Most industry professionals know exactly how a Concrete Mixer Drum works. Modern advances in concrete mixer drum include the addition of pre mixers, advanced blade configurations, and even reversing technologies.

There are many considerations when evaluating a drum and a twin shaft concrete mixer. One consideration is availability. Concrete mixer drum is manufactured by several major US based concrete plant manufacturers and are frequently available in the secondary market and may have short or even immediate availability with some new equipment manufacturers. As of the date of this article, most, not all, twin shaft mixers are manufactured oversees and are shipped to the USA. This typically adds 3-5 weeks to the delivery time to allow for shipping time. More US companies are taking an interest in manufacturing twin shaft mixers and one popular foreign manufacturer has recently opened a facility in the US to meet the growing North American demand for the mixing technologies. Shipping and import fees are typically do not significantly impact the costs of twin shaft mixers. Many foreign manufacturers are used to exporting and design equipment to be containerized, where many US manufacturers build for oversized shipments. Typically the costs are negligible between the two mixer types in terms of shipping and import costs.

The most apparent benefits of twin shaft mixers are the ability to add moisture sensors and washout systems. These two benefits alone are worth serious consideration. When you really need to control your mix design, the addition of moisture sensors inside of the mixer that connect back to your control system to accurately dose water during the batch is a huge advantage. The addition of a mixer washout system saves man hours, prolongs equipment life and reduces downtime. High pressure jets do the majority of the washout, and a single man with a hand wand can get any shadow areas minimizing cleanup time and costs. Neither of these options are currently available standard on drum style mixers.

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