they can make that usable is to add water and then your strength goes down," says Stan Horning, Global Mixers' sales director for the Midwest and West.