CEE Jul-Sep-2012

by Shai/endra Chouksey, Wholetime Director JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd. Concrete is most commonly used versatile modern day construction material. While the civil constructions may be as old as human civilization, yet in present day context, it is rather difficult to imagine any construction which does not use or does not require concrete. What is concrete? To put it very simply the concrete is nothing but a homogeneous mix of cement with stone aggregates, construction sand and water. Some construction chemicals such as plasticizers or admixtures may be added to this mix to impart certain properties and characteristics to the concrete. It is plastic & wet when freshly mixed and has no strength, but is very hard and brittle when it is dry. The concrete is generally used with steel bar reinforcements, in which the flexibility or bending strength is provided by the reinforcements, and rigidity or compressive strength is provided by cement concrete. How is concrete mixed and used? Traditionally the history of concrete is as old as the history of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), when vari ous ingredients to the concrete were measured in volume and were mixed manually at the construction site. This method of mixing is known as "Volumetric Mixing" and the cement concrete thus produced is called "Site Mix Concrete" or SMC. "Ready Mix Concrete" or RMC as it called is mixed away from the construction sites by mixing ingredients by weights in automatic plants and is delivered to construction sites in truck mounted drum mixers called "Transit Mixers" or "Truck Mixers". Early History of Ready Mix Concrete This method of mixing concrete was first invented and patented by Germans more than 100 years ago in 1903. But for a few years this method did not become popular as there was no suitable method of transporting the concrete to construction sites. The first commercial delivery of concrete was made in 1913 in Baltimore, USA using a small drum type transit mixer and the first ready mix concrete plant was set up at Heathrow airport site in London in 1931. Growth of Ready Mix Concrete From its early days and till World War II, there were only six firms that were producing ready mix concrete in UK. Post war construction activities in Europe including UK provided the real boost to the growth of RMC industry. It is estimated that as on date there are more than 6000 companies that are engaged in manufacturing of RMC in whole of Europe. These companies put together deliver more than 300 million M 3 of concrete annually to the construction site and account for more than 50% of total cement consumed. Simil arly in USA while in 1933, only 5% of total cement was utilized through RMC route, it is estimated that in early 1990s, RMC industry consumed nearly 2/3rd of the cement produced . Elsewhere in Japan, though the first RMC plant was set up in 1949, but by end of 1980s, there were more than 4400 RMC plants which delivered more than 180 million tons of concrete every year. We can consider Europe, America, and Japan as mature markets for RMC and a close analysis of the growth pattern in this market indicate that the growth of this industry can be divided into following three phases 1. Introduction Phase - i.e. phase in which the product is in early stages of introduction and adaption by the customers. Typically up to 10% of cement is consumed through RMC. 2. Growth Phase - There is rapid growth in consumption of cement through RMC and we can consider up to 50% of more of total cement consumption through RMC as part of this phase. 3. Consolidation Phase or maturity phase - Cement consumption through RMC plateaus and stabilizes at a level from where the growth is very nominal, say 1-2% in a year. The growth history of RMC in different markets which we can consider as mature markets for RMC, show different growth patterns in terms of the number of years it took to reach a certain level of