Aggregates Manager April 2017

POTUS trumps WOTUS PG3

|

Site safety PG21

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Yo u r g u i d e t o p ro f i t a b l e p ro d u c t i o n

MSHA boxed in PG39

April 2017 | www.AggMan.com

Cemex’s

Lytle Creek Plant safety, fosters efficiency

Cover_AGRM0417.indd 1

27

Reduce downtime with tire management

30

Catch up on new equipment from ConExpo-Con/Agg

35

Five options for getting material to market

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If you couldn’t get to ConExpo-Con/Agg, or your feet were simply too tired to see it all, check out our wrapup.

On Our Cover: Cemex’s Lytle Creek Plant puts operational excellence into action.

PAGE 30

Cover photo by Kerry Clines. .

Perform daily checks on tire pressure and tread depth.

PAGE 27

TABLE OF CONTENTS APRIL 2017 |

VOLUME 22, NUMBER 4

FEATURE ARTICLES

12

Setting a High Standard

Lytle Creek Plant leads the way with continuous improvement in operations and safety.

27 No Time for Downtime

Site and road management, paired with tire maintenance, helps keep equipment up and running.

30 Las Vegas Show Hits the Jackpot

ConExpo-Con/Agg exhibitors meet producer optimism with a broad array of new equipment, as well as a glimpse into the future.

35 Moving Material to Market

Transport aggregates from your site to your customer more economically with trucks that boast better payloads and fuel efficiency.

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 3 Editorial An end to WOTUS woes?

4 Data Mining The latest financial analysis of issues impacting in the industry and Aggregates Manager’s exclusive aggregates industry outlook.

6 State and Province News A roundup of the latest news in North America.

8 RollOuts Superior Industries’ Anthem Inclined Screen, and other new equipment for the aggregates market.

39 Rock Law U.S. Court of Appeals checks MSHA’s effort to expand its sphere of regulatory influence.

42 Advertiser Index See who’s who and where to find their products.

OPERATIONS ILLUSTRATED Site Safety

21

Keep your operation safe with training, good communication, and an overall wellness approach.

TOC_AGRM0417.indd 1

43 Classified Ads Aggregate industry classifieds.

44 Carved in Stone Gravel batteries offer a dependable option to aid in the implementation of green energy.

3/15/17 8:29 AM

Improve task productivity across the quarry haul fleet H2250 provides accurate haul totals removing the need for tally sheets and production estimates.

AGG Manager 04/17

For more information contact your local dealer today, 1.800.528.5623 | aggregates.trimble.com

LOADRITE H2250 Haul Truck Monitor Trimble 2016 H2250 Advert 7.875x10.5in - AggMgr Apr17.indd 1 Untitled-1 1

2/03/2017 9:33:10 AM 3/7/17 1:50 PM

April 2017

EDITORIAL

Vol. 22, No.4

by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief tdunphy@randallreilly.com

aggman.com /AggregatesManager /AggManEditor

Editorial Editor-in-Chief: Therese Dunphy Editorial Director: Marcia Gruver Doyle Online Editor: Wayne Grayson Online Editor: Kerry Clines editorial@aggman.com

Design & Production Art Director: Sandy Turner, Jr. Production Designer: Timothy Smith Advertising Production Manager: Linda Hapner production@aggman.com

Construction Media Vice President, Construction Media: Joe Donald sales@randallreillyconstruction.com

3200 Rice Mine Rd NE Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 800-633-5953 randallreilly.com

Corporate Chairman: Mike Reilly President and CEO: Brent Reilly Chief Operations Officer: Shane Elmore Chief Financial Officer: Russell McEwen Senior Vice President, Sales: Scott Miller Senior Vice President, Editorial and Research: Linda Longton Vice President of Events: Stacy McCants Vice President, Audience Development: Prescott Shibles Vice President, Digital Services: Nick Reid Vice President, Marketing: Julie Arsenault

For change of address and other subscription inquiries, please contact: aggregatesmanager@halldata.com.

Aggregates Manager TM magazine (ISSN 1552-3071) is published monthly by Randall-Reilly, LLC copyright 2017. Executive and Administrative offices, 3200 Rice Mine Rd. N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. Subscription rates: $24 annually, Non-domestic $125 annually. Single copies: $7. We assume no responsibility for the validity of claims of manufacturers in any advertisement or editorial product information or literature offered by them.

Publisher reserves the right to refuse non-qualified subscriptions.

Periodical circulation postage paid at Tuscaloosa, Alabama and additional entries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Aggregates Manager, 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406.

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An End to WOTUS Woes?

W

hen President Trump issued an executive order instructing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to review and reconsider the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, aggregate producers almost assuredly let out a

sigh of relief.

From its inception, the rule has been a stinker. Many recognize it for what it is: an attempt by the EPA to massively expand its jurisdiction and impose layers of regulations on operators, farmers, and numerous other landowners.

“The EPA’s so-called ‘Waters of the United States’ rule is one of the worst examples of federal regulations, and it has truly run amok,” President Trump said before signing the executive order. “With today’s executive order, I’m directing the EPA to take action, paving the way for the elimination of this very destructive and horrible rule.”

The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) and other groups took legal action to fight the rule when it was promulgated in 2015. The hotly contested rule has since been stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

But, while it is not being enforced, the rule cannot be dissolved simply via the executive order. The order simply starts the process to unravel it, which may very well begin with the term ‘navigable waters.’ Definitions regarding ‘waters of the U.S.’ and ‘navigable waters’ have been the source of lawsuits for nearly two decades. In 2001 and 2006, the Supreme Court rejected EPA and Corps definitions as being too expansive.

The executive order specifically directs the agencies to consider adopting a new or revised rule based on the definition “in a manner consistent with the opinion of Justice Antonin Scalia in Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006).”

In his opinion, Justice Scalia said the Corps’ attempt to expand the definition “has stretched the term ‘waters of the United States’ beyond parody. The plain language of the statute (the Clean Water Act) does not authorize this ‘Land is Waters’ approach to federal jurisdiction.”

The executive order’s use of Justice Scalia’s opinion, rather than the controlling opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, offers a sense of where the administration wants a new or revised rule to go. It seems likely that any revisions would be to the industry’s benefit while not pulling back so far from precedents as to provoke an ongoing battle with future administrations.

Given the vague nature of terms that have plagued the Clean Water Act since its inception, we can hope that both regulatory bodies, such as EPA and the Corps, and producers will finally have have guidelines that are more well defined and suitable.

With that goal in mind, this iteration of the rulemaking process may very well be cause for cautious celebration.

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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mining U.S.

On-Highway

Diesel Fuel

Prices 3/6/17

United States $2.579 One Week +0.002 p One Year +0.558 p

Company Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V.

New England $2.646 One Week -0.012 q One Year +0.499 p

Central Atlantic $2.780 One Week +0.008 p One Year +0.592 p

Lower Atlantic $2.525 One Week -0.008 q One Year +0.546 p

Midwest $2.502 One Week +0.003 p One Year +0.519 p

Gulf Coast $2.429 One Week -0.004 q One Year +0.522 p

Rocky Mountain $2.625 One Week +0.043 p One Year +0.698 p

West Coast $2.877 One Week 0.000 One Year +0.658 p

West Coast less California $2.779 One Week +0.007 p One Year +0.682 p

California $2.956 One Week -0.006 q One Year +0.640 p Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (dollars per gallon, prices include all taxes).

DataMining_AGRM0417.indd 4

CX

Current Value

52-Week Low

52-Week High

$8.64 q

$5.49

$9.51

CRH plc

CRG

$35.29 p

$20.69

$36.80

Eagle Materials Inc.

EXP

$96.46 q

$61.74

$110.64

Granite Construction Inc.

GVA

$50.92 q

$40.16

$62.18

Heidelberg Cement AG

HEI

$95.41 p

$69.52

$100.98

LafargeHolcim Ltd. ADR

HCMLY

$11.37 p

$7.40

$11.77

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.

MLM

$208.16 q

$150.75

$243.98

MDU Resources Group, Inc.

MDU

$26.13 q

$18.25

$29.92

Summit Materials

SUM

$23.69 q

$17.27

$26.46

United States Lime & Minerals, Inc.

USLM

$77.05 p

$50.75

$79.50

U.S. Concrete

USCR

$67.90 p

$42.82

$70.40

Vulcan Materials Co.

VMC

$116.90 q

$102.30

$138.18

Sources: Wall Street Journal Market Watch. Currency conversion calculated on date of close 3/09/17.

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

East Coast $2.633 One Week -0.002 q One Year +0.556 p

Ticker

U

nited States Lime United States Lime & Minerals Inc. & Minerals Inc. (USLM) reported 2016 revenues of $139.3 million, compared to $130.8 million in 2015, an increase of $8.4 million, or 6.5 percent. Revenues from the company’s lime and limestone operations in 2016 increased $8.8 million, or 6.9 percent, to $137.2 million from $128.4 million in 2015.

In the fourth quarter, revenues were $34.2 million, compared to $31.3 million in the comparable quarter of 2015.

Fourth quarter revenues for lime and limestone operations increased $2.8 million, or 9.0 percent, to $33.6 million from $30.8 million.

Increases in 2016 lime and limestone revenues were attributed to increased sales volumes, based on higher demand from the company’s construction, environmental, and roof shingle customers. USLM reports that prices for its lime and limestone products — both in the fourth quarter and for the full year — were somewhat lower than during comparable periods in 2015.

The company paid an interest expense of $0.1 million in each quarter of 2016 and 2015.

For 2016, interest expense decreased $0.8 million to $0.2 million. The decrease resulted from the company’s repayment of the $15.4 million then-outstanding balance of its term loans in May 2015 and its repurchase of the related interest rate hedges in the second quarter 2015.

USLM also terminated the Corson Pension Plan during the second quarter of 2015. This required a cash payment of $0.2 million and resulted in an expense in 2015 of $0.9 million.

As a result, the company will not have to make any future contributions to the plan.

“We are pleased that our 2016 operating results improved over last year,” said Timothy W. Byrne, president and CEO of USLM, in a report to shareholders. “With our diverse customer base, overall demand for our lime and limestone products increased in the fourth quarter and full-year 2016, although pricing remains a challenge in the current competitive environment.”

Source: Market Watch

Data

STOCK REPORT

3/14/17 8:59 AM

k

51

80

64

18

98

77

98

92

46

50

40

18

AGGREGATES INDUSTRY OUTLOOK The Aggregates Industry Outlook continues to hit peak scores, inching ahead in March by 0.75 percent to an overall score of 140.38. Since October’s survey, responses for both market conditions and production forecasts have been up — ‘bigly.’ Over the last six months, responses to a question about the industry outlook over the next 12 months have risen by 0.97 point on a 5-point system, with a highly optimistic average of 4.41. Responses to questions regarding production forecasts show even greater growth: quarterly production forecasts are up 1.09 points, to an average of 4.22; six-month production forecasts are up 1.13 points, to an average of 4.27.

Aggregates Industry Outlook 150

140.38

145 140

131.68

135

122.43

119.44

125

139.35 109.80

128.99

120

128.15

111.42

108.08

115 110 105 100

111.00

Mar. 2016

Apr. 2016

May 2016

Jun. 2016

Jul. 2016

Aug. 2016

Sept.

2016

Oct. 2016

Dec. 2016

Jan. 2017

Feb. 2017

Mar. 2017

Apr. 2017

We are seeing an increase in all kinds of infrastructure jobs being bid in Massachusetts. With asphalt, specifically, there is a 47-percent increase in tons bid over last year. So far this season, there have been over 1 million tons bid. And, in order to manufacture asphalt, you need aggregates. It’s a very promising sign!

With a pro-business sentiment in the air, we see a desire for projects to be fast tracked and shovel ready this year.

— Daryl Zeiner, Sales Manager, The H&K Group

124.24

126.03

130

— Karen Hubacz-Kiley, Chief Operating Officer, Bond Construction Corp.

We appear to be on a bit of an upward trend over last year. The previous six years have been nearly linear. I am quoting work everywhere so, hopefully, that is a positive indicator for the upcoming year.

With the warmer weather this winter, aggregate sales are progressively better.

— Jeff Craig, Project Manager, Irving Materials

— Jon Thompson, President, Letart Corp.

(I’m) really excited about the infrastructure funding as stated by President Trump in his address to Congress. I see a very positive upward trend in pricing and production for aggregates.

With President Trump’s emphasis on infrastructure development and repair, the outlook is very bright for our industry.

— Jill Shackelford, President, Jill Shackelford Consulting

— Bob Fousek, President, FMR

If 2017 is anything like 2016, it will be a recordsetting year for the aggregates industry.

Throughout the state of Florida, we are seeing sharp increases in aggregate consumption, driven largely by levels of residential and commercial development not seen in more than a decade.

— O.F. “Russ” Patterson, III, Chief Geologist, Patterson Exploration Services.

— Gregory Dayko, Principal, Inlet Capital Group, LLC

Editor’s note: To join our panel, email Editor-in-Chief Therese Dunphy at tdunphy@randallreilly.com.

QUARTERLY CRUSHED STONE REPORT Region/Division Northeast: Midwest:

South:

West:

New England Middle Atlantic East North Central West North Central South Atlantic East South Central West South Central Mountain Pacific TOTAL

Quantity 3rd qtr. 2016 14,500

Percent change -2.1

Quantity 4th qtr. 2016 9,890

Percent change -22.3

46,000

-7.9

33,100

-18.2

71,200

-1.9

55,100

-7.3

39,400

-19.3

33,300

-12.2

81,500

5

70,900

3.3

38,300

-1.5

33,600

-5

60,700

-8.9

54,500

-3.5

25,200

14.2

15,900

3.7

21,000

0.4

16,700

-6.6

395,000

-2.7

328,000

-4.1

Source: U.S. Geological Survey

DataMining_AGRM0417.indd 5

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STATE & PROVINCE

NEWS

To keep up to date with news from the United States and Canada, visit www.AggMan.com for daily updates.

by Therese Dunphy | Editor-in-Chief tdunphy@randallreilly.com

LLINOIS Illinois aggregate producers who accept clean construction debris at their sites may soon face additional regulation. Gov. Bruce Rauner is backing a bill in the state legislature that would require groundwater testing near quarries that accept such material from their construction sites. According to the Chicago Sun Times, supporters of the measure say it will protect wells near the sites, particularly in Will County, where nine quarries accept clean construction debris.

Operators have long argued that groundwater testing is not necessary, and the Illinois Pollution Control Board agreed with them.

It considered arguments for testing and ruled it unnecessary. Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan are challenging that ruling.

ILLINOIS The city of Marengo approved Super Aggregate’s request for an annexation agreement for a proposed 510-acre quarry, as well as its special-use permits, the Northwest Herald reports. The operator agreed to pay 5 cents for each ton excavated or produced on the property. That 20-year agreement is expected to generate more than $2.5 million in revenue for the city.

MARYLAND A Frederick County operator that uses an inactive quarry to collect water and pump it to a nearby active quarry for dust control had a pump malfunction that caused wash water to flow into adjacent tributaries, sparking a neighbor to file a complaint. According to the Frederick News Post, the county Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources alerted the state Department of the Environment, which assessed the operator with a $2,500 fine. The operator told the newspaper that it planned to build a wall between the waste water and clean water ends of the pool and had pumped water out of the quarry to build the wall. Preparations strained a cable and broke it. The pump floated to the wastewater side. Since then, the embankment has been completed, and a new pump has been installed.

MICHIGAN Stoneco of Michigan won numerous community relations awards from the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), The Monroe News reports. A total of 70 awards were given, with Stoneco receiving silver awards for its Newport, Maybee, and Denniston Quarries and bronze awards for its Ottawa Lake Quarry and the 100th Street, Moscow, Patterson, and Zeeb Road Sand and Gravel sites. “It is an honor to receive these awards from the NSSGA as recognition for all the hard work Stoneco does to have a positive impact in our communities,” Stoneco Regional Vice President Rick Becker said in a statement.

6

MINNESOTA Minnesota produced $3.3 billion of nonfuel minerals in 2016, ranking fifth in value among the states. According to the Star Tribune, the state’s mines produced 4.4 percent of the nation’s non-fuel minerals, with iron ore, sand, gravel, and crushed stone leading the list of minerals mined from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The state’s production was exceeded only by Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and California, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

NEW JERSEY The Bernards Township Committee faces decisions in how to proceed with the prospective redevelopment of the Millington Quarry. The Bernardsville News reports that the planning board recommends that the quarry should be designated as “an area in need of redevelopment.” Various committee members have different ideas on whether the planning board or the township committee should be tasked with preparing a redevelopment plan. A presentation by the township attorney on the legal implications of having either body handle the task was delayed when the attorney had to leave a recent township meeting early. A township ordinance calls for the site to be rehabilitated to allow 2-acre housing, and a long-running plan shows the pit eventually filling with rainwater to serve as a private lake. Shopoff Realty Investments, which has contracted to buy the property from the quarry, would like to pursue a mixed-use project with homes, retail, agricultural, and recreational options.

NEW YORK The St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) was awarded $500,000 in state funding to refurbish three rail side tracks at the Benson Mine site in Star Lake. According to the Watertown Daily Times, the funding is part of $25 million in rail and port improvement projects through Gov. Cuomo’s Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program. The side tracks connect to the larger Newton Falls rail line, which IDA wants to get running so that crushed stone and sand can be transported from the Benson Mines site. Total cost for the project is an estimated $588,000, with the difference to be covered by the Benson Mine Corp. and other financing. “There’s a coordinated effort to try to improve the infrastructure and economic development projects in southern St. Lawrence County,” IDA Executive Director Patrick Kelly told the newspaper.

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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OHIO The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency set 26 conditions on how Rocky Ridge Development LLC is to tighten monitoring, reporting, and operations at its quarry in Benton Township, The Toledo Blade reports. The company will bury state-approved residue from Toledo’s Collins Park Water Treatment Plant at the quarry. Only waste from the plant, which is a mixture of spent lime and trace amounts of other chemicals used to soften, disinfect, and treat drinking water, will be allowed at the site, and the water treatment material must be mixed with at least 65 percent soil. In response to concerns raised by area residents, Rocky Ridge is not yet authorized to blend the material in a sand and gravel pit or limestone or sandstone quarry, or to place it in an area with less than a 10-foot buffer from groundwater or any area ‘that has been deemed highly susceptible to contamination.’ A News Herald follow-up notes that an Ottawa County judge issued a temporary restraining order against Rocky Ridge after Ottawa County Prosecutor James VanEerten and Benton Township filed a lawsuit claiming that the lime waste violates zoning laws for the former quarry.

PENNSYLVANIA

SOUTH DAKOTA

New Enterprise Lime & Stone Co., Inc. announced that it acquired the core assets of Berk Products Corp. and EJB Paving & Materials Co. The acquisition includes two aggregate plants, two hot-mix asphalt plants, four ready-mixed concrete plants, and a construction supply center in Berks County. The total purchase price for the two acquisitions was approximately $46.3 million and was funded using cash and bank facilities. “Together with our $46.5 million of debt reduction in the previous two quarters, the Berks County acquisitions demonstrate the viability of our profit enhancement plan initiated five years ago,” said CEO Paul Detwiler, III. “The acquisitions were completed with no additional long-term debt and will push our operating profit to record highs. We have now shown our ability to grow operating profit while reducing debt — a cornerstone of our operating plan going forward.”

At press time, a decision was due from Pennington County regarding whether it will appeal a decision that allows Croell Redi Mix to resume mining at its quarry south of Rapid City. KOTA TV reports that Judge Matthew Brown’s decision reinstates the operator’s permit. If the county wants to continue to fight the operation, it will have to appeal the decision to the state’s Supreme Court. The operator also sued the county for $10 million in damages, as well as a daily fee for each day its operation is not running. A lawyer for the operator told the news outlet that the suit may still proceed.

TENNESSEE Six bids were submitted for the 119-acre former Charles Bass Correctional Complex in West Nashville. According to The Tennessean, the highest bid — at $12.5 million — came from Rogers Group, Inc. The Tennessee Department of General Services is now expected to make a recommendation to the State Building Commission, whose approval is required for sale of any state property.

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ROLLOUTS

Your complete guide to new and updated equipment and supplies in the aggregates industry.

by Therese Dunphy | Editor-in-Chief | tdunphy@randallreilly.com

Screen streamlines maintenance Superior Industries, Inc. releases its first inclined screen, the Anthem Inclined Screen. The unit is engineered with a single- or double-shaft drive, depending on the specific application needs of the operator. Patent-pending bottle jack lifting points are said to simplify and speed spring replacement and improve safety. A unique segmented belt guard requires only one person to remove and return the guards during maintenance. A one-style shaft design for Superior inclined screens allows operators to bolt on weights to create an eccentric offset, rather than wait for custom machined shafts. The screen is available in double, triple, and quad deck configurations for 5x16, 6x16, 6x20, 7x20, 8x20, and 8x24 models.

Superior Industries, Inc. | www.superior-ind.com

Replacement wear parts for screens Asgco extends its line of cast urethane products to include screen wear parts. Screen feed box liners are patterned for a direct replacement of the current liner configuration being used, or, depending on the wear characteristics, the layout can be changed for maximum wear life. Liners can have various sized and shaped ceramics inserted to increase the longevity. Screen side wear liners are boxed with mild steel or hard plate to prevent edge wear or damage. Bolt patterns, sizes, and thicknesses are fully customizable to increase the wear life of the screen.

Asgco | www.asgco.com

Material processing bucket expands size range Allu expands its G-Series material processing buckets into larger sizes, beginning with the G 4-32 F, a 35-ton bucket with a payload of more than 55 tons, which is designed to be mounted on 300-ton front-shovel excavators. With the addition of the bucket, an excavator becomes a material processing machine. The 14.2-cubic-yard bucket is also equipped with the Allu Dare data reporting system, which enables remote monitoring of the equipment condition and material processing performance via a mobile uplink.

Allu Group Inc. | www.allu.net

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AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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Streamlined cloud-based ticketing Dexter + Chaney introduces its new Spectrum Ticketing solution as part of its Spectrum Construction Software suite. The ticketing solution is a unified web, mobile, and scale house solution for bulk material weight ticketing, providing haulers and operators with a cloud-based system to manage material and material tickets. Spectrum Ticketing is completely integrated with the materials management and accounting solutions, as well as inventory, job costing, project management, and other areas. Its web portal automatically updates and provides real-time data for when materials are collected and tickets are issued.

It can be used with a scale-house PC client, an unattended kiosk, or a mobile ticketing application.

Dexter + Chaney | www.dexterchaney.com

Belt tracker prevents drift Building on a standard crowned roller, the Martin Roller Tracker, from Martin Engineering, uses a unique ribbed lagging made of polyurethane to keep return belts on track. The roller does not come in contact with the belt edge, which means no fraying as well as consistent tracking for singledirection or reversing belts. With fewer working components than its counterparts, it also has a smaller, 7.5-inch diameter, allowing it to react quickly to fluctuations in the belt path.

Built on a central pivot attached to a stiff mandrel, the unit is lifted .2 inches under the belt to retain a tight grip on the surface. As the belt drifts, the roller constantly tilts and turns, reacting to the direction of the belt’s drift.

Martin Engineering Co. | www.martin-eng.com

Underground drilling automation software Atlas Copco’s Dynamic tunneling package is a new automation software for face drilling rigs. Previously, an operator imported a 3D model into software used for planning and reporting of drill rig data and information and would then complete drill plans manually. With the automation software, the 3D model is imported and a set of rules is established in the planning and reporting software. The set of rules and 3D model is then sent to the drill rig via USB or WiFi connection, and the drill rig will make its own drill plans based on location and the model, allowing drill plans to be adapted precisely to the size and section to be excavated.

Atlas Copco | www.atlascopcogroup.com

Conveyor belting for steep inclines Continental introduces Select ContiCleat, a conveyor belt for steep inclines and challenging conveyor applications. In 17 different profile options, the cleated belts are said to be ideal for conveying materials such as stone, sand, and gravel. They are available in both U and V shapes. In a 1-inch cleat design, the belts can convey products at up to a 45-degree incline.

Continental | www.contitech.us

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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ROLLOUTS Underground fleet software updates

Drone system collects more accurate data Kespry announces upgrades to its Drone 2 that deliver greater durability. The new Drone 2s also achieves four to six times the accuracy of the previous drone system. By adding a high-performance ground receiver, the new system can deliver accuracy of just over three-quarters of an inch to 4 inches. The Global Navigation Satellite System base station receiver serves as a single survey control point. During flight, imagery from the drone and data from the base station are collected simultaneously and automatically uploaded for processing into the Kespry Cloud, where survey-grade data is automatically generated. Post-Processed Kinematic technology is used to increase the accuracy of photogrammetric aerial images and improve the speed, efficiency, and reliability of gathering survey-ready data.

Micromine offers the Pitram 2015 Version 4.6 of its underground fleet management and mine control software.

New features include the ability to generate measure events from drillhole data obtained directly from a mobile device fitted to the drill rig. As the files are loaded, Pitram Mobile generates a series of events that reflect the initial design data. The drill data file is subsequently updated when drilling begins, with both design and actual information recorded. A reversing camera and wiring harness is also available as an option.

Micromine | www.micromine.com

Kespry | www.kespry.com

Fabric structures offer additional clearance

Belt vulcanizing press Asgco introduces its Vul-Con Vulcanizing Press. The lightweight press is said to be easy to set up and maintain. Made of high-grade aluminum platens and beams to provide maximum tensile and bending strength with minimum weight, the presses provide uniform temperature and pressure required to vulcanize a wide variety of conveyor belts.

Asgco | www.asgco.com

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ClearSpan Fabric Structure’s new Round SuperTall HD Building offers a structural solution for operators who need additional clearance. The building is available in three sizes that can be customized. The 25-foot, 8-inch tall building is 43 feet wide; the 30-foot, 11-inch tall building is 52 feet wide; and the 34-foot, 2-inch tall building is 62 feet wide. Each side can be built as a freestanding structure or on pony walls.

They are engineered to withstand weather in any region and are built with triple-galvanized steel. The frame is covered by 12.5 ounce, 24 mil rip-stop polyethylene fabric.

ClearSpan Fabric Structures www.clearspan.com

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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PLANT PROFILE

by Kerry Clines | Contributing Editor

Setting a

High Standard Lytle Creek Plant leads the way with continuous improvement in operations and safety.

L

ytle Creek Plant is located in Rialto, Calif., just east of Los Angeles. It got its start back in 1953 as a small mom-and-pop operation owned by C.L. Pharris and was

12

purchased in 1995 by Sunwest Materials, a subsidiary of Cemex.

Since then, the operation has seen a few upgrades, including the construction of a new processing plant that began in

January 2007. Construction took nearly two years to complete due to the scope of the work, as there were 40 different contractors involved, and much of the work was simultaneous.

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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Cemex’s Lytle Creek Plant is located in southern California in the city of Rialto.

The upside of the construction project? With almost 150,000 hours of work performed over a period of 468 days, there were no injuries. How did they do that? Simple. Cemex’s strategy during

construction included daily tailgate talks, monthly safety meetings, spot safety audits to ensure safety, counseling of individuals who violated safety procedures, and weekly contractor-Cemex management meetings.

Lytle Creek was Cemex’s first new sand and gravel plant built in the United States. It is automated and controlled by one operator in the central control room.

It is capable of producing 1,200 tons per AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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PLANT PROFILE

Material is brought from the pit, dumped into a hopper, and transported via conveyor to the surge pile. From there, it is sized and separated. Part of it goes to the wash plant and part of it goes to the dry crushed plant.

hour and 4 million tons per year.

Daily operations “We have about 35 employees on average,” says Darin Janikowski, Cemex’s area manager for southern California. At the height of the market, he says the operation had approximately 50 employees working on two shifts. That size crew was needed, as the plant experienced record sales in 2005-2006. Janikowski describes the downturn that followed as the worst he’s seen. “I haven’t seen it go back to where it was prior to the decline, but it’s much better than it was in 2007,” he says.

There’s no blasting at the site, the material is simply pushed down the slope by a dozer and scooped up by a loader.

The loader then dumps the material into a hopper that feeds it onto a conveyor system that carries it to the surge pile in the processing plant.

“We do that mainly for the purpose of blending the material,” explains Rick Vasquez, plant manager, speaking of using a dozer in the pit. “There are different gradations of material. Quality wise, they’re all the same, but there is a little bit of difference in color throughout the pit, so we use the dozer to blend and give us a better mix of material up at the plant. It’s more consistent.”

At the plant, the material is screened

14

and separated so that part of the material goes to the wash plant, and the rest of it goes to the dry crushing plant. The wash plant produces concrete sand, plaster sand, 1 1/2-inch gravel, 1-inch gravel, 3/8-inch gravel, and a 5/16-inch gravel byproduct. The dry crushed plant produces 3/4-inch crushed, 1/2-inch crushed, 3/8-inch crushed, and a rock dust. Most of the washed aggregate is for the ready-mix side of the company, and the crushed rock is used for hotmix asphalt aggregate. Everything else depends on the customer.

The plant supplies the local market, but probably 50 percent of the material produced at the plant is shipped internally to Cemex ready-mix operations, some as far away as San Juan Capistrano 70 miles to the south. This is because Lytle Creek has a 1 1/2-inch gravel that the ready-mix group needs but can’t get from any of the company’s other plants in the area.

“This alluvial fan is good quality rock,” Janikowski notes. “We produce a very hard gravel out of this site that meets a lot of Caltrans specs, so we get a lot of freeway work with our ready-mix. We can set the plant up to make any type of configuration the customer wants, and if we need to produce a large amount of a particular product, we’ll start the plant up

to produce that product.”

Employees at Lytle Creek have a sixday work week. The yard is open from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 3 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The early start allows the ready-mix side to get its product early to avoid the heavy morning traffic in the area.

“At one point in time, we were open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, back during the height of the market,” Janikowski says. “There’s talk about going back to operating 24 hours a day during the week just to help our readymix team get the material into their plants in a timely manner. Everything is shipped by highway out of this site.

There is no rail infrastructure at all.”

The water utilized in the plant comes from the water district, as there is no well on site. All the water used in the plant is captured and reused, not just because of the drought conditions that have been present for several years in southern California, but because it’s the right thing to do. All the drainage from the stockpiles goes to a water tank, and the water truck uses that to water the roads.

A catch basin in the plant captures all the processing runoff and pumps it back to the water tank for the main plant.

Continuous improvement Cemex began a continuous improvement program, Operational Excellence, in Florida in 2011. Since then, it has spread throughout the company. The program is designed to identify opportunities for improvement.

“The focus is on customer centricity and to be sure that we’re able to deliver value to our customers,” says Erika Alba, continuous improvement manager for Cemex’s southern California aggregates division. “Our objective is to be better every day. We see problems as opportunities, and use the opportunities to learn and improve. It is a culture. We center that around our four guiding principles — mindset, skillset, leadership, and collaboration. We empower our employees. Our focus is to increase production and add value to our processes with a constant focus on safety.”

The continuous improvement

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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PLANT PROFILE

In the dry crushed plant, a tower of screens separates the material into salable products ranging in size from 3/4-inch crushed to rock dust.

to drive value and results,” Alba explains.

“We have several targets, and we use KPIs (key performance indicators) to help us achieve our goals focusing on OEE (overall equipment efficiencies) in all areas of our operations.”

We work as a team and our employees are empowered to lead these teams.

Loader operators, haul truck drivers, QC technicians, etc. use lean tools to identify the problems and drive improvements that add value to their products and service. A value-added approach helps identify opportunities to achieve our goals and targets.

“Our operational excellence team helps build and establish best practices and standard work to ensure each job and task is performed safely and properly the first time,” Alba says. “We hold Kaizen events to identify opportunities — problems, bottlenecks, challenges — in our operations and root-cause analysis to help us identify the root cause. We use the ‘5 Whys’ approach to help ensure that we get to the root cause, and value stream maps and process maps to help eliminate wastes and improve our processes.”

Alba says the lean tools help, but the best part of the program is the people.

“Operational Excellence begins with our employees, the teams that are in the field producing products every day,” she says.

Safety is #1

Darin Janikowski, Cemex’s area manager for southern California, points out the LOTOTO (Lock Out-Try Out-Tag Out) chart in the MCC building that lists everything that must be shut down so one piece of equipment can be entirely locked out, tagged out, and de-energized.

manager works with each plant manager to help them identify opportunities within their operations to improve processes.

They look at everything — from stripping, hauling and loading material in the pit, and crushing and screening efficiencies in the processing plant — to ensure they’re getting the maximum value out of the operation and running efficiently.

16

“We have established targets for several different processes. Our employees own these processes. We don’t panic when we miss our targets; instead we use data-based decisions to help us focus on the right initiatives. We put a team together, walk the process, and brainstorm solutions to improve the process, correcting anything that isn’t delivering

Safety is part of the culture at Lytle Creek. It is driven into the employees to not only be safe at work, but to take that safety culture home with them and make it part of their everyday lives.

“This plant hasn’t had any injuries for three and a half years, and that was a very minor injury,” says August “Augie” Gonzalez, Cemex’s manager of Health & Safety, West Region. “They haven’t had a lost-time injury in more than nine years.

One of the great things about this plant is that a lot of the initiatives that have spread throughout the area started right here.”

There are several safety programs that Cemex has in place at Lytle Creek, as well as other plants. Two of those are peer audits and Job Hazard Analysis (JHA). Peer audits provide a fresh set of eyes when a group of employees from one plant

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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goes to another plant to check for safety issues. JHA includes a form that must be filled out by each employee before he/she performs a task. It requires them to think about what they are going to do, what the possible dangers are, how they can be prevented, what tools they need to do the job at hand, and whether they will need additional personnel to complete the job.

Another safety program, the Lock Out-Try Out-Tag Out program, requires that a chart and schematic be kept in the MCC building at every plant. It provides a list of everything that must be shut down so that one piece of equipment can be entirely locked out, tagged out, and de-energized.

“It holds your hand and tells you what you need to turn off in order to work on a particular piece of equipment,” Gonzalez explains. “If you want to shut down a crusher, for instance, the chart shows all the other equipment that is connected to that crusher, so you can shut down all of it. We also have all the procedures and policies in a binder in the MCC building. Every plant has that, but it originated here.”

Cemex also brought over a program from Europe called All Safe. “It’s similar to the JHA, but the employees take ownership. It is not a management process, it is an employee process, where, as a team, they are empowered to choose/implement its application,” Gonzalez says. “For example, three mechanics get together and look at a grader in the shop. They determine what dangers are involved in either working on the grader or operating it, and, as a group, discuss what could possibly go wrong, what might not be safe, and decide how best to address it.”

There is, of course, a safety committee at Lytle Creek, and employees can go to the committee at any time with any safety issues or concerns they may have.

The committee then determines which issues need to be addressed immediately and takes them to management.

“It’s not just lip service,” Gonzalez says. “Whenever the safety committee goes to Darin and his management team with a safety concern, they support and back them up and follow through to make sure it gets done.”

All the water used in the plant is captured and reused. Drainage from the stockpiles goes to a water tank, and the water truck uses it to water the roads. A catch basin in the plant captures all the processing runoff and pumps it back to the water tank for the main plant.

Everyone on the safety committee wears a yellow hard hat, which is a different color from the rest of the crew, so they stand out. This is especially important when there are visitors or contractors on site. They immediately know who to go to if they need to talk to someone about a safety problem.

Visual Felt Leadership (VFL) is another program that Lytle Creek had been doing for years before Cemex ever gave it a name and implemented it at other Cemex operations. VFL requires management to go out into the plant and talk to the employees to get to know them and learn about their families. And instead of looking for something the employees are doing wrong, management looks for what they’re doing right and offers positive feedback and encouragement, which go a lot further than negativity.

For the past five years, Lytle Creek has set aside one Saturday each year to do its own MSHA Refresher Training for all the Cemex employees in the southern California area who work with aggregates and ready-mix, as well as those who transport the material. It’s not your typical classroom training, however, it’s very hands-on and interactive, and the employees themselves do the training.

Nine different stations are set up

around the plant to address different aspects of safety, such as lock out-tag out, fall protection, First Aid, and more.

Attendees are broken up into groups of 15 and rotated through the stations, spending approximately 45 minutes at each one. A barbecue lunch breaks up the day and provides a bit of social time for the employees to interact with their peers from different parts of the Cemex family that they may only see once a year.

“In addition to that, we also invite the MSHA inspectors to come in, which helps us keep an open relationship,” Gonzalez adds. “They come to the training and stay for lunch. Vendors also come in with their rigging and what have you.”

“At the end of the day, everybody gets a tee shirt that says ‘I survived the annual safety training,’” Janikowski adds.

“It’s actually something the guys look forward to every year.”

All the safety programs and training are paying off for Lytle Creek Plant.

In January, it was chosen from all the Cemex plants in the United States to receive the company’s Safest Plant of the Year Award.

Looking to the future Lytle Creek has several projects on the radar. One is finding a market for its AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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PLANT PROFILE

Equipment List

A haul truck pulls under a bin to load material that needs to be transferred to the surge pile.

In the pit, a dozer pushes material down the slope to blend it before it gets scooped up by a loader and loaded into a haul truck for transport to the processing plant.

byproduct, the 5/16-inch gravel. It’s native to the deposit, but isn’t a big seller, so plant personnel are working on some improvements in the plant so they can recirculate the gravel back to the crusher to turn it into a manufactured sand.

“The problem is that it’s washed and it’s soaking wet when it comes out of production,” Janikowski explains. “It’s really difficult to put that into a crusher or run it across screens, because of the moisture content in it, so we’re putting in a plan to effectively make that happen. That’s probably the biggest project we have going on.”

18

Another big project on the horizon is the possibility of putting in a filter press to recapture even more water than is currently being captured by the drainage system in the plant. Janikowski says he believes that, with a filter press, they would be able to capture an additional 80 percent on top of what they already capture.

“We’re working with a local vendor and have a couple different options,” Janikowski says. “It’s probably upwards of $3 million to install a plate press big enough for this site. The ROI (return on investment) might be 20-plus years

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because of the cost, but there is also the potential for the cakes from the press to be a salable product.”

No one can predict for sure what will happen in the future, but whatever is in store for Lytle Creek, the employees will play a key role in making sure things run smoothly at the plant.

“The employees here take ownership of everything,” Janikowski says.

“Managers aren’t telling them what to do, we’re asking them if it works. We ask them what they think about the different programs. There are some things driven down by management, but we involve the employees as much as we can. They’re the key. They’re the reason why we’re all so successful here.” AM

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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PULL-OUT GUIDE

By Tina Grady Barbaccia, Contributing Editor

April 2017

Site Safety

Provide safety training and encourage overall wellness.

Get management and line supervisor commitment.

Conduct safety audits and injury/accident investigations.

Consistently communicate with employees.

Involve employees in safety training.

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OPERATIO 1

Integrate safety into the plant

2

Training and communication improve safety

S

ite safety at an aggregates operation must be addressed with a holistic approach from wearing proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and everyday safety to training, good communication, and overall employee health.

Anne Kelhart, director of safety and human resources for Martin Stone Quarries, says that safety starts when a potential employee walks in the door for an interview. “I ask if [he or she] wears a seatbelt,” Kelhart says.

“I don’t care if that person has 30 years of experience and can show me annual refresher certifications. With safety, you’re not a little bit safe. You are or you aren’t. It’s 24/7.”

This safety first and foremost mantra means it comes before productivity. Loader operators don’t need permission to clean up a berm while a truck waits.

“Loader operators don’t have to worry about getting in trouble for leaving a stockpile or dump truck for five minutes while fixing a safety problem,” Kelhart notes. “Maintenance crews don’t have to ask to fix things.

They only need to let someone know if a part needs to be ordered.”

Like with other facets of operation, training is important. However, Martin Stone elevates its importance.

“Twenty-four hours of classroom training is required for new miners — no exceptions,” Kelhart says. “Although it exceeds what is required, they do a minimum of 16 hours

and up to six weeks with a mentor before anyone is allowed on their own in the field. No one is released until the mentor is comfortable that the employee is confident in the job, whether it is a loader operator or someone in charge of welding.”

Embracing technology for communication has helped LafargeHolcim be “safer and smarter,” says Alex Hall, U.S. head of health and safety for aggregate construction materials. “We have developed apps to take into the field that have a variety of interactions.” The ‘SHIELD’ app, developed in-house, allows employees to perform work in the field, highlight what work has been done, and where it has been done. “We can decide whether something requires an action,” Hall says. “The more interaction we have, the better effect we will have on reducing the incidents.”

Marty Tubbs, director of safety and health for Rogers Group, Inc., says continuous communication to employees is also important. To create constant awareness, near miss and other incident information is distributed through the company in an effort to prevent the same occurrence.

“This information is also archived on an internal website for review or to use as reminders in safety meetings,” Tubbs says. “We are adamant about constantly reinforcing our commitment to achieving a ‘Zero Injury’ safety culture without compromise by implementing all our safety principles.”

Integrate safety into any plant upgrades or modifications by integrating it into the engineering process. If new steps are installed within the operation, for example, it is important to ensure the right materials are being used, proper grading is done, the steps are on the right angle, handrails are at the appropriate height, and there is the correct distance between steps. Safety should be incorporated directly into a plant design or redesign instead of being an afterthought or added at a later time.

4

Communicate concerns

5

Document any issues concerning safety within the plant. These may include problems with equipment, such as a conveyor belt that needs to be replaced or a truck that experienced a parking brake failure. Examine what could have caused the problem and how to prevent it in the future. Any near-misses should be communicated to all employees, and an archive or database should be kept of all incidents to use in future safety meetings, to serve as reminders to be proactive, and to create awareness.

AGGREGATES MANAGER

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RATIONS ILLUSTRATED

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Site Safety

2

Leverage technology

Use of apps and other technology to collect data in the field and report safety issues can help plant managers and an operation’s safety team gain a better understanding of what is happening in the field. It helps them track serious issues and provides a method for employees to document unsafe behavior and equipment.

This information can be used to develop a plant safety improvement plan and to provide a linear explanation of what is taking place at each level of the business.

5

Build safety into company culture

Rogers Group, Inc. promotes its commitment to achieving a ‘Zero-Injury’ safety culture by implementing all of its core values without compromise. These safety principles include management commitment, line responsibility for safety, safety training, incident and injury investigation and necessary corresponding action, an audit process, employee involvement, job safety analysis, and consistent and detailed employee communications, among others. Rogers Group also expects contractors to adhere to its safety culture.

3

Stand-Down for Safety

Each year, Rogers Group holds ‘Stand-Down for Safety’ — a company-wide event where operations completely shut down so that each plant team can focus exclusively on safety. In the past, all plants held the event at the same time. This year, however, a corporate safety committee, comprised of a combination of hourly employees, front-line supervisors, and the committee chair, decided to host the events throughout the month of July rather than at the same time. This allows more executive-level employees and managers of multiple plants to participate in multiple ‘Stand-Down’ events.

6

OUR

EXPERTS

Incorporate accountability

Each year, LafargeHolcim sends out a company-wide survey to use in an annual meeting with its executive committee in December. From the survey, platform topics are chosen to implement into the company’s Health and Safety Improvement Plan. Each topic is assigned to two committee managers to ensure training is done and that employees understand expectations and how to comply with the rules. This year, the company is focusing on transportation safety as one of the safety platforms. Drive camera systems are being installed to provide information on harsh braking, bad turns, and sudden and extreme acceleration. The camera only records footage when a severe incident occurs.

Anne Kelhart, director of safety and human resources for Martin Stone Quarries, has been with the company for more than 28 years. She is a certified mine professional, National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association Health and Safety Committee past chair and Pennsylvania Aggregate and Concrete Association Health and Safety Committee current chair.

Marty Tubbs is director of safety and health for Rogers Group, Inc. Previously, he served as human resources/safety manager for Vulcan Materials. Tubbs has worked in the aggregates industry for more than 20 years.

Alex Hall is U.S. head of health and safety for aggregate construction materials for LafargeHolcim. Previously, he was vice president of the Midwest Region for Aggregate Industries and ran a business on the East Coast of South Africa for Holcim.

April 2017

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Voices of Experience Anne Kelhart

A

healthy worker is a safer worker.

From good nutrition to proper rest, it all correlates back to safety, says Anne Kelhart, director of safety and human resources for Martin Stone Quarries.

“My first career was as a nurse, so I understand physiology and the importance of how it relates back to safety,” Kelhart explains. “Proper nutrition and rest is so important for acute thinking.”

When employees are working in very hot weather, the quarry manager sends someone at the operation to the local store to buy popsicles, iced tea, and water to distribute to the employees.

“Hydration and nutrition is so important,” Kelhart says. “We also encourage employees to take breaks when needed. We mostly run air-conditioned equipment, but there are ‘boots-on-theground’ people out in the elements in long pants and boots.”

Employees also must take mandatory lunches, although many would avoid lunch breaks, if it means they were able to get home earlier. “We tell them they don’t have to eat, but I rarely see any of them without a fork in their hand,” Kelhart says.

Along with mandatory lunch breaks are limited hours. “If driving 60 hours on the road is the limit, then we try to do that for our miners,” Kelhart says.

“Some quarries will work miners 70 to 80 hours per week. They love it because it is time and a half, but it doesn’t keep them healthy or safe.”

These site safety rules may seem stringent, but Martin Stone has an average employee tenure of 15+ years, with one employee recently retiring after 43 years at the operation.

“I attribute a lot of our success to the environment we create,” Kelhart says.

“When they talk, we listen. Keeping a group of miners happy, healthy, and safe is complex, but the employee is the most important resource. If you protect your employee, you protect your braintrust. This makes good sense from a business perspective.”

Alex Hall

F

or a multinational company with more than 100,000 employees and a diverse portfolio, ensuring site safety means understanding all hazards, how to address them, and applying appropriate controls.

“It’s really about risk management,” says Alex Hall, U.S. head of health and safety for aggregate and construction material for LafargeHolcim. “We have different hazard profiles for different sides of the business. We maintain some global standards, but they are pretty generic and don’t take into account what is required from a local perspective. You can’t look at them in isolation.”

LafargeHolcim has a U.S. health and safety committee comprised of people across the company. Together, this team develops standards for the country. Once the general company-wide standards are met, regulatory requirements must be reviewed and complied with.

“Take lock-out/tag-out or energy isolation: We develop a standard and then present it to the team,” Hall says.

“The committee reviews it to see how applicable it is in the different segments of the business and then ensures that all the regulatory requirements are met, at a minimum.”

When the standards are implemented, LafargeHolcim provides the knowledge and skills needed to adhere to them through a training program that validates its competency. “The training vehicle we use is ‘Convergence,’ a very robust video,” Hall says. “If employees will be engaged in certain activities, such as working at heights or handling, we put them through training for that and maintain training records.”

A minimum of eight hours of training is required per year, not including specialty training. If an employee doesn’t pass the post-training test, he must continue to retake the test until passing it.

“It is important that the people we have trained not only have knowledge but know how to apply it in a working environment,” Hall says. “They need to have practical know-how, as well as the theoretical knowledge to be competent.”

Marty Tubbs

A

t Rogers Group, Inc., safety is non-negotiable. Its core values — unwavering integrity, excellence in every undertaking, and placing the highest value on people — means that all employees, at every level, are held accountable for their actions, particularly when it comes to safety.

Safety is implemented through these core values with the following steps: management commitment, safety training, audits, injury and accident investigation, employee involvement, line responsibility for safety, safety committees, job safety analysis, and local safety communications, among others.

“Starting with management commitment, leaders are directly involved in everything from daily safety meetings to monthly safety audits,” says Marty Tubbs, director of safety and health for Rogers Group, Inc. “Our audits are designed to focus on behaviors and not necessarily conditions. We look for unsafe behaviors, but we also focus on safe behaviors to confirm our training efforts are effective.”

For example, if a supervisor notices proper use of personal protective equipment, the safe behavior is acknowledged and praised. Alternately, employees are responsible for bringing safety concerns to line supervisors.

“How quickly the supervisors respond or follow-up sends a message about the commitment and responsiveness to employee needs,” Tubbs says. “Frontline supervisors must be supported by all levels of management.”

At a minimum, Rogers Group provides safety training required by state and federal laws. However, it also conducts additional safety training that goes above and beyond the minimum.

“One training program, in particular, is the ‘Safety Systems Training,’” Tubbs says. “This training is designed to train current and future leaders of the company in all of Rogers Group’s core values and reinforces our commitment to creating a Zero Injury safety culture without compromise.”

AGGREGATES MANAGER

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CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF YOUNG LEADERS Years

2017 NSSGA Young Leaders Annual Meeting

April 19-22, 2017 | Wild Horse Pass | Chandler, AZ

CELEBRATE WITH NSSGA at the 25th Anniversary of the Young Leaders Annual Meeting.

Sign up by March 17, 2017 to take advantage of early bird registration rates!

All Young Leaders alumni, regardless of age, are invited to attend and engage in this celebration where author and motivational speaker Chris Widener will ignite your passion for success.

Hear important insights from aggregates industry leaders on how to take and make that next step in your career: • Mark Helm, President, Dolese Bros. Co. • William J. Sandbrook, President & CEO, U.S. Concrete, Inc. • J. Thomas Hill, President & CEO, Vulcan Materials Company • Steve Trussell, Executive Director, Arizona Rock Products Association • Anne H. Lloyd, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Martin Marietta • Sean K. McLanahan, Chief Executive New this year – food truck Officer, McLanahan Corporation dinner night.

Build relationships through interactive networking, team building and community service events. Join us for the 25th Anniversary of NSSGA Young Leaders – reconnect with old friends and make new ones that will last a lifetime.

Visit nssga.org for more information.

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2017 NSSGA Young Leaders Annual Meeting

April 19 – 22, 2017

www.nssga.org

2/8/17 12:34 PM 2/8/17 4:16 PM

EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT

by Mike Manges

No time for

downtime Proper road management and tire maintenance help keep equipment up and running

Check tire inflation regularly, preferably daily. At the same time, monitor remaining tread depth and inspect for nicks and cuts.

T

here’s no time for downtime in the aggregates industry — especially when downtime can result in lower production, upset customers, and significant additional cost.

The good news is that tires can play an important role in uptime preservation. But have you thought about what’s underneath those tires as they carry equipment across the mine, or the forces that off-the-road tires are sometimes required to endure?

“If you want to help minimize downtime and optimize the efficiency of your operation, vigilant site management should be at the top of your priority list,” says Eric Matson, manager, global field engineering, Goodyear.

“You can help keep machines up and running by performing thorough site audits on a regular basis. Take a careful look at your site, as well as the roads leading into and out of it.”

Pay particular attention to the upward and/or downward slope of inbound and outbound roads. “Roads that slope up too sharply can shift the truck’s center of gravity to the back of the vehicle,” Matson says. “This could place unnecessary strain on the truck’s rear tires.”

Roads that veer down too steeply could shift the truck’s center of gravity forward, which can place extra pressure on the vehicle’s front tires. “As a rule of thumb, road grades should not exceed 8 percent,” Matson says. “Push beyond

that and you run the risk of putting tires under additional strain, which should be avoided to optimize tire performance and tire life.”

Also, avoid tight-radius turns on roads leading into or out of the pit.

“Curves should be as wide and far-ranging as possible to avoid putting additional pressure on a truck’s outside tires,” Matson says.

As simple as it sounds, the presence of water at a mine can contribute to unexpected downtime. Water acts as a lubricant, which makes tires more susceptible to cuts. Moreover, standing water can hide “tire-eating” rocks and other debris, according to Matson. “Roads should be crowned in the middle to avoid standing water. And drainage ditches AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT Create roadways with grades of 8 percent or less to minimize pressure on both front and rear tires and allow for wide turns to reduce pressure on a truck’s outside tires.

should be installed along all roads leading into and out of the job site to help ensure efficient water evacuation.”

Maintain and gain So you’ve looked at what’s under and around your tires. Don’t forget to invest the same amount of time and energy in tire maintenance.

Check tire inflation levels as often as possible — at least once weekly, but ideally daily. Correct inflation helps extend casing life and can yield other benefits, as well. Over-inflation can result in

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uneven wear and can make tires more susceptible to impact damage and cutting, while under-inflation can cause tires to flex more, which can also contribute to irregular wear, casing degradation, and heat build-up. “If you aren’t checking your tires’ inflation levels often, start doing so today,” Matson notes. “It’s a minor investment that can generate big returns.”

While checking inflation, inspect tires for depth of remaining tread, plus cuts and nicks that can grow into larger, deeper separations, if left unaddressed.

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Read fascinating articles about all types of old construction equipment, illustrated by beautiful historic photos.

“Look for mismatched tires, too,” he says.

“Sometimes fleets will unknowingly match-mount tires that feature two different constructions or diameters. It’s an easy mistake, but one that can have a detrimental impact on tire performance over time.

“We strongly encourage customers to capture as much data about the condition of their tires as possible, and then put that data to work for them,” Matson adds. Programs such as Goodyear’s EMTrack tire management system can help achieve this.

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It’s only $35 US in the USA and Canada, $45 US all others. To join, call us at 419-352-5616, or mail a check or money order to HCEA, 16623 Liberty Hi Road, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402.

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opportunities,” Matson says. “For example, an out-of-service tire that exhibits unusual wear patterns could have been run in an over- or under-inflated state for an extended period.”

Every tire tells a story, he notes. “We encourage you to work with your tire supplier or tire dealer to inspect and analyze tires that have been taken out of

“Trained tire technicians collect infield data about inflation, tread depth, and other metrics, and then feed this information into EMTrack,” he says.

Repetition of this process eventually will help you monitor and chart key performance aspects such as cost-per-hour, cost-per-ton, and/or hours-per-32nd.

“It also can help you forecast future tire needs so you can budget accordingly,” Matson explains.

As a tire nears the end of its service, consider retreading, which can help you optimize the return on your investment by extending the tire’s lifecycle. “At the same time, retreads can be an excellent alternative to new construction tires, especially if you’re keeping close tabs on expenses,” Matson says. “In today’s cost-competitive marketplace, retreads are a viable option.”

In addition, tires can yield valuable information after they have cycled through a retread and have been removed from service. “The information gathered from a careful scrap tire analysis can help you identify maintenance

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Good tire performance begins with smart tire selection. Choosing the right tire for your application will make all the difference in terms of in-field performance, according to Eric Matson, manager, global field engineering, Goodyear.

“First, make sure you think about what the tire will be ‘asked to do,’” he says.

“That’s where it starts. Then work with a representative from your tire dealer or tire supplier. The experts there have the experience and knowledge to recommend an appropriate tire for your application.”

Keep in mind that every OTR tire, regardless of application, has a certain capability rating. This dictates the maximum recommended weight a tire should carry at a specific rate of movement.

There are different ways to track vehicle load and speed, including the use of GPS tracking units to monitor movement over a specified period of time.

(Twenty-four hours is common.) “For optimized performance, never exceed a tire’s TMPH rating,” Matson advises.

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circulation. Information is power, and good information can help you make better decisions about your construction tire investment.” AM

3/14/17 1:16 PM

SPECIAL REPORT

by Therese Dunphy | Editor-in-Chief | tdunphy@randallreilly.com

Las Vegas Show Hits the ConExpo-Con/Agg exhibitors met producer optimism with a broad array of new equipment, as well as a glimpse into the future.

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n the heels of President Trump beginning work on a $1 trillion infrastructure investment, producer optimism was running at high levels. Add in great weather, more than 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space, and 150 education sessions, and ConExpo-Con/Agg 2017 had the formula for a very strong show.

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An estimated 127,000 attendees walked the floors of exhibit halls and outdoor pavilions over the course of the five-day trade show.

Processing equipment Numerous new crusher options — both portable and stationary — covered the show floor. Other key processing

equipment categories with introductions include screens, wash plants, fines recovery equipment, and more.

CDE Global highlighted its new CDE M5500 wash plant, which can produce up to 550 tons per hour of washed materials on a single chassis. Also new are its weld-free Infinity screens, which are said to generate the same acceler-

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ation as conventional screens with less weight, resulting in a reduction in power consumption and operational costs.

Haver & Boecker introduced the skid-mounted Hydro-Clean 1000 Wash Plant which combines a high-pressure washing system with a vibrating rinse screen.

Irock Crushers debuted its new plant,

the TC-15CC closed-circuit tracked impact crusher. It also showed its new TS-518 tracked screening plant, which is available in two- and three-deck models.

Kleemann’s Mobicone MCO 11 PRO crusher, designed for hard and abrasive rock, was seen for the first time in the U.S. The diesel-electric drive plant also can be operated using an external power source and is said to be low maintenance. A Mobicone MCO 11i Pro option features a new control concept, Spective.

The control system uses clear symbols to make all plant functions recognizable at a glance.

Kolberg-Pioneer, Inc. and sister company Astec Mobile Screens each launched a portable plant featuring patent-pending hybrid technology. Kolberg-Pioneer’s GT440 mobile horizontal shaft impactor is based around a 42x40 HSI crusher, which is available in a 3- or 4-bar rotor configuration. Astec Mobile Screen’s GT205 mobile multi-frequency screen boasts a 5- by 20-foot screen with simple controls and a focus on ease of operation.

McLanahan Corp. announced improvements to its modular sand plants, which include a separator/cyclone, sump, pump, and dewatering screen. They are designed for easy set up and process coarse sand to ultra fines. It also introduced McLanahan Mobile Solutions and showed the MMS Track Trommel, which can process up to 165 tons per hour. Its Max Series Vibrating Screens were also on display.

McCloskey launched a new division — McCloskey Washing Systems — with the introduction of its Sandstorm wash plant, a modular, chassis-mounted scalping unit that can process feeds up to 550 tons per hour. McCloskey also debuted its AggStorm Range, which can work alone or with the Sandstorm plant to aggressively scrub and wash clay-bound

material. “Our modular approach to the development of this range allows operators to start small and build up to a full ‘closed-loop’ system as budgets dictate,” says Sean Loughran, director of McCloskey Washing Systems.

Metso showcased its new MX4 cone crusher, which features Multi-Action crushing technology for easy under-load setting adjustment, without having to stop the process.

Sandvik expanded its crushing offerings with the introduction of its first wheeled plants, the UJ310+ jaw plant and the UI310+ Prisec impact plant. A cone plant, the CS550, is also new, as is the QJ341+, which adds a standard double-deck screen to its QJ341 plant.

Superior Industries displayed two dozen equipment introductions, including the Patriot Cone Crusher Plant, Liberty Jaw Plant, and V400 Valor VSI. “We wanted to celebrate our American roots and to remind people where our products are built,” says Corey Poppe, communications director. In addition, Superior showed its new Spirit Sand Production Plant and Anthem Inclined Screen were among the new equipment on display.

Telsmith exhibited a new portable jaw plant, the H3450. With a 40-inch by 50inch opening, it can produce up to 659 short tons per hour, while the hydraulic toggle is said to reduce maintenance and operating costs. Telsmith also showcased the newest member of its T-Series crusher family, the T500. The 500-horsepower crusher has a 14-inch maximum feed opening and can process between 314 and 854 short tons per hour, depending on material type.

Terex had several big crushing and screening announcements. It displayed the Terex Finlay I-140 horizontal impact crusher for the first time in North America and debuted the CRC1150S portable closed-circuit cone plant. It also relaunched the Simplicity brand of vibrat-

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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Get the the most current information with the 2016 Aggregates Industry Atlas and the Atlas on CD. While the printed version of the Aggregates Manager 2016 Aggregates Industry Atlas will become an integral part of doing your job, don’t forget to order your copy of the Atlas on CD to see additional information about companies’ mine locations, types of rock mined, GPS coordinates, pertinent facts about companies listed in the atlas, and more.

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launched a new brand, EvoQuip, which focused on simplicity and entry level customers. “We want to reinvigorate the focus on the basics of crushing and screening,” says Matt Dickson, global product line director of EvoQuip. As part of the new line, it featured the Bison 120 Jaw Crusher at the show.

Weir introduced its Ultra Fines Recovery plant, which is designed for operators who use settling ponds and allows them to recover waste material as a marketable product.

Mobile equipment While there was no shortage of crushing and screening equipment on display, producers looking for new mobile equipment also had many options to choose from.

Case Construction Equipment featured its G Series Tier 4 Final wheel loader lineup, as well as its CX750D excavator. As the company marked its 175th anniversary, it also featured its design

concept for a compact dozer loader, the DL450.

Caterpillar introduced the 745 Articulated Truck, which increases its cab size by 20 percent. On the wheel loader side, it highlighted the 988K and 986K Aggregate Handler models and highlighted Command for Loading.

John Deere added the 844K Series-III and 844K Series-III Aggregate Handler machines to its lineup. Its articulated dump truck lineup also gained two new models, the 260E and 310E. Keestrack premiered its new tracked hybrid cone crusher H4e and its new Keestrack-er remote monitoring system.

LiuGong introduced its new Vertical Lift Wheel Loader, which is intended for lifting and carrying. It features vertical lift loader arms on an articulating frame, as well as a mechanical self-leveling Z-bar bucket linkage.

Volvo Construction Equipment debuted the all-new flagship of its wheel

loader range, the L350H. It features a 10-percent improvement in fuel efficiency and a host of other productivity improvements, as well as a new design. Engineered for efficiency, the L350H is fitted with next-generation hydraulics and powered by a Tier 4 Final D16J engine, for high torque at low rpm. Designed for quarry production, the loader comes with a higher capacity 9.5-cubic-yard rock bucket.

More to come As anyone who attended ConExpo-Con/ Agg 2017 can verify, the enormous show offered an impressive amount of new equipment and highlighted how rapidly changing technology is likely to influence the industry. This overview covers some of the highlights, but these and many more will be more extensively reported on in our RollOuts and Supply Lines articles, as well as our online coverage, throughout the weeks to come. AM

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SUPPLYLINES

by Therese Dunphy | Editor-in-Chief | tdunphy@randallreilly.com

Moving Material to Market Transport aggregates from your site to your customer more economically with trucks that boast better payloads and fuel efficiency.

Multi-pronged driver assistance system Built on Bendix’s ESP Electronic Stability Program full-stability system, Wingman Fusion integrates a suite of Bendix safety technologies — radar, camera, and the vehicle’s brake system — into a comprehensive driver assistance system. Unlike radar-only systems, it combines and cross-checks information from multiple sources to deliver enhanced rear-end collision mitigation, lane departure warning, overspeed alerts and action, and braking on stationary vehicles. Because these technologies are working together, not just in parallel, the system is said to realize events sooner — alerting the driver and decreasing the vehicle’s speed up to twice as much — to help the driver mitigate potential collisions or lessen their severity. The ability to cross-check information results in fewer false alerts or interventions than radar-only systems.

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Offers maneuverability and visibility The new Kenworth T880S with set-forward axle configuration is designed for fleet and truck operators in ready-mix and dump applications where every incremental pound of payload delivered contributes directly to the bottom line, and maneuverability and visibility are valued. The T880S is available with a set-forward front axle ranging from 14,600 pounds to 22,800 pounds. Single-, tandem-, or tridem-drive axles and a wide variety of factory-installed lift axles, are among a range of options available to meet the most demanding site requirements. The T880S is standard with the PACCAR MX-13 engine with up to 510-horsepower and 1,850 foot-pounds of torque. For weight-sensitive applications, the 10.8-liter PACCAR MX-11 engine saves 400 pounds compared to a 13-liter engine, and is said to offer an impressive power to weight ratio and provide low fuel consumption.

Kenworth | www.kenworth.com

Optimizes weight distribution for larger payloads Peterbilt says its Model 567 SFFA is the industry’s leading set-forward front-axle vehicle and features its distinctive styling. The SFFA configuration is said to optimize weight distribution to maximize customer payloads while meeting state and federal bridge law requirements, making it well-suited for weight-conscious applications. The SFFA configuration joins Peterbilt’s Model 567 set-back front axle, the company’s vocational truck and tractor that touts its maneuverability and versatility. Like the set-back axle version, the Model 567 SFFA is available in both 115- and 121-inch BBC lengths. The truck features a standard Metton hood, which is highly resilient and can absorb many impacts that would shatter or crack other materials, and the company’s signature stainless-steel oval mesh grille and surround.

It can be spec’d with a wide range of options to meet most jobsite requirements.

Peterbilt | www.peterbilt.com AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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SUPPLYLINES Good for fuel efficiency, low-speed applications The Volvo I-Shift with Crawler Gears is an extension of Volvo’s I-Shift automated manual transmission. This I-Shift with Crawler Gears is said to be weightconscious, cost efficient, capable, and simple to operate in the field. The truck comes in two configurations. The Volvo 13-speed I-Shift with Crawler Gears brings fuel efficiency to vocational applications without surrendering startability.

Through the installation of a faster rear axle ratio, coupled to the 13-speed IShift with Crawler Gears, the truck will have lower rpms at cruise speed. The typical reduction at highway speed is 300 rpm, resulting in a fuel efficiency improvement of more than 3 percent. The Volvo 14-speed overdrive I-Shift with Crawler Gears allows extremely low-speed maneuvers with great startability performance. It’s said to be ideal for heavy-haul, mixer, and extremely slow speed applications.

Volvo Trucks | www.volvotrucks.us

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Part of the Western Star XD Offroad family, the Western Star 6900XD 40T Dump Truck is equipped with features such as rugged suspensions, planetary gear sets, quadruple frame rails and a galvannealed steel cab, making it a good match for tough jobs. Designed to minimize cost-per-ton hauled, the truck’s purpose-built design allows for speed and stability while maintaining fuel efficiency. Powered by a Tier III Detroit DDC 60 14.0-liter, 500-horsepower engine, it boasts 1,550 pound-feet of peak torque. The Allison 4700 RDS transmission, in combination with planetary gear drive axles, provides efficient power shifting. The truck has a gross vehicle weight rating of 138,000 pounds.

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Cubee the AggMan helping educate children about the importance of aggregate since 1998 “The Story of Cubee the Aggregate” helps teach children at the youngest ages about the important role aggregate plays in their daily lives. Geared for students in grades K-3, Cubee and his aggregate friends will take children on a magical journey from Cubee’s birthplace in the neighborhood quarry to his new home in the schools, roads and other structures that enrich our communities and our lives.

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by Patrick W. Dennison

ROCKLAW

MSHA’s Overreach is Denied U.S. Court of Appeals checks the agency’s effort to expand its sphere of regulatory influence.

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Patrick W. Dennison is an attorney with Jackson Kelly PLLC’s Pittsburgh office where he practices in the Occupational Safety and Health Practice Group and the Coal and Oil and Gas Industry Group. He can be reached at 412-434-8815 or pwdennison@jacksonkelly.com

n Feb. 13, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a decision by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (Commission) and held that a shop which makes and repairs mining equipment was not a “coal or other mine” subject to regulation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Maxxim Rebuild Co., LLC v. Sec’y of Labor, et al., _ F.3d _ (6th Circuit 2017), slip op., available at 2017 WL 563083.

Maxxim Rebuild Co. (Maxxim) operated the shop. Maxxim’s parent company is Alpha Natural Resources.

Maxxim had six shops at various locations and a seventh location that served as an equipment depot where surplus equipment was stored and sold for various companies.

The site at issue was located in Sidney, Ky., on property owned by Sidney Coal Co. (another Alpha subsidiary). Approximately 75 percent of the work of the shop was related to equipment used by Alpha, and the rest of the work was for other mining companies and for repair shops that might sell the equipment to mining or non-mining companies. Out of Maxxim’s seven facilities, only two were regulated by MSHA. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulated the other Maxxim shops. OSHA previously regulated the Sidney employees when they did the same work in a smaller facility in Matewan, W.Va., but MSHA reasserted jurisdiction when the shop moved to the Kentucky location.

In 2013, MSHA issued citations to Maxxim

for conditions at the Sidney shop. Maxxim’s contest of the citations resulted in two dockets, decided separately by the administrative law judge. The ALJ upheld MSHA’s assertion of jurisdiction and the issuance of the citations. Maxxim Rebuild Co., LLC, 35 FMSHRC 3261 (ALJ Miller October 2013); Maxxim Rebuild Co., LLC, 36 FMSHRC 378 (ALJ Miller February 2014). Maxxim appealed the ALJ’s decisions, and the Commission affirmed jurisdiction. Maxxim Rebuild Co., LLC, 38 FMSHRC 605 (Review Commission April 2016). The Commission found that MSHA had jurisdiction based on the language of § 3(h) (1)(C) of the Mine Act because the shop was a “facility used in the process of extracting and preparing coal” given that it maintains, repairs, and fabricates equipment used in the mining process and was located on an abandoned mine property. The Commission relied heavily on its 2000 decision in Jim Walter Resources, Inc. and found that jurisdiction was proper because approximately 75 percent of the shop’s work was performed on equipment used in coal extraction and preparation activities for Alpha Natural Resources’ subsidiaries.

The Commission further found that MSHA did not abuse its discretion or otherwise act improperly by asserting jurisdiction over Sidney when it had not previously asserted jurisdiction over it or other similarly situated shops.

Finally, the Commission rejected Maxxim’s argument that OSHA’s standards, not MSHA’s, were more appropriate.

In its decision, the Sixth Circuit pulled

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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‘back the lens’ and found that MSHA’s jurisdiction did not extend to facilities wherever they exist because they work on or sell mining equipment but, rather, it extended only to facilities and equipment if they are “in or adjacent to — in essence part of — a working mine.” The Court found that § 802(h) (1), which defines “mine,” is locational.

Indeed, as the Court noted, the title of the Mine Act and the title of MSHA suggest that the definition of ‘coal or other mine’ relates to a place — land and things in or connected to a mine.

Maxxim slip op. * 4 7.

The Court found further support for its decision by noting that Mine Act definitions extend only to things that one would see in or around a working mine and not to mining equipment or mining machines, tools, or other property wherever they may be found or made. The Court noted that the definitions of ‘operator,’ ‘agent,’ and ‘miner’ are also defined in relation to working mines and that the pertinent definition of ‘coal mine’ in § 802(h)(2), which applies to other federal programs such as the Black Lung Benefits Act, is also locational. The Court noted that Congress separately gave MSHA the authority to regulate equipment sold to mines under 30 U.S.C. § 820(h), which it characterized as “the most natural home for regulating mining equipment unconnected to a working mine.” In this case, however, the Court noted that MSHA did not cite Maxxim for equipment violations. Maxxim slip op. * 7 8.

The Court also declined to extend Chevron deference to the Secretary’s position, finding it unreasonable as it overlooked all of the textual and precedential clues and had no stopping point. By way of example, the Court considered how the Secretary’s position would have applied to a large

equipment manufacturer which was not remotely near any working mine, but under the Secretary’s position “that any ‘facility’ that makes ‘equipment’ that is ‘used’ or ‘to be used’ in a coal mine is a coal mine — would have transformed that plant into a coal mine.” Maxxim slip op. * 9. Finally, the Court rejected the Secretary’s and Commission’s heavy reliance on Jim Walter Resources, Inc., stating that the Court was not bound by an incorrect Commission decision.

The Sixth Circuit’s decision is particularly noteworthy because MSHA sought to exercise its jurisdiction over off-site shops and equipment traditionally covered under OSHA jurisdiction, including other metallurgical fabrication shops and equipment rebuild facilities.

The Sixth Circuit’s decision soundly rejected this jurisdictional overreach and serves as a significant check on the unlawful expansion of MSHA’s jurisdiction. AM Author’s note: In Jim Walter Resources, Inc. 21 FMSHRC 22 (Review Commission, January 2000), the Commission held that a supply shop located off the mine site was subject to MSHA jurisdiction and affirmed the ALJ’s decision that a machine shop was also subject to MSHA jurisdiction.

Jim Walter Resources operated four underground coal mines in a two-county area in Alabama and, in one of the counties, it operated a machine shop and supply shop. The two facilities, which were adjacent to one another, were located 1 mile from the closest mine and 25 miles from the farthest mine. The central machine shop provided its services only to JWR’s mines and related facilities, and the central supply did not sell any of its warehoused materials to the public.

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

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ADINDEX April 2017

Advertiser

Web

Page

Aggregates Manager Atlas Data/CD Products

www.aggmanatlas.com

32

Aggregates Manager Community Outreach

www.aggman.com/community-outreach

38

Atlas Copco Construction Mining Technology

www.atlascopco.us

20

BekaWorld (formerly Beka-Max of America)

www.beka-lube.com

37

Bill Langer - Research Geologist

www.researchgeologist.com

33

BKT Tires

www.bkt-tires.com

11

C.L. Dews & Sons Foundry

www.dewsfoundry.com

43

Central Service & Supply

www.centralsands.com

29

Clearspan Fabric Structures

www.clearspan.com/adam

43

Cowin & Company, Inc.

www.cowin-co.com

33

Doosan Construction Equipment

www.doosanequipment.com/adt

25

Elrus Aggregate System

www.elrus.com

Equipment World Spec Guide Online

www.specguideonline.com

36

Great American Truck Show

www.gatsonline.com

40

HCEA

www.hcea.net

28

John Deere Construction Equipment

www.johndeere.com/mmc

BC

Kespry, Inc.

www.kespry.com/aggregates

19

Kleemann, A Wirtgen Group Co.

www.wirtgenamerica.com

IFC

Kruse Integration

www.kruseintegration.com

37

NSSGA Young Leaders

www.nssga.org

26

Progressive Commercial Insurance

www.progressivecommercial.com

Sweet Manufacturing

www.sweetmfg.com

43

Top Bid

www.topbid.com

34

Trimble Loadrite

www.aggregates.trimble.com

2

United Employment Assoc.

www.unitedemployment.com

43

Vertex Railcar Corp.

www.vertexrail.com

15

IBC

7

This index is provided as a service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

42

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017

AdIndex_AGRM0417.indd 42

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MARKETPLACE

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Services Offered: Applied geology and geological research for construction rocks and minerals, with an emphasis on aggregates.

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Serving the Concrete & Aggregate Industry for 20+ Years

AGGREGATES MANAGER / April 2017 RR Recruiting_AGRM0417_PG.indd 1

Marketplace_AGRM0417.indd 43

UnitedEmployment_AGRM0809.indd 1 3/15/17 9:47 AM

43

7/17/09 9:25 AM

3/17/17 9:53 AM

CARVED IN STONE

Bill Langer is a consulting research geologist who spent 41 years with the U.S. Geological Survey before starting his own business. He can be reached at Bill_Langer@hotmail.com

Gravel Batteries As green energy proponents address its intermittent nature, good old-fashioned gravel may provide a solution.

R

enewable energy is becoming more and more popular these days. We recently jumped on the band wagon and had solar panels installed on our home in Anthem, Ariz. On average, we have 299 sunny days per year, so it is a pretty darn good investment.

The down side to energy from solar panels and wind turbines is their on-off nature. When the wind stops blowing or the sun stops shining, the energy production stops. That is not a problem for us, because we are still connected to the grid and can get power even when the sun doesn’t shine. But believe me — they know how to charge rate payers who have solar!

In order to make solar and wind commercially viable, there needs to be some method to store excess energy production for use when there is no sunshine, no wind, or during peak demand. Electricity cannot be stored easily, but construction of a new battery gigafactory in the United States, as well as other high-tech methods on the horizon, may be part of the solution.

While we wait for new technology to catch on, there are some pretty good solutions already in place. Some environmentally friendly methods use — you guessed it — gravel. In terms of supply chain, handling, and construction, few materials are as cost effective, easy to obtain, and simple to use as gravel.

The most common method to store energy is pumped hydro storage. During excess solar or wind production periods, water is pumped uphill into a reservoir. During low or non-production periods, the water flows down through a generator to a lower reservoir. Very simple; very easy. However, hydro storage takes up a lot of space. An idea is being batted around where the water and reservoirs would be replaced by huge buckets filled with gravel. Excess energy produced will be used to haul the rock uphill in a ski-lift kind of contraption. When energy is needed, gravity will carry the rock downhill, producing electricity on its downhill trip.

There are a few somewhat more sophisticated ideas in the works, where excess energy is converted to thermal energy and then stored in giant gravel “batteries,” thus evening out the intermittent nature of wind turbines and solar panels.

One example is in Steinfurt, Germany. Rather than build an expensive tank, the battery is constructed underground in a covered pit. The storage material is a mixture of gravel and water. The side walls, top, and bottom are heat-insulated. The pit has a double-sided polypropylene liner with a vacuum control to identify leaks, and the liner is protected from the gravel by a layer of fleece.

When excess energy is available, heated water (195 degrees F) ‘charges’ the battery, either by direct water exchange (right side of the illustration) or via plastic pipes (left side of illustration). The hot water is stored until it is needed, at which time the water flow is reversed.

The use of rocks for thermal storage is attractive because rocks are not toxic, non-flammable, and inexpensive. The main problem I see with gravel batteries is convincing my wife to allow me to tear up our entire backyard landscaping and fish pond so I can replace it with a big hole filled with gravel and pipes. Is that really too much to ask? AM

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You can always make MORE MONEY But you can’t make MORE TIME

Whether it’s 250 or 7,000 t.p.h., you only get the tonnage if you’re running every minute of that hour.

Operators who know the value of time choose ELRUS equipment to reduce downtime and maximize in-spec production.

•

No shafts, bearings, gears, seals, sheaves or guards means no parts inventory and fewer breakdowns

•

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2/13/17 9:29 AM

JohnDeere.com/MMC

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RUN YOUR WORLD. Imagine being able to diagnose and fix problems before they lead to unplanned downtime. Specialists at your dealer’s Machine Monitoring Center remotely keep an eye on your fleet. When a potential problem is spotted, they can leverage expert alerts developed by our central Machine Health Monitoring Center to make sure you stay up and running. Which leaves one less thing for you to do to Run Your World.

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