ASTEC LAUNCHES REBRAND TO SIMPLIFY BUSINESS

from Southeast 12, June 16, 2021

by Construction Equipment Guide

SAKAI AMERICA CELEBRATES 20 YEARS IN ADAIRSVILLE, GA.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia Powerscreen Mid-Atlantic, Inc.

PO Box 2505 • Kernersville, NC 27285 Tel: 800-797-7276 Web: www.powerscreenmidatl.com

Astec Industries Launches Rebrand to Simplify Business Model, Drive Growth

Astec Industries Inc. is launching a new modern look with a rebranding initiative to coincide with its business model. The rebrand includes a new logo, color palette and website.

The launch comes while the organization streamlines its internal structure and operations to improve efficiency and drive growth.

The organization’s former brands, including Astec Inc., Astec do Brasil, Astec Australia, BMH Systems, Breaker Technology, Carlson Paving, Con-E-Co, Heatec, KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens, Osborn, Peterson, RexCon, Roadtec and Telsmith, will no longer operate as separate subsidiary companies and will all take on the ASTEC name. The unification is a significant part of the company’s OneASTEC business model including its “Simplify, Focus and Grow” strategy.

“We made the decision to unify to make it easier for our dealers and customers to do business with us. By coming together as one organization, we can offer greater customer service and drive innovation,” said Barry Ruffalo, president and CEO of Astec Industries, Inc. “The rebrand enables us to build our strength together under one common name and purpose. We can better leverage our growth as one Astec team rather than individual brands.”

The logo represents the company’s purpose: ‘Built to Connect’ and vision to connect people, processes and products. The new website (www.astecindustries.com) replaces the previous subsidiary websites. Dealers, customers, suppliers and consumers will be able to find information about the company, its product offerings and other resources in one location. 

ALABAMA

Stone Equipment Co., Inc.

1797-A Fulton Spring Rd. • Alabaster, AL 35007 844-786-6373 210 West Blvd. • Montgomery, AL 36108 844-786-6373 www.stoneequipmentco.com

GEORGIA

Crosby Equipment Company, Inc.

1826 South Peterson Ave. • Douglas, GA 31535 912-384-4664 5368 Hawkinsville Rd. • Macon, GA 31216 478-257-8300 www.crosbyequipmentco.com

Grove River

902 Longwood Dr. • Richmond Hill, GA 31324 912-756-7854 www.groveriver.com

MISSISSIPPI

Mid South Machinery

14370 Seaway Rd. • Gulfport, MS 39503 228-867-1555 3233 Hwy. 80 W. • Jackson, MS 39204 601-948-6740 3145 Cliff Gookin Blvd. • Tupelo, MS 39901 662-690-6553 www.gomidsouth.com

TENNESSEE

Diamond Equipment, Inc.

1530 Heil Quaker Blvd. • La Vergne, TN 37086 615-641-1100 www.diamondequipment.com

VIRGINIA

Highway Equipment Company

8071 Lee Highway • Troutville, VA 24175 540-992-4150 www.highway-equipment.com

NCDOT photo

The $360 million I-40 project was designed to help ease congestion and delays, make travel safer throughout the area and better accommodate motorists due to future growth.

NCDOT from page 1

to regional commuting patterns, particularly during morning and evening rush hours.

“With Raleigh and Research Triangle Park serving as employment centers for the region, many people commute into the Raleigh area and live in outlying towns and surrounding counties. This section of I-40 serves suburban communities in Wake and Johnston counties, and also connects to the I-95 corridor. In addition, this leg of I-40 ultimately serves as a primary route to the North Carolina beaches, and during the summer months tends to experience heavy traffic volumes around the weekends.”

An estimated 35.6 million vehicles traveled the roadway in 2015, causing congestion and frequent delays, especially in the morning and afternoon rush hours. By the year 2040, traffic is projected to increase 65 percent, with conditions particularly worsening around the I-40/N.C. 42 interchange, due to a significant increase in residential and commercial growth.

“Over the last 10 years, North Carolina has consistently been identified as one of the fastest growing states,” said Hopkins. “If we want to continue to be a place that people want to work and live, it’s important that our infrastructure keep up with this growth.”

S.T. Wooten serves as the general contractor of the project.

“S.T. Wooten is an award-winning North Carolina contractor, with nearly 70 years of experience in heavy highway construction,” said Hopkins. “Their experience with similar projects helped to make them an ideal prime contractor for this complicated interstate widening project.

“Crews constructed a temporary ramp from a bridge on East Garner Road to facilitate hauling operations in the median of I-40. This ramp allowed more than 21,000 truckloads of material to be delivered directly to the median, without having to access I-40. By doing this, the contractor was able to continue hauling during times of higher traffic volume, but without the impact to the motoring public.”

According to Robert Bullock, NCDOT resident engineer in charge of the project, lane closures are limited to nighttime hours, when traffic is significantly lower to mitigate delays as much as possible.

“The contractor is required to and has maintained the same number of travel lanes throughout construction. The project has created some traffic shifts along I-40. Motorists are coping well with the construction, as no lanes have been reduced. Motorists continue to be encouraged to pay extra attention to the roadway while driving through the work zone, as barrier wall throughout the project protects both the traveling public and workers, but limits the available shoulder area available for vehicles. Distracted driving through the work zone leaves drivers with little room to compensate and make corrective maneuvers.”

Lane closures, road closures and hauling operations must be completed during hours of the day with lower traffic volumes, and the best time to do this is during the night or on weekends. Standard day shifts are daylight hours Monday through Friday, with some Saturday work. Night shift is typically 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., Sunday through Friday nights.

“Traffic is the biggest challenge on project,” said Bullock. “With the amount of daily traffic passing through the work zone, the project has to be prepared to complete nighttime work promptly, in order to remove traffic control devices each morning to ensure a safe work zone. The amount of traffic volume also limits the scheduling options for the contractor, restricts hauling of materials to and from the project and increases the amount of time to safely complete operations. Traffic shifts throughout the project take significant planning to ensure their success.”

Bullock noted that most operations are ongoing, although some in a more limited capacity than others, due to weather.

“Utilities are being moved, water and sewer installation is

NCDOT photo

A total of 12 bridges will be demolished and replaced.

NCDOT photo

Main materials required are concrete, ABC stone, asphalt, soil and steel. The estimated quantity of dirt/material to be moved on the project is 1,450,000 cu. yds.

see NCDOT page 76

HACKERS from page 1

How It Happens

In early May, Colonial Pipeline suffered a ransomware cyberattack that impacted computerized pipeline management equipment.

The pipeline originates in Houston, Texas, and carries gasoline and jet fuel mainly to the southeastern United States.

Colonial Pipeline Company halted all of the pipeline’s operations and paid the requested ransom of nearly $5 million within several hours after the attack.

The hackers then sent Colonial Pipeline a software application to restore their network.

It was determined to be the largest cyberattack in U.S. history on oil infrastructure.

In 2019, two white-hat hackers selling security software from Japan-based Trend Micro proved how easy it would be to hack a construction crane.

With permission from machinery owners, while sitting in their car, the two hacked cranes and other construction machinery at 14 different sites in Italy.

The cranes’ vulnerability lies in their communication systems, which connect machine to controller.

According to wonderfulengineering.com, “the simplicity of the hack signifies just how disastrous it can be if the cranes were to be hacked with malicious intent.”

The two Trend Micro staffers believe the damage could vary from theft and extortion to sabotage and injury.

Attacking the Benign

Equipment rental company BigRentz came up with a list of 15 surprisingly hackable items used every day. The company attributes the ease of hacking to the Internet.

“Now, the Internet of Things has made it possible to hack items you may never even realize were hackable,” the company wrote. “Hackers can infiltrate everything from trucks and equipment to building heating systems and even your office coffee pot.”

And, the article noted, RFID tags and sensors have made shipping containers and boxes of inventory vulnerable.

“Generally, the more places you store data, the more risk it presents,” said Ahmed. “The more parties that have access to that info, the more risk you have.”

So, connecting a device to a machine, being near that machine to access data, then uploading that data into the Cloud creates vulnerabilities.

Once in The Cloud, it can be exposed to an attack from the dealer’s or owner’s computer.

“The less places data lives, the safer it is,” said Ahmed. “But that’s kind of impractical in today’s world where people want data from anywhere.”

The company has developed an AI guidance system, hardware and software that lives on the equipment.

For example, it can be mounted on the back of an excavator so it runs autonomously.

The system is fully wired to The Cloud or the Internet. Data can be accessed remotely through the Internet, but the system is closed, which means it’s not tied to a network.

Built Robotics believes in encryptingdata to make it as safe as possible to ensure less worry, Ahmed said.

Infiltrating Construction

Beyond car keys and coffee pots, BigRentz noted building cameras, office printers, security systems and smart refrigerators are vulnerable.

In the construction industry, GPS systems, drones, wearables and heavy machinery can be hacked.

“To get into a piece of heavy equipment, it has to be a new model,” said Ahmed. Older machines that don’t involve sophisticated computer technology are generally safe in this regard.

More industrial types of machines are being ransomed because they’re very expensive, Ahmed noted.

Newer models record location info along with metrics on that particular unit, such as fuel levels, cycle times, operating hours, distance traveled.

“At first glance, it doesn’t seem like revealing info, but that depends on what the hacker wants to do with the data,” he said, adding that location data is most critical.

BIM software is commonly used these days. Key questions users ask of it most often is “where’s my machine?” “is it on?” and “is it operating?” Ahmed said “that’s what owners and operators, and thus hackers, care about.”

Most popular drone models can be taken over by a hacker who can then lock out the owner, preventing them from regaining control.

“Once the hacker has control of the drone, they can steal it, crash it or use it to damage other equipment on the site,” noted BigRentz.

If hacked, wearables can tell an attacker the crew’s comings and goings and allow access to protected files, such as blueprints and site worker credentials.

“In places like airports, city skyscrapers or government buildings, a hacker could sell information gained via wearables to criminals, leaving the location vulnerable to physical attack,” said BigRentz.

In the Trend Micro crane-hacking demonstration, the two researchers noted that a hacker could steal equipment, use it to cause damage to property or people or even for extortion.

And those are the obvious direct damages. More costly can be indirect losses, noted Secuvent, a cyber threat analytics and risk advisory service based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“As dealers, once the knowledge of compromised information is known in the marketplace, customers tend to shift their business elsewhere, and the dealers’ brand name suffers long term,” the company noted in a blog. “As manufacturers, delays up to multiple weeks are detrimental to an organization’s ability to deliver products on time and ruin an organization’s timelines.”

Other indirect costs are the breach of intellectual property, such as blueprints or schematics; the leaking of sensitive data associated with an organization’s competitive advantage, such as their bid data and strategy; and losses related to the sabotaging of autonomous or precision farming equipment.

“These indirect costs typically affect agriculture and construction equipment organizations disproportionately, compared with other industries,” the company noted.

While larger manufacturers and dealers are better equipped and have more resources, they are only as prepared as the capabilities and strength in business understanding they have in place, believes Secuvent.

Smaller manufacturers, suppliers and dealers normally have fewer resources available for cybersecurity. An intrusion can be more devastating if it leads to the business’s entire closure.

Drones can be hijacked by hackers who can lock out the owner and preventing him or her from regaining control of the device. Hackers can steal, crash or use a drone to damage other equipment on the job site.

Defending Yourself

Ahmed of Built Robotics reminds contractors there are basic common-sense actions they can take, the same advice given to prevent personal info from being stolen: Choose strong passwords and practice good data hygiene as a dealer, end user or manufacturer.

Make sure your data is encrypted. Monitor unusual connections to servers from people trying to break in.

“Hackers will try, so we have to have ways to keep an eye on those things.” It’s all a part of being proactive, he said.

BigRentz said if you can register your device with the manufacturer, make sure you do.

“This will put you on the mailing list that companies use when they roll out security upgrades after they become aware of a new hack their product might be vulnerable to.”

Then, said the equipment provider, make sure you stay up-to-date on all patches and install them as soon as they are released.

“Most hackers find their targets using a search engine that returns lists of IoT-connected devices in a particular area.”

Hackers will search for the type of device they’re targeting and look for any that haven’t upgraded their security recently.

So, if you frequently install security patches, you’re unlikely to appear on the list of vulnerable devicesthe hackers will target, said BigRentz.

“Finally, any equipment that you don’t use frequently, consider renting on a case-by-case basis instead.”

Each Internet-connected item that resides on your work site or in your warehouse is a potential point of entry for a hacker to access your entire network.

“By limiting the number of machines you own, you lower the possible points of entry hackers can use and make yourself and your firm more secure.”

Built Robotics’ heavy machinery works within a geofence. Ahmed said that keeps it safe within a certain area.

It helps, too, to know what your state requires in the way of equipment registration and proof of ownership. You can take advantage of these laws.

For example, “theft can be difficult in California, because all heavy machines have an identification number on them,” said Ahmed. “So even if you could steal a machine, it might be hard to resell.”

What the Future Holds

Ahmed stressed that the hacking threat to construction equipment is pretty small for the time being. He said he knows of no public cases of it happening on a large scale.

“We consider it a minor occurrence, and it has been for a while. The number of people affected by hacking is related to how likely something might be hacked,” he said. “Because there aren’t as many machines as there are cars or trucks, we don’t see a focus on construction equipment right now.”

He said heavy machinery manufacturers are devoting resources to working on autonomous technology. It’s been in place since the 1990s in the mining industry.

“Mining is ahead of construction in that regard. But construction is a more dynamic environment.”

And he suggested the next security dilemma may be even more critical. Beyond autonomous machines and industrial vehicles, there are bricklaying robots and rebar-tying robots.

“What happens when these robots start talking to each other? It brings in another security layer.”

Be proactive, said BigRentz. “The best way to defend against an attack is to educate yourself on your own devices and learn how hackers might be able to target them.” 

North Carolina’s S.T. Wooten Serves as General Contractor On I-40 Project

NCDOT from page 70

ronmentally sensitive areas and are greatly affected by rain progressing, outside shoulder grading, ABC and asphalt events. placement, noise wall construction, drainage installation and “There has been a significant bout of wet weather that has erosion control are some of the current operations. slowed progress,” said Bullock. “Structure crews continue to

“Four bridge sites are complete. Six bridge sites are under work, as long as safety is not impacted.” construction. East Garner Road is complete. Several traffic Construction milestones have included the completion of shifts have been completed along I-40. A significant amount the East Garner Road bridge, the I-40 flyover bridge and of pipe bores are complete, including an 84-in. bore. The inside I-40 traffic shift from MM 302 to 306. Future mileU.S. 70 business ramps are in their final patterns on I-40 stones include the I-40 outside traffic shift from MM 306 to West.” 308, the NC 42 diverging

A total of 12 bridges will diamond interchange be demolished and [DDI] and the Cleveland replaced. The structures Road interchange opening. will be removed with a “The DDI at Jones combination of saw cutting Sausage Road will require and hammering of the reconstruction of the on existing superstructure. and off ramps for I-40 East Once the superstructure is and West,” said Bullock. removed, the “The existing bridge has girders/beams are typically been analyzed and will removed one by one. Each remain in place. Sidewalk bridge takes between four and median barrier wall to eight weeks to demolish will be added to the bridge under nightly lane closures. for the traffic shift across The concrete debris is the bridge. Additionally, being crushed and recycled for use back into the proj- NCDOT photo To improve traffic, construction crews in North Carolina several new traffic signals will be installed to create ect. The rebar and metal are working on a stretch of I-40 from Raleigh to the I- the DDI traffic pattern. girders are recycled for 40/NC 42 interchange in Clayton. “There are two new flyscrap off site. over bridges. The work

A wide variety of heavy machinery is required to com- involved building a temporary ramp onto the old flyover plete the work, including a Komatsu 360LC track excavator bridge to grade to the new flyover bridge from I-440 East. with hammer attachment; JLG man-lifts; a Komatsu WA320 The shorter flyover bridge, Bridge Site 1, is over I-440 East rubber tire loader; a skid steer; a Cat D5K2 LGP dozer; Cat and was constructed during the day, with night time closures 318 rubber tire excavator; Hamm smooth steel drum roller; for girder erection. The larger flyover bridge, Bridge Site 2, Cat rubber tire loader; a John Deere 135G mini track exca- consisted of work over I-440 West, I-40 West and I-40 East. vator; Hamm sheepsfoot roller; a Volvo smooth drum roller; This bridge is a mix of concrete and steel girders. Nighttime a BOMAG 5500 trench packer; a Cat 330 excavator; a closures also were used for girder erection. A temporary Komatsu WA 250 front-end loader; a Kubota KX040-4 shoring tower was constructed adjacent to I-40 East to supmini-excavator; a Cat 326 trackhoe; and a Case 210EX port the steel girders for that span until the superstructure trackhoe. was completed.”

Other equipment includes Freightliner flatbed trucks; a Regarding improvements being made to the I-40/N.C. 42 Takeuchi TB290 excavator; a Komatsu PC210 LC excava- interchange (exit 312) and surrounding network of roads tor; a Komatsu PC228US LC excavator; a SANY SY215C (including Cleveland Road in Johnston County,) ROW LC excavator; a TimberPro TTL745C tree cutter with acquisition and utility relocations along NC 42 and Quadco cutter attachment; a Cat 320D L excavator; a Cleveland Road are progressing. Vermeer HG6000TX grinder; a Komatsu PC 360 LC track “Once utilities are moved, construction operations will excavator; a Kobelco SK 350 with hoe ram; an American commence,” said Bullock. “The major improvements to the Auger 48/54-900NG boring machine; a Wacker Neuson NC 42 interchange and Cleveland Road are the installation G25 air compressor; a Miller Trailblazer 275 portable of the diverging diamond at NC 42 and the new interchange welder; a Freightliner tractor with flatbed trailer; and a John at Cleveland Road. Both improvements should greatly Deere 135G excavator. reduce the congestion along NC 42 at I-40, while improving

Main materials required are concrete, ABC stone, asphalt, traffic flow to businesses and aiding residents in the area in soil and steel. The estimated quantity of dirt/material to be their daily commute.” moved on the project is 1,450,000 cu. yds. Construction is approximately 50 percent complete, with

Bullock said the drainage systems are one of the most all work expected to be finished by late 2022. time-consuming parts of the project. Said Bullock, “The project is extremely rewarding for

“Drainage work has to be completed before many other every member of the team as the group works collectively to operations can start, including building embankments, provide innovative methods of design and construction that paving, MSE walls and signals. Drainage operations take will be viewable upon completion to the entire community place in the median, outside shoulders, on y-lines, in envi- and state for the coming decades.  CEG

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