A Leader in Technology

Old and strong companies like Star Equipment don’t get that way by standing pat. They evolve as the industry evolves, particularly in the 21st century. Technological evolution today forces change and adaptation at head-spinning speeds, but Star Equipment isn’t dizzied by it at all.

The company that introduced sewer laser construction systems to Iowa and tinkers with GPS systems like an expert self-taught shadetree mechanic is too forward-looking to be caught pushing yesterday’s technology. What it sees ahead is a world of increasingly exacting construction tolerances and refinements in construction machinery that take the breath away.

So Star was more than happy to be part of a makeover project that advanced the technology of construction. An Iowa City contractor, Streb Construction, wanted to upgrade its 1999 CMI slipform concrete paver by retrofitting it with a global positioning system rather than buy a new one with integrated GPS features. Working with hydraulics and paver engineering companies, Star helped turn the old machine into a modern one by adding a Topcon millimeter GPS system.

“The two major benefits of the Topcon system are its ability to control the concrete paver to steer accurately and in the desired direc- tion without the use of string lines, and to control the elevation of the paver so the concrete coming out is to grade,” said Star’s GPS specialist, Charlie Bowman.

Streb Construction added a GSI, Gomaco Smoothness Indicator, to the retrofitted machine. The GSI is a non-contact surface smoothness instrument that uses three different sensors, two sonic and one slope, to read the smoothness data and display it on a real-time, touch-screen graphic display.

Anyone at all conversant with computers understands why employing the space-based navigation system instead of mile after mile of stringlines and stakes is a big time- and money-saver. Days and manpower are required to meticulously stake out a stretch of ground to be paved. Then, once the stringline is tautly strung, it immediately becomes vulnerable to being knocked out of alignment by a clumsy workman or an unobservant truck driver.

The tried-and-true stringline system is increasingly unacceptable in 2013 to busy contractors and demanding project engineers. The better way is using a GPS paving system. It constantly receives input that squares a desired elevation with what a paver is positioned to deliver and adjusts the paver accordingly through Topcon’s Lazer Zone technology. The adjustments are in increments of one millimeter, by the way, or about a .030 of an inch. That’s exacting—and there is no fiddling with stringlines to achieve it.

Streb incorporated in 1965 and serves eastern Iowa. The company purchased its first slipform paver in 1990 and had evaluated the Topcon GPS system for a while before buying it through Star’s Cedar

Rapids office. After the successful conversion of the CMI machine, Streb became the first contractor to have the Topcon system retrofitted to an earlier-generation concrete paver.

Following completion of the upgraded paver’s first project— 8.5 mi. (13.7 km) of concrete overlay on a county road— Streb executives declared the makeover a success.

“We’re very pleased with the Topcon’s performance,” said Steve Streb, vice president of Streb Construction. “Without the GPS system, we would have had 17 miles of string line to contend with while trying to perform paving operations.”

Bill Painter, Topcon senior manager of paving systems, also was pleased. He called the Streb refashioning project “a unique situation in which we installed the very latest technology on an older paver. We are very pleased with the results.”

Bruce Bowman, Star president, said the company will continue to invest time and resources promoting new technology, such as the Topcon system, the Somero laser-based concrete finishing tool and other exacting new instruments in equipment advancement.

“One thing Star Equipment has prided itself on is providing cutting-edge equipment so customers can cut their costs on the job,” Bowman said. “That will continue to be our focus and that differentiates us from our competitors.

“If you’re selling soap and everyone else is selling the same soap, there’s not much difference between you and another dealer,” he said. “But when you have a product line that saves contractors money and gets jobs done better and quicker, you serve your customers better. That’s what Star prides itself on.” lrsKarea yr oF yvea H-m coytDu et hlorev foerl Dearuo yneesbaethlorev Ch l pyadyer evruo yoestclieh v l v acierm !ederv couoys aet h ee w thnsot u siis V Vi wwt w abe met.colorevChlr a.KKa mor. F fei ife Lr fo vlansoerp

All of the companies, with their areas of expertise, contributed to the upgrade of the 1999 CMI SF3302 slipform concrete paver. A paver that had been innovated, designed, and manufactured in the 20th century was now retrofitted and upgraded to be the peer in capability, performance, and results of a new 21st century concrete paver.

“As GPS becomes more standard and easier for a non-engineering guy to use, it will take a bigger bite of the business,” Bruce Bowman said.

For three years, the biggest share of responsibility for GPS statewide sales has been on the young shoulders of Charlie Bowman, Brad’s son and a third-generation family member. He, too, grew up around Star equipment yards and offices, formally joining the company fulltime after graduation

“I guess one of the things that got me into GPS was my age,” the younger Bowman said. “As part of the generation that has worked with computers since kindergarten, the technology used out in the field is not a lot more difficult.”

Yet it is a field that is constantly evolving.

“GPS is becoming more and more prominent in construction and is vastly improved. A new piece of equipment that has been around five years may have the same outer housing as before, but it does a lot more than it did,” said Bowman.

A Company With a Future

Star Equipment has earned a reputation of being innovative. Roger Bacon attributes it to company leadership.

“So many younger people don’t know what it takes to build a business,” he said. “Max and his sons are looking two or three years down the road and thinking about what they can do to improve the business. They always are going to equipment shows so they can be on the cutting edge, training their people, diversifying all around. They have that insight.”

Charlie Bowman seems cut from Bowman cloth. He is excited about “the newest thing,” a real time GPSlaser profiler still in development. The device is pickupmounted and driven along a road bed so it can take a million snapshots every 10 feet to establish contours and elevations.

“You can’t move forward without trying new things,” he said, illustrating what he means with an idea he promoted at Star. “We retrofitted a millimeter GPS system on a concrete paver, something that had never been done before. There was a lot of talk about whether we could do it.” A Iowa City customer successfully employed the device. Charlie Bowman believes when concrete work resumes in the spring, three or four other customers will give it a try.

Another of Brad Bowman’s children, Alyssa Donegan, is the other third-generation family member. She graduated from the University of Iowa on a Friday and came to work at the Des Moines office the following

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The core division of Star Equipment is the light general-use machinery that continues to grow as an industry segment.

STAR EQUIPMENT HAS EARNED A REPUTATION OF BEING INNOVATIVE. ROGER BACON ATTRIBUTES IT TO COMPANY LEADERSHIP.

“Star equipment will do whatever it takes to help their customers out,” said Kyle

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Monday. She works in marketing, as well as inventory control and a myriad of other responsibilities.

As she grew up, she hadn’t been set on joining the family at Star, she said, but it seems a good fit.

“We do pretty well in differentiating between personal and working relationships. Sometimes work does come home, and we go out to eat together when we celebrate something.”

But Donegan credits non-family members for making the company a success.

“We have been in business for 45 years and you don’t do that if you don’t have quality people. We have a really good group of men and women.”

She echoed her father, Brad Bowman, in attributing much of the success to the workforce.

“The secret to our success really is the value of the people that we employ,” she said. “Most are very well educated in the products we handle and how to use them. The truth of the matter is they are the ones on the firing line in day-to-day business who make whatever good ideas we have come to fruition. Without those people, we would be out, simply put.”

Family and non-family company employees working in tandem will keep Star Equipment relevant for at least 45 more years, Bruce Bowman, company president, firmly believes.

Bruce Bowman’s stepson, Remington Lawyer, is now working in the company and is part of the continuation plan for Star Equipment. He works part time while attending Iowa State University and will graduate in spring 2013 and will come on board full time when he does. Since he was 16 years old, Remmington has worked in several departments part time while attending school and full time during the summers.

“Everything revolves around serving the customer,” he said. “And you have to do that with some efficiency; if not, then you eventually will fail. Because we are a more localized company, we have the ability to adjust and change on the fly and be successful.”

Max Bowman led the company through tough times in the early 1980s, a period of high interest rates and inflation. Everybody was doing two jobs and “it was tougher than a boot,” he recalled.

The current economic climate also has been challenging and the company has had to adapt. Through this, howver, the company is on track to continue to play a prominent role as construction equipment dealer in Iowa.

“It is one thing to build up a company and another thing to keep it going,” said the president. “In the next 45 years, I see us being a larger, stronger company still based in Iowa. We will never get so big that we can’t be a part of our industry on an intimate business level. We are in a great industry that will be around a long time and we intend to be a part of it.” CEG

Proud partner of STAR Equipment

Manitowoc would like to extend our sincere congratulations to our partner, STAR Equipment, for serving Iowa and surrounding states for 45 years.

STAR Equipment has been o ering industry-leading National Cranes and exceptional customer support since 1968.

Congratulations