Second generation PC-controlled liquid pigment dispenser systems (note SGS box) are allowing California ready mixed producers to develop new markets for value-added colored concrete, with a significant impact on the bottom line.

Gone are the days of secretly hoping a color concrete order won't come in, because of the disruption to operations and unpredictability of results that old technology provided, Concrete Products finds. Instead, salespeople are actively soliciting new colored-concrete orders from both residential and commercial customers. In one case, the new ease of producing colored mixes is leading to more orders for stamped concrete as well.

“Our color market is up by as much as 25 percent in the year 2001, primarily because of the liquid dispensing system,” reports Ray Griffin, president, AR Readymix in Antioch, Calif. “In the past we've been reluctant to sell color unless a customer requested it. Now, because of the equipment and quality of the end product, we're marketing it, and our salesmen are confident in recommending it in the field.”

American Transit Mix Co., Inc.'s three pigment dispenser systems also are opening new markets, notes Jerry Larsen, president. They're strategically located among American's 14 ready mixed plants in California's San Joaquin Valley, encompassing the Modesto, Lodi and Tracy areas. “We typically had a lot of problems with color,” Larsen says. “Getting a color job was like being thrown in the penalty box. You'd have a lot of potential for errors when dealing with the powdered pigments, everything from the wrong colors being put in, to improper amounts or lack of consistency. We've taken that responsibility away from the driver.”

Finishing challenges were among the most perplexing to deal with on the part of the producer. “Finishing techniques will affect the final apparent color,” Larsen explains. “You may have two different crews come in on two different days and finish the concrete differently. There are a lot of variables — and we can educate our customers on what to look for — but the concrete supplier is always the first one to be blamed.”

But the computer records exactly how pigment was dispensed and also allows precise repeatability for subsequent orders. “So far, the customers have been pleased. I have not had a complaint of inconsistency,” Larsen affirms.

Also, liquid pigments have enabled American to eliminate losses due to powder bag breakage and inventory loss. “A lot of times a customer would tell you he needed a certain amount of concrete, but the amount shipped was less,” says Larsen. “You would wind up with special color inventory that's just sitting around.”

Color has been a complicated product to sell, adds AR's Griffin. Its variations depend on water content, ambient temperature and the method of finishing. “Producers have steered away from color because they were unable to be confident of what they were selling,” he says. “Now we have confidence.”

Color = bigger margins

With today's liquid dispensing systems, colored concrete provides ready mixed producers with a bigger margin per yard, Griffin observes. “We have found ourselves developing markets for stamped concrete and other custom products that we used to do only on demand. Now we are out showing customers what we can do. Automated mix coloring capability has added value and volume.”

The liquid dispenser system replaced a powdered pigment process which was hand-weighed and mixed with no record of quantity. “We really couldn't offer our customers proof of consistency,” Griffin notes. “We felt we were consistent, but now it's all computerized, and the customer can be confident of quality and that the same material was used.”

In addition, the data logging provided by the PC permits duplicate products. “We can go back and see what we gave the customer the last time,” Griffin adds. “It's opened a whole new world of quality for us, and we're quality oriented.

“We've put in three systems, and are going to add two more by early next year.” That would put dispensing systems in five of his seven central California plants.

Despite its added expense, American Transit Mix's Larsen said the new systems are worth it. “The process is a lot cleaner and offers a more accurate way to get color,” he says. “It takes a lot of the guesswork and mistakes out, and puts us in a position of having backup data for any job-site problems where there's a color variation one day to the next, most of which are the result of finishing.”

The result is a boost to business, Larsen affirms. “With all the problems of powdered pigments, we really didn't go out of our way to get that business,” Larsen notes. “We've changed our marketing strategy as of mid-2001 and are pursuing residential and commercial color jobs.”

SGS Colorselect System

Both American and AR Readymix are using the second generation SGS Colorselect System from Solomon Colors. The dispensing system for liquid colors is a fully integrated, automated unit designed specifically for ready mixed concrete producers. The primary components are a control panel, hose pumps and a weigh-cell holding chamber. Four primary liquid iron oxide colors are blended into fresh concrete at the plant to create hundreds of standard or custom color blends, controlled at the computer screen.

Refinements include a dedicated, Windows-based, PC-controlled system that logs jobs, replacing a PLC that provided no more data than printouts. Colors can be selected right from the computer screen. Data from each batch produced can be stored in a database, which was not possible using the PLC. A modem connected to the manufacturer can be used for troubleshooting. Another refinement is a built-in backup drive, which will keep colored concrete flowing during a job if the existing drive goes down.

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