The Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association (TACA) Annual Meeting drew more than 600 attendees to San Antonio. Hosted at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, TACA’s 70th Annual Meeting featured a variety of speakers and networking opportunities. The meeting theme was “Preserving a Strong Foundation.” Among those that P&Q representatives bumped into were Syntron Material Handling’s Chad Greenfield (left) and Terry Spencer. Syntron offers solutions in conveying, feeding, screening, elevating, vibratory flow aids and mining controls of bulk product.
A small trade show was a component of TACA’s Annual Meeting, with Harold Mauer, vice president of Haladjian Mineral Solutions, among those participating. Haladjian Mineral Solutions is a subsidiary of France-based Haladjian Group, distributing multi-brand parts and offering services related to installation for quarries.
Dredge manufacturer VMI was also among the exhibitors on hand. Attending from VMI were president Cash Maitlen (left) and sales manager Pat Sumpter. Based in Oklahoma, VMI was established in 1972 and now offers various styles of dredges – plus supporting equipment – for the industry.
P&Q’s Kevin Yanik (left) and Dino Vitanza (center) played in the golf tournament tied to TACA’s Annual Meeting alongside Cement Council of Texas (CCT) executive director Andrew Pinkerton. Pinkerton joined the CCT in 2022 following eight years at U.S. Concrete.
Separately, LJ Inc.’s Tracy Slieff (far left) and Laura Slieff (second from left) joined Supreme Manufacturing’s Sherry Hoobler (third from left) and Neil Hoobler (far right) to celebrate a deal between their companies. LJ Inc., a provider of turnkey aggregate plant solutions, acquired Supreme.
Another Hillhead is in the books, with group publisher Rob Fulop attending the UK show on behalf of Pit & Quarry. Among those Fulop visited with were leaders at SBM, including general distributor manager Michael Brookshaw (left), managing director Erwin Schneller (center) and sales director of processing Helmut Haider. As SBM describes, diesel-electric and hybrid drives for mobile processing plants were a running theme of Hillhead. Says Haider: “We have been offering this technology for more than 40 years, and today we focus exclusively on highly efficient, environmentally friendly and, above all, mature hybrid solutions in all machine classes across all systems.”
Like SBM, Eriez exhibited at Hillhead 2024. John Klinge (left), who serves Eriez as regional director of operations and strategy, attended the show along with Rob Yandrick, the company’s vibratory product line manager. Eriez debuted a new metal detector at Hillhead that’s tailored for use in crushed stone, sand and gravel applications. Read more about the new MetAlarm metal detector.
Edge Innovate, yet another Hillhead exhibitor, debuted its VS750i primary waste shredder at the show. Marketing manager Adrian Donnelly (left), territory sales manager Steven Conway (center) and territory sales manager Francis Sherry were among the Edge Innovate representatives on hand to unveil the plant and discuss other company developments.
CDE had a number of representatives at Hillhead, as well. Among them were head of marketing Sarah Corr (left), digital marketing executive Lauren Stanley (center) and senior marketing manager of brand and communications Lauren McMaster. CDE unveiled a filter press at Hillhead, characterizing its new ProPress as the “most efficient water management solution to date.” Learn more about the filter press.
