After years of buying hot mix from the local supplier you've decided to purchase an asphalt plant and start producing it for yourself, and perhaps sell it commercially. Important decisions will have to be made, such as plant type, style, size, brand and budget. Once you've made those choices, more issues crop up, such as number of cold feed bins, type of pollution controls and more.

utilizes numerous steps to produce hot mix. Although these steps give the plant its versatility, it is these very steps that also are its weakness to an operator who is making the same mix all day long.

A batch plant spends about 30% of its time waiting on bins to weigh up, the pug to empty and similar activities. To an operator who does not have to make a lot of daily mix changes and is concerned with high production, perhaps a batch plant is not the right choice.

For a contractor who is required to supply several different mix designs in the same production run a drum plant may not be the best choice. This problem can be overcome through the use of multiple silos and a sharp operator, but multiple silos are not as practical if you must be portable.

New companies, without a track record for mix production, must analyze their market and decide from there. If you feel that you can sell 3,000 tons per day, 10% of the time and 1,000 tons per day the rest of the production season, I suggest that a 200-tph plant is more appropriate than a more expensive 400-tph unit. Thinking along the same lines, it's difficult to justify the million-dollar cost of a new 350-tph plant if you plan on making 40,000 tons a year, regardless of how fast you can make it.

The advantages of a new plant are obvious:

It's new, so there is no guesswork as to its condition. It comes with full factory support. This is very important in such issues as DEQ air quality compliance and plant troubleshooting, should any problems develop. Additionally, most factories will assist you in the set-up and start-up of their plant. This is a real plus for companies new to the world of plants.

Used plants offer advantages too. Most notably, they can be considerably less expensive. The trick is to find a used plant that hasn't been abused to death, and one that is offered direct from the owner or his primary broker. This is important because a plant may be listed through numerous brokers who work together and if you don't pick the primary listing agent you may have to pay finder's fees to several and not even realize it.

At the specifications sheets on each plant you are considering. Compare them to the competition and remember: The cheapest is not always the least expensive.

The list of available plants can quickly overwhelm the average guy and render any possibility of making an informed decision virtually impossible without a large investment in time and air fare traveling across the country inspecting plant after plant. I suggest you find a broker you trust and have him do the legwork and find you a piece of equipment that fits your needs.