5.1 INTRODUCTION:
Construction industry is one of the most vibrant industries in India. Growing industrialization, urbanization, globalization, regional and infrastructural balance have resulted in increased purchasing power of people. This has resulted in boosting the construction industry activities in all the sectors like govt infrastructure projects, residential, commercial, industrial and IT sectors. Ready mixed concrete is an advanced technology, involving a high degree of mechanization and automation. It is technologically superior to the traditional site mixed concrete (SMC). The benefits of RMC in terms of quality, speed, life-cycle cost and eco-friendliness are some of its strengths compared to Site Mixed Concrete. It is slowly replacing Site Mixed Concrete as a product in construction industry. The invention and patenting of ready mixed concrete by Architect Jurgen heinrich Magens of Germany in 1903 and later establishment of the first commercial ready mixed concrete plant in United Kingdom in 1939 led to the revolution in the construction industry for fast track construction. In India, the first use of RMC took place in the city of Pune in 1987.Now RMC has its presence in all major cities of India.

5.2 SITE MIXED CONCRETE (SMC)
Concrete is defined as a mixture of cement (in some cases, secondary cementitious materials PFA,GGBS, Microsilica, etc), water, aggregates, and admixtures.The cement and water form a paste that hardens and bonds the aggregates together. Site mixed concrete is prepared manually at site.

5.3 READY MIXED CONCRETE (RMC)
The Indian Standard Specification IS 4926:2003 defines RMC as: “Concrete mixed in a stationary mixer in a central batching and mixing plant or in a truck-mixer and supplied in fresh condition to the purchaser either at the site or into the purchaser’s vehicles” RMC is defined by the American Concrete Institute’s Committee 116R-90 as: “Concrete that is manufactured for delivery to a purchaser in a plastic and unhardened state”.

Ready Mixed Concrete is manufactured in a factory or in a batching plant where quality control measures are available and delivered to a work site by truck mounted transit mixers. The quality of concrete produced by this method is superior to the SMC and is widely being accepted in the construction industry.