SIC 3273 Ready-Mixed Concrete

Encyclopedia of American Industries | 2005 | Copyright

SIC 3273
READY-MIXED CONCRETE

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing portland cement concrete manufactured and delivered to a purchaser in a plastic and unhardened state. This industry includes production and sale of central-mixed concrete, shrink-mixed concrete, and truck-mixed concrete.

NAICS Code(s)

327320 (Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing)

Industry Snapshot

According to a study by the American Concrete Institute, concrete is the most widely used man-made product in the world, second only to water as the most used substance. Total value of shipments has steadily increased, from $17.2 billion in 1997 to $21.5 billion in 2001.

A material similar to stone, concrete is made by mixing selected proportions and qualities of cement, sand, gravel, and sometimes other aggregates. Water is added and the soft mixture is formed into desired shapes. Water and cement interact chemically to form a solid mass, binding the ingredient particles together, but the mixture remains soft so that it can be shaped before the concrete hardens.

Concrete was a leading material resource for building construction and for various products because of its strength, its ability to be molded into any shape, its resistance to fire and weather, and the availability of materials from which it is made. Concrete's limited strength under tensile stress was substantially overcome by reinforcement with steel and other materials in various ways.

The key to achieving a long-lasting concrete product lies in the proportioning and mixing of the ingredients. A mixture that lacks sufficient paste, made up of cement and water, to fill all the voids between the aggregates will be difficult to handle and will produce rough surfaces and porous concrete. However, a mixture with too much paste, though easy to place, will be more susceptible to cracking and in the long run will be uneconomical. NRMCA suggests that the ideal mixture will have the necessary workability for the fresh concrete and the desired strength once the mixture has hardened. A typical mixture contains by volume about 10 to 15 percent cement, 60 to 75 percent aggregates (usually sand, gravel, and rock), and 15 to 20 percent water.

Concrete businesses throughout the 1990s furnished much of the basic raw material for the construction industries, as well as for utilitarian and artistic products like railroad ties and birdbaths. A few of the larger construction contractors made their own concrete materials and products, while others relied on concrete producers for their products.

The ready-mixed concrete industry included businesses that made concrete and delivered it to contractors or other customers for constructing buildings, bridges, roads, sidewalks, or other facilities. The concrete production process involved the use of large-scale equipment and machinery located reasonably close to where the concrete was to be used so that the concrete could be delivered while it was still soft enough to be shaped.

The industry was heavily dependent on its primary customers, which were constructors of homes, industrial and office buildings, highways, and bridges. Consequently, the industry's market generally shadows the cyclical markets served by construction industries. For example, in the early 1990s the market for public works construction was strong while the other building markets were weak. At the midpoint of the decade, as residential and industrial construction began to strengthen, the level of public works construction continued strong. These public works projects included the construction of...

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