Madras Cements introduces ready-mix concrete

The Chennai-based Madras Cements will market its ready-mix concrete soon. The company has set up a Rs 9-crore plant with a 56 cu metre capacity for the purpose at its works at Vengaivasal near Chennai. The product, named Ramco Ready Mix Concrete, or RMC, will be available shortly in Chennai.

Ready-mix concrete is a ready-to-use material, with predetermined mixture of cement, sand, aggregates and water. The use of the RMC is facilitated through a truck-mounted 'boom placer' that can pump the product for ready use at multi-storeyed construction sites. A boom placer can pump the concrete up 80 metres. The company has acquired a fleet of 16 transit mixers, each with six cu. m. capacity, from Germany.

Madras Cements has plans to set up eight such plants in various cities in south India in the next two years. It is estimated that Chennai alone consumes 1.50 lakh tonnes of cement per month. There is, therefore, a good market for ready-mix cement, company officials believe.

The management cites figures for developed countries, where, it says, nearly 70 per cent of cement consumption is in the form of ready mix concrete and 25 per cent in the form of recast. In India ready mix concrete accounts for less than 5 per cent while as much as 82 per cent of cement consumption is in the form of site-mixed concrete.

Madras Cements hopes to add Rs. 10 crore to its turnover with the establishment of the ready mix concrete unit.

Other major cement manufacturers in India who have decided to venture into ready-mix concrete include Associated Cement Companies, Larsen & Toubro, and Grasim. The UK-based RMC Readymix, the world's largest supplier and producer of ready-mix concrete, also has a presence through a joint venture with the Rajan Raheja group.