In today’s scenario, where commercial ready-mix concrete (RMC) suppliers seem to operate like a concrete mafia, we always feel something might not be right in the supplied concrete. And at 28 days post-concreting, there’s a cube-testing show running at both the customer’s and the supplier’s labs.
The results often contrast with each other, and the arguments go on…
When selecting a supplier for concrete is purely based on commercials, and RMC suppliers don’t want to lose the client, the offers are accepted and the RMC quality people are put on task to do miracles. Sometimes the magic fails due to something very silly — like cubes being cast unsupervised, and that too by a guy who’s in a hurry to go home and doesn’t care about the impact of his poor workmanship.
Sometimes the mix itself fails to meet the requirement because it had flaws that were overlooked to match the price tag it carried. Many times, under pressure, the RMC mafia gauges the customer’s capability to catch them, and based on that valuation, they trick the customer.
Some RMC suppliers operating multiple plants at different distances — let’s say at 2 km, 12 km, and 20 km — supply concrete at the same rate, as if the increased distance does not matter at all.
When procurement decisions are purely commercial, and when the procurement team says,
“XYZ RMC, situated 20 km away, is supplying concrete at a very cheap rate compared to the RMC next to your project, so we must take from XYZ,”
even though it can take 1 to 2 hours for the concrete to arrive after loading at the RMC plant…
When the perspective on concrete is only about hatching it to save more money and showing the masters how their efforts are bringing great fortune to the company, it becomes the kind of situation where explaining the technicality is like telling a kid how to ride a car, and the kid says,
“I have a toy car that runs, and if it doesn’t, someone will push me around the room. Why do I need a real powerful engine that requires fuel and increases the cost of the ride?”
Sometimes it is difficult to change the perspective, especially when the demanded changes seem to increase the cost, and there is a strong belief inside that says,
“Even if I increase the rates, the RMC mafia is still going to supply the same and earn more profits.”
It’s really a frustrating kind of situation where you need to think very differently to make the concrete mafia accountable for their supplies.
A factionist approach is to put one higher grade into the procurement order instead of specifying minimum cement content, maximum water–cement ratio, etc.
By doing this, you are instructing your procurement team to procure concrete from RMC mafias at specific fixed rates with the following conditions:
You require M40 grade concrete.
You make a PO for M45 grade concrete.
Now:
We have highly skilled negotiators in our Procurement Department. As Quality Specialists, we must train them on the difference between M40 and M45 so they can negotiate better.
Earlier demand:
“M40 concrete shall always meet 40 + 4 = 44, and you always supplied more than that.”
Now:
“I am asking for M45 — just a 1 MPa increase, that’s it.”
You can wake people who are sleeping; you cannot wake people who are pretending to sleep.
A one-grade-high faction can even wake the dead.
With each non-fulfilment of the requirement, you are officially informing the RMC mafia to take action without putting much burden on yourself.
The project won’t stop when concrete fails, and even 95% of the grade supplied still meets the requirement.
This approach creates tremendous pressure on the quality team of the RMC mafias for:
So, I suggest you become a factionist and achieve the quality you desire by thinking differently.
Read it completely to understand the mechanism and don’t follow this halfway.
If you’ve found other ways to deal with these issues and you’re not facing compliance problems, continue with your method.
But in situations where you can’t control everything, this approach will definitely be the best.
The results often contrast with each other, and the arguments go on…
When selecting a supplier for concrete is purely based on commercials, and RMC suppliers don’t want to lose the client, the offers are accepted and the RMC quality people are put on task to do miracles. Sometimes the magic fails due to something very silly — like cubes being cast unsupervised, and that too by a guy who’s in a hurry to go home and doesn’t care about the impact of his poor workmanship.
Sometimes the mix itself fails to meet the requirement because it had flaws that were overlooked to match the price tag it carried. Many times, under pressure, the RMC mafia gauges the customer’s capability to catch them, and based on that valuation, they trick the customer.
Some RMC suppliers operating multiple plants at different distances — let’s say at 2 km, 12 km, and 20 km — supply concrete at the same rate, as if the increased distance does not matter at all.
When procurement decisions are purely commercial, and when the procurement team says,
“XYZ RMC, situated 20 km away, is supplying concrete at a very cheap rate compared to the RMC next to your project, so we must take from XYZ,”
even though it can take 1 to 2 hours for the concrete to arrive after loading at the RMC plant…
When the perspective on concrete is only about hatching it to save more money and showing the masters how their efforts are bringing great fortune to the company, it becomes the kind of situation where explaining the technicality is like telling a kid how to ride a car, and the kid says,
“I have a toy car that runs, and if it doesn’t, someone will push me around the room. Why do I need a real powerful engine that requires fuel and increases the cost of the ride?”
Sometimes it is difficult to change the perspective, especially when the demanded changes seem to increase the cost, and there is a strong belief inside that says,
“Even if I increase the rates, the RMC mafia is still going to supply the same and earn more profits.”
It’s really a frustrating kind of situation where you need to think very differently to make the concrete mafia accountable for their supplies.
Quality Think Differently – A Factionist Approach
A factionist approach is to put one higher grade into the procurement order instead of specifying minimum cement content, maximum water–cement ratio, etc.
By doing this, you are instructing your procurement team to procure concrete from RMC mafias at specific fixed rates with the following conditions:
Acceptance Conditions
- We expect fck + 4 at 28 days.
- If the concrete gives just fck at 28 days, still considered OK.
- If some concrete gives 95% of fck at 28 days, still considered acceptable.
- If it fails below that, no payment will be made.
- Cube test results are considered only for cubes cast at the site.
Let’s take an example
You require M40 grade concrete.
You make a PO for M45 grade concrete.
Now:
- If the supplied concrete yields 49 MPa at 28 days, the concrete meets the requirement.
- If the concrete just meets fck at 28 days (45 MPa), it still satisfies the actual M40 requirement and is perfectly fine.
- If the concrete gets 95% at 28 days (45 × 0.95 = 42.75 MPa), it’s a rock-bottom alert for improving quality control of the mafia’s quality team — yet the concrete still complies with the requirement and is exactly at the borderline.
We have highly skilled negotiators in our Procurement Department. As Quality Specialists, we must train them on the difference between M40 and M45 so they can negotiate better.
Earlier demand:
“M40 concrete shall always meet 40 + 4 = 44, and you always supplied more than that.”
Now:
“I am asking for M45 — just a 1 MPa increase, that’s it.”
You can wake people who are sleeping; you cannot wake people who are pretending to sleep.
A one-grade-high faction can even wake the dead.
With each non-fulfilment of the requirement, you are officially informing the RMC mafia to take action without putting much burden on yourself.
The project won’t stop when concrete fails, and even 95% of the grade supplied still meets the requirement.
This approach creates tremendous pressure on the quality team of the RMC mafias for:
- Preventing mockery of the mix design (like pouring less cement or similar manipulations)
- Strict monitoring of the concrete production and supply
So, I suggest you become a factionist and achieve the quality you desire by thinking differently.
Read it completely to understand the mechanism and don’t follow this halfway.
If you’ve found other ways to deal with these issues and you’re not facing compliance problems, continue with your method.
But in situations where you can’t control everything, this approach will definitely be the best.
