If you are planning to produce concrete for your own projects or intend to enter the pre-mixed concrete production industry, a concrete plant is essential. Before purchasing, you must have encountered the following issues:
- How do I choose a concrete plant?
- Should I buy a new one or a used one?
- What risks should I be aware of when purchasing a used concrete plant?
- Can a second-hand concrete batching plant also bring me investment returns?
- What should I do if I want to buy a new concrete plant but don’t have enough investment funds?
- How can I avoid pitfalls when making a purchase?
Next, I will comprehensively analyze the characteristics of both used and new concrete plants to facilitate your decision-making.
1. How to buy a used concrete batch plant?
Most companies purchase concrete plants to engage in concrete production or to enter the pre-mixed concrete industry. If your project has limited funds or you only need it temporarily for a short-term concrete construction project, you might be wondering: Should I just buy a used concrete plant? This way, I can not only save costs but also complete my project quickly in the short term.
Next, I will analyze whether to purchase a used concrete plant from two perspectives.
First, let’s analyze the advantages of purchasing a second-hand concrete plant. From a cost perspective, it appears to save a significant portion of investment compared to a new concrete plant. In terms of equipment quality, you need to assess the condition of the second-hand concrete plant you intend to buy. In simpler terms, you should check whether the equipment is durable and meets your project’s short-term or long-term usage requirements.
For example, you can refer to the following scenarios for investigation:
- What material is the mixing shaft of the concrete mixer made of? Is it single shaft or twin shaft? How many years has this mixer been in use? (The quality of the batching plant concrete mixer determines the quality of concrete, so this is the top priority to consider.)
- What is the motor power of the concrete mixer? Is the motor currently in need of optimization or upgrade?
- How many discharge outlets does the mixer have? What is the capacity of the concrete mixer? Can it meet your project requirements?
- How many aggregate bins are there in total? Is the weighing system of the aggregate machine accurate? Do the various components and the engine require further maintenance?
- Can the capacity of the cement silo meet your production requirements? Is there any malfunction with the screw conveyor?
- Which country is this used concrete batch plant from? Is it Chinese or an Italian brand? Does this brand have international certification?
Second, you should also consider the shortcomings of the used concrete plant you intend to purchase, identifying which equipment components are faulty and require repair. After all, no one would sell their concrete batching plant without reason—it must be due to some malfunction in the equipment that makes them want to sell.
Therefore, purchasing a second-hand concrete plant entails significant investment risks because you cannot fully assess the machinery’s actual condition. Any component may be damaged, even if the equipment appears intact at the time of purchase.
Therefore, to safeguard your investment returns, you need to consider the following factors:
- How many years has this seller been using this concrete plant? How much concrete was produced last year?
- Ask the seller to clarify which parts are damaged and the extent of the damage?
- Which components are about to be repaired? Clarify the repair costs and then estimate whether your budget is sufficient to cover the maintenance expenses for these devices?
- Even if some components function normally, could issues arise in future operations? (This is undoubtedly the greatest risk, and it’s extremely difficult to guarantee the equipment will remain problem-free.)
In summary, for you, purchasing a second-hand concrete plant has only one advantage—lower cost—and you must also ensure the equipment does not malfunction.
If equipment issues arise, they will lead to the following series of problems:
- The concrete plant needs to be shut down, incurring costs for repairs
- Further impact your concrete production schedule
- And this will further lead to the loss of your clients
- Prolonged maintenance periods will result in financial losses and delayed payments
- Even after repairing the concrete plant, the client has lost a significant portion of their business, and then you will lower the price of concrete
- Concrete is inexpensive, but the equipment at concrete plants reduces production efficiency, rendering your concrete project inoperable.
- You will pay the repair costs again, only for the malfunction to occur once more—a never-ending vicious cycle
- In the end, your total expenses may even exceed the cost of purchasing a new concrete plant.
Therefore, purchasing a second-hand concrete plant is not a wise choice. If you can save costs by buying a new one, why spend a large sum on a used concrete plant?
So, do you know how to avoid pitfalls when purchasing a new concrete plant? How to choose a concrete plant manufacturer? How about transportation? How about installation? Please keep reading, and I’ll answer them one by one.
2. How to buy a new concrete plant?
Choosing a suitable new concrete plant will save you a lot of costs and bring you higher profit margins.
If you think that choosing a concrete plant only requires consideration of price, output, and delivery time, then you are completely wrong. You also need to develop a plan that takes into account factors such as return on investment, logistics, and operational conditions.
(1) Clarify your project
You need to first clarify what business you are using a concrete plant for.
If you have your own factory and don’t want to rely on third-party concrete suppliers, purchasing a concrete plant can increase production efficiency and reduce costs.
If you plan to launch a retail ready mixed concrete business, you need to first investigate whether there are enough concrete construction projects in your area, such as residential buildings, bridges, and infrastructure? Additionally, you need to investigate whether the contractors require a continuous supply of ready mixed concrete? If the survey results indicate a need, then purchasing a concrete plant would be a lucrative project.
(2) Develop a strategic plan
Ⅰ. Select the type of concrete plant
Based on your investigation, determine the type of concrete plant you want to choose.
- If it is a temporary or multi-site construction project, a mobile concrete batch plant is very suitable;
- If the demand for concrete is high, it is suitable to purchase a ready mix concrete plants;
- If it is a more professional market, then precast concrete plants are very suitable for purchase.
- If you want to produce concrete in large quantities for a long time and with a fixed site, a stationary concrete batching plant is very suitable.
Ⅱ. Select output
After understanding the market demand, you must choose the appropriate output size for the concrete plant. It’s not that the larger the output, the better. Concrete plants that exceed your own production capacity will not bring you more profits.
The following formula can help you calculate what output of a concrete plant you need.
- X=M/(T×H×K)
- X=Concrete plant output (m³/h)
- M=How much concrete does your project require per year (m³/year)
- T=The number of days your concrete plant works per year (days/year)
- H=daily working hours of concrete plant (hours/day)
- K=concrete utilization rate
If your project requires 300000 m³ of concrete per year, working 350 days a year, 8 hours a day, and a utilization rate of 0.8, then X=M/(T × H × K)=300000/(350 × 8 × 0.8) ≈ 134m³/h, so you need to purchase a concrete plant with a production capacity greater than 134m ³/h.
- Small Concrete Plant (25-50m³/h), Suitable for rural construction, small projects, and small bridges.
- Medium Concrete Plant (60-90m³/h), Suitable for commodity concrete plants, medium-sized industrial plants, municipal engineering, and highway engineering.
- Large Concrete Plant (120-240m³/h), Suitable for highways, high-speed railways, airports, dams, and large commercial concrete plants.
Ⅲ. Develop a plan document
After selecting the production capacity, you need to make a plan for your needs. The plan should include your project type, what business you want to carry out, what the production demand is for the concrete plant, what the regional environmental situation is, what equipment you want, your investment cost calculation, and financial forecast. This kind of plan can help you choose a concrete plant more clearly and also enable you to start your business faster. You can also find concrete plant manufacturers; professional brand manufacturers will customize more professional concrete plant solutions for you.
(3) Obtain a license
Firstly, apply for a business license and obtain the enterprise license certificate; Secondly, you also need to obtain a land permit certificate or a building permit certificate. For specific certificate approval rules, you need to pay attention to the local specific review requirements. If you have obtained permission, it means that your project has complied with local laws and regulations and can soon be put into production.
(4) Environmental safety
Of course, after obtaining the permit, an Environmental Safety Assessment (EIA) is also required. You must be aware that concrete plants generate a lot of dust, wastewater, and even noise during the production of concrete, as well as light pollution at night. So, in order to ensure that we do not pollute the environment, we need to control dust pollution, manage wastewater discharge, and address the problems of noise and lighting.
This requires concrete plants to have dust recovery systems and sewage discharge systems. Of course, it is best for the equipment to be able to reduce noise and not make excessive noise.
(5) Select project address
Ⅰ. Close to raw materials
You know that concrete production cannot do without cement, so it is best to locate the concrete plant close to the raw materials, which can reduce transportation costs and time for raw material transportation.
Ⅱ. Close to the highway
Vehicles transporting concrete need to travel from the concrete plant to the construction site, so it is more convenient to be close to the highway, which makes transportation faster and reduces vehicle fuel consumption.
Ⅲ. Close to the water source
Construction requires a stable water source, and concrete mixing cannot do without water. Without a water source, concrete production will stagnate, so it is best to be close to the water source.
Ⅳ. Smooth network connectivity
If you plan to purchase an automated concrete plant, you must ensure that your site selection network signal is intact, as a fully automatic control system cannot do without good network signals.
Ⅴ. The site selection space should be large
If you plan to engage in large-scale concrete construction projects, you must choose a place with sufficient space to accommodate raw material storage areas, equipment placement areas, loading and unloading areas, control room areas, etc; Of course, if you want to purchase a small concrete plant, areas with limited space can also accommodate it, which needs to be analyzed specifically based on your production needs.
(6) Choose a suitable manufacturer
Don’t think that choosing a suitable concrete plant is foolproof. You also need to choose a suitable concrete plant supplier, because the reliability of the quality of the concrete plant depends entirely on the manufacturer’s ability.
You need to consider the following factors:
- Does the concrete plant manufacturer provide warranty services? What is the warranty service period? It is best to choose a company with a warranty period of more than 3 years, which can also show that they have great confidence in the equipment they produce.
- Is the after-sales service fast? Can we provide customer service support 24/7? Good manufacturers place great emphasis on the after-sales service experience for their customers.
- Do they provide customized solutions? If a concrete plant manufacturer can customize solutions, it means that the concrete plant manufacturer has many years of manufacturing experience and reliable production capacity.
- Is a clear and fair contract provided? A fair contract can safeguard the rights and interests of both parties.
- Can we visit their factory? If we can visit their factory, we can further understand the strength of this manufacturer and see more clearly the quality of the concrete plant equipment.
- How long does it take for equipment installation and assembly? Pre-assembled modular installation can greatly reduce downtime and start construction projects faster.
- What are the prices and delivery times for concrete plants? Generally speaking, the price of concrete plants varies from less than $100000 to over $600000, depending on the automatic control system of the equipment, production capacity, size of the cement silo, and type of batching plant concrete mixer.
If you’re looking for a reliable concrete batching plant manufacturer, you should make your choice based on the above reference factors. When purchasing a concrete plant, we care not only about low prices but also about ensuring high quality.
(7) Personnel training
Carrying out concrete projects requires personnel to operate, so it is very important to form a professional team. The quality of employees is closely related to the production efficiency of the concrete plant. So it is necessary to organize employee training.
Employees need to have a person in charge of daily operations, a controller responsible for controlling the batching system, a driver responsible for transporting concrete, and technical personnel responsible for maintaining equipment, etc.
Training needs to be organized. Professional concrete plant manufacturers will provide professional engineers with free technical training after transporting the concrete plant to the site. Operators need to understand the sequence of ingredients, master troubleshooting methods, and know the methods for testing concrete quality.
3. Precautions after the establishment of a concrete plant
(1) Safety management. After the construction of a new concrete plant, it is important to pay close attention to the cement silo, check the safety valve, check the level gauge, and prevent an overpressure explosion of the silo. The power distribution system should be regularly checked for grounding to prevent circuit aging and short circuits. The top of the cement silo should be equipped with guardrails and safety belts.
(2) Check the dust removal system. Focus on inspecting the top dust collector, main machine dust collector, and aggregate bin dust collector to ensure that dust emissions meet standards.
(3) Noise control. We need to add soundproof covers and devices for the mixing host and air compressor.
(4) Regular maintenance and upkeep. Check the belt tension, speed belt oil level, and screw conveyor wear every week.
(5) Spare parts should be stored in advance. This way, production will not stop in case of equipment failure.
(6) Continuously monitor production costs and equipment efficiency.
4. Bonus Tips
1. What licenses are required to operate a concrete plant?
Answer: The requirements and standards vary in each region, but typically include environmental permits, zoning approvals, air quality compliance, and may also require an assessment of noise levels.
2. Can I relocate the concrete plant after installation?
Answer: Mobile concrete batch plants can be relocated. The infrastructure of the stationary concrete batching plant is relatively large, so it is not recommended to relocate, and it is not very convenient to move.
3. Is a mobile concrete batch plant suitable for large-scale commercial projects?
Answer: Mobile concrete batch plants have high flexibility, but are not suitable for large concrete plants. They are usually suitable for small and medium-sized projects. If you want a mobile concrete plant with a capacity of 100m3/h or more, you can consult AGICO Group, which can provide customized solutions for you.
4. How much space do I need to purchase a stationary concrete plant?
Answer: Most stationary concrete plants require a land area of 2-3 acres, which is sufficient.
5. Summary
In general, if you want to purchase a second-hand concrete plant, you need to carefully investigate the usage of the equipment, determine whether the equipment will malfunction, and budget for maintenance costs after purchasing a second-hand concrete plant; If you want to purchase a new concrete plant, you need to carefully consider the manufacturer’s strength, equipment customization capabilities, after-sales service capabilities, and plan your specific investment budget. Therefore, it is very important to find a concrete plant manufacturer with customized energy solutions.
Whether you choose a new concrete plant or a used concrete plant, the goal is the same. You want stable, efficient, and profitable equipment for long-term use. If you have enough budget and plan for long-term development, a new concrete plant is a good choice. It offers higher production efficiency, a more advanced control system, and better after-sales service. If your budget is limited, your project is short-term, or you are new to the market, a quality used concrete plant can also meet your needs. It can reduce your initial investment cost and help you start your business faster.
However, the success of your project does not depend only on whether the equipment is new or used. The most important thing is choosing a reliable partner.
An experienced concrete plant manufacturer can recommend the best solution based on your project size, raw materials, local market demand, and budget. They can also provide design, manufacturing, transportation, installation, operator training, and maintenance support. This helps reduce risks and improve your return on investment.
Many buyers focus only on equipment price during the purchasing process. They often ignore equipment quality, technology, spare parts supply, and after-sales service. In fact, a high-quality and reliable concrete plant can create value for many years. A low-price plant with unstable quality may cause frequent downtime, higher maintenance costs, and lower production efficiency.
Before buying a new or used concrete plant, you should carefully evaluate the supplier. Check the manufacturer’s production capability, project experience, customer cases, and technical support services. Choosing a professional manufacturer with rich industry experience and a complete service system is usually more valuable than simply choosing the lowest price. Whether you are a contractor, ready-mix concrete producer, real estate developer, or a new investor entering the concrete industry, choosing the right equipment and the right partner is very important.
Working with a professional concrete plant manufacturer can help you reduce risks, improve efficiency, and grow your business. It is an important step toward long-term success and stable profits.