• Expand Into Production
• Seismic Tech for Asphalt Rollers
• How to Maintain AC Hot Oil Heaters
• Andersen Asphalt Optimizes Back Office
• World of Asphalt/AGG1 Returns to Nashville
From the beginning, our service team has provided construction services for the equipment we build. Astec construction and relocation services for asphalt plants include plant and equipment installs, plant tear-downs and moves, silo repairs, and industrial piping and tank farm installs.
Efficient planning minimizes downtime, local regulations and permits also play a key role. Astec has an extensive history and experience with permitting and regulations. Safety, efficiency, and compliance are paramount throughout the process.
At Gencor®, we’ve led the industry with the most fuel-efficient, environmentally clean and lowest-maintenance design available to the hot mix industry. Gencor Industries remains focused on proactively serving and satisfying its customers from all aspects.
Through improved cost-effectiveness, and quality of its products and services, Gencor’s personnel are dedicated to the principle of providing the highest quality to the industry to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage for Gencor®.
12
We’ve built our business and reputation through our unparalleled focus on equipment durability, attention to detail, and the ability to customize our products for each customer. We apply these foundations to our complete range of asphalt plants and asphalt plant equipment, designed for producers of all sizes.
Since we all know I lean toward cautious Luddism, let’s begin with a disclaimer. I recognize some positive uses for artificial intelligence (A.I.) programs to return information for businesspeople seeking ways to automate their repetitive tasks.
With that out of the way, let’s get on with my horror at the idea we’re allowing our brains to atrophy in favor of a $20/ month program that can do our thinking for us. I’ll go a step further and suggest we’re giving up the creative and fun side of entrepreneurship because an A.I. can return answers really fast—and that’s super cool to the Silicon Valley bros who play with it at 3 a.m.
Of course, I’m being snarky. Like I said above, there will be instances where getting that answer from a machine in the back office can be a lifesaver. For example, during the National Pavement Expo (NPE) in Tampa, Jan. 24, Ari Bleemer of ONECREW led a morning huddle titled “A.I. in the Paving Industry” where the audience discussed solving problems in the back office. One member of the audience quoted a co-worker’s wise saying to “automate the grind, free the mind.” That’s a brilliant way to approach the use of databases that analyze patterns, predict results and offer answers for the paving contractor. It makes perfect sense to gather your data, feed it to a system that can interpret it “smartly,” and help you use it more efficiently for estimating, bidding, reporting, re-ordering materials or what have you.
What worried me that morning was the discussion veering into the realm of creativity and marketing, wherein audience members and the leader suggested allowing an A.I. to generate copy, text and headlines for communicating messages to the world. The consensus was it’s better to have an A.I. create low-quality language for us humans to tweak than to pay a professional copywriter or public relations professional who studied marketing to create campaigns for the contractor. Try that before your next town hall where the neighbors are up in arms about odors
coming from your asphalt plant. Go ahead. I’ll wait for the result.
What we humans need to recognize is there are tech bros like Benji Smith among us who don’t quite grasp the sensitivity behind creativity. Smith is the creator of Prosecraft and a problematic company called Shaxpir, for which he (allegedly) illegally uploaded 25,000 published manuscripts from the web into his database. Without getting too deep in the weeds here, I’ll explain he promised a way to evaluate authors’ books for number of adverbs, tone of voice, passive versus active voice, and so on with this database. When some big-name authors noticed their titles were in this database, being used without their permission, the question of piracy came up (among other problems).
And that’s how I view most of the A.I. platforms available to the public. It does not please me that we’re normalizing the pirating of creative work—whether that’s been happening for years in other ways— in the name of making current-day systems more efficient or cheaper for big companies. I don’t consider it “fair” when someone takes my work and makes money from it without my permission.
Now, it does please me to see leaders like Bleemer promoting the concept of individual companies putting their own data into their own databases to create their own models and questions to return their own results. That? That’s responsible and legal innovation and I’m excited to see where that can take a contractor in the future. I’m excited to see how that can help contractors build better estimates, win more lucrative bids and create more substantive employee assistance programs. I’m excited to see them manipulating A.I. morally.
March/April 2024 •
602 W. Morrison, Box 6a Fayette, MO 65248 (573) 823-6297 • www.theasphaltpro.com
GROUP PUBLISHER
Chris Harrison chris@ theasphaltpro.com
PUBLISHER
Sally Shoemaker
sally@theasphaltpro.com (573) 823-6297
EDITOR
Sandy Lender
sandy@theasphaltpro.com (239) 272-8613
DIGITAL EDITOR
Sarah Redohl
sarah@theasphaltpro.com (573) 355-9775
MEDIA SALES
Cara Owings
cara@theasphaltpro.com
(660) 537-0778
ART DIRECTOR
Kristin Branscom
BUSINESS MANAGER
Susan Campbell (660) 728-5007
AsphaltPro is published 11 times per year. Writers expressing views in AsphaltPro Magazine or on the AsphaltPro website are professionals with sound, professional advice. Views expressed herein are not necessarily the same as the views of AsphaltPro, thus producers/contractors are still encouraged to use best practices when implementing new advice.
SUBSCRIPTION POLICY: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the United Sates, Canada and Mexico to qualified individuals.
One year subscription to non-qualifying
Individuals: United States $90, Canada and Mexico $125.00. For the international digital edition, visit theasphaltpro.com/subscribe/
Stay Safe, Sandy Lender
Mental health wellness has taken center stage in the construction sector, after a Jan. 24, 2020, report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that the industry has the second-highest suicide rate for all occupations. More recently, IbisWorld.com reported, as of 2022, the construction industry employs over 10.8 million people, and the industry is set to experience steady growth in the coming years. Leaders in the construction space are evaluating the impact of stressors that come with a construction job, and how to best approach the issue of mental health wellness among construction workers.
The asphalt paving industry has some unique markers that leave its employees vulnerable to mental health challenges. Like other construction positions, the asphalt trade is often seen as dirty or dangerous work, and workers can experience frequent injuries or life-threatening situations if proper training and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines aren’t followed.
Construction work in general can require long hours. Work in the asphalt industry often necessitates working in hot weather conditions and sometimes periods away from home or support systems for rural projects. The stress of completing multiple important projects in a compressed construction season, whether near family and support systems or not, can cause understandable stress, depression or anxiety for the workers who put their bodies on the line day after day.
Leaders in the industry are becoming more aware of these specific concerns and readying themselves to bring solutions to their employees. A 2020 survey released by The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) showed that 14.3% of workers in the construction trade struggled with symptoms of anxiety. Managers working within the asphalt paving industry have been implementing programs to alleviate those struggles and symptoms.
Because mental health concerns have become more commonplace within the construction industry, it’s vital to count mental health care as a priority, as these workers tend to have a tough exterior that may lead them to resist seeking help. There still exists a stigma surrounding mental health issues—a stigma that construction industry leaders have been working to eradicate to make things better and healthier for their crews.
Recognizing the warning signs of a mental health concern among one’s employees is the first step in reducing stigma and mitigating issues. Workers who are struggling may not be forthcoming with how they feel, but a keen eye can sense if something may be wrong. Workers experiencing mental health issues may have decreased productivity and incidents of showing up late to work—or not at all. They may have increased conflict with other employees or isolate themselves from the team, take less care with safety on the work
site, engage in risky behaviors on- or off-site, exhibit wild mood swings, or show up to the site under the influence. A study published July 24, 2023, by the American Addiction Centers, found that construction workers are also more likely to have substance abuse issues than others.
Leaders and managers must turn their worksites and companies into an environment where workers feel comfortable speaking openly and approaching their managers with issues. A positive company culture can go a long way in challenging stigmas surrounding mental health illness among asphalt workers.
Companies can also evaluate their benefits and healthcare packages to ensure robust coverage is available for workers’ mental health needs. Some companies have started including apps such as Calm in their benefits packages to encourage better relaxation and sleep habits. Generous time-off packages may be an anomaly in the construction trades, given the long hours and needs of the industry, but some flexibility in time off may be an option if evaluated.
Accommodations are an important component of addressing mental health wellness in the workplace. Managers can modify job duties if an employee is struggling, divide labor to allow for rest or time off, or bring on extra help if someone needs assistance.
Companies should also make construction-worker-specific resources available to their staff, such as OSHA training that is mental-health specific. Some resources are available that are also more general, such as the Crisis Text Line or the National Help Line for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Mental health is becoming more of a consideration in the workplace, and should be a priority for the construction trades, given the concerning statistics. A mental-health-friendly worksite requires awareness of the issues surrounding mental health wellness, accommodations and assistance, and access to resources that can help people overcome mental health issues.
Those in the asphalt paving industry have specific concerns that can lead to anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions. The dangers and stressors of the industry require managers to lead with empathy and authentic concern. Together with a greater industry-wide focus on mental health, workers in the industry can better thrive in their roles.
Matt DiBara is the co-founder of The Contractor Consultants and owner of DiBara Masonry. He’s the fourth generation of an Italian immigrant-built masonry and known as the “undercover contractor” who works with celebrity clients and everyday homeowners to provide advice and insight about how to manage construction projects..
The construction industry has the second-highest suicide rate in the United States. While the industry loses two to three workers each day to job-related accidents, they lose ten to fifteen workers each day to suicide. Listen as the author tells his story about his phenomenal life until he attempts to end it.
He shares twelve individual stories from those who lost someone to suicide.
Based on his qualitative interviews, conversations, and lived experiences, he will educate leaders that once they begin addressing mental health and suicide in their organizations, they will have a resilient, loyal workforce and a competitive advantage.
Author Vince Hafeli, D.B.A.
“
The book scared the hell out of me and is a mustread for any human.”—Wally Adamchik, CMC, CSP, MBA
Over my career as a paving consultant, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many people from many cultures in North America, England, Ireland and Saudi Arabia. Not every person I’ve trained has been able to hear as well as the next person. Not every person has had the same access to continuing education as the next person. Not every person has spoken the same language as the next person. Whatever the differences among us, around the world, we’ve all worked together to find a way to communicate for safety, for understanding, for learning and for best performance on the job. In this training article, I want to share a story of language breakdown and some tips for getting communication across on the job site.
Everyone knows our crews out there—from the milling crew to the paving crew, from the maintenance crew to the striping crew and everyone in between—have diverse populations. The number of languages spoken on your crew is probably two or more. That can make it difficult to understand what’s being shouted over a noisy engine or rumbling plate compactor as it vibrates along. Even teams using headsets to minimize noise distractions must overcome a language barrier to communicate “increase the depth of the mat by a quarter of an inch” or "get the finish roller to the starter pad and iron out the transverse joint.”
During the 2023 construction season, I was able to work as a paving consultant with a company in North America where a roller operator and I didn’t speak the same language. My first language is English; hers is not. We were able to communicate fine on the first day of training together. (I’ll share a “painting” method for communicating later in this article.) She not only understood my instructions, but she was also a fast learner, implementing new skills and patterns like a champion equipment operator. Everything was turning out great with the mat and with our paving team.
Even though she did a great job, I’m purposefully leaving out her name and the company name, so no one feels called out by this story. This is just an example of the language barrier any one of us could bump into.
The next day, I noticed she had reverted to some old habits, and I checked on this. Another member of the crew had re-instructed her on some old ways of rolling that we don’t use in the industry any longer. I told her, “Nobody rolls like that anymore. Let’s go back to what I taught you yesterday instead.” Together, we got her back on track, and I believed everything was good again.
Here’s where the language barrier created a problem. The roller operator heard an insult in what I said. Can you pick it out? Thank goodness, she didn’t let the perceived insult stand; she didn’t harbor resentment and hurt feelings. She came to me to say, “I’m not a nobody.”
This is an example of an aerosol paint can that’s designed to work when you’ve got it upside down, like in a spray wand. Use something like this to mark symbols and tonnage on the surface you’ll be paving so everyone on the crew can see exactly where they’re supposed to go.
I would never in a million years tell a fellow worker that they’re “nobody,” so I had to figure out why she thought I’d said this about her. But it’s right there in that first line: “Nobody rolls like that anymore.” In her mind, my English syntax implied she was the “nobody” who rolled in the old-fashioned style.
I set the record straight and assured her I didn’t think of her as a nobody! But I want to share with the training directors, paving foremen, co-workers and laborers out there in the field today, that you want to be aware of the words you use on the job site. The different languages we encounter in our day-to-day activities have more than different words. Different languages and cultures will have different colloquialisms.
This isn’t a surprise to any of us on a paving crew, but it is an opportunity to accidentally hurt someone’s feelings if we aren’t careful. We have enough trouble bringing workers to our industry right now without alienating a new guy (or gal) because we accidentally criticized them instead of their rolling pattern. It’s the rolling pattern that needs to be fixed; not the person changing the pattern. It’s the angle of attack that needs to be changed; not the person adjusting the angle of attack. It’s the depth of the mat that needs to be lowered; not the person turning the depth crank.
This is also an opportunity for a safety hazard if we aren’t careful about our communication. Most of our training sessions begin with safety and it’s imperative that workers understand the messages we’re sending. Each person needs to comprehend how their actions affect their own safety and the safety of their colleagues in the work zone, etc.
One way I’ve found to minimize confusion, even among English-speaking workers, is to mark out the job meticulously. If you want to use color-coded paint, that’s an option. I encourage crews to draw diagrams on the ground for the rolling procedures. I have them paint arrows to show where they’ll make their turns and so on. You already know to paint lines to guide the paver operator and to help the screed operator keep the endgate right on the money, but also paint arrows that show where the team will make turns. Paint the number of tons each lane requires right there on the ground and paint an arrow that shows the direction of travel for the equipment.
A great example of lining out the job well took place over in Hawaii a few years ago. Look up the article “How to Pave a Tennis Court” from the December 2019 issue of AsphaltPro to see that. Other great examples have been reported in the magazine since then and you can find them on the website, as well.
You can also paint diagrams on the ground for the rolling procedures. By painting directions, you have a visual representation of what you’re saying to the new roller operator who may not speak the same language you do.
Keep in mind that not all members of the crew will recognize and understand all the symbols you're using in the field. You may need to have a toolbox talk at the beginning of the paving day or project
to go over the markings you’re using to ensure everyone is on the same page.
For example, the icons and symbols used on the paver control panel, screed operator’s pedestal, roller platform, milling machine deck and so on might not be as easy to understand as you think. And the icons on the Bomag machine from your new person’s former employer are not the same as the icons used on the Vogele machine you put him or her on this morning. The icons just aren’t the same across the manufacturers. For a person already struggling to understand what we’re teaching him or her, changing up the platform they’re looking at is one more point of confusion.
It’s worth taking the time to go over the symbols with them. Explain carefully what they are and match them up to the diagrams you paint on the ground. Talk the person through all the new and different markings with a veteran operator who knows both your language and the new worker’s language and knows the language of paving.
It sounds like a great deal of work just to communicate the basics of paving and rolling and getting a top quality mat, but you’re also ensuring everyone is safe, secure and a productive part of the whole crew. You’re ensuring everyone can feel like a member of the team that achieves top quality paving when they fully understand everything.
John Ball is the proprietor of Top Quality Paving & Training, Manchester, New Hampshire. For more information, contact him at (603) 493-1458.
The Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) released its research report number FHWA-ICT 23-022 showing results of its findings of ICT Project R27-221 “Chip Seal Quality Assurance Using Percent Embedment.” The report was prepared by authors Ahmad Alhasan, Brian Moon, Doug Steele, Hung Lee and Abu Ahmed Sufian. The project was performed for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Bureau of Research in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration to investigate the use of macrotexture as a quality assurance tool for chip seals.
Researchers tested the use of macrotexture as an indicator of the percent embedment (PE) of aggregate in a chip seal on 24 chip seal sections in the state of Illinois. They acquired surface texture measurements using two devices—a high-speed texture profiler in both right and left wheel paths and a stationary laser texture device measuring at 50, 250 and 450 feet (15, 76 and 137 meters) from the beginning of the test sections—in two testing phases during 2021 and
“THE ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT STATIONARY TEXTURE MEASUREMENTS WERE MORE CONSISTENT AND
2022. They also procured cores “for the handheld scanning locations in the right wheel path for additional texture scans, cross section image acquisition, and overhead image analysis.”
“The field-testing program in 2021 included 10 in-service chip seal sections in Illinois. In 2022, a construction project on a road segment along Illinois Route 116 near Roseville included nine unique test sections with varying materials and construction methods. In addition to the construction project sections, five in-service sections were tested to further validate the test procedures. Combining the sites tested in 2021 and 2022, the study included 24 test sections. The test sites covered a wide range of treatment ages and locations to capture different traffic volumes, materials used in these locations, and construction practices such as binder and chip application rates.”
The report stated: “The analysis showed that stationary texture measurements were more consistent and reliable for estimating PE and characterizing chip seals in the field. Moreover, the ground truth PE values were estimated using an image analysis algorithm implemented on side-view images of cores extracted in the field.”
Read the full 64-page report with detailed construction and research analysis at https://apps.ict.illinois.edu/projects/getfile.asp?id=10789.
Discover the MaxRap® 25 Portable on display at World of Asphalt. Eagle Crusher’s latest new-product innovation for the asphalt industry. Featuring Eagle’s UltraMax® 25 impactor with its high reduction ratio and North America lifetime rotor warranty, the MaxRap 25 Portable provides the same precision crushing of the stationary MaxRap, allowing operators to crush RAP at multiple locations with ease.
Experience the benefits of multi-feature deck selection, blending, and bypass; sampling to verify the mix-design spec requirement is correct, and ability to use the system for screening, direct-to-stockpile only. Discover even more RAP benefits. Plus, this versatile plant may be used as a secondary unit for recycled concrete and aggregate by removing the diverter chutework to become two plants in one.
Believe it or not, spring is just around the corner. As part of pre-startup service, don’t overlook the heating systems for your asphalt cement (AC) tanks.
Today, almost all fossil-fuel-fired tank heating systems utilize hot oil, which is heated via a burner that runs on diesel, fuel oil or natural gas/propane. Each manufacturer should list specific maintenance steps in the manual, but in general, you will want to conduct your maintenance on a cold system, taking these steps.
❑ 1. Test all safety systems.
❑ 2. Examine all the hoses across the entire system to ensure they are not brittle, cracked or leaking. If they are, then they will need to be replaced.
❑ 3. Inspect the oil pump to make sure the seal is not leaking and that the drive belts and guard are in good condition.
❑ 4. Check to make sure the hot oil holding tank’s low-level shutdown device is working properly.
❑ 5. Test the control temperature sensor and the over-temperature protection thermometer to ensure accuracy with both.
❑ 6. Have the heat transfer fluid analyzed by a qualified vendor (some will provide test kits; other vendors will handle the analysis for you). This oil should be changed every five to seven years at maximum.
❑ 7. If you have a hot oil filtration system, it will need to be checked and you will want to replace the filter. If your plant does not have a filtration system, you may want to consider adding one to your system, as it will greatly reduce the amounts of debris and coking circulating throughout the plant. In fact, the money spent on a filtration system will quickly be recouped in heat transfer efficiency and reduced pump wear due to the elimination of debris is going through seals, etc.
❑ 8. Inspect and test the system’s auto-start to verify the timeclock is accurate and that the unit will start and stop at the scheduled hours.
❑ 9. Check the exhaust damper system and stacks for deterioration and proper operation.
❑ 10. Have your burner vendor use a gas analyzer in the stack to tune your burner by reading the emissions coming out of the stack. This step will drastically help control both fuel costs and emissions.
❑ 11. Every 10 to 15 years, you will want to check the hotoil heating coils within the asphalt tank for coking and buildup. This task involves draining the tank and sending in a crew to chip away at the coked buildup and clean out all of that material.
❑ 12. If your burner is older than five years old, you may want to consider replacing it. Burners of this age can drop to 50-percent efficiency, and that efficiency will continue to drop each season. You’ll also realize better fuel savings and avoid downtime after startup if you replace an older burner.
❑ 13. Examine the fuel system, checking for leaking lines and seals.
❑ 14. Change the fuel filter.
❑ 15. Check the exhaust damper system for deterioration and proper operation.
Electric drywell-style heater systems for direct heating or hot oil circulation generally do not need to be replaced—but they do require some minimal maintenance. You should follow these steps. (Note: There is no need to drain the tank.)
❑ 1. Check the wiring and connections, and repair or replace any that might be loose or oxidized.
❑ 2. Check the contacts on the contactors. Replace the contactor if worn.
❑ 3. Check all fuses to ensure they are all still intact
❑ 4. Remove heater cover plate and check to make sure the high-temperature terminals are tight and that the terminal box is dry and free of moisture.
Todd Fields of Butler-Justice Inc., Anaheim, California, and Dan Simpson of Process Heating Company Inc., Seattle, Washington, contributed to this article. For more information, visit bluesmokecontrol.com/ or www.processheating.com/.
Our UL asphalt tanks have properly sized normal and emergency venting as standard.
All structural attachments are OSHA approved and are af xed to our tanks per code.
All tanks are tested to UL142 Section 42.2.1a 10th Edition.
All weld joints are per UL142 standards.
Your asphalt tanks will be properly labeled and registered with UL142.
FROM ERIEZ
Eriez® has announced the inauguration of its research and development hub, Eriez at sbarc, located at Cardiff University in Wales. This strategic partnership with Cardiff Innovations underscores a dedication to fostering innovation. Eriez’ R&D team, based in Wales, now operates primarily from this new facility.
Eriez’ history of working with Cardiff University began when Eriez joined the advisory board for the university’s Magnetic Materials & Applications (MAGMA) research center. The relationship progressed into a successful engineering and knowledge transfer partnership (eKTP) from 2019 to 2022. The result of this effort is a new series of metal detectors from Eriez, which are scheduled to launch in early 2024.
“THE FUSION OF THE TECHNICAL PROWESS OF THE UNIVERSITY WITH ERIEZ' INDUSTRY EXPERTISE LED TO SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENTS IN SIGNAL PROCESSING AND ELECTRONIC DESIGN FOR OUR NEW METAL DETECTORS.”—GARETH MEESE
Gareth Meese, managing director of Eriez-Europe, said, “The fusion of the technical prowess of the university with Eriez' industry expertise led to significant advancements in signal processing and electronic design for our new metal detectors.” He emphasized that the collaborative partnership with Cardiff University provides
Eriez with streamlined access to support and a seamless communication pipeline.
In addition, Eriez has privately funded a project with the Cardiff University School of Engineering, focusing on enhancing the performance and reliability of metal detector coils. As of 2024, Eriez continues its partnership with Cardiff University on an artificial intelligence (AI) feasibility study, supported by InnovateUK, exploring AI techniques in metal detection for the food and pharmaceutical industries. Eriez is also actively involved in supporting an accelerated knowledge transfer (AKT) initiative, investigating and developing AI applications within metal detection and other related fields, according to Chris Dyer, research and development engineer, Eriez-Europe.
For more information, visit www.cardiff. ac.uk/campus-developments/projects/spark.
IIt was more than a decade ago when Bill Stanley, owner/operator of American Pavement Specialists (APS), Danbury, Connecticut, walked into Edward Erhbar Equipment looking to buy two Bagela BA10000 asphalt recyclers.
The event stood out to Greg Harla, partner at Bagela USA/Pavement Recyclers, for two reasons. The first was because this sale
BY SARAH REDOHLwould make APS one of the first companies in the United States to own and operate two BA10000s. The second was because of the four young men Bill brought in tow: his sons, Bill Stanley III, 39, Jack Stanley, 37, Josh Stanley, 33, and Matt Stanley, 31. Harla had been a yellow page ad rep in the early ’90s and called on a very young APS to advertise. Bill’s wife, Colleen, was his
main point of contact. “Every time I called on her, it seemed there was one more little one playing with toys on the floor,” he said. “Fast forward to 2010 and Bill walks in with those four little guys—only they weren’t so little anymore.” All four were grown and all four had joined the family business. “[Bill] said, ‘Greg, all I want to do is keep my boys busy in the winter.’”
According to Bill, there were several reasons behind his decision to expand into asphalt recycling—among them, a way to make use of the company’s millings after it purchased its first milling machine in 2010. However, he added, “The first and most important was year-round work.”
Historically, APS’s region of the northeast experiences up to 16 weeks of winter shutdown. “The industry’s shutdown is definitely the most difficult part of being a paving
contractor,” Bill said, adding that to make ends meet paving contractors often must do A.F.B. work (Anything For a Buck). “For APS, nothing was ever enough to make a real profit and hold onto our crews all year round, which has always been our goal.”
Additionally, the inability to keep every member of the crew employed year-round meant more employee turnover. “Every spring feels like we are re-hiring, retraining, re-building, re-starting with a lot of hoping and praying that we can make a solid go of the season,” Bill said. “Fall quickly approaches and you literally have to make everything happen, from making a profit for the season to completing every project to keep your customers happy. Then all in one fell swoop, December rolls around and it’s over.”
Although APS wasn’t in a position to change the way the Connecticut asphalt industry operates in 2011, the company was in a position to change the way it operated by turning asphalt recycling into one of the company’s winter services—and a successful one at that.
Today, not only does APS sell hot patch throughout the winter, but it sold hot patch nearly every day of 2024 at press time. And, the company just produced mix for and placed a 250-ton hot patch for the city of Danbury in the middle of January.
In January the city of Danbury had a water main break on Mountain Road, which had just been paved the previous year. The city, APS’s hometown and longtime customer, contacted the company to purchase roughly 250 tons of asphalt to place a temporary patch along a 2,000-foot-long, 4-foot-wide trench.
“A temporary patch would mean having to pay a contractor to rip it all out and repave it in the spring/summer,” Bill said. “We felt this was a large purchase to call temporary, so we sold them a permanent patch using 100% recycled asphalt, delivered with our auger truck and professionally installed as if it were July and not January.” (For more information about the sustainability of the project and process, check out the sidebar “Green, Lean Recycling Machine”).
Such a robust claim relies on the expertise and equipment to back it up. This begins with replacing the two older Bagelas with a new machine in 2024.
As with any asphalt, the quality of the hot patch APS produced for the project depends heavily on the quality of the material with which it is produced. APS opts to make its hot patch from virgin material left over from the paving jobs it performs in the warmer months.
Matt Stanley is the
of the
says a core component of the
is inspiring the new and next generations of asphalt professionals. “Having a brand that represents the common contractor can not only draw the next generation into the industry but also provides our industry with better representation throughout the construction industry as a whole,” Matt said.
“As the guy on the paver, sometimes you order that last load and you end up having a couple tons left over,” said Matt Stanley, Bill’s son and the founder of the Raised on Blacktop brand. “It isn’t ideal to have mix left over, but when it happens, we can recycle it come winter.”
APS dumps the leftover mix into a series of 2-ton piles, breaks it up once the material hardens, tarping it when necessary to minimize moisture. “[The Bagela] can produce 8 tons an hour in winter, 10 to 12 in summer,” Matt said, adding that it’s important the material is dry. “If that material is wet, it cuts our numbers in half.”
Matt said elevating the recycler off the ground and its location partially enclosed in APS’s old shed also improves the quality of the mix by retaining more heat. APS loads the machine with its John Deere 310 SL and John Deere 333G track loader, checking the temperature regularly with a temperature gauge. “I want around 300 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit,” Matt said. “Once I get below 300, I stop adding material because I want to let that material inside heat up.”
As material is produced, it is weighed with a scale and bucket and loaded into APS’s custom Trout River auger trucks.
(Read more about these trucks in the sidebar, “Partnering on the ‘Perfect Truck’”). “If we load out around 300 to 350 degrees, we figure it’ll be around 275 coming out of the truck [at the job site].”
The new 10-ton trucks played a key role in the success of the Mountain Road trench and other cold-weather repairs. “The tarp system on these trucks is superior to any tarp system I’ve seen on the market,” Matt said. During the 2023 paving season, APS consistently saw mix from the Trout River trucks arrive at the job site a full 10 to 15 degrees warmer than its other trucks.
But, retaining heat when patching in winter means more than tying down the tarp. The live bottom trucks are equipped with augers and a conveyor at the back to directly deliver mix to the patch. “We aren’t dumping it on the ground, we aren’t handling it too much; the mix goes right from truck to patch,” Matt said.
The efficiency of this process also makes it less labor-intensive, he added. “When we deliver [hot patch] for our customers with these trucks, they might have six or seven laborers waiting to rake the asphalt,” Matt said. With the auger truck, jobs often require only one person raking.
Bill said the auger trucks were a perfect fit for the company’s trench job on Mountain Road. “The delivery is so quick, we got the job done in just two and a half days,” he said. “This is the 21st Century way to put asphalt into a trench.”
Although the Trout River trucks were critical to the success of the project, APS had to prioritize quality every step of the way. The city repaired the trench and placed gravel one week before APS came out to pave, but did final preparations immediately ahead of the crew. “They took off the mud and frost,
Green, Lean Recycling Machine
Bill Stanley has been in the asphalt industry long enough to have seen the evolution of recycled asphalt product (RAP) firsthand. The emergence of asphalt milling several decades ago, he said, “completely changed the entire industry.”
“Originally, milling was a better way to overlay an existing road or highway,” he said. “You could remove the top oxidized material from the surface and lower the roadway without adjusting the aprons, curbs and all the hardware in the roadway.”
The procedure quickly became an industry standard and soon the industry had an abundance of RAP ready and waiting for reuse. “It started at 3 to 5%,” Bill recalled. “Fast forward to today where you can literally make hot asphalt with 100% RAP.” He believes projects that are deemed ‘temporary’ offer a perfect opportunity for 100% recycled asphalt.
The use of high RAP content materials also bolsters our industry’s image. “[The sustainability aspect of our Mountain Road project] is important for us because we feel this environmentally friendly process can hopefully shine a light on our industry,” Matt said. “The more we get the word out, the more we can break down the perception that our industry is dirty and not eco-friendly.”
The two Trout River auger trucks that were so integral to the Mountain Road project are the only two in existence, Bill said. The trucks were designed in collaboration with Trout River Industries in 2022.
not exposing the gravel we were paving on until that morning,” Bill said.
The crew placed between 3 and 4 inches of asphalt into the trench. Normally, they’d put that down in two courses, but decided one course would help retain heat and therefore improve compaction given the 45-degree temperature on the days of paving.
It was also important to keep moving. “With winter paving, you have to pave fast and roll it immediately,” Bill said. The haul truck driver managed a consistent speed, closely watching the crew placing the asphalt in the rearview mirror. On the ground behind the truck, Bill controlled the conveyor speed to ensure material flow. “Since this trench is the same width and thickness, we barely had to do anything,” he added.
Immediately behind the truck came APS’s Hamm HD12 roller. “It’s not easy to pave in winter,” Bill said, “but we took our time, brought in our two Trout River trucks, extra laborers and a 3-ton roller (not just a plate compactor).”
Also ahead of paving, APS sprayed hot tack on the sides and bottom of the trench. “Our biggest concern on this job was raveling, so we did everything we could to help prevent that,” Bill said. “This job shouldn’t have any structural problems, so as long as it doesn’t ravel, our guys won’t have to do this all over again come spring.”
So far, the trench is holding up well—and that’s saying something. “We had a hell of a test on this project,” Bill said. “We finished the project on a Friday. On Saturday we had a Nor’easter with 4 inches of wet, heavy snow. The road was plowed and sanded. Then, Sun-
day it warmed up to 50 degrees, the snow melted, the ground was saturated and we got another 4 inches of rain. That’s bad for any pavement, but especially fresh pavement.”
However, when Bill rode the project a few weeks after paving, there were no defects. “With how it held up, you would never guess this was paved in January with recycled asphalt,” he said. “We’ll revisit it in the spring and take care of any defects, but we hope that if it’s good after what it’s already been through that it’ll still be good come spring.”
Despite the success of the project, Bill identified one way it could have gone better: “If we had hot mix asphalt.”
“If this same repair happened a few years ago, it would definitely have stayed gravel all winter or maybe they’d put in cold patch,” Bill said. “Hot patch gives us an alternative to those methods, but I think it would have gone even better with HMA.”
Back when APS purchased its first two Bagelas in 2010, the company wasn’t in a position to change the industry. Now, it’s one of the most popular social media influencers in the asphalt industry, with nearly 300,000 followers across all platforms for APS and Raised on Blacktop, and Bill wants to use that position to effect change.
“Contractors like us have to have access to quality hot mix asphalt year-round,” he said. “The fact that we’re making and selling hot patch all winter long, that we’re laying quality 250-ton projects in January, that New York City one hour away from us has
“We came up with an idea for these live bottom trucks to develop an attachment that can be easily removed from the rear of the truck,” Matt said, adding that removal takes five minutes and the truck can then be used as a regular truck. “The design started as just a wild idea in my father’s head.” After several phone calls with the engineers at Trout River, APS had a CAD drawing a few weeks later and production began shortly thereafter.
“The Stanleys know their equipment,” said Barry Wells of Trout River Industries. “The spec’d the auger attachment out, knowing every aspect of what it needs to do. They know the types of problems they’re running up against every day, from manpower to maximizing efficiencies.”
The 2023 season was the first time APS used its new trucks. “Despite being the so-called ‘guinea pig’ for the designs, we operated them all year and were able to provide crucial feedback to improve the design even more,” Matt said. “It’ll certainly be cool when these trucks become a staple in the industry and we can proudly say we were a big part of it.”
Trout River plans to begin selling the trucks to the public this spring, but has already received numerous inquiries from contractors who have seen the Trout River auger truck on social media. “We are looking to roll out the auger attachment for all Trout River live bottom trailers and truck boxes across the globe later this spring,” Wells said. “The auger attachment is really about making an old school job more efficient.”
off this; to me, it’s about answering the call from our customers,” Bill said. “When they ask if we can make blacktop in winter, our answer is going to be ‘Hell yeah’.”
Over time, Bill anticipates the shutdown season in colder climates will get shorter and shorter as technology continues to improve. “I truly believe it won’t be long before winter will merely be a ‘slow season’ and there will be more opportunity for asphalt to become a four-season business.”
It’s a sentiment shared by his son Matt, who in addition to working at APS founded the brand Raised on Blacktop. “By sticking our necks out to experiment with new practices, we’ve shown our customers and municipalities that paving in the off-season is possible,” Matt said.
APS has long been an industry trailblazer on social media, starting its account when the demand for asphalt-related influencers had yet to be proven. They see trailblazing on this effort as no different.
“We’ve really leaned into our role [as trailblazers] over the past 10 years we’ve been on social media,” Matt said. He hopes the success of APS’s hot patch operation in general and the Mountain Road project in particular will improve stability in the asphalt industry, “especially for young business owners, where long off-seasons could kill a company,” he said. “But even more so, [I hope it stabilizes] the labor force.”
“Across America, the fact most paving companies have to lay off employees in the winter directly affects the quality of laborers and operators we as an industry attract,” Matt said. Inspiring the next generation of asphalt professionals is a core component of the Raised on Blacktop brand.
HMA plants running year-round illustrates that there’s plenty of need.”
“Completely shutting down all winter is 20th Century thinking,” Bill said, adding that excavators, frost blankets, improved heating elements and other innovations have made quality more achievable for winter work.
Of course, he acknowledges that winter work will be more costly, slower, and with less margin for error. “There are a thousand reasons why people say you can’t pave in
cold weather—and they’re all to some extent true,” Bill said, adding that there are many projects he’d never consider paving in winter. “However, there are circumstances where people need asphalt in winter and there are days in winter where we can and should be working. This [Mountain Road] project is living proof.”
Whether or not the industry answers Bill’s call, APS will continue to produce hot patch year-round. “We’re not getting rich
“Seeing the look on a kid’s face when they’re wearing a brand that represents them or what their parents do for a living is what fuels me,” Matt said. “Having a brand that represents the common contractor can not only draw the next generation into the industry but also just provide our industry with better representation throughout the construction industry as a whole.”
Harla with Pavement Recyclers has seen the evolution of Raised on Blacktop, from watching little boys playing with toy trucks to witnessing grown men helping design better haul trucks. “They’re bringing efficiencies and profitability and new ideas to the next generation. …They’re bringing solutions to our industry,” he said. “Raised on blacktop is a movement.”
You want your plant ticketing software to accommodate growth. As your asphalt operation grows or new features and functionalities are required, the ticketing software should be able to scale and accommodate the increased demands. Photos courtesy of Command Alkon
Editor’s Note: For 2024, AsphaltPro Magazine allows experts in the industry to share how to expand your operations to the next phase of business. Are you ready to take the plunge and start making your own mix? Let’s turn to some professionals who have equipment, services, software and tenure to help you expand to mix design, production, hauling and more. This month’s installment from Command Alkon takes a look at the top considerations to keep in mind for ticketing software.
TTicketing software is the backbone of efficient operations and amplified productivity in your asphalt production facility, but selecting the perfect ticketing software can be a daunting task. It requires careful consideration of potential pain points and taking proactive measures
to address them. Choosing a scale ticketing system that doesn’t quite jive with your asphalt production plant can have negative impacts on your operation. It can lead to inaccurate measurements and data, resulting in discrepancies and potential financial losses. This can occur due to errors in weight calculations or incorrect entry of information.
You also must be careful not to choose a scale ticketing system that lacks essential features for your production processes, such as real-time tracking and reporting, which would make it difficult to monitor production levels and identify bottlenecks. Moreover, an inefficient scale ticketing system can result in delays and errors in invoicing, leading to customer dissatisfaction and strained business relationships. By choosing the right ticketing software, you can unlock the full potential of your facility, streamline operations and boost productivity like never before.
Here are the top pain points to consider when approaching ticketing software at your asphalt production facility:
One of the key pain points could be the lack of integration between the ticketing software and other systems used in the facility. Without seamless integration with systems such as inventory management, sales, loadout or financial systems, manual data entry becomes necessary. This can lead to potential errors and inefficiencies. Choosing ticketing software that allows for seamless processes and data flow reduces the room for error and enhances overall efficiency.
A complex or unintuitive user interface can be a significant pain point for your employees. When the ticketing software is difficult to navigate or understand, it can result in mistakes, delays and frustration among users. How often have you gotten pushback from your people about a new system because they don’t have the time to learn how to use it? Opting for ticketing software with a user-friendly interface can help streamline processes and improve onboarding and user satisfaction.
Another pain point to consider is the limited ability to customize the ticketing software to match the specific workflows and processes of your plant. Lack of customization may mean the value of the system that you spend a lot of money on can never truly be realized because you are changing business processes to fit your technology. Look for ticketing software that allows for flexibility and customization to align with your facility’s unique requirements.
Accurate and real-time data and reporting are crucial for effective decision-making. If the ticketing software does not provide reliable data and reporting, it can be difficult for management to make informed decisions. This can result in delays in addressing issues, lack of visibility into production metrics and potential revenue loss. Make sure that the ticketing software you choose offers accurate and real-time data and reporting features.
In an asphalt plant, employees often need to access ticketing software on mobile devices while working on the plant or in the field. If the software lacks a mobile-friendly interface or does not provide mobile access at all, it can hinder productivity and create additional challenges for users. Consider ticketing software that offers mobile compatibility for seamless access and increased efficiency.
As your asphalt operation grows or new features and functionalities are required, the ticketing software should be able to scale and accommodate the increased demands. Difficulty in scaling can result in performance issues, system crashes and potential disruptions to production operations. It can also limit your ability to add trucks to your fleet, take on more customers, address heavy seasonal needs, grow market share and more. Choose ticketing software that can easily adapt to your facility’s evolving needs.
Ensuring that the ticketing software adheres to industry standards and has compatibility with commonly used systems and formats is essential. Lack of compatibility can create difficulties in exchanging data with customers, suppliers or regulatory bodies. This can lead to delays, compliance issues and increased administrative burdens.
The ease of training and onboarding new employees is crucial for a smooth transition. If the ticketing software requires extensive training or has a steep learning curve, it can result in delays, mistakes and frustration among staff. Look for a scale ticketing software provider that offers comprehensive training resources to facilitate a seamless onboarding process.
In addition, add-on automation technologies can work in tandem with the scale ticketing software to safely get trucks in and out of the plant with minimal human interaction. Some examples include radio frequency identification (RFID) kiosks that streamline the check-in process—drivers can enter the location via a ‘fast track’ lane, swipe their card and receive product/loading directions into the quarry. Tablets in loaders keep loader operators in sync with the check-in process, so the loader operator knows exactly what truck, product and target weight to load and doesn’t have to get out of the truck to talk to plant personnel. Remote printer enclosures mounted at the exit of outbound scales enable the scale ticketing software to print tickets for drivers, who can pick them up without ever leaving the comfort and safety of the cab.
Selecting the right ticketing software for your asphalt production facility is essential to ensure efficient operations and maximize productivity. Failure to address the pain points associated with ticketing software can lead to inaccuracies, reduced efficiency, customer dissatisfaction and financial losses. By considering factors such as integration, user interface, customization options, data accuracy, mobile access, customer support, scalability, compatibility with industry standards, cost considerations, and training and onboarding, you can make an informed decision that will unlock the full potential of your facility. Choose wisely and empower your asphalt production facility with a ticketing software solution that streamlines operations, boosts productivity and supports your business growth.
Greg Fleisch is a solutions specialist at Command Alkon. For more information, contact him at (205) 616-9952 or visit https:// commandalkon.com/asphalt-producer/.
Booth #2731
SSuperior Paving Corporation, Virginia, has integrated the innovative SEISMIC technology from Dynapac into their operations with the Dynapac CC2200 VI. The compactor has recently completed a set of tests throughout Europe and the United States, including a major highway project for Superior Paving.
Michael Washington, a roller operator at Superior Paving, highlighted the roller’s impact on the I-95 express lane project north of Richmond. “We’re doing the base asphalt layer on Interstate 95, which runs
from Florida to Maine,” Washington said. “The highway has been undergoing significant widening in Virginia to accommodate increasing traffic, especially toward Washington, D.C. The CC2200 VI roller with SEISMIC technology has been crucial for the final compaction of the base, intermediate and topping layers. Its variable compaction mechanism ensures the right amount of compaction with minimal passes.”
Dynapac’s product manager, Eric Booth, shared that the team used the CC2200 VI in various positions to test its mettle, and liked it best
Experience the power of centralized data and processes.
Production, loadout, scale ticketing, and office processes all in sync to boost efficiency and maximize profitability.
Going to World of Asphalt?
Stop by Booth 1941 to see these solutions in action.
“THIS ADAPTABILITY IS CRUCIAL FOR DIFFERENT CONTRACTORS...”—ANDREAS PERSSON
in the finish position due to its size. “They used the CC2200VI on all the asphalt layers,” he explained. “They used the CC2200VI primarily as a finish roller. They did test it as a breakdown roller with SEISMIC as well, but decided to keep in in the finish position. The CC2200VI has a 59-inch-wide drum.”
The roller’s published weight is 7.6 tons, and industry professionals will recognize the need for a larger width drum and heavier machine in a breakdown position. Yet the CC2200 VI with SEISMIC technology performed well for the crew.
“The QC manager, James Terrell, said he would like to use a wider roller with SEISMIC for these wider paving jobs, so he used it in finish roller position,” Booth explained. “He said density results were close to what he gets with heavier rollers. We will have SEISMIC on all our large asphalt rollers, but did not have one to offer during this time.”
Andreas Persson, a lead engineer within applications for Dynapac, explained, “The operation of this system is straightforward and user-friendly. The operator simply selects the high or low amplitude setting, and the machine manages the rest. This simplicity allows the operator to concentrate on navigating the track and ensuring safety, without the need for complex inputs or adjustments. It’s all about ease of use—just set the amplitude, and you’re ready to go.”
For the I-95 job, Superior Paving delivered a SM12.5A mix from its Superior Paving Powell Lane facility in Fredericksburg, Virginia, according to Booth. He also reported the crew used a CB15 and CB10 for breakdown with the CC2200VI for finish. “They did three base layers of 4-inch, 4-inch and 3-inch-thick. Intermediate and finish layers were 2 inches thick.”
The CC2200 VI includes a Tier 4 Final diesel engine with a high torque setting, patented eccentric weights, and an ECO Mode for fuel efficiency. SEISMIC technology is designed to further optimize compaction efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and enhance operator comfort by controlling the vibration frequency of the roller. “The SEISMIC technology allows us to achieve consistent density across the mat, even close to the edges, which is usually challenging,” said Evan Pugh, a density tech QA at Superior Paving.
Booth explained further for those new to compaction basics: “Vibratory rollers move up-and-down vertically to deliver the impact to the asphalt while oscillatory rollers move back-and-forth to deliver the compaction effort, so it’s not apples-to-apples to compare SEISMIC to oscillation. We will have SEISMIC on our oscillation rollers, but it will only affect the vibratory drum, not the oscillatory drum.”
Persson added, “We’ve conducted extensive tests to ensure its performance in various conditions. This adaptability is crucial for different contractors working on diverse job sites around the globe. So far, the machine has performed well and achieved the desired compaction levels across the board.”
“Superior Paving is an innovative company that is always ready to embrace new technologies to improve their operations,” said All Roads Territory Manager John Rocca. “They’ve got a bunch of young operators running the equipment who are eager to maximize their efficiency and meet new challenges head-on. The seismic technology on the CC2200 VI roller is another tool they can use to stay on the forefront of the paving and compaction industry.”
A comprehensive assembly custom engineered to offer the advantages of accurately injecting water, other liquid additives or a combination of these materials.
PLANT INTEGRATION: Ability to retrofit on any type of asphalt plant.
COMPETETIVE MARKET ADVANTAGE: Ability to blend multiple liquid additives: Warm mix, Anti-strip, Rejuvenators, Cold Mix Products and #2 Fuel Oil.
FINANCIAL SAVINGS: Lower expenses from reduced fuel consumption, reduce the number of required AC tanks and grades to be stored.
IMPROVES ENVIROMENTAL IMPACT: Elimination of blue smoke emissions from plant, silos, and from behind paver.
REDUCES PAVING CREW STRESS: From increased workability, reduction in roller passes and patterns, increased longitudinal joint densities.
INCREASES PROFITABILITY: From increased RAP usage, silo storage time, and extended haul time.
EXPAND PLANT MARKET REACH: Superior coating of the mix and haul-time performance allows for expansion of your plant’s geographic reach.
ENHANCES REPUTATION: Improves company reputation from reduction of road degradation.
IMPROVED MIX WORKABILITY: Example: Grade bumping (with latex). Grade-bumping custom designs.
A MUST FOR PARALLEL FLOW DRUMS: Increases RAP, less blue smoke.
TThis is the time of year when many asphalt producers are completing the shoring up of equipment and routine maintenance around the plant and/or quarry. The teams at Stavola Companies, Tinton Falls, New Jersey, and Kenco Engineering Inc., Roseville, California, have worked together over the years to make the most of seasonal downtime to get long wear life from plant components as well as auxiliary equipment.
Let’s start with a look at the vertically integrated contractor with multiple sites, which, like yours, require uptime for optimum efficiency.
The group began in 1948 as Stavola Contracting Co. with the sons of Joseph and Carmela Stavola. The company has grown into mul-
tiple divisions since then, expanding into asphalt production, quarries, recycling and contracting. Stavola Asphalt Company offers mix designs required by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and New York Department of Transportation (NYDOT) as well as a full line of hot-mix asphalt (HMA), warm-mix asphalt (WMA) and specialty mixes from eight plants throughout the area. Its Bridgwater and Tinton Falls facilities contain one of New Jersey’s largest drums and batch plants, according to the company’s website. Stavola Construction Materials Co. Inc. offers from four quarries crushed stone, sand, gravel, fill materials, rip rap and jetty stone; its aggregates are approved by NJDOT and NYDOT. Stavola Recycled
Material has three facilities that are New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approved Class-B recycling plants. Stavola Contracting Company offers a full range of contracting services including earthwork, excavating, utility installation, milling and paving.
For the team at Stavola, maintenance time and activities have been reduced with tungsten carbide impregnated (TCI) wear strips strategically placed around the asphalt plant. While readers may be familiar with the idea of shoring up wheel loader buckets and other high-wear, off-highway equipment, extending a component’s life can be transferred to many areas around the asphalt plant, too. The team at Kenco created TCI wear plates and wear strips to assist in this concept. At this time, the TCI technology can be purchased as wear plate kits and as long bars/strips a mechanic or ground person can cut to fit to the component that needs reinforcement during downtime.
“We use them throughout our plants,” said John Demarzo, the operations manager south, for Stavola. “We put them on our loader buckets first, then we ventured into using them around the plants. We’re using them company-wide and in the recycling centers, in the crushers. We keep the Kenco bars in stock at different locations for winter maintenance projects.”
While the use of TCI wear strips has become commonplace around the Stavola facilities, the team had a custom project for Kenco in 2023.
“Kenco reverse-engineered a 1972 pugmill we had and could no longer get parts on,” Demarzo said. “It took about six to eight months to get carbide on the liners, arms, tips.”
Here’s how that project happened for the Tinton Falls site.
Jim Alexander, the regional sales manager at Kenco, was first shown pictures of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts back in 2014. “At that time the supply chain for those parts was still viable,” he said. “Inquiries for those parts continued, but the tooling costs were disproportionate to a viable sales price.”
By 2023, the supply was no longer available, and Stavola had to find a new source for parts or replace two productive plants. Demarzo reached out to Kenco. “With no other options, we decided to revisit the project.”
Brian Handshoe, who was vice president of Kenco at the time, and Keith Gramcko, who is Kenco’s engineer, flew to New Jersey to visit the Tinton Falls asphalt plant and evaluate the scope of the project. The good news is that the TCI end liners needed for the project were a part previously made for other customers; they could be incorporated into the pugmill project fairly easily. Other components would take some creativity.
“The thrust of the project was reverse engineering the primarily cast parts that would have previously required expensive tooling,” Alexander shared. The patterns, molds and casting normally made for high-volume parts had to be fabricated in a small batch environment—preferably without the high front-end costs of assembling molds and castings.
“John and I went through all remaining inventory that Stavola had on hand, and labeled and shipped a sample of one each of the needed parts to Roseville for design.” That came out to more than 40 individual items.
“Kenco incorporated its creative engineering, full fabrication and machine shops, as well as its tungsten carbide process to improve the wear life of the finished product,” Alexander explained.
“Regarding the complexity of this project, it pushed new boundaries,” he continued. “Engineering applied techniques for solid model printing to make scale models of challenging parts. They then used computer technology previously unused by Kenco to make small batch parts. The end result was replacing the original OEM shank, shroud and tip assemblies with Kenco-designed, fabricated assemblies. The finished assembly from Kenco weighed around 750 pounds each.”
“Kenco fabricated the belly liners, end liners and gate liners with our TC process,” Alexander said. “It had already proven itself in other locations at the plants and with Stavola, so it was a natural fit. Also, by designing with TC and fabrication we could avoid the cost of patterns and castings which would have made the project too costly.”
Installation was ongoing during the 2023 season as the plants were running continuously through the season. “Therefore, Stavola is installing parts as needed,” Alexander said. “Our engineering team made the parts one-to-one interchangeable so the whole plant did not need to be disassembled and rebuilt at once. Another cost savings.”
Of course, not every project requires reverse engineering obsolete parts. Producers who are looking to reinforce existing components with TCI plates or strips can schedule that kind of project in the same window they would schedule other repairs. Demarzo shared that the different technology doesn’t take an extra time commitment, saying the process may require the “[s]ame time, if not
easier as parts are studded or bolt-in.” He continued, saying if wear plates are installed in new plants, the structure never gets compromised; therefore, continuing to ease maintenance.
Alexander explained, depending on the age and condition of the plant, preventive action can be taken in the beginning to keep future maintenance to a minimum. He offered some examples where TCI strips offer preventive action, starting with the RAP collar: “If the structure is compromised, then repairing the collar would be roughly the same as adding wear components during the repair. Kenco can help pre-plan and design parts to integrate repair and extend life in the same labor cycle.”
Discharge flights offer their own intricacies. “If installed in a new drum, life can be many times greater than OEM styles,” Alexander said. “This reduces many maintenance cycles that involve chipping the drum to allow for adjustment or replacement—sometimes multiple times in the same season. This is where the extended life of discharge flights can create secondary wear areas that can go unnoticed, such as the outer support ring. Prepping for replacement or adjustment is the biggest challenge; chipping and cleaning the discharge area is far more labor intensive than repair or replace. The life of Kenco’s discharge flights prevents the multiple chipping cycles.”
Demarzo and Alexander have worked together since 2003. When the Stavola team has areas that need attention, they turn to their
Here we see the finished pugmill shank and tip assemblies, weighing about 750 pounds each. Jim Alexander explained Kenco replaced the original OEM shank, shroud and tip assemblies with Kenco-designed, fabricated assemblies.
reps at Kenco for advice. “They’ll tell us what a solution is for that,” Demarzo said.
“I personally established a relationship with Stavola in 2003 making sales calls in a new territory,” Alexander said. “This has grown to a remarkable relationship over those 20 years to develop the trust between the two companies to take on this project and continue to grow our relationship. Many of the management personnel I deal with today started on the ground in these plants and I was the new guy to the area.
Guys like John [Demarzo] and Jason [Rivenburg] came up through the ranks as I did with Kenco. The relationship has grown out of trust and performance. If Kenco took on a project, they stood behind it through completion.”
Over the years, the Stavola team has been saving maintenance time and manhours by adding to the strength and life of components.
The team at Kenco provided the list below of applications in which Stavola has used (or is using) TCI in their asphalt plants. These are some of the areas a producer could gain extended life or maintenance efficiency when using wear plating or wear strips.
• Discharge flights – Most drum plants
• TC gate repair bar – Oldbridge
• TC end liners in H&B pugmill – Oldbridge
• TC feed chute – Boundbrook
• TC recycle collar scrapers and scoops – Boundbrook
• TC wear bar kit for flop gate – Tinton Falls
• TC wear bar at all asphalt plants used at the operator's discretion
These are the general uses. Some of these applications have been in use for many years, and others are just being introduced.
BY SARAH REDOHL
SSurrounded by the vast prairies, rolling plains and fertile farmlands that pepper eastern South Dakota is the intersection of highways 14 and 81, just a couple miles south of the community of Arlington.
Joe Gilsdorf, project estimator for Bowes Construction, Brookings, characterized Highway 14 as “your standard rural South Dakota highway,” accommodating both daily commuters to nearby Brookings and recreational visitors drawn to local lakes and hunting areas. “It’s also a heavy agricultural corridor, so there are a lot of trucks running with grain, cattle, etc.”
Highway 14 runs north-south out of Arlington before cutting east-west at Bangor Township, where Highway 81 meets 14 at a 45-degree angle in the middle of that 90-degree turn. “Highway 14 was a four-lane divided highway with a divided median, which didn’t leave the trucks with a whole lot of space,” Gilsdorf said. “If a truck had to sit in the median to make a left handed turn to head north to Arlington, they were kind of sitting in the eastbound lane a bit.”
That’s why the South Dakota Department of Transportation decided to replace the divided median with a paved median, readjust the grade for a ¾-mile section of Highway 14 and realign Highway 81 leading into the curve. In addition to the realignment, the DOT decided it was time to rehabilitate roughly one mile of Highway 14 on each side of the realigned curve. “The existing roadway was starting to get rough,” Gilsdorf said. “There were areas where the state had patched the lanes several times over.”
The state opted for rubblization, which fractures the underlying concrete into small pieces (usually 2 to 6 inches) before applying an asphalt overlay. “Breaking up the concrete aims to reduce any reflective cracking that could come up through the asphalt,” Gilsdorf said. “By rubblizing the concrete, you’re basically turning it into gravel that can be rolled to lock together just like any other base material.” The process was selected for its cost-effectiveness as a result of recycling the existing road materials.
“I think the driver of this project was the realignment with 81, but [rubblization and paving an asphalt overlay] also provided a way to improve the condition of the road while we were at it,” Gilsdorf said.
Bowes produced the mix for this project from its batch plant near Brookings. The project required 39,556 tons of Q3R HMA.
Bowes Construction bid on the Highway 14 project in October 2022. “What caught our eye was that this was a multi-faceted project that used many of our different divisions from crushing and grading all the way up to asphalt,” Gilsdorf said. “That, and it was a pretty significant asphalt paving project.”
Bowes started work on the project in April 2023. It moved all traffic head-to-head onto Highway 14’s eastbound lanes and began milling the asphalt off the existing westbound lanes. “The plans called for 4 inches of milling, but there were some sections where the asphalt was 6 to 7 inches thick because of the amount of patching that had been done out there,” Gilsdorf said.
We’ve been designing and manufacturing custom mixing solutions in Tennessee for nearly 40
The company set up a stockpile site near the project for the asphalt millings for later use as base course on the realignment portion of the project. The remainder of the millings went back to Bowes’ batch plant in Brookings to be used for the asphalt overlay. “South Dakota DOT projects like this specify that the millings coming off the project have to be reused in the material you produce,” Gilsdorf said. “You can't use RAP out of an existing stockpile that you may have already had; we have to use the RAP that comes off the job.”
After the asphalt had been milled on the westbound lanes, Bowes used a concrete breaker to break up the concrete along the ¾-mile curved section that was to be realigned, then removed the concrete before undercutting, regrading and compacting the curve. “Then, we brought in a crusher to crush the asphalt millings in our stockpiles and then we blended those into a base course on the newly graded section,” Gilsdorf said.
On each side of the newly realigned section, Bowes’ subcontractor, Antigo Construction, Antigo, Wisconsin, came in to rubblize the existing concrete. “Having never done rubblization before, I really leaned on the expertise of Antigo,” Gilsdorf said.
“One aspect that made this project unique for us was that it was the first rubblization project our company has ever done,” Gilsdorf said. Although this made the project exciting, it also presented a bit of a learning curve. “We weren’t exactly sure how the paving was going to go.”
“We were concerned that concrete chunks might cut through that lower lift,” Gilsdorf said. The original specs on the project called for 1 ½ inch lower lift and a 2 ½ inch upper lift. “We worked with the state to change the cross section to two 2-inch lifts, because we thought a 2-inch lower lift would create less opportunity to pick up a chunk of that concrete and drag it under the screed.”
The project also specified rolling the rubblized material with a large steel-drum roller before paving. Bowes opted to do this twice, the second time immediately prior to paving to compact any material that might have been loosened up by the belly dump trucks delivering material for the pickup machine.
Even with these changes, “we had to be prepared to pick up the screed in order to meet our efficiencies if we had issues with drag,” Gilsdorf said. “Thankfully, we didn’t have any issues with that so the change proved successful.”
To ensure densities were achieved, Bowes Construction— with the help of Forester Testing—utilized a nuclear density gauge to immediately test density behind the rollers.
“That way, we had real-time insight on where we were at and could change our processes if needed,” Gilsdorf said. “Ultimately,
we never had any issues reaching our densities, but we were certainly prepared to adjust rolling patterns as needed.”
Ultimately, Gilsdorf said the company went into its first rubblization project as prepared as possible and ready to make adjustments as needed. “With a lot of preemptive planning, looking at the processes and thinking through potential causes and effects, we had solutions for what we thought our challenges might be before we even got started,” he added.
Another challenge the crew faced was tying together the asphalt overlays for the regraded section and rubblized section. Bowes Construction had to be very strategic with each lane pull, as the regraded portion called for an initial 5-inch lift, and the rubblized needed an initial 2-inch lift. This required different pull sequencing so the final 2-inch lift could be paved in continuity. “It really came down to sequencing each lift with the paver,” Gilsdorf said.
Once all paving was complete on the westbound lanes in August 2023, Bowes had to repeat the entire process on the eastbound lanes—with the additional challenge of allowing traffic from Highway 81 to cross the eastbound lanes to the completed westbound lanes that were now carrying dual direction traffic.
“We couldn’t shut down that 81 intersection because we were working on this project in the middle of harvest season and that’s a very busy intersection for that agricultural traffic,” Gilsdorf said. The solution was to ready the new tie-in then build an efficient diversion to move traffic off of Highway 81 to the westbound lanes of Highway 14—and plenty of flagging.
“Thankfully, because we had already done the westbound, the eastbound ran a bit smoother because we’d just done the same thing on the westbound,” Gilsdorf said. “Even though we had that traffic to deal with, we were able to make it work.”
The company was also concerned with achieving rideability on the project, given that it wasn’t able to use the automatics on its Cat 1055 paver for the first lift on the rubblization section. “The rubblized concrete won’t necessarily be uniform in elevation,” Gilsdorf said. “It’s not like the graded sections where you come through with your
“THE DRIVER OF THIS PROJECT WAS THE REALIGNMENT WITH 81, BUT [RUBBLIZATION AND PAVING AN ASPHALT OVERLAY] ALSO PROVIDED A WAY TO IMPROVE THE CONDITION OF THE ROAD WHILE WE WERE AT IT.”—JOE GILSDORF
grading equipment and it’s all uniform. You have variances throughout the entire rubblized section that make it more of a challenge.”
Given the realities of that first lift on rubblized concrete, Gilsdorf said the first lift of asphalt “gets you coverage and density and provides a good base for the second lift.” However, the South Dakota ride spec is based on the number of attempts the contractor has to achieve the ride spec.
“When you have two lifts, the DOT considers that a two-pass opportunity and with three lifts, that’s considered a three-pass opportunity,” Gilsdorf said. “The first lift on this project really only covered the rubblized concrete, which meant we only had one opportunity to meet the ride spec using our automatics on the paver during the second lift, but we were held to a two-pass opportunity on the job spec.”
However, Bowes’ crew was able to achieve an average IRI of 45.0 on the project. “We met all the state ride specs and achieved a ride incentive bonus,” Gilsdorf said. In addition to meeting or exceeding the DOT’s specs, those driving the road seem to be pleased.
Since Bowes completed the project Oct. 27, 2023, “we’ve heard from some local farmers and truck drivers who have said how much better the intersection is now,” Gilsdorf said. “By widening that [curve] with the paved median, it’s easier to make that left handed turn north on 14. Those changes have made it a much safer intersection for the traveling public.”
FFor the 2024 installment of the National Pavement Expo (NPE), industry professionals gathered in warm and sunny Tampa, Florida, for three days of education overlapping two days of equipment and services displays. A pirate-themed party along the waterfront offered extra networking time and themed morning huddles gave attendees opportunities to discuss and solve pain points involving striping and pavement markings, sales, business operations, pavement preservation, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the back office and beyond. New this year was a striping competition with prizes for the first-place winner and runner-up from Graco Inc.
Also new this year, the education programming featured 80% new presentations and 59% new speakers, with a new track devoted to technology. But the show staff didn’t lose track of the topics of paving, employee management, business operations, striping, sales and so on that attendees were looking forward to from years past.
“Our newly revamped 2024 conference program brought attendees valuable, actionable insights that they can apply directly to their businesses and careers,” Show Director Morgan Wilson said. “This year’s education delivered attendees not only brand-new content, but also a diverse lineup of influential speakers, experts and thought leaders, offering attendees a chance to connect with the best in the field. NPE 2024 debuted our newest learning track focused on technology, as well as a variety of trending and emerging topics. Our speakers reported that the attendees in their sessions were very engaged, asking lots of questions, and actively participating in conversations; this is an excellent indication that the information delivered in our 2024 conference program resonated with attendees.”
Beyond the education sessions, attendees flocked to the tradeshow floor to ensure they could purchase equipment and products to use for the 2024 construction season. “The traffic on the show floor was excellent. We always enjoy meeting with readers and equipment manufacturers,” AsphaltPro Publisher Chris Harrison said. “We had paving consultant John Ball in our booth for our popular ‘Ask the Expert’ series, and he stayed busy talking to visitors and answering questions while a steady stream of attendees buzzed around the show floor.”
Wilson described the atmosphere of the entire experience. “The energy we saw this year was electric. We are always impressed by the dedication of these paving and pavement maintenance professionals, and their commitment to the industry. Attendees were eager to explore new products, services and innovations and had a curiosity to learn about the latest trends, technologies and solutions in their field driving them to visit different booths, engage with exhibitors and attend educational sessions. The Tampa location was a perfect place for attendees to network with peers, potential clients and
business partners, especially during our NPE Party on the Riverwalk. We couldn’t ask for a better backdrop to host this year’s show.”
Next year’s venue remains in sunny Tampa, Florida, conveniently near the Tampa International Airport, but the dates have shifted two weeks earlier in the month. The NPE website states: “It has been brought to our attention that another industry event booked identical dates to our 2025 show. While our dates have been booked since Fall 2022, we must remain focused on our #1 goal of producing an event that connects buyers and vendors, presents impactful education, and facilitates networking. It’s the reason our show exists! Having two industry events running con-
currently ultimately affects your bottom line and unfairly forces decisions that result in lost opportunities. Because of this, we have worked with our facility partners and were able to negotiate a change of dates for the 2025 show. As facilities are booked years in advance, we were extremely fortunate to have this option to change our timing. We will be moving our show dates to Jan. 15-17, remaining in Tampa. NPE has served the paving and pavement maintenance industries for over three decades and looks forward to continuing for many more to come. Our commitment to bringing the community together is unwavering and we value your participation and support.”
Asphalt Materials is committed to paving the way to a more sustainable future. Our innovative products deliver economical, trusted and proven solutions for laying down durable roadways that last.
From pavement preservation products that effectively extend pavement life to implementing recycled asphalt material, we protect our roadways and the driving public as well as the environment while helping you maintain your bottom line.
WWith each iteration of the World of Asphalt (WOA) and AGG1 tradeshow and conference, the asphalt and affiliated industries see new technologies, enhanced business ideas and updated best practices. The 2024 installment of WOA and AGG1, to be held March 25-27 in Nashville, will have over 400 exhibitors sharing tried and tested—as well as new—iron and tech with attendees.
If you haven’t attended this co-located pair of events, you’re in for a treat. Let’s start with a quick-n-dirty snapshot, as stated on the WOA website: “World of Asphalt Show & Conference focuses exclusively on the asphalt industry as its leading exposition and education resource. World of Asphalt features in-depth industry-focused educational programming and comprehensive exhibits that showcase the latest technologies and innovations in asphalt-related equipment, products, and services. The World of Asphalt Show & Conference is co-located with NSSGA's AGG1 Academy & Expo, providing an enhanced show experience for attendees by offering additional exhibits and education opportunities.”
The combined show happens every year that our industry doesn’t experience a CONEXPO-CON/AGG tradeshow and conference out in Las Vegas and it targets asphalt, highway/street, pavement maintenance and traffic safety industry professionals like the readers of AsphaltPro. The show’s owners are the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), and the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA), with AEM producing the show.
Attribution-NoDerivs
AEM states that over 11,000 visitors come from across the United States, as well as worldwide, to attend. According to AEM, this year, WOA exhibits are set to offer a broad array of the newest products, technologies and services in areas including:
• Asphalt production and recycling equipment
• Road-building machinery
• Pavement maintenance equipment
• Soil stabilizers
• Information technology
• Chemical and petroleum products
• Pollution control
• Testing equipment
• Work zone safety and traffic management
• Trucks and trailers
This month, AsphaltPro staff have gathered information from those exhibitors who are also advertising partners with us to give you a snapshot of what to expect at the show. Not everyone had all the details lined up at press time, but the 40,000-foot-view for some exhibitor booths still suggested WOA/AGG1 2024 will help you gear up for a successful production and paving season.
In alphabetical order, the companies that support this publication, thus your industry, will display the following information and iron at the Music City Center, located at 201 Rep. John Lewis Way S., in Nashville. Make sure they’re on your dance card and let them know you saw them in AsphaltPro Magazine when you stop by to learn from their representatives, CEOs and sales teams.
WOA Show Hours
Monday & Tuesday, March 25-26
9 a.m.—5 p.m.
Wednesday, March 27
9 a.m.—2 p.m.
While there are over 400 exhibitors between the WOA and AGG1 show floors, a select group of them have partnered with AsphaltPro Magazine to ensure you have a leading source of quality content and information all year long. Those exhibitors are listed below to make them easier for you to target when you get to the event. Please let them know you saw them in our pages and please thank them for supporting a news and information source that supports your industry.
Ammann America Inc., located in Davie, Florida, is the North American subsidiary of Ammann, headquartered in Langenthal, Switzerland. The family-owned business supplies plants, machines and services to the construction industry with core expertise in road building and transportation infrastructure. When you stop by booth 1516, ask about rollers, vibratory plates and the new electric tampers for asphalt paving, as well as asphalt plants, plant controls and technology for mix production.
Asphalt Drum Mixers Inc., Huntertown, Indiana, provides asphalt plants and components to help contractors and asphalt producers grow their businesses. ADM manufactures four series of continuous-flow asphalt plants, ranging from 60-425 tons per hour and available in portable, skid-mounted or relocatable versions. When you stop by booth 2429, ask about the EX 7636 counterflow, featured in the January issue of AsphaltPro.
Asphalt Materials Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, formed in 1956, focuses on the formulation, manufacture, and research and development of asphalt binders and emulsions. The company works closely with The Heritage Research Group team to ensure high quality asphalt materials and processes are brought to market. When you stop by booth 2616, ask
about cold mix, emulsions, polymer-modified asphalt and testing/technology.
AsphaltPro Magazine, headquartered in Fayette, Missouri, is a family-owned publication centered on providing actionable content for the asphalt industry. The magazine staff originated the technical, how-to editorial
style for asphalt producers, contractors, designers and suppliers to run their operations in a safer, more profitable manner. Stop by to grab a magazine while supplies last and ask about our back-to-basics, Asphalt Paving 101 online paving training course.
Astec Industries, Chattanooga, provides innovative Rock to Road™ solutions since 1972, specializing in equipment for asphalt
road building and aggregate processing. When you stop by booth 1263, ask about the NTEP certified portable self-erecting surge silo (SESS).
Blaw-Knox offers over 75 years of paving technology to enhance your mat quality. Stop in to ask about the new Blaw-Knox PF-7110B tracked paver.
BOMAG—2731
For more than 60 years, BOMAG Americas Inc., Ridgeway, South Carolina, has offered innovations in compaction equipment, paving, milling, recycling/stabilizing and landfill compacting machines. When you stop by booth 2731, ask about the Ion dust shield for milling machines.
BROCK—1043
BROCK provides customized equipment, manufactured parts, purchase parts, and onsite services for HMA plants. BROCK has also supplied customized equipment and parts for aggregate processing plants and other related segments of the construction equipment industry. When you stop by booth 1043, visit with a host of industry professionals.
Buffalo Turbine has been manufacturing turbine style blowers since 1945. These turbine units are being used worldwide in a va-
riety of applications. Popular applications include golf/turf, paving contractors, solar farms, poultry barns, airports, racetracks and many more.
Colorbiotics will be focusing on a new product that’s just hit the market: Invigorate® warm mix. When you stop by booth 2658, ask about using Invigorate at a 1% dosage rate with 40% RAP. The product is EPD verified and experts will be on hand to talk about IDEAL-CT testing and more.
Command Alkon will be hosting a press conference about the next evolution of its technology platform, Command Cloud, and its digital transformation roadmap for the aggregates and asphalt markets. When you stop by booth 1941, ask about the demo schedule for Apex, Apex Automation, Libra drum controls, Libra batch/loadout and more.
For over 35 years, CWMF, headquartered in Minnesota, has been offering custom asphalt plant equipment, parts, and service. When you stop by booth 1665, ask about the company’s AC tanks/accessories, baghouses, belt conveyors, drum mixers, dust control solutions, feed bin systems, RAP crusher systems, scalping screens, and storage silos.
Dynapac North America, Fort Mill, South Carolina, features administrative, customer support, and parts distribution facilities for soil and asphalt rollers, compact equipment, pavers, and feeders. When you stop by booth 2549, ask about the use of SEISMIC technology for asphalt rollers.
Eagle Crusher Company Inc., offers a complete line of heavy-duty impact crushers, portable crushing and screening plants, jaw crushers, cone crushers, hammermills and conveyors for the concrete, asphalt, aggregate and recycle markets. When you stop by booth 1931, ask about the new Eagle Crusher MaxRap® 25 Portable.
Gencor designs, engineers, and manufactures complete stationary and portable drum mix, batch plants, and components up to 700 TPH and more.
HaulHub, based in Boston, offers software and tech to streamline your asphalt operations.
Innoplast Inc., Garfield Heights, Ohio, makes products for vehicle, parking lot and facility protection. When you stop by booth 3343, ask about the BollardGard post covers to improve visibility and safety while reducing maintenance costs.
Kenco alloys and TCI products are designed to extend wear life and reduce downtime in all the processing phases of the asphalt and aggregate lifecycle.
Meeker Equipment Company Inc., Belleville, Pennsylvania, provides turnkey or modified turnkey solutions to producers: making, installing, and starting up equipment as part of a total project investment. When you stop by booth 2063, ask about the Freedom Air Series reverse air baghouse, the Liquid Vision tank valve control and level system, and the Patriot hot oil heater.
Pavewise Inc., Bismarck, North Dakota, offers artificial intelligence and data systems
to improve your paving and quality control processes.
Process Heating Company Inc., Seattle, is focused on improving overall production from cost, maintenance and product quality perspectives. When you stop by booth 3202, watch the unique animated videos showing how PHCo’s products work, illustrating what sets the company’s Lo-Density® drywell-style electric heat apart from fossil-fuel burners.
Raised on Blacktop, Danbury, Connecticut, is a marketing and merchandising asphalt industry lifestyle brand. Check out the related article starting on page 24 of this issue.
As a single-source supplier, Reliable Asphalt provides high quality new and used asphalt equipment. When you stop by booth 1901, ask about the Vulcan burner and new developments in controls.
Stansteel-Hotmix Parts & Service will showcase its Look, Lock ’n Load safety loadout truck recognition system at the show, along with Accu-Track, Accu-Level, Tank Tracker, Tank Manager and more at the booth. When you stop by booth 2501, ask how Stansteel-Hotmix Parts can help you control your entire HMA plant with one user-friendly, automated system.
Tarmac International Inc. is a capital equipment manufacturer of asphalt plants and aggregate drying plants specializing in complete systems with control packages.
TransTech Systems Inc will showcase its non-nuclear density gauge, the pavement quality indicator (PQI), which is designed to offer precise asphalt pavement density measurement almost instantly without the hassle of nuclear gauge regulatory training and certification.
WEILER—2349
Weiler offers equipment for heavy highway, commercial paving and quarry markets,
including MTVs, commercial pavers, road wideners, the S200 soil stabilizer and more. When you stop by booth 2349, check out more than a dozen pieces of iron.
With its different brands, the Wirtgen Group and John Deere cover the entire road construction process chain: processing, mixing, paving, compacting and rehabilitating. When you stop by booth
1555, ask about the new compact milling machine from Wirtgen and check out the electric offerings from the company.
Women of Asphalt is a national coalition supporting women in all aspects of the asphalt industry through mentoring, education, and advocacy, and by encouraging women to seek careers in the asphalt industry.
As we step into spring of 2024 and gear up for construction season startup in many parts of North America, equipment purchases and management of the fleets those machines join, reach a frenzied state. It’s time to fish or cut bait, as my grandfather would say.
With tradeshows like the National Pavement Expo (NPE), the American Rental Association (ARA) show and World of Asphalt (WOA) offering members of our industry education as well as a look at original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and distributor offerings, options can get overwhelming. The smart fleet management market is growing right alongside the iron. In fact, Sudeep Kedar of Global Market Insights Inc. prepared the following article about that growth for us before we dive into this month’s quick look at paving and pavement maintenance products.
The smart fleet management market is set to grow from its current market value of more than $65.8 billion to over $141.1 billion by 2032; as reported in the latest study by Global Market Insights Inc.
Businesses seek operational efficiency and cost savings, fostering a growing reliance on smart solutions. The integration of advanced connectivity technologies, including Internat of Things (IoT) and telematics, will propel real-time monitoring and analytics, shaping a dynamic landscape for the smart fleet management industry. This synergy of intelligent solutions and connectivity advancements aligns with the industry's evolving needs and significantly contributes to market expansion.
For instance, in 2023, JLG Industries, unveiled a preview of its ClearSky Smart Fleet™. This advanced IoT platform offers twoway fleet management and machine interactivity.
The overall smart fleet management market is segregated based on type of component, transport mode, and region.
The software segment will achieve a remarkable market share by 2032, attributed to the increasing importance of data-driven insights and connectivity. As the demand for real-time monitoring and analytics surges, fleet operators are inclined toward advanced software solutions. These enable efficient route planning, maintenance scheduling, and overall performance optimization. With a focus on leveraging technology for streamlined operations, the software segment will stand out as a leading contributor to the ever-evolving landscape of the smart fleet management industry.
The industry size of the airways segment will garner substantial gains through 2032, owing to the aviation industry’s emphasis on operational efficiency and safety.
Asia-Pacific smart fleet management market will expand at a notable CAGR during 2023 and 2032, driven by a convergence of factors such as rapid urbanization, increasing commercial activities and technological adoption. The dynamic business land-
scape and a growing emphasis on operational efficiency fuel the demand for smart fleet solutions across APAC. With a burgeoning fleet ecosystem and a keen focus on advanced technologies, Asia-Pacific will emerge as a pivotal force in shaping the smart fleet management market, reflecting the region's commitment to harnessing innovative solutions for enhanced transportation and logistics efficiency.
For more information, visit, https://www.gminsights.com/ industry-analysis/smart-fleet-management-market
Ammann, Langenthal, Switzerland, offers its new light tandem roller with "petrol” power and side-free drums to enable compaction in tight job sites. The Ammann ARX 10.1 StV uses the Honda GX630 (15.5 kW / 21HP) engine, to meet the latest EU Stage V/U.S. EPA Phase III emission regulations. The engine is more compact than its diesel counterpart. The smaller size enables positioning that allows cooling from all sides, helping the machine to perform in hot ambient temperatures.
Beyond size, the use of petrol brings several other advantages, including the typically lower cost of gasoline versus diesel and there being no need for a diesel particulate filter (DPF).
This all-new compactor is the first in a line of Ammann light tandem rollers with gas engines that meet EU Stage V and U.S. EPA Phase III emissions standards.
The Ammann ARX10.1 StV incorporates uniquely designed drum consoles installed from a single side. This innovation is known as “side-free drums.” The drums are support-free on the operator’s right side. This allows compaction work on the tightest of job sites. Drum working widths are 35.4 inches and drums are installed in-line.
The front drum is equipped with a vibratory system capable of delivering 16.4kN @ 76 Hz of compaction power. The rear drum is static and has no vibratory unit. The pressurized water sprinkling system has a tank capacity of 29.1 gallons. An interval water flow regulation mechanism, controlled by the operator, ensures optimal water flow and extends sprinkling time. A two-stage filtration system (water inlet and central filter) is easy to reach and can be cleaned without draining the tank, according to the manufacturer.
The compactor is essential for use on small repair works in city centres, malls and business areas, cycle paths and other applications.
For more information, reach out to Ammann.
BOMAG Americas, Ridgeway, South Carolina, has announced that McCann Industries Inc. has signed as a new full-line equipment dealer. From the company’s Addison, Illinois, headquarters—plus multiple branch locations in Illinois and northwest Indiana—McCann provides its customers with sales, rental, service and parts support for the full BOMAG product line throughout northeastern Illinois and the greater Chicagoland market area, which includes counties in northwest Indiana.
McCann has supported contractors for more than 55 years. A win for contractors in the region, McCann now combines its philosophy of maximizing machine uptime with BOMAG’s extensive line of light equipment, complete range of asphalt paving, compaction and milling equipment, and market leading soil compaction equipment and technology.
For more information, visit www.McCannOnline.com
Cooper Equipment Rentals Limited, Toronto, Ontario, announced an exclusive partnership with Brickeye, a construction technology company focused on risk mitigation applications. This collaboration makes Cooper the sole rental provider of LumiNode and LumiSense systems for ambient monitoring applications across Canada.
LumiNode and LumiSense products are remote monitoring devices, tracking ambient temperature and humidity on construction job sites. These tools are designed to allow contractors to maintain optimal conditions for various applications.
Dynapac North America welcomed Monroe Tractor as a dealer partner in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island at the end of 2023. Monroe Tractor will provide sales, rental, parts and service for soil rollers, small tandem rollers and light compaction equipment in those states from their three branches in the marketplace.
For more information, visit https://dynapac.com/us-en/.
Road Widener, Delafield, Wisconsin, offers the curb backfiller accessory for the FH-R material placement attachment. The accessory extends to the left or right of the FH-R and is designed to precisely dispense material over the curb to backfill with dirt or aggregate.
Paired with the FH-R, the curb backfiller boosts efficiency, accuracy and safety by replacing a backfilling method typically done manually by workers with shovels. Crew members can operate it with the original FH-R remote.
The curb backfiller attaches to the FH-R and can fill on the righthand side by default, or the left, with dual configuration. The curb backfiller accessory eliminates the need for street sweepers. Contractors can accomplish more with their host machine without having to haul in additional, heavy equipment. Furthermore, the accessory keeps new curbs intact with a protective wheel that prevents the accessory from scraping against the curb, providing not only a better backfill, but also a longer curb life.
SAKAI America Inc. has expanded distribution in the Rocky Mountains with Double Edge Equipment as the official asphalt roller and soil compactor dealer for Idaho and Montana.
“We’ve had experience with SAKAI rollers in the past in our used machine fleet and were always impressed with their durability and simplicity,” said Caleb Colborn, owner of Double Edge Equipment. “Now offering new SAKAI equipment and becoming the servicing dealer will give us an edge on our mission: to provide value and service that our customers can depend on and trust.”
SAKAI rollers are available to order through Double Edge Equipment immediately.
Western Global, Troy, Michigan, announced enhancements to its FuelCube on-site fuel tank. The revamped FuelCube offers several new features, such as four-way forklift pockets, an improved lid, built-in emergency vent and lighter-weight design. The two smallest sizes can also now be transported around a garage or smaller work environment with a pallet jack when empty. The FuelCube is offered in four sizes to match jobsite capacity requirements and is designed for stationary applications.
The FuelCube’s improved lid offers an attached leash to improve product reliability. For safety, it features a flange with a vent on top of the FuelCube that meets enhanced venting requirements without using accessory ports, leaving them open for telematics or other customer accessories.
The FuelCube now offers convenient four-way forklift pockets that allow it to be moved around the work area with a forklift when empty. The new design uses less metal than the previous model, making the 250- and 500-gallon versions light enough to be relocated with a pallet jack. This also means the new FuelCube uses less trailer weight.
The upgraded FuelCube comes in 250-, 500-, 1,000- and 1,800-gallon sizes. Its 110% double-walled containment eliminates the need for a secondary basin and can result in significant savings over the life of the tank, according to the manufacturer. The FuelCube also offers a removable inner tank for efficient cleaning and inspection.
of Women of Asphalt, you are joining an organization which strives to advance and support women in the asphalt industry.
THERE IS NO COST TO JOIN and invaluable benefits to be had, including connecting with women around the country working in various positions within the asphalt community, mentoring programs, networking events within your state and at World of Asphalt, and employment leads.
Go to womenofasphalt.org for more information and to register to become a member
Striving to advance and support women in the asphalt industry. Membership is FREE and open to all.
womenofasphalt.org
The W 150 Fi compact milling machine leads the field of sustainable solutions from the Wirtgen Group at this year’s World of Asphalt show in Nashville. The Wirtgen Group will be presenting a cross section of sustainable technologies for the entire road construction process. In addition to the 13 exhibits, the highlights at booth 1555, shared by the Wirtgen Group and John Deere, include a special presentation of the operations center for construction machines.
Among the machine premieres for the North American market is the compact milling machine. It has a milling width of up to 6 feet. Thanks to the environmentally friendly engine technology from John Deere and digital assistance and leveling systems, the new machine delivers higher milling performance with lower fuel consumption, according to the manufacturer.
Also at the booth, Hamm will display the HD+ 120i VIO-2 HF, which is an articulated tandem roller conceived especially for the American market. This model is equipped with two maintenance-free VIO drums that can work with a choice of either vibration or oscillation. Another highlight at the show is the battery-powered HD 12e VV electric tandem roller. For the materials processing sector, the Wirtgen Group is bringing the Kleemann MOBIREX MR 110i EVO2 impact crusher to Nashville, a machine that is often seen working together with the 744 P-Tier wheel loader from John Deere, which can also be seen at the show. Trade visitors to booth 1555 will have the chance to learn all about the state-of-the-art solutions from the Wirtgen Group in direct dialog with specialists from the respective product brands.
For more information, visit www.wirtgen-group.com
Yanmar celebrates 30 years of zero tail swing ViO excavators working safely in tight locations. The machines operate in tight spaces without fear of a rear collision with nearby buildings, vehicles or people. Although zero tail swing excavators are now a dominant part of the compact equipment market, the ViO is still leading the way 30 years later, according to the manufacturer.
It’s time to unleash your team’s productivity because…
Astec Digital is the leader in plant automation, telematics, and data management from Rock to Road and beyond. We are creating a platform to connect every piece of your operation and tear down the silos so that you can have the visibility and insights to improve efficiencies and reduce costs. Real-time data, increased control, and higher profits start here.
The future is connected: AstecDigital.com
and semi permanent release agents and coatings, drag slat cleaners, and extraction solvents. Designed to wor asphalt mix designs, inclu
We custom build our dispensing systems to meet each customers unique needs
Our asphalt release agents are state DOT-approved and NTPEP
All our proprietary asphalt products and equipment are proudly formulated and manufactured in the United States
Meyer is a full-service supplier with more than 75 service reps and numerous warehouses located across the United States We can serve any customer, anywhere and anytime
We
Our focus is meeting the needs of our customers
Arrange for an appointment today:
sales@meyerlab com
800-580-7677
Our service reps are always available for installation, repairs, and product delivery In short, we provide service where and when you need it - every time www.meyerlab.com
When Caden and Derek Andersen took over Andersen Asphalt, West Haven, Utah, in 2014, the pair of brothers already had more than a decade of experience with asphalt maintenance. “We’ve been helping with the family business since our grandfather started the company in the early 2000s,” Caden said.
Since the pair took over, Andersen Asphalt has grown by an estimated 30 to 50% year over year, primarily through the addition of new services. “For example, we started paving in 2018 and now it’s about 20% of the work we do,” Derek said. “The rest of it is natural growth, little by little, one year at a time.”
Today, Andersen Asphalt is a full-service asphalt paving and maintenance company. “We do crack sealing, seal coating, striping, asphalt repair and patching, mastic, asphalt paving and slurry and micro sealing,” Caden said.
Roughly 60% of Andersen Asphalt’s work is municipal, 20% commercial and 20% residential.
Despite the company’s growth with other specialties, the brothers have remained true to the company’s roots in asphalt maintenance. “[Asphalt maintenance] is about 80% of the work we do,” Derek said. However, the brothers have brought a spirit of innovation even to its bread and butter asphalt maintenance services.
“We’ve developed a unique process for spray-applied surface treatment,” Derek said. For example, the company cleans ahead of surface treatments by pressure washing the existing pavement.
Caden explained: “It’s very common to see sweeper trucks and blowers, even pressure washing by hand, which is effective but not really efficient.” That’s why Andersen Asphalt uses a 2,000-gallon
water truck the company outfitted with a high pressure spray bar on the front. “That allows one guy to clean the street spotless all by himself.”
The company is also highly selective with its applicator trucks, opting for those from Rayner Equipment Systems (RES), an Etnyre International Company. “They have a unique fogging system that allows us to wet the surface before we apply, as well as a 14foot spray bar so we’re able to get quadruple overlap with each tip,” Derek said. “Those trucks also have rate control systems so we can eliminate potential operator error and get precise coverage so we aren’t overshooting or undershooting what’s been specified. That’s very unique to Rayner.”
“With our preparation and application techniques, we’ve been able to see five to 10 years of extra life compared to the two or three years that’s pretty common in the industry,” Caden said. “And that’s what it’s all about.”
Alongside the company’s innovation in the field, Caden and Derek began to realize a new bottleneck to the continued growth of Andersen Asphalt: organizing data and workflow in the back office.
“These things weren’t an issue when we were a company of three or four employees 10 years ago and it was easy for us to maintain
“[COMMUNICATION WASN’T] AN ISSUE WHEN WE WERE A COMPANY OF THREE OR FOUR EMPLOYEES 10 YEARS AGO AND IT WAS EASY FOR US TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING ON. BUT AS WE’VE GROWN, OUR NEED TO BE MORE ORGANIZED, MORE EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE, AND TO OPTIMIZE EFFICIENCY HAS BECOME MORE IMPORTANT.”
—CADEN ANDERSEN
control of everything that was going on,” Caden said. “But as we’ve grown, our need to be more organized, more effectively communicate, and to optimize efficiency has become more important.”
About five years ago, the brothers began searching for a solution in the form of a single tool. “In that time, we’ve started and stopped at least five or six different solutions because none of them was able to do everything we were hoping for,” Derek said. “There are a lot of platforms out there where the functionality looked like it would work for us, but once we got under the hood, the features weren’t as useful as they looked.”
The biggest issue was finding a solution that supported the sheer variety of Andersen Asphalt’s services, that was simple to use, and was available at a reasonable price point for the 20-person company. “We’re in this sweet spot of being a small company that offers a lot of different services,” Derek said.
“It was particularly hard to find a platform that covered slurry sealing, in addition to asphalt paving and maintenance services,” Caden said. “It was possible to make different platforms work, but to have a platform that has [slurry sealing] built into its functionality is fairly unique.”
The brothers were trying to get away from forcing different platforms to work together.
“For years, we had separate mapping software, estimating software, scheduling software, etc. and we’d have to move our work orders and such manually from one software to the next,” Derek said. “We’d be transferring data several times over by the time we’d get to the end of a project.”
They were tired of wasting time on mundane tasks they felt could (and should) be automated. “It seemed no matter what platforms we tried, we couldn’t escape at least some of that manual data entry,” Derek said. “We were aggressively seeking something better.”
That’s when the company discovered Bitumio, Garden City, Utah, at the National Pavement Expo 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bitumio is an estimation software for asphalt paving and maintenance contractors that aims to improve efficiency and accuracy for job estimation, scheduling, customer management, job costing and crew communication.
“When we saw it, we thought it just might have everything we needed,” Caden said. But, they’d thought that for other platforms and
been proven wrong. Still, they decided to give it a try. “We implemented it last year,” Derek said. “It’s really eliminated many of those mundane tasks we’ve been dealing with over the past few years.”
In addition to lacking functionality for Andersen Asphalt’s scope of services, many of the other platforms the company had tried also lacked the simplicity of use Caden and Derek sought. “There were some platforms out there that did everything we needed them to do, but were so complex that it took years to really figure out how to use them well,” Derek said. “With Bitumio, we were able to get up and running quickly.”
They were able to learn how to best use the platform from Bitumio’s library of instructional videos and articles or else by contacting Bitumio customer support for direct assistance.
Even without the tutorials and customer service support, Caden said the platform’s simplicity of use sets it apart from the others they’d tried. “It’s pretty easy to hop in there and figure things out as you go because it’s just that simple to use,” he said. “And because it’s simple to use, it’s been simple to train new people how to use it, too.”
“To take full advantage of Bitumio, it’s important to understand your efficiency rates and set up the platform based on those specific rates,” Caden said. The brothers knew their efficiency rates well, but
it did take a couple weeks to get everything accurately set up within Bitumio. “That took us a little time, but now that it’s all set up, it runs smoothly and seamlessly.”
Bitumio also helped Andersen Asphalt understand its costs and bid accordingly. “If you don’t understand your costs, your bids aren’t going to be driven by the market,” Derek said. “Bitumio has confirmed that we were already pretty accurate,” Caden said, adding that the data provided by the platform has still helped them make additional adjustments to balance between profitability and competitiveness.
Today, Andersen Asphalt uses Bitumio for customer relationship management; creating, mapping, sending and following up on bids; and communicating job information to crew members.
“We’ve predefined all of our metrics on the back end—coverage rates, material costs, trucking costs, equipment costs, labor—so all
“FOR YEARS, WE HAD SEPARATE MAPPING SOFTWARE, ESTIMATING SOFTWARE, SCHEDULING SOFTWARE, ETC. AND WE’D HAVE TO MOVE OUR WORK ORDERS AND SUCH MANUALLY FROM ONE SOFTWARE TO THE NEXT. WE’D BE TRANSFERRING DATA SEVERAL TIMES OVER BY THE TIME WE’D GET TO THE END OF A PROJECT.”—DEREK ANDERSEN
of that is automatically calculated when we generate a proposal,” Derek said. “It’s taken a lot of time out of the estimating process.”
Bitumio has also simplified how contracts are processed. “Once a customer e-signs a contract via email, that project automatically goes into our system to be scheduled,” Caden said. “No more manually moving it from one platform to the next.”
In the past, Derek said he relied on thse company’s office manager for help using the scheduling software. “The old system was pretty tough to use and she just knew it so much better than me,” he said, “so I tended to stay away from the old system as much as I could. Now, with Bitumio, I feel confident navigating the scheduling on my own.”
Another feature the brothers appreciate is the automated notifications Bitumio sends out as a project moves from one stage to another. “We used to have to notify customers every step of the way,” Caden said. “If I forget to send a bid because things get really busy out in the field, the system reminds me. When a project is scheduled, the system lets the customer know.”
Bitumio also automatically generates work orders that are available to field crews via the Bitumio app, depending on the permissions set for each employee. “It used to be that we’d be getting texts every night with people asking what job they were on the next day, what’s the start time, etc.,” Caden said. The amount of texts wasn’t an issue when the company comprised a handful of employees 10 years ago; now that there are 20 to 25, it had become more of a challenge.
“When we got everyone set up with the Bitumio app, it’s almost like the lightswitch turned off and we stopped getting all those nightly texts because they could just refer to the app,” Derek said.
The app has also made it easier for the field to communicate with the back office. “They can take photos of the job, input job costs, material use, labor and submit that all to us in real time,” Derek said. “And all that information automatically syncs with the desktop version of the software [used in the office].”
Bitumio also pre-calculates travel time from the plant to the job site to automatically calculate trucking time and costs. “That’s a cool feature that removes a small task that nevertheless takes some amount of time,” Caden said.
One of the big changes that’s taken place since Caden and Derek Andersen took over Andersen Asphalt in 2014 was the addition of paving as a service in 2018. “Now it’s about 20% of the work we do,” Derek said.
While Bitumio has not completely changed the way Andersen Asphalt conducts business, all of the small things it simplifies has added up to major wins for the company. “It dummy-proofs our estimating and prevents us from underbidding or overbidding,” Caden said. The value of Bitumio, they say, has come in the form of many small wins every single day that add up to big wins for the company.
“Bitumio’s real value to us has been saving time on so many functions of our business,” Derek said. “It’s allowed us to operate more efficiently from A to Z. That’s really how Bitumio has helped us continue to grow.”
Introducing the nimble and powerful Roadtec RX-405 cold planer. A hinged cutter housing door makes for easy drum changes, while maintenance mode, with the drum indexer and belt lifter, simplifies regular tooling changes. Bring the same level of productivity you expect from Astec mills to compact spaces with ease.
See the new RX-405.
