In previous articles, it was mentioned that contractors or owners of large construction projects can greatly benefit from having their own concrete production facility based on a semi-automatic mixing machine. As an example, we referred to the concrete mixer from the Chinese manufacturer AIMIX.

They have an official representative in Indonesia, located in Surabaya — CV Azarindo Nusantara Aditya Tripa, with a spare parts warehouse and a team of technicians. Everything looked good, and our partners had experience using the ABJZ40C mixer — a solid and reliable workhorse for a reasonable price. The machine allowed them to produce concrete of the required quality, quantity, and timing. Therefore, for the current large project, HABBI Melasti Residence, the same model was ordered again.

Unfortunately, this time the quality turned out to be worse. Some design changes were made, but the automation system was not properly adjusted to them, so the mixer required manual modifications before it could even be used. During operation, various breakdowns occurred, especially of unusual components such as hopper position sensors, engine and hydraulic pump sensors — most of which were unavailable in stock. As time passed, it became increasingly difficult to reach the supplier’s technicians. The mixer was still under warranty, meaning it should not be repaired independently, but the necessary spare parts were usually unavailable. This caused expensive downtime and, at times, problems with concrete quality that were costly to fix.

What finally pushed us to write this article was the poor customer service: technicians demanded bribes for timely maintenance, service was done superficially, and defects were not recorded in the logbook. The company office responded to complaints with meaningless formal replies.

Owning your own mixer is a good idea — but perhaps AIMIX is not the best choice to spend your money on.