Concrete Upswing

Indian concrete equipment users are setting records with the synchronised use of high-capacity equipment.

Demand for concrete equipment is looking up.

“We have observed a steady increase in demand for concrete equipment in the past few years from companies developing infrastructure projects,” says CR Jyothiraj, General Manager, Concrete Equipment Business Unit, Sany India.

“The Government of India’s focus on improving Indian infrastructure has paved the way for roads projects to be awarded and concreting equipment is in high demand,” says VG Sakthikumar, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India, Convenor for Membership Committee, ICEMA, and Chairman of the Mechanisation Committee, Builders Association of India.

According to Ranjit More, Managing Director, Universal Construction Machinery, “Most of the current demand is for road development, industrial construction and real-estate development. Demand from builders has especially seen an upswing, with some demanding reversible drum mixers of 15-20 cu m capacity, a step up from the smaller machines they used to deploy.”

The industry is positive about its future prospects. “We are sure that after the formation of a new government at the Centre, there will be a boost in government spending and lot of new projects will start, which will further enhance demand for our innovative concreting equipment products,” says 

“Demand for mid-sized 30-45 cu m batching plants is on the rise as is demand for 20-30 cu m mobile plants,” says More.

He attributes the higher demand for mid-sized machines (as opposed to larger-capacity machines) to their suitability to the size of projects being implemented, construction companies’ fragmented approach to increasing capacity, and slow lending by non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs), compelling construction companies to rely on their internal cash flow. “If lending by NBFCs were to pick up, it would probably boost demand for equipment,” he adds.

Soni expects this trend to persist. “Given the thrust on infrastructure development, we anticipate higher demand for our mid-sized batching plants from the rail, metro-rail, roads, airport, water bodies and real-estate sectors,” he says.

Record concrete pour in Andhra Pradesh

hree Sany 120 cu m batching plants installed by Navayuga Engineering at the Polavaram dam project site in Andhra Pradesh were part of an entry in Guinness World Records for the production of 32,100 cu m of concrete – the most concrete produced and poured in 24 hours continuously. In all, 3.4 million cu m of concrete are needed for this ongoing multipurpose dam for the irrigation department of the state.

At the Polavaram site, Navayuga Engineering is operating three 120 cu m Sany twin-shaft batching plants. These new-generation plants allow optimum batch size, have an intermediately aggregate weighing and discharge system, additional waiting hopper and a separate cement and fly-ash weighing system that give the customer 15 per cent higher productivity, 15 per cent less power consumption and 20 per cent lower operating cost for needing fewer spares than conventional batching plants of the same capacity.

The Sany 62-m boom pump working at the Polavaram dam project site in Andhra Pradesh offers all the features of Sany higher-capacity boom pumps such as intelligent boom technology with one button stabilisation, boom anti-vibration technology, anti over swing technology, energy-saving technology, one button for low/high pressure changeover, self-diagnosis of faults, etc.

“Users are more aware of global technological advancements in concreting equipment and are willing to adopt such technologies for higher productivity, efficiency, greater convenience and lower operating costs,” remarks 

“We use truck-mounted, 50 m boom concrete pumps for our high-rise projects and trailer pumps for lower heights, says Ashok Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, Ajnara India. “Pumps drastically cut down on the need for manual labour to transfer concrete on a construction site. 

We prefer pumps fitted with a split panel electrical system, a hydraulic system with manual overrides and 5 Z fold boom sections with a 9-inch barrel size. For either pump, care is important while knowledge of the functioning of a pump and concrete is essential to optimise efficiency.”

“We are seeing increased demand for bigger-capacity batching plants, concrete mixers, concrete pumps and truck-mounted boom pumps to speed up the implementation of projects and meet the need for higher productivity and reach, at a lower operating cost,” says Sanjay Saxena, Senior Vice President, Heavy Equipment and Concrete Business, Sany India.

To cater to this demand, Sany has introduced a new-generation series of batching plants of 90 to 300 cbm per hour capacity, the HZS series, with twin-shaft mixing technology batching plant. 

The company has also introduced 62-m, truck-mounted boom pumps in the market, the longest currently available in India, and a new 

series of concrete mixers with 10 cu m capacity.

Use of one-sided outrigger in concrete boom pump in space-constrained construction sites