A lot times when a novice person walks into a block or paving stone factory the first piece of machinery they want to go watch is the block machine. The machinery is making a lot of rapid movements, clanging, loud vibration sounds and magically out of the machines comes concrete products. It is logical to think that the block machine is the most important piece of machinery in the plant? After all, when an imperfect or poor quality concrete product comes out from of the block machine it must be the block machines fault?
I am here to say that the machine is vital to any operation but most of all the quality problems start with poor blended and moisture inconsistencies in your concrete mix. That is controlled by the concrete mixer, not the block machine! Always remember a block factory is made up of a series of independent machines working together in unison.
The concrete mixer is a vital machinery link in the chain of making any concrete product. I often use the similarity of a block plant to a bakery. If you don’t have good cookie dough and a good blender it does not matter how good of cookie cutter you have. The cookies are not going to be any good.
It is the same in the block business. If you don’t have a good mix and mixer it does not matter how good of block machine you have. The blocks are not going to be any good.