Three Batch Plants That Can Help Increase Profits, Enhance Productivity

Portable concrete batch plants enable owners to meet demands for construction at any job site. Installing a batch plant with mobile mixing capabilities at a temporary or permanent location reduces time, limits transportation costs and enhances profitability. Manufacturers produce components of fully functional, portable batch plants that meet customer specifications.

Vince Hagan Company

The concept of a portable concrete plant as a single unit that attaches to a fifth wheel vehicle for transportation was the invention of Vince Hagan in 1956. Approval of patent US 3251484 allowed contractors to avoid the cost of building permanent foundations and batch plants at job sites.

The application states that the “invention provides a portable structure that requires an absolute minimum amount of assembly and disassembly.” More than 50 years after the patent’s approval, contractors can avoid extra costs for cranes, loading and labor.

The Vince Hagan Company currently produces “two portable central mix plants that have a theoretical production rate between 350-400 yards per hour,” according to a spokesman. The company features plants and mixers that have the highest output and mobility on the market.

The HM10 Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Horizontal Mixer can mix all types of concrete and can charge any truck. Its patented design provides a 10-cubic yard Concrete Plant Manufacturers Bureau (CPMB) rated capacity of eight cubic yards RCC. The mixer can typically convert stationary or portable dry batch into a central mix. A product of American engineering, it is market proven on all kinds of jobs, and it offers the highest production of any portable RCC.

The design of the TM-12 Tilt Mixer Stationary and Portable model meets or exceeds the specifications of the Plant Mixer Manufacturers Division (PMMD) of the CPMB. The 14-cubic yard capacity produces authentic 12-yard mixes without spillage. Providing a 1” – 3” slump that is ideal for paving, it has a 45-second mix time. The design that features ease of maintenance helps owners save time, money and effort. Developed and built in the U.S., its engineering includes twin 75 horsepower drives and a forged ring gear.

Ideal Manufacturing

As a pioneer in the development of concrete handling equipment, Ideal manufactures portable batch plants, silos, super-sackers and augers in its Fast-Way line. Recent changes in its batch plants include the availability of a 6-yard model and an 11-yard model. A ¾-ton pickup can haul the unit that produces a weight of 560 pounds at the hitch.

An all-rubber 24″ conveyor belt wall with rubber flights moves materials faster and eliminates spillover. The chute discharges from a height of 12 feet. A 4-cell/40,000-pound electronic scale system that has a 3-inch digital indicator can pivot 180 degrees to allow a clear view by the loader operator. The Fast-Way aggregate plant can achieve production status within minutes after arrival at a job site.

The Silo 275 has a capacity of 1175 cubic feet, the equivalent of 275 barrels. Its safety features include a continuous ladder with containment hoops and a handrail around the top, a sight port, and man access. The Fast-Way silo and batch plant can produce as much as 75 yards per hour, requiring only one person for the setting up and batching process.

The scale system in the batch plant and super-sacker produce an accurate measure that discharges through a 10” butterfly valve. The hopper contains 93 cubic feet of space, and the 10,000-pound, four cell tank scale system has a 0.6″ LED display for easy viewing.

A bag breaker in the Fast-Way auger is convenient for small pours when bulk cement is unavailable, and #94 bags are a convenient size for loading. A hand winch raises the cement auger tub from the tow position, making it ready for production when an operator inserts the mast safety pin. The capacity of the unit is 4.5 cubic feet with an internal bag splitter, a weather cover and a removable grate.

Stephens Manufacturing

Designs for portable concrete batch equipment provide choices for contractors to select from a range of sizes and capabilities. Even so, Darrick Proffitt states that the company’s “unique quality seems to be our willingness to customize equipment to fit the customer’s needs. We rarely build a standard plant anymore.”

The DC-Colt is a starter plant that allows contractors to expand operations by adding fly ash silos and overhead bins. Its decumulating aggregate batcher provides a method to weigh and separately discharge sand and rock into trucks with accuracy. As the largest of Stephens’ portable batch plants, the Falcon can support 200 tons of aggregate and 1000 BBL silos.

The needs and preferences of each client lead the company to “customize each specific job to that location’s seismic requirements,” Proffitt said. Demands that different locations create allow the company to “customize locations for water batchers, holding tanks, conveyor lengths, ladders and fill lines. Often, we have special hoppers or batchers to fit existing sites or buildings,” he stated.

In addition to the DC-Colt and the Falcon, the company’s line of portable batch plants includes the Eagle with components of a 350 BBL cement silo, two 10” screw conveyors and 70-ton x 3 compartment AGG bins. The Mustang is a new, mobile in-truss silo style plant with a 400 BBL silo and 70-ton bins that can move from site to site with ease. Stephens’ Thoroughbred portable plant features gravity drop cement, and the plant allows multiple configurations with the wiring in conduit and pre-plumbing.

Choosing to customize batch plants to meet clients’ needs and specifications “is often a tedious and time-consuming process, but it seems to endear repeat business,” Proffitt said.