The major advantage that a portable plant, either wheeled or track-mounted, has over a stationary plant is 1) the ability to locate the plant in close proximity to the deposit, and 2) the ease with which a producer is able to change locations in order to stay close to where the final product is needed.

In a sand-and-gravel operation, this is particularly vital due to the limited material there may be at any one site. The same function can be performed in quarry applications where, if loadout bins are utilized, the entire plant – primary, secondary and screening unit – is moved from the quarry floor just before a shot then moved back adjacent to the shotrock for feeding by a loader. The whole process of moving out, shooting and moving back can often take less than two hours. Maintenance is often done during this time.

An equally vital aspect, particularly in sand and gravel or limestone is the ease of moving to another location, often at distances that would make haul costs prohibitive from a stationary plant. This enables a contractor to supply all the aggregate needs of smaller communities by moving in, putting up a year's supply of material, or whatever is required, and then moving on. Thus, by supplying many of these small tonnage requirements one can justify the cost of an aggregate plant, keep it at full utilization, and dominate an area that otherwise could not be served by individual stationary plants.

Another benefit of portable production is the flexibility of plant layout or product output gradations and sizes over that of a fixed-base stationary plant. The overall plant layout and flow can be readily changed due to modular design. Equipment can be easily added or deleted to respond to market demands, production and raw feed material changes. For example, in one gravel deposit the feed size may be such that a simple cone plant could handle the total needs. In a much coarser pit or quarry application, a primary jaw may be necessary and in still another application, due to production and product size required, a second cone plant (fine head) may have to be added – all easily accomplished by simply adding conveyors and rolling the plants into place.

The recycling contractor running a portable aggregate plant is also less vulnerable to competition due to this portability. Competition is much less likely to move in adjacent if there is the threat of reciprocity. Easily understood in the world of recycled products, is that the majority of the work is smaller jobs and crowded areas. Portable plants that are quick to move, quick to set up, and highly efficient are key to a successful operation.

In addition to the operational and marketing advantages discussed, a portable plant has obvious advantages when setting up. Since they are virtually fully assembled, all that needs to be done is to locate the individual plants, crib up on timbers and set conveyors into place. Massive concrete footings, which consume a great deal of time in design and formation, are not required. A very popular feature of newer portable plants is the use of hydraulic run-on legs. These systems, many times using a gas powered engine, allow for very quick set up and little if any cribbing. It results in much quicker set up and tear down. Most highly portable contractors with multi-unit complete spreads will mount their own diesel generator sets in a trailer. A site office, or control house is often a separate unit or part of a second trailer.

Correct design crucial

Correct design of the portable plants, and the crushers and screens for portable application is crucial. A compact design, good reduction ratio and reputation as an "all purpose" utility crusher makes it ideal in most sand-and-gravel operations where a feed size of 8 in. to 10 in. requires no primary. Even in cases where there is feed material larger than 10-in., the quantity may not be great enough to warrant bringing in a primary crusher and so the oversize rock will be scalped off and stockpiled.