Most bodies used in the transportation and delivery of concrete are mounted on heavy-duty Class 8 chassis.
Volumetric mixers are mobile concrete batching plant mounted on a truck or trailer.
Unlike traditional drum mixers that pre-mix concrete at a plant and then transport it to the site, a volumetric mixer carries the separate raw ingredients—sand, stone, cement, and water—in individual truck-mounted bins.
From each bin, the ingredients are fed into a hopper where they are mixed to form concrete. In effect, this is a small concrete batching plant.
When a volumetric mixer arrives at a job site, the driver adjusts the feed system to make concrete specific to the requirements of the pour. Once the desired quantity has been poured, the mixer can be turned off, and there is no production overrun. The material is fed onto a conveyor belt and into a mixing auger, where they are combined with water just seconds before being discharged.
An added advantage of this type of mixer is that it custom-blends for each pour and therefore different types of concrete can be poured from the same delivery run.
Additionally, since the concrete is mixed on-site, this ensures that it is always fresh and has a full working time. This eliminates the risk of the concrete setting prematurely during transport, a common issue with traditional ready-mix deliveries.
Only the exact amount of concrete required for the job is mixed. This prevents over-ordering and the costly disposal of leftover concrete, which is common with drum mixers.
