Strengthening Quality Control from Ready-Mix Concrete Production to Supply at Construction Sites

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] On the 4th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the 'Concrete Quality Management Enhancement Plan' to eradicate the use of substandard ready-mixed concrete (Remicon) at construction sites by strengthening quality control across all stages, including raw material processing, manufacturing, and on-site supply.

According to this plan, the quality standards for aggregates will first be strengthened. To ensure the proper collection and sale of concrete aggregates, new criteria for clay lumps in forest, selected, and crushed aggregates will be added. Additionally, moving away from the previous method of recognizing self-testing by existing aggregate suppliers, accredited testing institutions will conduct direct quality inspections at least once a year to enhance the reliability of quality inspections.

Supervision of manufacturers will also be intensified. When ready-mixed concrete manufacturing plants modify production programs, the modification details will be managed with electronic signatures to prevent forgery or alteration of production information. Furthermore, when supplying Remicon to construction projects above a certain scale, mix information will be provided in real time to prevent manipulation of mix ratios in advance.

A comprehensive inspection will be conducted to verify whether Remicon manufacturing plants use approved raw materials and produce according to the input mix ratios, ensuring proper quality control. Priority inspections will be carried out in the first half of the year starting with production plants supplying Remicon to construction projects commissioned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and full inspections will be conducted jointly with affiliated and subordinate organizations in the future.

In the quality control sector at construction sites, when testing the quality of Remicon brought to the site, the testing process will be recorded and managed with photos to prevent shifting the responsibility of quality inspection to manufacturing plants. In particular, during site inspections of construction projects, Remicon trucks will be randomly selected for quality testing, and defective materials will be immediately returned.

A new career standard for construction technicians performing quality control tasks will be established to strengthen expertise in quality management.

Lee Sang-joo, Director of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Technology and Safety Policy Division, stated, "We will make every effort to eradicate substandard Remicon at construction sites through this enhancement plan."