RM Online - What you need to know about mixers

Pass by any construction site, and chances are you'll notice the concrete or mortar mixer, often caked with material, sometimes layers of it, and you know this machine has been out in the field, doing its job faithfully, for a very long time..

Reliable as these rental staples generally are, the reality is that these machines are getting older and older and we live in an increasingly litigious society. Liability issues are critical factors of doing business these days, particularly with older equipment, according to Bruce Christensen, marketing director for U-Cart of America, a mixer manufacturer in Sacramento, Calif.

Barrels and paddles and other moving parts are going every which way and arms and legs and clothing can get caught pretty easily. Rental yards really need to be concerned about safety issues and educate their customers before the potential hazard becomes real.

The old barrel and paddle mixers out there last a long time and may not need much maintenance.

But they can be dangerous. For example, lots of guys break bags of cement into the moving paddles - that can lead to a disaster pretty fast. Some older equipment can be improved by bolting on stationary guards and lockdown guards - a standard practice in Europe.

There is a trend toward a safer, more self-contained mixing system, in which the whole mixing chamber is contained so users can't get into it, Christensen said.

Also dangerous are barrel mixers with material carts or trams that go up tracks and dump one-fourth of a yard of material into a form. Carts have come off the track and have crashed down on the workers below.

Insurance authorities will tell you that in extreme cases, a rental store owner could lose the business because of problems like these.

So for a number of reasons, it pays to make sure your customer knows exactly what to do and what not to do while he or she is using or transporting your mixer.

Most rental store owners are gravitating to newer, faster, more sophisticated, more reliable equipment in order to increase utilization rates as well as reduce their exposure to liability. It's hard to keep the older units running because parts are often hard to find and when they do break down, customers naturally get upset. Managers get upset, too, because they have to patch these things together over and over and the margins shrink with low utilization and high maintenance.

With most mixers, what rental owners and managers are looking for are ease of operation and cleanup - things that make work simpler for the typical contractor, says Kathryn Reissig, marketing services manager for Stone Construction Equipment in Honeoye, N.Y.

Now, what about the trailers that haul the equipment? Many people are using the old single-axle or home-built trailers, which are not meant to haul mixers, Christensen says.

But there are many advances in this area. The new trailers are tandem axles with four-wheel brakes and splash guards.

There are also motorized trailers that agitate the concrete to keep it from setting up. This is a big issue for yard managers because often the yard personnel are not paying strict enough attention to the kind of trailer being used or its condition. Trailers are often old or cannot really pull the weight, and injuries and lawsuits can result, Christensen warns.

A recent rental survey conducted by U-Cart showed that there is a shift in the market for mixers. DIY now represents 40 percent of the market, contractors 35 percent and municipalities 25 percent.

The contractors and municipalities are using motorized trailers because they hydraulically lift and dispense, Christensen says. The DIYer doesn't mind doing the labor, but the contractor wants to avoid that.

The first thing DIY people think is that they can pull a yard of concrete behind their station wagon, when they really need a truck. The counterperson needs to determine the best tow vehicle and the maximum weight that can be pulled. Fortunately, manufacturers now build trailers that are sold right along with the mixer as a package.

Customers want larger and larger units, Reissig says. The larger the load, the less effort it takes to operate it, and hydraulics is the answer - a hydraulic system requires fewer people. Reissig points out that larger tow-behind mixers allow contractors to do the mix even when a truck can't get to the location.

Manufacturers say that whatever type of mixers the rental company carries, there are opportunities to market them better.

Rental companies that offer trailer-haul concrete can really compete on price with ready-mix companies, Christensen says, because ready-mix companies charge for the concrete and also for delivery. A rental company could charge a little more per yard but without a delivery fee, the customer comes out ahead and so does the rental dealer.

Add-on sales and rentals need more emphasis, too. For example, a person who is finishing concrete has to rent finishing tools, but the rentals may have started even before the concrete was delivered - perhaps the customer rented a breaker of some kind to take out the old concrete. The counterperson should always be aware of the next step in a process and be ready to make those suggestions.

Counterpeople really have to be looking at marketing mixer rentals together with the materials they're selling, such as coatings and epoxies, advises Thomas Carroll, president of CS Unitech, a Wilton, Conn., manufacturer of handheld mixers. The contractor who is installing or applying compounds wants a cost-effective way to mix materials properly.

There are also many advances in these materials, says Carroll. The various epoxies, floor coatings and synthetic mortar have begun to catch on over the last few years because they are durable and cost-effective, but you have to know what you're doing when you mix them, in order to get the right properties for a given application.

Manufacturers may make suggestions, but in the end it is always the front-line counterpeople who are closest to the action and in the best position to advise customers - and grow the business.