Ready mix carves its niche in cement market

In 2012, the company commissioned a 60 cubic metre per hour plant in Nairobi’s Industrial Area and acquired four new ready mix trucks and a mobile pump, in a move aimed at boosting production of the ready mix concrete.

Business Daily spoke to Robert Nyangaya, Bamburi Special Products general manager, on what is driving the growing demand for ready mix products.

What informed the introduction of the ready mix product into the market?

This is a change in the way we do things. For significant large projects which require speed, it takes too long and it is inefficient to use the traditional way.

These kinds of projects are looking for gains and efficiencies in terms of moving the project forward. The ready mix concrete solution gives an alternative to buying raw materials such as sand and cement and bringing in many people to mix and pour.

You prepare the foam work and we come with the concrete already pre-mixed and what would have taken you a whole day takes you a matter of hours. The only people you will need on the site will be few people with the poker vibrators to make the concrete and very few materials if any on site.

People released from those tasks can be redeployed to other areas. You can then use this labour in places where they add more value than just doing it manually.

Are there any other efficiencies gained from using this product?

There is also consistency in quality. You will find that when concrete is made on site using the traditional methods, there is inconsistency. Concrete is a fresh product.

The strength of the concrete is determined by the quality of the ingredients you are using, the way you are mixing them and any small variation in these things changes the strength of the concrete.

When humans are mixing by hand, as the day goes on the quality keeps fluctuating because they get tired. With this product the mixing is done in a controlled environment and this is the value added.
Every raw material that comes to the batching plant must go through a test.

Concrete mixing is a very precise science. We also include other additives that allow the concrete to perform as required.

What is the cost to the average home owner?

A typical lorry will range from six cubic metres to 10 cubic metres and the lorry can be used anywhere. We also have people using it on smaller projects such as rental housing along Thika Road.

We are not just restricted to big projects but serving people who are building their own homes. If you do your own mixing you do not factor in things such as your own time which adds to the full costs.

For costs, the numbers will change depending on what you are building. If you look at what the bill of quantities, contractors whether big or small will price at a certain range and you will find that the price at which we are selling will be at that price or around that range.

That is why contractors who take up medium-sized houses still use us because they can still make a margin. The price will also depend on the distance and the type of concrete that you are looking to use.

Which large projects has this solution been used in?

We are just finishing the Nairobi University Towers near Norfolk for China Wu Yi where we have put for them some very special product called self-compacting concrete.

When constructing a very tall building like that they put in deep columns called piles in the ground to the rock then some steel reinforcement and then a big slab to sit on these columns.

Bamburi Special Products put this concrete which compacts itself in these columns. It is very difficult to vibrate the concrete into the columns. We have also done this on Garden City on Thika road where they are also constructing using these columns.

There is also the UAP Building being done by a contractor called CATIC which has done a very large slab for the foundation. When a contractor starts doing such a large foundation that has no joint they cannot stop until it is complete.

We have also done a lot of work with Kenyatta University. They are doing a lot of work developing the city.

What other benefits does the contractor or developer get from using this product?

Generally this is a change in the convention for building which is happening. No one in the developed countries uses hand mixing anymore expect for small constructions. More specified engineers want to have the comfort that they want the concrete to be standardised and consistent. Contractors do not want to stock pile materials on site.

When constricting on large projects in the city centre where there is limited space you want to have raw materials restricted to a very small area and for home users you want to know that people are not stealing your materials.

For large projects outside Nairobi, we put up a batch plant on the site. We have a mobile version of it and we are able to come in a put the equipment on the site and do the production on site.

What else does Bamburi Special Products do?

The subsidiary carries out downstream activities. Traditionally, it initially focused on precast concrete products. It is best known for paving blocks. This was the core but over time it expanded that product range to also other edge restraints such as kerbs and culverts.

In 2008/2009, we started the new part of the business which is the ready mix concrete solution which involves the truck mixers which are you see preparing and delivering ready to pour concrete on sites and which comprises of about half of the business today.