ASTEC: BUILT TO CONNECT ON 50 YEARS OF
INNOVATION
ASTEC INDUSTRIES TURNS 50 THIS YEAR. ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE SITS DOWN WITH ASTEC AUSTRALIA’S REGIONAL MANAGING DIRECTOR DAVID SMALE TO TALK ABOUT HOW THE COMPANY HAS BEEN AN INNOVATION LEADER THROUGH ALL THESE YEARS, AND HOW THE RECENT BUSINESS RESTRUCTURE HAS REINVIGORATED ITS PURPOSE, ‘BUILT TO CONNECT.’
F
ew manufacturers within the road construction sector can match Astec Industries in the number of innovations the company has introduced since its inception almost 50 years ago. Founded by Don Brock – himself an inventor and Doctor of Mechanical Engineering – in Tennessee, United States in August 1972, the company quickly established a global reputation for producing innovative, high quality and reliable products in the asphalt and quarry industries. “From the very beginning, Don Brock built this company to truly connect to its customers and to provide them with innovative products and unparalleled service,” says David Smale, Astec Australia’s Managing Director. “And today, under the strong leadership of Barry Ruffalo,
Astec has recently delivered the SB-3000 Shuttle Buggy with an updated design.
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President and CEO of Astec Industries Inc., ‘continuous devotion to meeting the needs of the customer’ still remains our number one core value.” From the introduction of the Shuttle Buggy, which has forever transformed the way asphalt is paved, to Astec’s latest Barber Green (BG) series of modular asphalt plants, and high frequency screens for recycling materials including Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP), glass, plasterboard and more – every Astec product is designed to create value for customers and care for the environment. Smale, Astec’s Managing Director in Australia since day one, recently guided the company’s transition from a decentralised model, where it operated as 16 separate businesses, into a centralised structure incorporating all the company’s products
and services under the OneASTEC banner. Smale says the simplification was timely and necessary. “Bringing the likes of Astec Inc, Heatec, Powerflame, CEI, Dillman, Roadtec, Carlson, JCI, KPI, BTI, Telsmith, Osborn, Rexcon, Con-e-co, BMH and GEFCO, all under one umbrella has provided the company with focus and alignment of purpose globally, while establishing greater regional connection with our customers.” Smale, who himself has a long history in the civil construction industry, says Astec Australia has always maintained close relationships with its customers, supporting them and frequently drawing inspiration from their feedback. An example of this, he recalls, was Astec’s redesign of its portable asphalt plants specifically for Australia.
