• First Morning Mix
• Train Women of Asphalt
• Walbec Grows with Tech
• Combine Fine Silica Dust
• Neutralize Neighbor Complaints
Astec paves the way for sustainable, innovative asphalt plants. The new IntelliPac Moisture System is a revolutionary solution that integrates seamlessly with Astec control systems. This provides unparalleled, real-time visibility into virgin aggregate moisture content. IntelliPac empowers operators to optimize mix design, minimize energy consumption, and reduce environmental impact. With Astec, you get superior asphalt production – better for the environment, better for your business.
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.
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Your Trusted Choice!
EDITOR’S LETTER
6 – Stockpile Your Asphalt Plan
SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
8 – Tips for Talking to Your Doctor About Work-Related Hazards
How to talk to your doctor about the cough you developed when you weren’t wearing your PPE next to the crusher (or any other work-related illness or injury).
By AsphaltPro StaffMIX IT UP
10 - Combining Tech Helps with AC Transloading
Automated scraper strainers paired with macerators eliminate high volumes of large, suspended solids from slurries
From Acme Engineering
PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE
14 – Here’s How Durham Does Pavement Preservation
City of Durham DPW assistant director offers real-world examples of implementing a maintenance program on a shoestring budget for improved 76.5 PCI.
By Sandy Lender
INTERNATIONAL SNAPSHOT
18 – How to Mill With Less Dust Canadian companies turn to ion technology to combine fine dust, clear air for milling crews.
By Sarah RedohlWOMEN OF ASPHALT
22 – Stephens College Prepares Women for Asphalt Workforce
Ahead of historic highway funding in Missouri, a Columbia college institutes a Women in Trades program that solves specific challenges to continued education for the demographic.
By Sandy LenderPRODUCT GALLERY
40 – Superior Pothole Operations
Amid this month’s paving and pavement maintenance services, we highlight a new robotic packaging system for pothole repair product.
From AsphaltPro Staff
NEW TECH
49 – Walbec Updates, Integrates, Innovates with Apex
By Sarah Redohl
28 – Expand Into Production
Relieve These Top 8 Pain Points When Laying Out Your New Plant
By Wally Olson30 – Expand Into Production
Solve Plant Odor Issues
Neutralize odors by overcoming varied petrol product complexities
By Dr. Laura Haupert
36 – Expand Into Production
How to Be the Plant Everyone Buys From Asphalt industry experts share ideas for using the storage silo to increase business while protecting against quality control hazards.
By Sandy Lender
When it’s time to step up to production, consider the square footage you have to work with as well as the distance to different members of the community to assess stockpile and plant component placement. See related article on page 28.
Photo courtesy CWMF
When you’re ready to move into the next stage of your asphalt operations, you seek consultants and professionals who’ve been there to guide you. From state asphalt pavement associations (SAPAs) to in-person asphalt-centric conferences to online training courses to publications like this one, you seek information to help you make informed decisions.
It makes sense that you’d reach out to asphalt industry resources when expanding your operations because you’re not building a typical business with typical operating concerns.
Sure, many business management truisms will translate across all industries, but the asphalt professional who wants to take his paving company to the next level needs information from places like TheAsphaltPro.com and his SAPA. Let’s face it—if you have five crews and an allergy to waiting on the local plant to produce your mixes, you might be ready to buy your own plant. “Frustration with the competition causing three projects to run late” isn’t a line item on a typical business spreadsheet.
You look to this publication, the state association and a trustworthy original equipment manufacturer to guide you in next steps. You’ll read up on how to assess the market for tonnage, upcoming agency funding allocations, residential or commercial infrastructure development and its potential to influence future projects, local workforce pressures, and so on. The consultants you talk to will have at least one foot in the asphalt industry because they will be able to assist in more than the financial planning—they can help map the physical plan for success.
I mean, while a new donut shop owner down the street might have a consultant taking into consideration traffic flow both onto and around his property, he’s probably not overly worried about company vehicle fuel economy on-site. You, on the other hand, will be extremely aware
of stockpile placement in relation to cold feed bins for the purpose of optimizing wheel loader fuel use—or battery consumption.
You’ll also consider stockpile placement based on drainage and stormwater runoff, not only for environmental concerns but also to minimize moisture affecting your production temperatures and mix quality.
And don’t forget the neighbors. You can position the stockpiles close to the robust and beautiful tree line you build along the back perimeter to pose a noise barrier between your plant and potential developments moving in 10 to 20 years from now.
Note I’m assuming you’re building on a large plot of land in the middle of No and Where with room to pave beneath sloped stockpiles.
Whatever tract of land you have to work with and wherever that land is positioned, you want to seek out industry professionals to assist you in mapping it for your most efficient and environmentally friendly plant layout. Reducing the path for haul truck drivers to take around your yard for loadout means less opportunity for struck-bys, less dust kicked up for you to contend with and less fuel use for your customers.
The list of simple tweaks to the layout could fill this entire issue of AsphaltPro, but I asked the team at CWMF Corp., Waite Park, Minnesota, to tease a few for you on page 28. Catherine Sutton-Choate from Astec Industries, Chattanooga, spelled out a few ideas in the article on permits in the February issue. And there are more articles in our Expand Your Business series coming to help you with planning the next stage in your growing operations.
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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.
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How to talk to your doctor about the cough you developed when you weren’t wearing your PPE next to the crusher (or any other work-related illness or injury).
BY ASPHALTPRO STAFFWhen you’re facing a health issue that may be work-related, it can be challenging to know how to convey important information about your work and its related hazards to your doctor.
That’s why the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) has developed a handful of Physician Alerts to help guide these important conversations. All of the alerts are available for free in English and Spanish, and have been reviewed and approved by certified medical professionals. The topics covered to date include dermatitis, silicosis, pain management, work-related asthma, and working safely while pregnant.
“Each [alert] has information for the worker about best practices, tips and resources, as well as information for the doctor or other medical provider about the hazards the worker might be facing, as well as some screening methods and recommended treatment plans,” said CPWR’s Jessica Bunting.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the alerts.
This alert was developed to help workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust, including information for workers to better protect themselves and information for doctors to better diagnose and treat them.
“The worker section outlines best practices, like using a vacuum system and wet methods to suppress dust, using a respirator and having it fit tested,” Bunting said. “The doctor’s section includes more detail about what silicosis is and how to diagnose it, because this is specifically a work-related illness and unless they’re an occupational health doctor, they may not have experience with it.”
The alert also includes information on mandatory reporting to health authorities and links to additional resources, including silica-safe.org.
The contact dermatitis alert focuses on possible skin exposures at work and steps each worker should take to prevent dermatitis. The alert also directs readers to useful resources such as choosehandsafety.org, which walks users through selecting the right gloves and hand tools for a job based on anticipated chemical exposures.
“For medical providers, [the alert] goes deeper into the types of materials, chemicals and substances that workers might be exposed to,” Bunting said. “It provides some questions that the doctor can ask the patient that might help them in diagnosing contact dermatitis.”
“[This alert] was developed to support workers at risk of developing asthma, as well as those workers who already have asthma that might be worsened because of work-related exposures,” Bunting said.
The worker portion of the alert outlines best practices, such as wearing a fit-tested respirator and monitor. The physician’s portion describes the types of materials and chemicals that can lead to work-related asthma,
as well as questions to aid in diagnosis. The alert also contains a table of potentially hazardous substances and what tasks might expose workers to those substances.
“[This alert] is probably our most important [alert] because of the sheer number of people impacted by opioid addiction in our industry and how much of that begins with a prescription,” Bunting said.
The alert aims to educate workers about why opioids may not be the best option, nor are they the only option. The provider’s section of the alert explains the nature of the construction industry, as well as how injury, pain, and opioid addiction can affect the worker’s livelihood. “It encourages doctors to think about treating pain in the greater context of the job and the culture of the industry,” Bunting said. Lastly, the alert provides recommended resources, including CPWR’s Opioid Awareness Training.
The newest physician alert provides a resource for pregnant construction workers and an awareness tool for their healthcare providers to understand the occupational safety and health hazards faced by women and provide care accordingly.
The worker’s portion of the alert includes information about how pregnancy can affect women’s bodies, such as decreasing heat tolerance or necessitating an updated fit for PPE. The alert also includes information about employer responsibilities and an overview on workplace rights for pregnant employees.
The physician’s portion of the alert outlines possible workplace exposures and resulting accommodations, as well as guidance on how to write accommodation letters in the most legally protected ways possible. “It’s really important for physicians caring for pregnant construction workers to be aware of key facts about their work contacts,” said Rosa Greenberg, CPWR research analyst. For example, some chemicals used in construction are endocrine disruptors, which means that they can interfere with normal hormonal function which can then impact a fetus.
Greenberg recommends starting off with a direct conversation with your healthcare provider. “The goal of these resources is to facilitate that conversation,” she added. “As a patient, you likely have the opportunity to put this information on a form, but with so much information coming at your medical provider at once, it’s likely best to also communicate it verbally and face to face.”
“It’s important when explaining your employment to express concern about exposure to specific work related hazards, and also to make clear that resources are available,” Greenberg said. “Your doctor might both not be familiar with the occupational safety and health risks associated with your job, and they may also be unaware that resources exist to support them.”
CPWR plans to create more physician alerts in the future for subjects such as noise and extreme weather exposure, among other subjects.
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with macerators
In the asphalt industry, industrial strainers are used to separate unwanted suspended solids from liquids and slurries for efficient transloading, in which asphalt is heated to a liquid form and transferred from tank cars to trucks or from trucks to tank cars at rail facilities. However, conventional strainer methods can be improved upon to keep debris or solids of substantial size or quantity out of the liquid.
A novel blend of industrial wastewater technologies now allows for the efficient removal of solids without the need for extensive manual labor and so on. Specifically, the design involves the combination of a macerator, which breaks down large solids into smaller fragments, and an automated scraper strainer flexible enough to filter out larger debris along with tiny particles. This innovative solution is even designed to accommodate high solids loading without clogging.
The combination of these two established technologies is already being applied to some of the toughest straining applications including asphalt transloading, wastewater debris, power plant boiler water slag and meat processing waste streams. Our interest here is asphalt transloading.
Duplex strainers are often used in continuous flow processes that cannot be shut down for cleaning purposes. Duplex basket strainers employ two distinct chambers that function independently. When one chamber needs cleaning, the flow is diverted to the alternate chamber, enabling the removal and cleaning of the first basket.
Cleaning is a laborious process that involves equalizing pressure between the baskets, diverting flow to the off-line chamber, opening the cover, manually removing the clogged basket, and cleaning it before refitting the basket, ensuring the seal and tightening the fasteners.
Automated scraper strainers paired with macerators eliminate high volumes of large, suspended solids from slurries for a “set it and forget it” approach. All photos courtesy of Acme Engineering
If an operator fails to adequately clean the basket strainers for any reason, both strainers can become clogged at the same time. This compromises the filtration process, resulting in quality issues or unexpected downtime until the problem is resolved. For many processors, this can occur simply due to having insufficient personnel to keep basket strainers clean along with their other duties.
“As an alternative, a combination of established complimentary technologies such as a macerator and an automated scraper strainer can essentially ‘knock out’ even the toughest problems related to large solids and high solids loading in an automated way,” said Robert Presser, vice president of Acme Engineering Prod. Inc., a North American manufacturer of industrial self-cleaning strainers. The compa-
ny is an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer of environmental controls and systems with integrated mechanical, electrical and electronic capabilities.
In this configuration, a macerator would be installed upstream to reduce large solids down to a manageable size. The capabilities of the automated strainer are crucial to the process as well, according to Presser.
“Although the macerator cuts up the biggest solids, the strainer must still be able to separate both relatively large pieces and tiny particles while handling high solids loading without becoming obstructed,” Presser explained.
In the case of Acme, the OEM’s automated scraper strainer is designed to continually remove both very large and very small, suspended solids from liquids and slurries. Cleaning is accomplished by a spring-loaded blade and brush system, managed by a fully automatic control system.
Four scraper brushes rotate at 8 revolutions per minute (RPM), resulting in a cleaning rate of 32 strokes per minute. The scraper brushes get into wedge-wire slots and dislodge resistant particulates and solids. This approach enables the scraper strainers to resist clogging and fouling when faced with large solids and high solids concentration.
Blowdown typically occurs only at the end of the intermittent scraping cycle when a valve is opened for a few seconds to remove solids from the collector area. Liquid loss is well below 1% of total flow.
If additional pressure is required to clean the screen, Acme Engineering can add an inexpensive trash pump to the blowdown line to assist in removing the solids from the strainer sump.
“Since the solids are small, a little trash pump can pressurize the blowdown line to evacuate solids from the strainer. The combination provides quick ROI because operators no longer have to monitor and clean out heavily loaded basket strainers, resulting in substantially less labor and downtime,” Presser said.
Alternatively, the sump can be replaced by a cylinder bracketed by two gate valves that open and close as needed to remove the solids waste.
“When you are ready to empty the cylinder, you close the top gate valve momentarily and open the bottom one by depress-
ing a button to dump the accumulated solids into a receptacle like a dump truck or a conveyor bucket so there is no manual handling required,” Presser said.
According to Presser, Acme has worked with operators and managers at rail facility intermodal terminals to implement a wide range
of specialized straining systems for difficult applications with exceptionally large solids or very high solids loading.
In one example, the OEM installed equipment to strain asphalt slurries at intermodal terminals providing rail-to-truck and truck-to-rail transloading services. One application involved using multiple cylinders with gate valves to appropriately strain liquid asphalt to the correct specification for rail-to-truck loading.
According to Presser, adapting strainers for the specialized filtration of uncommon liquids and slurries requires expertise and collaboration with the processor and some design iterations.
“For unusual applications, it may take a few attempts to get it right. You may have to adjust the timing and frequency of cleaning as well as adjust the screen slot size. There are quite a few variables involved,” Presser concluded.
For more info, visit Acme Engineering Prod. Inc. at acmeprod.com.
City of Durham DPW assistant director offers real-world examples of implementing a maintenance program on a shoestring budget for improved 76.5 PCI.
BY SANDY LENDERTasha Johnson is the assistant director, engineering division in public work in the City of Durham. During the National Pavement Expo (NPE) 2024 in Tampa, she shared the public works department has implemented the use of the pavement condition index (PCI) rating system and an outside consultant to help her department select when and how to maintain the streets for which they are responsible, despite underfunding from the city council. Her presentation includes advice for communicating with residents and council members.
Johnson commiserated with the audience on a phenomenon contractors and agencies alike must deal with when it comes to pavement management systems (PMS): the publc.
“There are 10 universities within 30 miles of the City of Durham,” Johnson said. “Everybody’s got strong opinions about what we do. And they probably know how to do it better because they’re an engineer, or they’re married to an engineer, or they work with an engineering firm.”
She shared how a citizen questioning a PMS decision is an opportunity. “They come from somewhere in the city that did it a different way so why don’t we [do it that way],” she shared. “We have lots of those conversations and we welcome them.”
The City of Durham DPW manages an area with “a wide range of household incomes; a lot of haves and have-nots that we work through,” Johnson shared. That disparity takes on high importance because neighbors know what the DPW has historically done to improve community streets.
“When you go into a neighborhood with a different treatment type, everybody knows what surface mix is.” The residents accustomed to overlay paving the DPW has always done are aware that it’s going to make their road look good.
“And then I come to a lower-income neighborhood with some pavement preservation,” Johnson said. “They think they’re getting an inferior product.”
Of course, pavement preservation treatments are not an inferior product to an overlay. DPW now follows the adage of using the right treatment on the right pavement at the right time, but Johnson shared that her team had to learn how to have that conversation with residents.
“Our economy has transitioned from tobacco farming and marketing to more research and tech startups,” Johnson said. “Everybody has a strong opinion, and everyone wants to make sure that someone else is not getting something that they’re not getting.”
“The residents have consistently ranked the condition of the city streets as an area of high concern for the 12 years I’ve been with the city,” Johnson said. Although the residents consider the roads a priority, the city council hasn’t been forthcoming with adequate funding.
“PCI is how we rate our streets,” Johnson said. “We do it every three or four years.”
To stretch dollars further to work on as many streets as possi ble, DPW strategized its preservation treatments, and in doing so, brought its system up to a healthier PCI. “Our overall PCI score went from whatever it was to like a 77, 76.5 in 2013.”
Once they achieved this score, funding became scarcer—in 2013, DPW requested $6 million of the city council to maintain the system. “They gave us no money. We scrambled together some residual funds from contingency when we closed out the bond projects and rolled that into a little piecemeal of a pavement program.”
Another year, they requested $6 million again and received three-quarters of $1 million. Something had to give. That something started with Broad Street.
“We paved Broad Street in 2015, but there was a trail project that was coming up [alongside it]. They wanted to restripe Broad Street to put in some bike lanes and they forgot to tell us that until after they’d gone out there and inspected the road.”
That missed opportunity gave DPW an idea. They went to Broad Street in 2016 and piloted a microsurfacing treatment to not only familiarize the staff with it, but to also familiarize the residents with it and see if anyone “noticed.”
Residents noticed. They asked a lot of questions and started calling the city council to complain that, “The street was just paved last year. What are you doing?”
Johnson explained that they shared with residents and the council what they were doing and asked everyone to be patient for the results. “We were hoping that the consultant’s words were true and that it would cure nicely and that in a few years nobody would be able to tell the difference...It turned out that our consultant was right and a couple of years later, I went out to try to find the joint between the surface mix and the microsurfacing and it had blended in so well that I couldn’t identify it.”
Another problem that lingered into 2016 had to be resolved with an inadequate bond amount of about $200,000 from 2008.
“Coming out of the great recession in 2008, 2009 we had a lot of developers that ran away and left infrastructure...The streets were
failing, and they were missing the final surface. The utilities were sticking up, potholes were forming, curbing was getting jacked up out of the line and we were going to have to charge the residents to fix it, because this wasn’t a ‘city-maintain’ system yet. We don’t accept streets in Durham until they are completed to specific criteria. And this was not completed in any way that we were going to accept. So, this was on the residents to fix. And residents were not happy.”
To buy the residents some time and stave off further damage, DPW proposed microsurfacing. “There were other areas of the subdivision—phase one or two—that had already been accepted by the city. They were starting to deteriorate as well. So, we micro’ed the whole subdivision to bring it all up to a similar condition throughout and to reduce mobilization costs in the future.”
Microsurfacing throughout the subdivision also gave the residents time to “cool down a little bit” about the situation they were in.
Tasha Johnson spoke of giving workers the room to try new things and take risks. “We managed to get a staff person on-boarded at the right stage in their life and they just wanted some work-life balance and to deliver projects. And the time worked out and they became my pavement preservation guru. Clint Blackburn was willing to take risks. He was willing to work in a flexible environment, deal with multiple treatments and to do things differently in terms of how we deliver our projects.”
“It took a lot of talking with them, on the ground,” Johnson said. Her team explained to the residents the difference between microsurfacing and paving and what to expect. And her team reassured them about costs and responsibilities.
“It ended up being a good conversation.”
Microsurfacing is only one of the successful treatment methods DPW has implemented. Johnson also spoke of cape seals—which the department places like a chip seal. That treatment ended up being dusty and problematic for residents, so communication, again, took center stage.
“There were no houses along Woodcroft Parkway, but there were thousands of houses in little subdivisions off Woodcroft that backed up to it in some areas. We put message boards out. We put door hangers in the mailbox areas...We told them what we're going to be doing because we knew it’s going to be a little dusty and they were going to be mad.”
The department has since added social media blasts and other efforts like a one-page frequently asked questions document via its new communications department. What they’ve accomplished is noteworthy.
They’ve gone to a roadway that’s in reasonable condition, performed a treatment before the neighbors think they should do it, and gotten everyone’s blessing in the end. They’ve done it because they can communicate to the residents and city council the wisdom behind performing the right treatment to the right pavement at the right time.
“We went out to Woodcroft Parkway and we did some preservation treatments on it about two years earlier than it needed to be paved,” Johnson said. “We did a treatment now that cost half of what it would cost you to pave in two or three years, and then we used those savings on another road.
“Now, instead of paving Woodcroft Parkway, I can do a treatment on Woodcroft and stabilize it for several years and use some more money and go pave another road that I wouldn't be able to touch, period, because you’re underfunding me. It turned out to be a good thing in the end, but there was a lot of complaining and a lot of questions.”
The contractor that has won the bid to perform the maintenance work for the City of Durham for several years now is Slurry Pavers Inc., Richmond, Virginia.
“They are willing to go the extra mile in terms of engaging with our residents,” Johnson said, having multiple meetings virtually and in-person. “Slurry has set up a website that they update almost daily that shows which neighborhood they are going to be working in. So, when people ask questions, we can send them there.”
Having a successful maintenance and preservation program truly involves educating and communicating internally and with the public. Johnson shared that once the department stepped away from only using surface mix to repave everything, they implemented the PCI rating system and involved a consultant to assist in selecting the right treatments going forward.
“Then we needed some cross-departmental organization and we had to coordinate with Transportation because they might want to change up the striping on the road. And we had to coordinate with solid waste to make sure we were not tearing up a road when they were getting started with their collecting in that neighborhood for the week. We had to coordinate with general services, school buses and all that other stuff; DOT as well, because the roads did intersect in some areas.
“We had to educate our residents. We had to engage them first. And then we had to educate them about what we were doing. We had to reassure them that the product we were putting down was not inferior.
“But we also had to educate them on the fact that we’re doing treatments now. And we're doing them differently so we can get to more areas of the city than before. We had some roads that hadn’t been paved for 30 plus years. So, your option is you can have this microsurfacing now...or you can wait and hope that maybe sometime in the next 10 to 20 years we’ll come out and pave.”
In the end, the City of Durham has a DPW that works hand in hand with its consultant, contractor and residents.
“We do multiple applications of pavement preservation over the life cycle of a road. Our desire is to keep it at a very high level for a longer period of time and to use that to get around to more roads in the city and bring those up over time. We need about $20 million to make that happen. We currently get about 15; before that, we got 10. So, the only reason our network is not completely falling apart in the last five to 10 years is because of pavement preservation.”
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Canadian companies turn to ion technology to combine fine dust, clear air for milling crews.
BY SARAH REDOHLDenis Lussier remembers how dusty the work could be when he started as a milling machine operator at ACI, Joliette, Quebec, in 2007. “Sometimes, there would be so much dust it looked as though a cloud of dust was moving forward down the highway,” Lussier said.
Throughout the past two decades, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have worked hard to reduce the amount of dust around their milling machines—to much success. “All of the companies that make these machines have innovated to reduce the amount of dust the operators experience when using these machines,” Lussier said, from water systems that suppress the dust to vacuum systems that collect the dust.
Although this has had profound impacts on the amount of visible dust, these innovations have also reduced the amount of fine dust surrounding the milling machine. Fine dust, while invisible to the
naked eye, is actually more hazardous to workers’ health than visible dust, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
While larger dust particles often fall to the ground quickly, fine dust particles can remain aloft much longer. Furthermore, our bodies are better-equipped to handle larger dust particles, which are often captured by our nose hairs, for example, whereas our bodies lack defenses against fine particles that can make their way into the lungs and cause health issues.
In an effort to take silica dust suppression to the next level, ACI invested in a BOMAG BM 2200/65 equipped with the company’s innovative ION DUST SHIELD technology in June 2023. “The system makes it so we have almost zero dust on our jobs,” Lussier said. Now, he’s a technical advisor and training manager at ACI, making decisions that impact the company’s current generation of equipment operators—like the company’s new BOMAG milling machine with ION DUST SHIELD.
“This is a hard job, but this innovation makes it a bit easier,” Lussier said. “The system is easy to use, easy to clean, and it’s a very good step for our industry to prevent employees from breathing in dangerous silica dust.”
The ION DUST SHIELD is an addition to BOMAG’s standard dust extraction system. The system, which received the silver medal of the BAUMA Innovation award in 2019, reduces the amount of hazardous fine dust by 88%, according to the manufacturer. The system works by applying an electrical charge as the fine dust passes through the ION DUST SHIELD. The positively charged fine dust becomes unstable and tries to stabilize by bonding with other fine dust particles. As more fine particles clump together, they form coarse dust that can then be ejected with the milled material via the conveyor belt.
The ION DUST SHIELD does not rely on filters, which reduces the need to clean, service and dispose of these filters as a hazardous material.
“As people have learned about the ION DUST SHIELD, interest in the system is growing,” said BOMAG Product Manager for Cold Milling Dennis Frenzius, adding that the greatest interest so far has been in Europe. “There’s a lot of focus on fine particles in Europe as a result of conversations about reducing fine dust from standard mechanical brakes on cars.”
Furthermore, BOMAG has performed tests on the ION DUST SHIELD with health institutes in both Germany and France that have illustrated the system’s capabilities to reduce fine dust by 88% or more. “Now, we’re working on having similar discussions and tests with organizations in North America,” Frenzius said.
Although the North American tests have yet to occur, interest in the ION DUST SHIELD has been growing in these markets, Frenzius said, adding that every BOMAG milling machine with a front loading conveyor sent to Canada this year has been equipped with the ION DUST SHIELD. “Having the ION DUST SHIELD in the market improves visibility for this technology,” he added. “Whenever people become aware that there are new technologies to manage fine dust particles, that drives the discussion forward.” For example, World of Asphalt 2024 in Nashville drove a lot of interest in the system in the U.S. market.
“Our customers are very interested in protecting their operators from silica dust,” Frenzius said, adding that it’s also a matter of employee attraction and retention. “Interest in running a piece of machinery like this will be impacted if the operator’s health is at risk. That makes the ION DUST SHIELD even more important, because it offers the operator the highest level of protection available.”
Although masks currently aren’t required on most milling projects in Canada, companies are preparing for a day when the silica dust standards become more strict. “In Europe, there are inspectors who come out to test the dust around these machines,” Lussier said, “and that’s eventually how it will be in Canada.”
We’ve been designing and manufacturing custom mixing solutions in Tennessee for nearly 40
TOP: The ION DUST SHIELD is an addition to BOMAG’s standard dust extraction system. The system works by applying an electrical charge as the fine dust passes through the ION DUST SHIELD, seen here atop the conveyor. BOTTOM: Frenzius stresses the difference between coarse dust, which is often visible to the human eye, and fine dust (the type of dust targeted by the ION DUST SHIELD). Fine dust, while invisible to the naked eye, is more hazardous to workers’ health than visible dust.
On the other side of the country, Command Equipment Ltd., Edmonton, is also getting ahead of anticipated changes. “We don’t have inspectors coming to our jobs or anything, but they are starting to get stricter up here in Canada,” said Doug Booth, superintendent of Command Equipment’s milling division. “We want all our employees to be safe and healthy, and it’s important for us to investigate solutions to the problems they face.”
Command Equipment began using the ION DUST SHIELD in summer 2023. The company already had one BOMAG BM 2200/65 and needed another for a mill-and-fill project on Queen Elizabeth II Highway from Lacombe to Red Deer (18.6 miles/30 kilometers) for the Alberta Ministry of Transportation. The second BOMAG was equipped with the ION DUST SHIELD, so Command Equipment decided to put the new technology to the test.
“That’s a heavy commuter route, because it’s the main highway from Edmonton to Calgary,” Booth said, adding that the road had experienced significant surface cracking as a result of age and heavy use. Command Equipment was hired to mill to a depth of 2.4 inches (60 millimeters) and repave overnight to reopen each section of fresh pavement by the following morning.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, modern industrial use of asbestos dates back to 1880 when the Quebec chrysotile fields began to be exploited. In the following decades, the use of asbestos grew until new research on the safety of asbestos resulted in its rapid decline between 1970 and 1990. As a result, writes Quebec-based environmental services specialists Lab’eau-air-sol, “Quebec found itself with an abundance of chrysotile residues and no buyers.”
“THERE ARE SOME ROADS IN QUEBEC, USUALLY THOSE WITH VERY HEAVY TRUCK TRAFFIC, WHERE THEY’VE PUT ASBESTOS IN THE ROADS.”—DENIS LUSSIER
“After years of discussion and laboratory testing, the use of chrysotile in bitumen became common practice [in Quebec] in the ‘90s,” Lab’eau-air-sol continues, adding that chrysotile asbestos is a “highly resistant fibrous material, enabling significant reinforcement of bitumen matrix,” while the mixture’s non-friability makes its use in roads relatively safe for road users. However, Lab’eau-air-sol writes, there remains significant exposure risk when these roads are demolished, resulting in special measures to protect workers and increased removal costs than conventional asphalt. According to Lussier, ACI has completed 50 asbestoscoated asphalt projects since 2010 and is one of a handful of companies in Quebec equipped to work with asbestos-coated asphalt. However, he added, “Asbestos projects represent a small percentage of annual planning and will continue to decrease because the Ministry of Transport removed asbestos-containing mixes from its standards in 2011.”
As companies like ACI are brought in to mill the remaining pavements containing asbestos--“usually those with very heavy truck traffic,” Lussier said--the company must follow all safety procedures and best practices. Lussier said there are two ways to handle these types of roads: stabilization and dry method. “When choosing the stabilization approach, a bitumen emulsion is introduced into the leveled layers of the surface, allowing asbestos particles to bind together,” Lussier said. “This process helps prevent the release of hazardous dust or fumes.” In the case of the dry method, he added, the pavement material is gathered, enclosed in large stitched bags, and then disposed of at a landfill site authorized by the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, and the Fight Against Climate Change.
“The second method can be very expensive, so we prefer the first method, but ultimately the choice is up to the Transportation Ministry,” Lussier said. ACI has retrofitted one of its milling machines to handle the first method. When the company must utilize the second method, it would prefer to use its BOMAG milling machine in order to benefit from the ION DUST SHIELD, given that the asbestos particles are also quite fine. However, the machine isn’t quite large enough to make sense on the types of roads that contain asbestos. “If we had a larger BOMAG mill, we would definitely be using it on those jobs.”
They milled one lane (7.2 feet or 2.2 meters) with their BOMAG with ION DUST SHIELD and one lane with another milling machine. “It was really good to perform a side by side comparison,” Booth said. “The guy running the BOMAG said he wasn’t getting as much dust and stuff blowing back at him as on the other machines.
Booth has worked at Command Equipment for 15 years and in the company’s milling division for seven before being promoted to superintendent last year. “Whenever a new machine comes in, I like to kick the operator off and try it out, like it’s a new toy,” he said. “I like that the ION DUST SHIELD is easy to use. You don’t have to do anything. It’s just there and it just works.”
“Although the ION DUST SHIELD doesn’t make us run better or faster, it does make the environment healthier for the operator and ground crew,” Booth said. “Our company is all about investing in the safety of its employees, so this was an investment they made to make our lives a little better.”
ACI first rented the BOMAG BM 2200/75 in 2020. The company has long had a great relationship with SMS Equipment Inc., which became a BOMAG distributor in 2019. “We find we have better service from SMS than from other dealers,” Lussier said. “Milling machines are prone to breaking down given the job they do, so it is very important to have good service.”
After the company had used the machine for a while, BOMAG invited ACI employees to Charlotte to see the new BM 2200/65 model, to discuss their experience with the machine, and to brainstorm the features they’d like to see on the next generation of BOMAG mills. “We’ve learned that BOMAG is a company that really listens to their customers,” Lussier said.
For example, ACI found the earlier version of the BM 2200/75 they rented several years ago was a bit too noisy. On the BOMAG BM 2200/65 ACI purchased in 2023, BOMAG put the fan at a 45-degree angle at the back of the machine for a quieter work environment for the operator. The new machine also came with the ION DUST SHIELD included. “That wasn’t something we had to choose to add on or pay extra for,” Lussier said. “It is a useful feature that comes standard in Canada.”
According to Lussier, the company considers the amount of dust they anticipate on a project when deciding which jobs to send its BOMAG mill out on. For example, if the company is planing concrete or milling in confined areas such as tunnels and under bridges. It’s also great when milling into the wind. “The water and VCS systems work well to suppress dust in most situations, but it’s been great to have the ION DUST SHIELD, too, when we have to mill into the wind,” Lussier said.
Where the BOMAG BM 2200/65 has most excelled for ACI is on projects where the crew must immediately pave after milling— for example, when the company recently milled and repaved highways 40, 35 and 10 overnight and had to reopen them by 5 a.m.
“On these types of jobs, we have to put down less water so the surface is ready for paving shortly behind the milling machine,” Lussier said, estimating that they run the water systems at 20% on these jobs compared to 100% on jobs without this time constraint. “When we must use less water, the ION DUST SHIELD is perfect because it can help capture that extra dust.”
According to Lussier, ACI has 14 employees trained to use the BOMAG mill. “They all like the ION DUST SHIELD very much,” Lussier said. “They say that when they run this machine, they experience no issues with dust.”
Ahead of historic highway funding in Missouri, a Columbia college institutes a Women in Trades program that solves specific challenges to continued education for the demographic.
BY SANDY LENDERAttracting women to the asphalt industry workforce faces a set of challenges that attracting other demographics does not. For the director of workforce development at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, taking on those challenges came to the forefront due to historic highway funding waves in his hometown.
Founded in 1833, Stephens College is the second-oldest women’s college in the country. In August 2023, Governor Mike Parsons visited Columbia to ceremonially sign legislation that would repair and expand Interstate 70 (I70) to six lanes across the state and members of the Stephens College team were on hand to witness the event. The $2.8 billion in funding to expand and rebuild I-70 from Kansas City to St. Louis is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the state’s economic development, including high paying jobs for Missouri’s construction and skilled trade workforce.
“I-70 is a game changer for this state,” Gov. Parson said. During his remarks, he emphasized economic and workforce development as well as improved highway safety. “We have the opportunity to set the pace for the rest of the country.”
Stephens College Director of Workforce Development Dr. Scott Taylor met with Gov. Parson and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe to share Stephens College’s more intentional emphasis on workforce development. Earlier in 2023, Taylor had put a plan in motion.
“The upcoming I-70 project is what started turning the gears,” Taylor said. He acknowledged that women make up less than 15% of the workforce in the construction trade nationally “and 5% or less are women locally in Missouri. There’s a huge demand for workers in the trades and that’s going to
magnify once this project begins. If companies are having difficulties finding qualified workers now, what’s going to happen when such a significant project begins? Where’s the labor coming from?”
As his mind worked on the ways Stephens College already encourages women, the possibilities to help the workforce blossomed. It’s no secret our industry is trying to recruit new workers to the workforce and that includes women. New data from the Department of Labor (DOL) shows the construction sector added 39,000 jobs in March 2024, which is an increase over the 27,000 jobs added in February and 11,000 jobs added in January, according to Aspectus Group. We need skilled laborers and workers willing to learn a new trade to fill those posts.
Stephens College is working with industry partners like Reinhardt Construction and Capital Paving & Construction to upskill women, so they are job-ready for opportunities such as the I-70 expansion. The Women in Trades program at Stephens is a pre-apprenticeship program that will lead
to an apprenticeship—or fulltime job—at the worksite. The stackable certificate program will help women get college credit along the way that can build into a degree if they wish to continue their education beyond the apprenticeship.
“We are grateful to our industry partners like Susan Hart, vice president of Reinhardt Construction, and Jeff Hayes, human resources director at Farmer Companies, who have lent their expertise as we develop an earn-and-learn program that will empower women to enter into an historically male-dominated field,” Taylor said.
Stephens College President Dr. Dianne Lynch noted that programs like the Women in Trades program will set the College up for the future. “I really believe that Stephens is going to emerge as a national model for how to meld and blend traditional liberal arts residential learning with service to and opportunities for workforce development and at the same time developing new programs that bring industry and education together in partnership to produce new kinds of outcomes.”
All-women crews will ensure a more comfortable experience on the worksite and wraparound services including childcare, work gear and transportation will support them as they transition into a new career.
“This is a workforce opportunity,” said Ed Hassinger, Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) deputy director and chief engineer at the bill signing. “We’re going to develop a diverse workforce as we deliver this project and create jobs across the entire state.”
The Stephens website showcases its program by highlighting some of the pain points the program addresses. It states: “Women report feeling that careers in these high-paying fields (like construction, carpentry and transportation) are out of reach
because they: can’t afford to take time off work to get the credentials they need; struggle to find a way to pay more for childcare while they learn; feel underprepared for these highly skilled technical roles; worry about facing bullying and harassing behavior on worksites; and generally feel unsupported in their career choice/change.”
The “Workforce Development at Stephens” programs are designed in an apprenticeship model, where women can earn as they learn. The goal, according to the website, is to empower women to enter into historically male-dominated fields. The three programs available are Construction Pre-Apprenticeship, General Carpentry Apprenticeship and Highway Construction Apprenticeship. Each offers immersive, hands-on learning; childcare; transportation to and from job sites; PPE and required workwear; all-women crews on job sites to ensure a more comfortable transition; stipends; and more.
A woman of asphalt (WofA) we spoke with recently, Marquisha Williams, who is the HR area partner/EEO at Milestone Contractors LP, Muncie, Indiana, exemplifies the concept of learning on the job. She’s a self-made woman of asphalt who joined the asphalt industry in 2004 as a laborer apprentice with a desire to explore the industry.
One of the assets Williams brings to every position she’s held is the desire to work
• The funds for the 13 miles of I-70 that run through the Columbia region include a planned $185 million to improve the Highway 63 exit and fix pavement issues.
• Another $410 million will go toward creating new bridges, replacing pavement and expanding the lanes.
• According to MoDOT, sections of the I-70 corridor through Columbia see an average of 50,100 vehicles daily.
• Construction is expected to begin in summer 2024 and is estimated to take about six or seven years to complete.
with others. She enjoys getting outside and working alongside the crew, whether she’s the density technician, the flagger, the safety director or the EEO. She joined Milestone in 2014 as a laborer and QC tech. By 2017, she had advanced to a safety director. When we spoke with her in 2023, she was gearing up for classes in the state of Indiana. Her experience can be an encouragement to others.
“Starting my career off as an apprentice laborer is twofold for me,” Williams shared. “First, it was a great way to learn the trade with the classes Indiana Laborers’ Training Trust Fund (LiUNA) offered at either their Bedford or Logansport facilities. During my time as an apprentice, I was able to gain the fundamentals of a laborer and apply those skill sets in the field. And the second part is the sense of accomplishment knowing I completed a trade apprenticeship, and no one gave that to me.
“Furthering my education was important not only for this role but also to become a well-rounded employee and person,” Williams continued. “I want to always make sure that I say college isn’t for everyone and
it doesn’t define your journey in this industry. I started in this industry with no high school diploma, and I received my GED in 2012. Anything is possible.”
What she recommends is to stay engaged in your career and “get involved. If you have a passion, speak with the organization you are currently working with and let them know you would like to attend job fairs, safety audits or learn more about a job you are interested in. We have to remember the organization doesn’t know what you want until you inquire about it.
The most important skill is the skill of being authentically yourself. It will get you far in this industry.”
Taylor’s explanation of the Women in Trades program at Stephens shows how it caters to this motivated demographic. “We’re breaking down the barriers for bringing a diverse workforce in,” he said. “We’ll provide you with transportation if you’re local and you need it. We’ll provide you a stipend to replace wages while you train in the program. With our Early Childhood Facility, we’ll provide childcare while you’re training.”
The Early Childhood Facility at Stephens College is also a candidate for expansion to assist signatory companies' workers once they’ve completed the program, but that concept is still in progress. What’s refreshing is the fact it’s on someone’s radar—the need for family support to encourage and assist workers who can excel in the asphalt industry is being addressed.
Another WofA we spoke with in 2022 is Kelly Landreth, currently a Local 483 member with the City of Portland. Her story also helps women address some of the pain points listed on the Stephens College website. Landreth joined the construction industry in 1993 with Lonestar Concrete, where the “good ol’ boys' attitudes” presented a challenge to overcome. But she worked her way to a position with the City of Portland in January 2000. Her first job with the city was a utility worker/laborer and her time has included using skills and continuing education to advance and succeed.
“After my first three years as a utility worker, I became a heavy equipment op-
erator,” Landreth shared. “The main operator for cold milling. I have always been intrigued with equipment and truck driving all my life and I thought it was cool that a girl can do it, too.”
She’s been in the construction trade since 1993 and has seen changes. Considering the equipment mentioned on the Stephens website, Landreth has seen improvements there, as well. “I think [one] thing is good boots and inserts. It’s easier to find the boot that fits your job now. Mine for asphalt are heat-resistant with minimal tread.”
In the Stephens programs, such specific equipment is provided for a four-week bootcamp where candidates move as a cohort through education and hands-on training. The women receive their OSHA-10 certification as well as training in hand tools and power tools. The four-week bootcamp can apply toward an 80-hour apprenticeship for signatory companies or can ready them to go to work in non-union companies who are partnering with the college.
Taylor shared his excitement with the number of candidates who jumped at the
chance to be in the first cohort, which takes place in April 2024. “We’re not running this on a regular school calendar,” he said. “The first one is in April and those women will be work-ready or apprenticeship-ready by May. We’ll run another one in June. We hope to run four to six per year.”
Both Landreth and Williams have encouragement for women who are interested in the asphalt industry.
“I think I would tell her it’s a rewarding job you look back on and a job complete and well done for years,” Landreth said.
For Williams, outside of the men and women that work in this industry it’s the communities she works in that she finds rewarding. “It tickles me when I walk up on job site and a young girl is outside playing and she looks at her parent and says ‘I didn’t know girls worked here.’ I always say, ‘yes, we do, and we hope to see you in the future.’”
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“Owning our ADM asphalt plant has been a real game changer. ADM focuses as much on service as on the sale of the plant, and the payoff has been well worth it.”
Trent Nielsen, President & Owner-Operator, Nielsen Blacktopping & Concrete
Even if you have plenty of real estate to spread out plant components for optimum visibility and multiple stockpiles of on-spec material, you want to focus on such things as minimizing the distance and ducting required between the drum and the baghouse. Keep these efficiencies in mind when designing your layout. Photos courtesy of CWMF Corp.
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 start making your own hot-mix asphalt? 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 CWMF takes an overarching look at the plant footprint.
IIf you’re considering or planning on building a hot-mix asphalt (HMA) plant or expanding on your existing operation, you likely have a question or two. Or maybe a couple hundred. That’s because it’s complex and highly specialized. And not everyone who recognizes the marketplace opportunities of asphalt and paving is necessarily already
an expert in what it takes to build an efficient asphalt production facility. Getting this massive undertaking right requires vast experience and deep expertise. Here are a few things to consider when you start planning your new asphalt plant.
1. Stationary or Portable and Tons per Hour (TPH). The choice between a portable and stationary asphalt plant depends on various factors, including project size, duration, location, environmental regulations and mobility requirements. Stationary plants are best suited for large, long-term projects, while portable plants offer flexibility and mobility for shorter-term, varied, or remote projects. You will also need to determine how many tons per hour your market requires. Bigger isn’t always better when considering the overall investment.
WHEN POSITIONING THE TANK FARM, YOU WANT TO MINIMIZE THE AMOUNT OF PIPING THAT WILL REQUIRE HEATING. THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR ENHANCED EFFICIENCY.
2. Equipment Placement. Determine the optimal arrangement of key equipment within the plant. When designing an asphalt plant, two crucial factors demand careful consideration.
• Available Real Estate for Stockpiles
The extent of available property plays a pivotal role in determining the layout of the plant. To optimize both cost and efficiency, it is essential to focus on key features such as minimizing the distance and ducting required between the drum and the baghouse. Additionally, when positioning the asphalt cement (AC) tank package, minimizing the amount of piping that needs heating is paramount for enhanced efficiency.
• Truck Traffic Flow in the Yard
Determine the optimal arrangement of key equipment within the plant. The goal is to minimize the distance virgin and recycled materials must travel through the plant and ensure efficient material flow. When planning for current and future cold feed and recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) bins, it is imperative to be mindful of the traffic flow. The available real estate will dictate the optimal angle and configuration for the plant.
3. Control Room. Design a control room with a clear view of the entire plant operation. This allows operators to monitor equipment, adjust parameters and respond to issues. CWMF offers integrated industrial automation and control solutions for asphalt plant equipment. We can provide the engineering, manufacturing, installation, start-up, and training to get you up and running at peak efficiency.
4. Install Electric and Plumbing. Establishing the required equipment for your plant is one thing, but defining your needs to get it up and running is an entirely separate process that requires significant planning and preparation. Be sure to team up with an equipment manufacturer that can walk you through each step of the process.
5. Environmental Impact Assessment. Evaluating the potential environmental impact of your new asphalt plant is critical. You’ll need to make sure you are following the local environmental regulations and obtaining the necessary permits. Consider implementing a pulse jet or reverse flow baghouse, such as CWMF’s Dust-Eater. The baghouse dust collector is considered the “lungs” of a plant. When the plant cannot breathe effectively, it negatively affects production. This is an essential part of asphalt plant operations, along with the dust control system employed upstream to help retain and return usable dust particles back into the drum mixer rather than putting them immediately into the exhaust airstream.
6. Zoning, Land Use Regulations and Permitting. Understanding the local zoning laws, land use regulations, and permitting that govern where industrial facilities like asphalt plants can be located is incredibly important.
When real estate is at a premium, plant components can be tucked in close with creative material conveyance and smart planning. Truck traffic flow and plant operator "view" are still important aspects to keep in mind when designing your layout.
7. Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Prioritize safety for both employees and the surrounding community. Implement safety measures, such as clear traffic patterns, proper signage and emergency response plans. Ensure that fire protection systems, hazardous material handling, lockout/tagout, and confined space entry procedures are in place.
8. Replacement Parts. Once your plant is up and running, are you prepared for untimely breakdowns? Team up with a company you can trust to get you the replacement parts you need ASAP. The CWMF sales and service teams are ready to work through determining what you need to get your plant up and running, whether for the first time, during scheduled maintenance, or after unplanned downtime. Never underestimate the importance of the parts that make up the whole or the value of the professionals who go the extra mile to keep your plant online.
CWMF has been a trusted company in the stationary and portable asphalt industry for decades. As a full-service manufacturing company, we engineer all our products to order, allowing us to serve as a full-service, end-to-end provider of asphalt plant solutions. We have the machinery and equipment you need, and a confident team working together to make this happen. This provides an exceptional experience for our customers, and for the dedicated team standing behind their products. We work hard not only to retain our reputation but to stay current on the latest industry trends and technologies.
Wally Olson is CWMF Corporation’s sales manager. For more information, contact him at (320) 251-1306 or visit cwmfcorp.com.
Implement safety measures, such as clear traffic patterns, proper signage and emergency response plans. Getting the right signage in the right places is part of your successful plant layout plan, not only for traffic flow and proper stockpile management, but also for emergency preparedness.
An HMA plant—and producer of RAP mixes—blended a single customized Ecosorb formulation into its multiple asphalt mixes, reducing airborne sulfurous release by over 90%. All figures and data courtesy of Ecosorb
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 start making your own hot-mix asphalt? 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 Ecosorb takes a look at the permit line-item of odor control at the plant to ensure your community relations, sustainability initiatives and production efficiency are working hand-in-hand.
IIn the asphalt industry, maintaining neighborly relations and curtailing odor complaints before they arise is just as important as maximizing production for every company’s long-term business continuity.
Asphalt binders are complex mixtures of organic compounds produced as a byproduct of petroleum refining. With constantly changing feedstocks, staying on top of blends is critical to controlling odors. In recent years, “opportunity crudes” have become more prevalent indus-
trywide, and it has become necessary to balance the lower cost of these crudes with extra processing and off-gas scrubbing requirements. Another factor to consider is increased equipment maintenance and premature failure because of accelerated corrosion caused by hydrogen sulfide in lower grade crudes.
During heating, mixing, transfer and application of asphalt binders, odors are often produced from volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, which can lead to concerns from neighbors and passersby smelling the off-gas. If left unaddressed, concerns can become complaints, which can ultimately pave the way to regulation and operational restrictions.
Odor abatement is a historically difficult undertaking in the asphalt industry because of the complex makeup of bindings and numerous petrol products used in each hot mix. However, plants can now enlist the help of top suppliers with the knowledge and advanced laboratory technologies needed to chemically neutralize odor-causing components. These experts address this issue by identifying the problematic compounds, and by then creating and providing additives specially formulated to neutralize odors from various asphalt mixes.
Occupying a lower tier on the crude refining food chain, asphalt blends will always vary much more than higher-tier products, such as aviation fuels. Mixes can vary significantly from one season to the next—particularly with opportunity crudes—depending on the oil sources available and how they are processed. As a result, odor neutralization formulations must also adapt to the changing constituents of each season’s asphalt mixes.
Manufacturers, therefore, cannot always rely on the same odor-mitigating additives from one season to the next, even when producing the same end product. Additionally, since crude sources and refining processes vary by region and supplier, the nature and intensity of odors can differ even between batches of asphalt binders. Other factors for odor mitigation assessment include the temperature at which the plant is operated, geographical attributes—such as hills and valleys—humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction, and proximity of neighbors.
There are many potential VOC emission sources during the processes of refining the feedstock, manufacturing the mix, and storing the finished product. This is especially notable during the storage of bulk asphalt in a heated tank, in addition to stack emissions during production. Loading asphalt from one vessel to another—such as from the silos into trucks, and from trucks into a paver hopper—is another frequent odorous phase.
VOC concentrations increase significantly at higher temperatures. Below 150°C, few detectable VOCs are produced, but above this point, emissions increase. VOC prevalence is also dependent on the surface area of asphalt exposed to air over asphalt-coated aggregates. VOCs also increase substantially when these asphalt-coated aggregates are agitated.
Asphalt production variability spawns the need for adaptive and sometimes customized blends. Although there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there are general formulations that bolster odor mitigation efforts for a variety of asphalt mixes. These general formulations are added to the mixes to neutralize several odor-causing constituents, like hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans and general hydrocarbons. Specialty suppliers update their additives from year to year based on aggregate samples taken at asphalt plants to maintain effectiveness.
Although general formulations are efficacious for many mixes, some plants require custom blends, and expert suppliers can help with these needs as well. In these situations, asphalt samples are taken from the plant during multiple stages of production. These samples are then studied in a lab using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) to determine the precise molecular makeup of odors, even those present in minute amounts.
A GC chromatogram is a visual output of the data recorded by the detector, and it is presented as a plot of detector response along the y-axis, versus retention time along the x-axis (See the graph on page 34).
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Each peak in a GC chromatogram represents the presence of a compound, identified and quantified on the x- and y-axes respectively.
Application of an Ecosorb custom formulation significantly reduced odors at an asphalt plant. All measurements are in parts per million (ppm).
Each compound detected appears as a single peak on the graph, with the corresponding retention time value used for identification. Once the odor-causing compounds are identified, scientists develop a formulation using plant oils to molecularly neutralize the odors when the additive is combined with the mix.
This results in versatile and cost-efficient solutions—specially crafted for maximum effectiveness in each application—with each solution leveraging customized concentrations of plant oils, biobased surfactants and water to eliminate odors. These additives are designed to be safe, non-toxic and biodegradable, and to be applied during any phase of the asphalt lifecycle: manufacturing, storage, transportation and use. When used in refineries, hot mix plants, transportation systems and paving operations, they are blended directly into the asphalt mix (Figure 3).
These additives are also useful for mitigating odors and blue smoke when dispersed via vapor phase during the capture of particulate matter in a baghouse.
Airborne vapor phase dispersion is also commonly deployed to control odors at storage terminals, where asphalt is kept prior to delivery.
One longtime Ecosorb end-user customer—a new and reclaimed asphalt pavement plant producing 1,500-2,000 tons of hot mix asphalt each day for contractors and construction firms—relied on a basic odor-mitigating additive for years. However, recent asphalt mix variability spurred the need for a specially targeted formulation. The different mix sources and grades began producing pungent odors in the areas surrounding the plant, and the standard additive was no longer effective.
The plant shipped samples of three different asphalt mixes to Ecosorb’s lab to assess the levels of hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans and general hydrocarbons in each. The data from one asphalt mix, before and after treatment at 150°C is shown in Table 1.
Although the levels were different in each mix, the team of scientists formulated a single blend to neutralize odors in all three mixes, eliminating the burden of correctly matching different additives with a specific mix. The plant added this single blend to all its mixes, which reduced airborne sulfurous release by over 90%.
By adding plant-based odor removers to asphalt mixes, manufacturers can effectively mitigate odors using safe, environmentally friendly and cost-efficient methods. These custom formulations do not mask smells, but instead mitigate them by breaking down and neutralizing odor-causing molecules in the mixes.
These mitigation techniques empower asphalt manufacturers to redirect their time from odor control and complaint handling, to maximizing production and overcoming the steady stream of challenges posed by evolving feedstocks.
Laura Haupert, Ph.D., is the chief scientific officer for Ecosorb, where she leads research and development, regulatory, safety and quality control. She earned her B.S. in chemistry from Manchester College and Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Purdue University, working with bond energies of solvated clusters. Haupert also completed her postdoctoral research at Purdue.
www.wirtgen-group.com/technologies
Asphalt industry experts share ideas for using the storage silo to increase business while protecting against quality control hazards.
BY SANDY LENDEREditor’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 start making your own hot-mix asphalt? 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 looks at the best practices you can employ with the storage silo to offer customers quick, quality asphalt mix for their paving projects.
IIf you’re in the hot-mix asphalt (HMA) industry, you know one of the game-changing inventions of last century was the storage silo. During his “Asphalt Plant Efficiency” presentation during a World of Asphalt People, Plants and Paving session in Nashville in March 2024, Greg Renegar, the vice president of customer success for Astec Industries, Chattanooga, discussed the benefits of planning ahead with your storage silos in mind.
As he explained, even if you have older components you’ve been unable to update the past few years, you can operate efficiently if you maintain those parts, tighten up your environmental footprint, and follow best practices, such as optimizing the use of storage silos.
Notice that’s “optimizing” the use of storage silos. Not every mix design is ideal for the suggestions to come, and we’ll talk about those.
Renegar’s presentation included a sideby-side comparison of operations you might be able to share with your production team to showcase what’s optimal and what’s not.
If your “why” is to provide mix for both customer and in-house crews, you’ll want to plan ahead for overnight storage of appropriate mixes as you build your new plant. During his presentation to the World of Asphalt audience in March, Astec’s Greg Renegar reminded attendees the plant that can start loading out customers first thing in the morning will be the plant everyone flocks to.
Amazing Producer ABC
Using old technology
• Starts loading out of prefilled silos at 6 a.m.
• Starts up the plant at 8:30 a.m.
• Runs two to three mixes on various jobs, with enough trucks for the day
• Runs all day with changeovers but no mid-streams
• Fills the silos at the end of the day for tomorrow’s early customers
One of the two producers in our examples is using new technology for its efficiency and sustainability but isn’t using best planning strategies. Renegar shared plants that start and stop more than three times per shift use up to 20-35% more fuel than they do when they run steadily. These percentages are published in the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) publication QIP-132.
You can probably monitor the effect of starting and stopping on your own fuel use. By using the storage silo to take up the slack and prevent starts and stops, you keep a steady, even production. Renegar stated Astec’s most successful customers are the ones who use long-term storage capabilities to become more profitable.
Think about it.
Because 95% of breakdowns occur at startup, you have a leg up on the day even if unplanned downtime hits you at first light. You also have a leg up on your competition on the other side of the county if your plant already has mix in the silo while Producer XYZ is still getting fired up. Renegar explained it this way: “Storage in multiple silos plus planning allows FOB customers to get in and out quickly in the morning. Serving the FOB customers better than your competition will result in more business.”
This isn’t rocket science. But it does require forethought. Renegar cautioned producers on some reasons you might not want to store mix overnight. For example, lack of planning from your customers could result in wasted mix. There’s no point in producing a hundred tons of state
Struggling Producer XYZ
Using new technology
• Starts making mix at 6 a.m.
• Runs two to three mixes on various jobs, short of trucks
• Mid-streams at 8:30 for 45 minutes
• Runs another 300 tons and finishes for the day!
• Cleans out
• Gets a call at 10:15 a.m. for a 150ton parking lot job
• Fires back up at 11 a.m., runs 147 tons, then mid-streams while paving foreman figures the last bit needed
mix at 300 degrees if your top five customers will show up wanting a less-pricy mix produced at 340 degrees.
If you don’t have proper heating systems in place, you run the risk of losing mix temperature. There are companies making electric heating elements that can be placed in silo cone packages to take the fear out of overnight storage. These entities might not make the silo itself, but are experts in the manufacture of electric heating components and provide these to OEMs like CWMF Corp., Waite Park, Minnesota, who then assemble the complete silo.
Even with the concern of temperature under control, you want to consider the mix design you’ll store. Renegar listed the “fear of storing polymer” as one of the reasons producers shy away from filling up the silo overnight or over a weekend. Folks in the field echo his concern when it comes to open-graded mixes due to a phenomenon known as drain down. This is when gravity pulls the liquid asphalt cement (AC) away from the aggregate and down toward the silo cone.
Steve Jackson, the vice president of plant operations and sustainability for NB West Contracting, Pacific, Missouri, spoke of this phenomenon in stone matrix asphalt (SMA) mixes. “The worst mix that I have seen for drain down is SMA,” Jackson shared. “That is why some agencies are reluctant to remove the cellulose fibers even when you add ground tire rubber or reduce the mix temperature.”
He gave an example. “I remember an SMA project where we filled a silo, and that was all the mix that we made for the night. The first sample, from the bottom of
the silo, had high AC and 1.5% air voids. The second sample, toward the top of the silo, had low AC and 7% air voids. We made the mix extra hot because it was going to spend a long time in the silo.” The expensive lesson he shared was having to mill out that tonnage and replace it.
“SMA, open-graded friction course and other gap-graded mixes are the worst for this phenomenon,” Jackson continued. “They also usually have specified minimum asphalt contents. If you are using very low absorption aggregates, it may lead to a high film thickness and the mix is more prone to drain down. When Joe Schroer (NB West’s construction materials engineer) worked at MoDOT, he evaluated some of those mixes, and started calculating the volume effective binder, and approved some of the SMA mixes with less than the minimum spec requirement AC content of 6.0%.”
In other words, there’s hope for “fixing” the gap-graded mix so it can be stored overnight for quick loadout in the morning, if you’re willing to work with it.
Malcolm Swanson, industry consultant and president of e5Engineers LLC, Chickamauga, Georgia, shared his thoughts. “Coarse graded mixes, SMAs, any mix with little surface area will tend to drain down. That is a major reason for adding fiber to a mix. Fiber adds surface area without changing gradation. The added surface gives the AC a place to hang on.”
“If the state allows the contractor to design their own non-gap-graded mixes, then the mix has the absolute minimum asphalt content, so they are less likely to drain down,” Jackson said. “If there are mixes that specify a minimum asphalt content, then I would be careful. Take a look at the aggregate absorption as well. We typically use aggregates with 1% or lower water absorptions in our high type mixes, these are mixes that we try to drop the mix temperature as low as possible to prevent drain down.”
For producers looking to optimize the use of the storage silos, it’s possible to adjust the mix design and temperature to ensure you have exactly what your customers are looking for first thing in the morning. It might take a little forethought and planning, but the producer who plans ahead is the producer who can optimize all the components for a tight environmental footprint, an efficient operation and a plant that all the customers flock to.
Amid this month’s paving and pavement maintenance services, we highlight a new robotic packaging system for pothole repair product.
BY ASPHALTPRO STAFFFor this month’s deep dive into products and services that enhance your paving and pavement maintenance efforts, we start with a look at a partnership revolutionizing pothole repair. EZ STREET®, Miami, joined its partner Superior Paving Corp., in an open house event at Superior’s Bealeton, Virginia, facility April 25, 2024, to unveil robotic technologies for production of Ambient® Asphalt Technology without displacing jobs.
The open house featured the introduction of a state-of-the-art robotic arm that packages 50-pound bags of EZ Street. David Helmick, EVP operations at Superior Paving, emphasized the positive impact of automation. “Our new robotic operation is a pivotal moment for us as we escalate our efforts to combat pavement challenges across the Mid-Atlantic and beyond. This technology allows us to enhance our operations while ensuring job security and efficiency for our employees.”
David White, president at Superior Paving, said, “This is fundamentally about harnessing technology to work alongside our people, enhancing and innovating within the asphalt industry. It’s not just about adopting new tools; it’s about embedding these technologies into our workflows to improve both product and process.”
The sentiment was echoed by Dag Seagren, co-founder of EZ Street, who highlighted the human element at the core of technological adoption. “Adopting robots and technology can work in tandem with companies that love people. Automation and robots are not about taking jobs but about enhancing safety and accuracy in repetitive tasks, allowing our staff to focus on more critical aspects of their roles,” Seagren explained.
The event was not only a showcase of technological advancements but also a celebration of the strong community ties and the skilled workforce
EZ STREET® offers Ambient® Asphalt Technology, which is setting new standards for performance and durability in the industry and joined the Superior Paving family in April for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the robotic system.
arm at
a
name in honor of two members of the
family. The story goes, one day, Jim Mitchell (at left) was thinking the robot needed a name. He thought to himself, “What does the robot do? Obviously: It stacks bags.” Someone else who stacked bags was Superior Paving Chairman Frank Surface (middle).
Mitchell thought about Surface, who loves to go visit with the crews. Unlike others who might just greet workers with a simple, “Hey, how’s it going,” Surface is known for challenging them by asking who is the fastest or who can do the most push-ups. This usually results in the crew stopping to figure it out.
Surface enjoyed stacking bags—a task that requires physical labor. Normally, you would need two people for this task. After his first time stacking, Surface took a week off, and it became apparent they needed a robot for the job. Mitchell thought, “Who should be helping Frank?” Well, his best buddy from college, Joe, who lives in Warrenton, would have been perfect for the job. He’s an awesome guy, but he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 20 years ago. If not for his condition, he would be in that room and doing awesome stuff for Superior and stacking bags alongside Surface, challenging the robot.
Frank and Joe attended college at Lenoir Rhyne (LR) University in North Carolina where they played football together. Their numbers were 47 and 49. Thus the name of the robotic arm was born. The Frank&Joe LR-4749. Also in the photo is Superior President David White (at right).
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at Superior Paving. The presence of all employees from The EZ Street Company underscored the company’s ethos of being in the “relationship business,” reinforcing that innovation does not detract from their community focus.
Superior Paving remains at the forefront of the asphalt industry’s shift toward high-tech solutions. This open house marked a significant step in the company’s journey toward redefining industry standards and leading the way in infrastructure improvement.
For more information, visit their website or contact Elyssa Maslach at elyssa@ez.st.
In addition to pavement maintenance concepts and advanced technology, this month’s product gallery brings pavers, rollers and other items of interest for your bottom line over the next few pages.
Astec Industries, Chattanooga, showcased the RX-405 cold planer at the World of Asphalt/AGG1 2024 event in Nashville, including the premier of its premium camera system capable of providing a bird’s eye view of the entire machine from the operator console. It was first debuted at CONEXPO/CON-AGG 2023. Equipped with a mid-mount variable cutter system (VCS), this machine offers cut widths ranging from 2 to 5 feet, achieving a maximum cut depth of 14 inches. It is powered by a Tier 3 or Stage 5 Cummins QSL-9 engine rated at 430 horsepower. It features a secondary conveyor that can swing 60 degrees on each side, providing a full conveyor swing of 120 degrees and a 750-gallon water tank.
The new operator environmental awareness system made its debut at the show. Set to be available on the RX-405 and all milling machines in Q4 of 2024, this real time view of the machine from above will enhance safety and visibility to obstructions, thereby boosting productivity.
For more information, visit www.astecindustries.com/.
Bergkamp Inc., Salina, Kansas, has announced its acquisition of the Flow Boy™ line of live-bottom material transport trucks. The live-bottom transporter provides an efficient and safe way for contractors to haul asphalt and chip-seal material and charge paver hoppers without the height and tipping hazards sometimes associated with dump-style units. The Flow Boy design minimizes material spills. Bergkamp currently offers truck-mounted Flow Boy units in 12, 15 and 19 cubic-yard sizes, with trailer units coming in the future.
CM Labs Simulations, Montreal, Quebec, has announced the launch of Walkaround Inspection for Earthmoving Training Packs. Through this release, CM Labs continues to expand its comprehensive family of products that address key industry issues such as operator safety, sustainability, productivity, and workforce management.
CM Labs’ virtual Walkaround Inspection is an additional exercise included with CM Labs’ most used simulated earthmoving equipment training packs. It addresses the need for training operators on safety protocols and daily pre-use inspections. The exercise includes hints and detailed information at each inspection checkpoint during the evaluation. Walkaround Inspection is included on the Backhoe, Dozer, Tracked Excavator and Wheel Loader Training Packs.
As with all exercises, scores from Walkaround Inspection are managed in CM Labs training management Intellia Instructor—providing insights and a deeper understanding of operator skills than exercise scores alone. Instructors can monitor via tablet both classroom and individual student progress. Intellia Instructor allows students to complete lessons at their own pace, while trainers can support those who need it most. Transitioning walkaround inspections between each simulated equipment is quick and seamless, allowing organizations to minimize downtime and maximize learning.
For more information, visit the CM Labs website.
Cooper Equipment Rentals Limited (“Cooper”), Toronto, Canada, has announced the completed transaction to purchase 100% of the shares of Action Equipment Rentals Inc., Red Deer, Alberta.
Action was formed in 1991 by Reginald Bloomfield and his father Ray Bloomfield to serve the Central Alberta Market. Established in 1972, Cooper is a full-service construction equipment rental company servicing contractors across Canada, now with more than 75 branches in six provinces.
Enerpac has announced a lifting system for safer excavator maintenance. Based on Enerpac SCJ-Series Cube Jacks, it enables lifting and holding of the entire cab, boom and arm, allowing the undercarriage to be safely removed, according to the manufacturer. The Enerpac cube jack lifting system offers a CE-certified approach to removing the excavator undercarriage for swing drive, bearing and planetary gears maintenance. It comprises two pairs of cube jacks providing coordinated hydraulic lifting of loads up to 25T per jack to a height of 6.5 feet. Two cube jacks are positioned under a lifting beam at the rear of the excavator, while two cube jacks are located under the arm’s bucket lugs. Each pair of cube jacks is connected to a hydraulic pump to synchronously lift and lower the excavator body and arm.
Lloyds witness tested to 125% of maximum working load, the incremental cube jack lifting system is self-locking to support the load as each cribbing block is manually added or removed, instead of being held by hydraulic pressure. Once the mechanical lock engages, the lift cylinder retracts, and another cribbing block can be added or removed.
For more information, contact your local Enerpac distributor.
EverLine Coatings, Houston, announced its massive growth now includes reaching 100 locations in North America. The 100th location—in
at theasphaltpro.com
Cleveland, Ohio—is owned and operated by local franchisees Andrew Pearce and Colin Centra. The duo, who have backgrounds in engineering, real estate and entrepreneurship, have joined the diverse number of EverLine Coatings franchisees who have joined the system since the brand began expansion into the United States over the last two years.
Significant accomplishments achieved by the brand in 2023 include:
• Debut on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500
• Franchise Business Review Recognition
• Opening of 100th Location
SAKAI America introduced two new machines at World of Asphalt 2024:
The first production SW884ND 79-inch asphalt roller featuring Guardman® safety technology:
• Guardman goes beyond basic proximity sensors. Integrated directly into the roller’s hydraulics during production, it detects objects and personnel not just behind the machine, but also in front, automatically slowing or stopping the roller to prevent collisions.
• This intelligent system functions in various conditions, including near walls, at night, and through dust and steam.
• This model boasts both front and rear detection/braking, unlike smaller SAKAI Guardman models that solely rely on rearward monitoring due to their size and improved visibility.
A prototype electric walk-behind double drum roller co-developed with Honda:
• This innovative roller utilizes Honda’s Mobile Power Pack e system, a removable and swappable lithium-ion battery system. This is designed to eliminates “charge anxiety” as batteries can be conveniently swapped on-site and charged during off-hours without needing to move the entire machine.
Topcon Positioning Systems announced during World of Asphalt 2024 in Nashville the latest evolution of the company’s road construction and resurfacing technology with the introduction of the MC-Max Asphalt Paving and MC-Max Milling solutions. The systems offer modularity, simplified configurations and advanced feature sets to increase productivity in asphalt paving and cold milling applications for construction companies and projects of all sizes.
The MC-Max Asphalt Paving and MC-Max Milling systems, which are made up of GNSS receivers, total stations, displays, and other high-precision sensors, are built with the new MC-X machine control platform. This architecture provides customized systems and upgradeability paths to grow with a contractor’s needs.
Users can choose from entry-level 2D systems that follow a reference, such as a string or a curb, or automated solutions that track a paver or miller in 3D for drastically improved road smoothness in less time and with lower costs. Contractors can automatically pave and mill at variable depths, providing a better driving experience and meeting DOT-mandated smoothness standards. The solutions also include MC-X licensing options, providing customers with further flexibility to meet their specific project and budget requirements.
The new solutions are currently compatible with OEM CAN-based systems and will be expanded to include compatibility with additional aftermarket systems.
Another advancement for the portfolio is the company’s newest RDMC road construction machine control solution, which can now be utilized in areas without satellite reception by leveraging an LPS solution, offering precise positioning when working in challenging GNSS coverage areas, further expanding a contractor’s capabilities.
Trimble has introduced a new version of the R780 GNSS Smart Antenna for construction site positioning. The following features now come standard with the R780:
• A dual-band radio (450 / 900 MHz) that connects to diverse base stations and job sites without the expense of additional external radios.
• The dual Trimble Maxwell™ 7 GNSS ASIC chip that enables greater performance in challenging GNSS environments (blocked sky, multipath or degraded signal) and provides more channels for future constellation changes.
• Trimble RTX: Includes an activated and ready-to-use Trimble CenterPoint® RTX subscription for the first 12 months. CenterPoint RTX is an advanced precise point positioning technology that provides real-time, centimeter-level corrections via satellite or cellular/IP no matter where you are working.
For civil construction: Using the R780 with Trimble Siteworks software allows workers to capture accurate points while standing, walking or driving the site, without leveling the pole. With GNSS tilt compensation, Siteworks is easier to learn for beginners and saves significant time for more experienced surveyors, according to the manufacturer.
For building construction: Using the R780 with Trimble FieldLink software is designed to simplify underground and long-distance layout projects as well as QC/QA and field positioning tasks, while streamlining office to field workflows.
The R780 can serve as a GNSS rover or as a base station for other GNSS operations including machine control.
Compact wheel loaders have proven themselves across construction sites for years. Two updated models from Volvo Construction Equipment have come to market with some operator-focused improvements. With the latest L30 and L35 compact wheel loaders, customers looking for 1.3–1.6 cubic-yard (1.0–1.2 cubic-meter) bucket capacity or 2.4- to 2.6-ton fork payload will experience faster work cycles in addition to improved maneuverability, tractive force and performance, according to the manufacturer.
A new feature the manufacturer states is unique to this size class is an advanced boom kick-out and bucket leveler option with boundary limits that can automatically lift and tilt the bucket to pre-programmed positions. (Not only does this help experienced operators ensure precise repetitive movement with less fatigue, but it also helps less experienced operators carry out speedier loading cycles.)
An electro-hydraulic main control valve enhances the flow sharing among the hydraulic functions. A big change for the new L30 and L35 is the addition of an eight-pin harness on the boom, which can be activated by a button on the joystick. This allows a wider range of attachments to be used without installing additional wiring.
The new-generation L30 and L35 come with additional sensors to monitor their engine and cooling performance. With CareTrack® telematics, customers can see trends in the operation of their L30 or L35 to help plan maintenance, control costs and boost profitability.
For more information, visit your local Volvo dealer.
AsphaltPro’s
It was in 1922 that Walter Bechthold partnered with Max Payne and Barney Dolan to form Payne and Dolan in Illinois. Having begun his career in 1917 at the State Highway Department before working as a county engineer for Racine County and later the Racine County Highway Commissioner, Bechthold brought valuable experience to the company as it purchased its first asphalt paving machines in the 1930s and performed work for military complexes and airports during World War II.
After buying out Payne’s interest and splitting the company in two (Dolan maintained ownership of Payne and Dolan in Illinois and Bechthold maintained ownership of Payne and Dolan in Wisconsin), Bechthold and his successors either founded or acquired several other companies to make up Walbec Group’s six vertically integrated companies that exist today.
“In the last decade, we’ve rebranded our family of companies as the Walbec Group in honor of Walter [Bechthold],” said Walbec Strategic Improvement Leader Linda Pawlak. “[As Payne and Dolan], we started off primarily doing asphalt paving and road construction, but now we are a vertically integrated family of companies that produce high quality construction materials and deliver unparalleled professional design, engineering and construction services.”
Despite the benefits vertical integration brings to customers of the Walbec Group, it isn’t without challenges. For example, it makes a seamless and efficient workflow all the more important. To achieve the level of efficiency the Walbec Group and its companies desired, they often had to develop their own technology solutions.
“Up until about 15 years ago, our appetite for technology was stronger than what the marketplace had to offer, so we developed a culture of building our own technology,” Pawlak said. This included the company’s bidding, payroll and job costing software. To date, Walbec continues to use its homegrown scheduling software. Then, in 2010, the company re-
placed its homegrown bidding software with a solution from HCSS.
When Walbec decided it was time to replace its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the company decided it was an optimal time to identify other technologies it should implement in advance of the replacement.
“The ERP is the heartbeat of integration for our organization,” Pawlak said. “One of the foundational aspects of choosing the right ERP was choosing one that could integrate with our already-valued third-party vendors.”
When Walbec identified its ticketing system as one project to resolve before replacing its ERP, Pawlak said they “went out to the marketplace and entertained several vendors, but ultimately chose Libra because of their experience ‘swinging the gates’ of the asphalt plant.”
It was in 2020 that Walbec began implementing Libra production, loadout and e-ticketing software at all its aggregate sites and asphalt plants, according to Tim Schmidt, Apex operational lead at Walbec. He shared the goal was
automating e-ticketing, “which is really valuable to the project managers in the field as well as our customers at the DOT level.”
The Walbec Group had just finished implementing Libra software in its facilities when Command Alkon, Birmingham, acquired Libra. “We found ourselves caught in the worst possible timing of [that acquisition],” Pawlak said. “We had just finished the implementation process with Libra, so transitioning again was a heavy lift for us.”
According to Schmidt, Walbec already had a punch list of issues they were working to resolve with Libra before the acquisition occurred. All of a sudden, they faced the challenge of resolving these issues with new partners while Command Alkon’s own staff was familiarizing itself with Libra.
“After Command Alkon had a moment to catch their breath, they really showed up to fix some of our red-hot issues,” Schmidt said. For example, trying to get all of Walbec’s relevant facilities on the same platform; all of its sites had been on Libra at the time of the acquisition and then had to be moved over to the Libra/Apex version prior to its ERP system being installed.
When Walbec decided it was time to replace its ERP system, the company decided it was an optimal time to identify other technologies it should implement in advance of the replacement. Its ticketing system was identified as one project to resolve before replacing its ERP, Pawlak (right) said.
Throughout the implementation process, Schmidt said Command Alkon’s staff was “very present.”
“They had people front and center at our asphalt plants to work through some details on their initial offering of putting Apex and Libra together,” he added. “There were weeks on end that they had people here to support and train our people through that transition.” After all of Walbec’s plants were running Apex/Libra, Schmidt said, “things got pretty steady for us.”
Once the ‘red-hot’ issues were resolved, Command Alkon set about working through Walbec’s punch list of remaining requests. “We could begin integrating the best of what
Libra was already offering us with what Apex brought to the table,” Pawlak said.
In addition to marrying the best of each system, the partnership Walbec established with Command Alkon illustrated to Walbec that Command Alkon was willing to learn and eager to listen. “Throughout that process, we worked closely with the leadership at Command Alkon to say, ‘Here’s the good, the bad, the ugly’,” Pawlak said. “We’ve always looked for vendors who are interested in a partnership, not just a sale.”
Once that trust was established, Walbec began to play a role in shaping some of the features Command Alkon might want to include
in its next generation of software, Apex 7.8, which acts as a unified Apex/Libra solution, as opposed to two systems with an interface between them.
The new software has addressed Walbec’s remaining punch list items. For example, day-end reporting features from Libra that weren’t initially available on the Apex platform. Apex 7.8 also allows credit card processing through a strong integration with BASYS.
“We think the beta version we’re running now will be superior to both what Libra and Command Alkon brought to the table initially,” Pawlak said. “I think the new version of the software is really a result of the collaboration between us.”
The success of the transition from Libra to Apex/Libra to Apex 7.8 has also encouraged Walbec to consider some of Command Alkon’s other offerings. “Command Alkon has a lot of relevant technology for us to look at, not only on the asphalt side but also at our ready mix plants, so they’ve become an obvious choice for us to consider when we have an appetite for new technology,” Pawlak said. “As we plan out our next project and our next project, we see them as a partner we can count on to innovate farther out than our appetite for today.”
“Innovation is one of our company’s core values, so we strive to find partners who share that value,” Pawlak said, adding that when Walbec chose its third-party ticketing software, they were looking for a vendor that could grow with them. Command Alkon has become that partner. “They aren’t waiting for us to say what we need next. They are out there figuring out what the marketplace needs.”
Command Alkon’s commitment to innovation—a core value shared by Walbec— made the companies a great fit. “It’s really about finding the right partners who are a good fit for us culturally,” Pawlak said, “partners who innovate, partners who integrate.”
Integration, she adds, is a key word for the company, both in terms of vertical integration of services and technological integration between software. After the full implementation of Apex, Walbec has since wrapped up the implementation of its new ERP with integration to Apex as well. “Being vertically integrated means making the process seamless for our customers, and that’s true of the technology partners we choose to partner with.”
Astec revolutionized the paving industry with the introduction of the Shuttle Buggy, and now the SB-3000 sets a new standard in material transfer vehicles. Effortless maintenance, unmatched performance, and four steering modes for ultimate agility keep paving seamless. Experience groundbreaking innovation with the patented Ground Crew Control Station for the ultimate user experience and protection. The SB-3000 isn’t a machine, it’s a revolution in material transfer, built on Astec’s legacy of industry firsts.
astecindustries.com
