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Staying profitable with a diverse portfolio of businesses
For Gendron & Gendron, a family-owned operation in New England, it all began in 1971 when Dolard “Del” Gendron bought his first pit from a company called Lewiston Crushed Stone. “It’s a site we still operate today,” says his grandson, John Gendron, company vice president. Del had taken over his family’s gas station business when his father passed away in 1953, and had no construction or mining experience of any kind before purchasing the sand-and-gravel operation 18 years later. Today, Gendron & Gendron is much more than an aggregates company, with interests in real estate, site development, construction (including concrete foundations and steel erection), rental businesses and even self-storage. And the company’s headquarters is just a mile from that original pit on River Road in Lewiston, Maine. Del is now retired, and the company is operated by his son Dave, who purchased it from his father in 1998. At that time, yearly revenue had reached $2.5 to $3 million. Dave is presently company president, and the family’s third generation is… Keep Reading
2015/16 State of the Industry
This year has delivered big developments for the aggregates industry, and 2016 promises even more. The biggest news comes from Washington, with the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate each passing six-year highway bills, the first real hope for long-term funding since SAFETEA-LU expired in 2009. As we went to press, the two houses of Congress were working to reconcile the two bills. The president, trade associations and labor unions have long been pushing for a long-term bill to provide assurance that money will be there for major infrastructure projects. The other big news in 2015 was the merger of the world’s largest construction materials companies – Lafarge and Holcim. With a combined market value exceeding $50 billion, the new company has Eric Olsen at the helm, and is called LafargeHolcim. The deal was completed in July. Wolfgang Reitzle, co-chairman of the board for the new company, says, “[This] is a historic event – not only for our two founding companies but also for the industry as a whole. LafargeHolcim… Keep Reading
Changes on the horizon
As mentioned before in this space, next year marks the 100th anniversary of Pit & Quarry magazine. It’s interesting to leaf through the old issues in our archive and see the changes that have occurred along the way, not only in the aggregates industry, but in the look and feel of the magazine, as well. No one stays on top by standing pat, so with that in mind we will be introducing a completely new-look Pit & Quarry in March of next year. And the changes will be much more than a simple freshening of the magazine’s design. Our content will evolve, as well, including changes you have requested. We conducted a focus group of readers to find out what they like to read, what type of information helps them in their work, and through which media channels they most like to receive content. And we sent out a survey to thousands of our readers in order to learn the same kind of information. If you were not part of… Keep Reading
Precision Pulley & Idler acquires component maker Clark
Precision Pulley & Idler (PPI) has acquired Clark Ingenieria Y Desarrollo S.A. (Clark), a conveyor-component manufacturer based in Santiago, Chile. Clark provides a complete line of conveyor idlers and currently has a facility expansion underway to manufacturer an extensive line of conveyor pulleys. With full production capabilities, engineering staff and customer service located in Chile, PPI and Clark are positioned to better serve the South American bulk material handling market. Keep Reading
House set to vote on $286 billion highway bill
After having been without a long-term highway bill since 2009, the U.S. aggregates industry will likely get its wish for substantial federal highway funding, perhaps as early as this week. Media reports have put the total value of the five-year FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act) at everything from $253 billion to $305 billion. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) puts the total at $286 billion, and the House of Representatives is likely to vote on it today. ARTBA says the FAST Act would grow annual federal highway investment by 15.1 percent from the current $40.3 billion to $46.4 billion. The association says the bill does not provide a permanent solution to the Highway Trust Fund’s structural revenue deficit. "The measure uses a variety of one-time cost savings and non-transportation resources to supplement incoming trust fund revenue to support its investment levels over the next five years," ARTBA says. "As such, the Highway Trust Fund will be facing another revenue shortfall in roughly four years and the… Keep Reading
Aggregate production up 5 percent in third quarter
An estimated 697 million metric tons (Mt) of total construction aggregates was produced and shipped for consumption in the United States in the third quarter of 2015, an increase of 5 percent compared with that of the third quarter of 2014, reports the U.S. Geological Survey. The estimated production for consumption in the first 9 months of 2015 was 1.69 billion metric tons (Gt), an increase of 5 percent compared with that of the same period of 2014. An estimated 406 million Mt of crushed stone was produced and shipped for consumption in the United States in the third quarter of 2015, an increase of 7 percent compared with that of the third quarter of 2014. The estimated production for consumption in the first 9 months of 2015 was 991 Mt, an increase of 6 percent compared with that of the same period of 2014. The estimated U.S. output of construction sand and gravel produced and shipped for consumption in the third quarter of 2015 was 291 Mt, an increase… Keep Reading
Ohio mineral production up, including sand and gravel
A just released mineral industries report from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) shows in 2014 the state produced more than $2.1 billion worth of geologic commodities, including increases in the mined amounts of limestone, salt, sand and gravel. The 2014 Report on Ohio Mineral Industries: An Annual Summary of the State’s Economic Geology contains information regarding the production, value and employment totals of Ohio’s various mineral industries. Some highlights include: • For the first time in the state’s history, nonfuel industrial-mineral production values exceeded $1 billion. • Mineral industries produced $188 worth of resources per Ohioan. • Salt production exceeded 5 million tons in 2014 – an increase of more than 37 percent from 2013 production values. An electronic version of the report is available at Ohiogeology.com. In other news, the Ohio Aggregates & Industrial Minerals Association (OAIMA) held its Annual Meeting November 12-13 in Columbus. Many vendors and more than 550 attendees were on hand for the event. Keep Reading
CDE Global shows off new plant
CDE Global held a three-day demonstration of a new sand-and-gravel washing plant recently installed at Metroplex Sand & Gravel in Fort Worth, Texas. Customers attended the event Oct. 27-29, where they watched the new equipment in action, including the M4500 modular wash plant, AggMax portable log washer and AquaCycle thickener. Metroplex owner/operator Keith Newell says, "We were introduced to CDE at the 2014 ConExpo-Con/Agg. Shortly thereafter, a member of our team visited the G.S. Materials operation in North Carolina [which uses a CDE plant]. We were immediately impressed by the plant’s ability to manage gradation and silt cuts, producing a golf-course spec sand the first pass.” Newell adds, “The modularity and relatively small foot print of the M4500 is an obvious plus and the time it has all taken to come together has been shorter than we would have thought possible. Perhaps most important, the AquaCycle thickener greatly diminishes our freshwater requirements." The M4500, although it uses approximately 2,600 GPM, requires only 300 GPM of new water. Attendees watched as… Keep Reading
Elgin Equipment forms new division
Elgin Equipment Group has announced the formation of Elgin Separation Solutions, a restructured operating division dedicated to the mineral processing and coal markets. The new division is responsible for the development, manufacture, sales and service of the CMI, Tabor, Norris, CSI, CCS, IPE and Clinch River branded products that serve those markets. Elgin Separation Solutions recently introduced the CMI HSC centrifuge, Tabor’s 14-ft.-wide vibrating screens, Norris’ P3P screening material conversion kits, CSI’s rotary breakers and Clinch River belt wipers and industrial heaters. Keep Reading
