Page 54 • December 1, 2021 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Paving Section • Construction Equipment Guide
Latest Season of NAPA’s ‘Pave It Black’ Podcast Spotlights Tech Innovations
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By Tom Gresham
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New technologies are reshaping the asphalt pavement industry, and the pace of change is accelerating as hightech tools grow both more sophisticated and accessible. During Season 3 of “Pave It Black,” NAPA’s podcast covering the people and issues affecting the industry, hosts Richard Willis and Brett Williams interviewed industry experts to dig deeper into the innovations that are most affecting the realm of asphalt pavement — and that promise to change the way the industry operates long into the future. Episode 1: “What Is Innovation?” In Episode 1, Nicholas Webb, founder and CEO of LeaderLogic and the keynote speaker at the 2020 NAPA Annual Meeting, detailed his thoughts on the concept of innovation and how it promises to impact the asphalt pavement industry. He emphasized that meaningful innovations often are “less about bright, shiny objects” and about creating “layered value that serves your customer and your organization” and improving processes. “If we can be active observers and pay attention to ways to improve the quality of life of our customers and our stakeholders, we can do some really incredible things that have big impacts,” Webb said. “You don’t have to create an iPad in order to deliver value to the universe. Some of the greatest innovations have been simple, straightforward, and, by many people’s definition, almost obvious.” Webb’s appearance set the stage for a season filled with first-person accounts from operators into the many ways that technology-based innovations are altering the way they do business. Episode 2: “It’s Electric” Dan Gallagher, president of Gallagher Asphalt, discussed the growing electrification of vehicles and how that affects the asphalt industry — an industry funded in part by gas taxes through the Highway Trust Fund. Gallagher said he believes electrification of vehicles ranging from trucks to pavers will “offer a lot of advantages” for the industry and that the funding now coming from gas usage can be replaced with other efforts. “I’m really
REYNOLDS-WARREN EQUIPMENT CO.
180 Thunderbird Drive Richmond Hill, GA 30324 (912) 445-2880
RICHMOND MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT CO., INC. www.richmondmachinery.com Hosts Brett Williams (in foreground) and Richard Willis discuss technology issues on NAPA’s “Pave It Black” podcast.
optimistic that there are a lot of good options for paying for roads through some kind of user fee,” Gallagher said. Episode 3: “Innovation = Business Opportunities” Katie Peabody, senior business analyst with Lakeside Industries, joined “Pave It Black” to discuss the farreaching impact of new developments in computing technology. “Everything is definitely evolving,” she said. “As an organization, we realize the importance of these technologies in order to continue to thrive in the industry, even though it isn’t always easy to adopt and utilize technology. If we don’t start embracing the tools available to us across all the technology platforms, there could really be missed opportunities to grow the business … [and] stay relevant within the industry.” Episode 4: “Big Data in the Asphalt Industry” Dan Ridolfi, president of Californiabased LASTRADA Partners, dove into how data analytics and artificial intelligence can help operators “focus on what matters.” Ridolfi explained, “What we have the ability to do today is expand the databases, and that’s kind of what’s exciting about our world. I’ve been in this industry for 20 years, and I’ve watched in the last five to 10 [years] technology really start to get integrated in our industry. And now the next iteration for us is to bring that data together.”
Episode 5: “Temperature, Temperature, Temperature” Brent Carron, president of Valley Paving in Minnesota, explained the benefits of thermal profiling, a tool not widely used in the industry, but one that offers an opportunity for contractors to ensure high-quality asphalt pavements. “Once you see the thermal profile, it might get your mind rolling into some different ideas,” Carron said. “I think with all technology, you find things out in your process that you’re not thinking about in the development stage. And you can use this information in many other ways to improve your quality, rather than just meeting the requirement. And I think that’s the key benefit to this.” Episode 6: “Going Paperless” Dan Ganoe, vice president of operations for Lindy Paving in Pennsylvania, discussed the implementation of e-ticketing and how to move to a paperless world. “We’ve been exploring e-ticketing in one shape or fashion over the past 10 years,” Ganoe said. “Internally [we] use it for our own benefit as far as being able to get a visual idea of where crews are production-wise and where plants are production-wise throughout the day, the night, and the weekend. Over the past four years, it seems there’s been a lot more movement within the field to move toward e-ticketing.” see PODCAST page 58
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