In this guide 6 sections
Start with mix designs. Batch tickets follow, because they carry the fields that customers and auditors request and every one of them points back to a design. Moisture corrections come last, since they need live probe readings and operators who already trust the screen enough to key in a reading after each load. Run paper alongside for two weeks.
Why the order matters
A concrete plant can lose a week trying to digitise everything at once, because paper batch sheets hold three kinds of record that depend on each other.
A ticket refers to a design. A moisture correction adjusts a batch against that design, so if the design is missing from the system, neither record has anything to point at.
So start at the root and work outward. Each step gives the plant something useful, such as a clean register or a legible ticket, before the next step begins.
Step one: the mix design register
List every active mix design on one sheet. For each, record the design code, strength class, cement type, water to cement target, admixture dose, aggregate sizes and the approved date. Name the approver and the test report.
This is usually a short list. Plants often find two designs sharing one code but carrying different cement or admixture quantities, a clash that must be resolved now because the software will refuse duplicates.
Lock the register. Any change needs a named approver and creates a new revision, so a ticket from last month still points at the design it was batched against. Never overwrite.
- Design code and strength class
- Cement type and source
- Water to cement target
- Admixture type and dose per cubic metre
- Aggregate sizes and approved date
Step two: the batch ticket
Now move the ticket. Customers want it after a pour and auditors want it when a cube test fails, so both expect ticket number, date, truck, site, mix design, revision and quantity.
Add the actual weight of every material, imported from the controller file when it exports one, or keyed in at the weighbridge desk straight after the load. Keying them late invites errors.
Print the same layout the customer already receives. Nobody on site should notice the change, except that the figures are now legible and the revision number is printed beside the mix design.
Step three: moisture corrections
Sand and aggregate hold water. The operator trims added water using a moisture probe reading or a daily oven test, and on paper that adjustment gets scribbled beside the batch and never checked.
In software, record the moisture reading, who took it, the correction applied and resulting water, and set a tolerance on the correction so an odd entry gets flagged.
Do this last. It needs the design and ticket records in place, and operators must trust the screen before they key in live probe readings during a busy morning pour.
Run both for two weeks, then retire the paper
Keep the paper sheet running in parallel. At day end, compare the two. Any mismatch shows whether the screen lacks a field, such as the revision or the moisture reading, or whether an operator is skipping a step.
Two clean weeks earn the switch. Archive the last binder in a labelled box, note the retirement date on the cover, and keep it where an auditor can find it on request.
Your next step is simple. Pull ten recent batch tickets and tick off which of the fields above are already written on them, then note the ones nobody records, such as the revision.
Batch record migration plan
One page, three blocks. Each block, for mix designs, batch tickets or moisture corrections, lists the fields to capture, the person who owns them, a start date and a pass mark. A last line holds the sign-off date.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Do we need a plant controller link to start?
No. Begin by keying weights in from the controller display, and add a direct export or link once the records are reliable and the team trusts the screens.
What do auditors usually ask for from a concrete plant?
They ask for the mix design with its approval, the batch ticket for a given pour, and proof that corrections were applied. A system that links all three answers most of these requests in minutes, instead of sending a clerk through binders of paper tickets in the plant office.
How do we handle a mix design change mid-month?
Raise a new revision with a date and named approver, apply it to every ticket batched after that date, and let older tickets keep the old one. Never edit a design that tickets already reference.
Can paper stay as a backup?
Yes, as a backup. A blank ticket book is fine for a power cut or device failure if each paper entry is keyed in when the system returns and marked late.