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Manifold to succeed Lee as CRH chief executive
Albert Manifold will assume the role of group chief executive at CRH on Jan. 1, 2014, following the retirement of Myles Lee, current chief executive. Lee spent 32 years with CRH. Manifold, 50, has been a board member and CRH chief operating officer since January 2009. Before joining CRH in 1998, he was chief operating officer of a private equity group. He has held a variety of senior positions within CRH, including managing director of the Europe Materials Division and group development director. Keep Reading
Secondary and tertiary options
Portable rock crushers are often used to provide the material needed to maintain primary roads because they have large production capabilities and they're able to meet Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements. These same crushers are also options to provide material for secondary and tertiary roads, as well as roads that do not require DOT-spec gravel. But considering costs are a driver of nearly every business decision, road contractors likely seek alternatives that can help them win bids and boost their bottom lines. One such alternative on the market is linear crushers, a technology Roadtech Inc. is touting as a means to achieve an average cost savings of between 200 and 400 percent compared with traditional portable plants. Linear crushers move along a road that is being repaired, crushing existing oversize rock along the way. The result is typically mixed with existing gravel and soil that resurfaces the road and generally improves its subgrade at a lesser cost. According to Ryan Clark, a production engineer at Roadtech, the cost differences for… Keep Reading
Tool allows Kaydon customers to better search for bearings
Kaydon Bearings Division has added an interactive bearing selector to its website. According to Les Miller, Kaydon's vice president of engineering, the selector was created to allow engineers and designers to search its standard thin section bearing catalog by dimensions or part number. The bearing selector allows users to search by bore size, outside diameter and width minimums and maximums, in inches or millimeters. The selector is also designed to simplify finding a part's dimensional information and 3D drawings, as long as users know a part number – or at least a portion of it. Keep Reading
Main issues statement praising industry’s mine safety strides
Joe Main, assistant secretary of labor for MSHA, released a statement following recent visits with aggregate associations and operations in the Midwest and Southeast. Here's Main's full statement: One of my initiatives when I arrived at MSHA was to get out into the mining community and meet with our stakeholders to share what we are doing at MSHA and discuss how we could improve mine safety and health. We have attended many stakeholder events across the country since then. Working with our stakeholders, we have undertaken numerous initiatives that have improved MSHA enforcement consistency, mine operator compliance and mine safety and health. These efforts have, coupled with other actions, been highly successful. Citations and orders issued by MSHA have decreased about 18 percent from 2010 through 2012. Most importantly, 2011 had the lowest injury and fatal rates in mining history and by all indications 2012 had even lower injury and fatal rates. Work with our metal/nonmetal stakeholders, including national mining and labor organizations, state aggregate associations and others, on issues… Keep Reading
Thompson Pump makes move in Mississippi
Thompson Pump & Manufacturing Co. Inc. moved its southern Mississippi branch location from Pass Christian, Miss., to a larger facility in Biloxi, Miss. The new facility, with 4,000 sq. ft. situated on two acres near corridor I-10, is one of 21 Thompson Pump branches nationwide. The new facility will also allow Thompson Pump to better accommodate customers in southern Mississippi and Alabama. Keep Reading
Liebherr names new president
Peter Mayr was appointed president of Liebherr Construction Equipment Co., effective July 1. Mayr took on a variety of roles within Liebherr over his 12 years, including his most recent position as managing director for Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd. (LGB) and Liebherr Rental Ltd. (LRL). Mayr began his Liebherr career in 2001 working in Austria, where he was responsible for the sales support of dozers and crawler loaders in Spain. He later transferred to England and was responsible for dozers and crawler loaders in Great Britain and Ireland. From these positions, he was promoted to national sales manager for all of LGB's earthmoving products, before progressing to general manager and later managing director of LGB's and LRL's earthmoving machines. Photo: Peter Mayr Keep Reading
Index slips despite new institutional building plans
The Dodge Momentum Index, a monthly measure of the first report for nonresidential building projects in planning, receded in June after six consecutive monthly increases. The index slipped 1.5 percent to 113.8, down from a revised May reading of 115.5. According to McGraw-Hill Construction, a sharp increase in plans for institutional buildings offset a drop in commercial development in June. New plans for institutional buildings rose 6.5 percent, bolstered by several amusement-related projects. The largest institutional project to enter the planning phase in June was a $400 million casino project in Liberty, N.Y. Commercial building, meanwhile, fell back 8.5 percent compared to May. Declines in both office and retail-related development weighed on overall commercial building plans. Keep Reading
McLanahan expanding into India, surrounding markets
McLanahan Corp. formed an overseas joint venture with India-based Nawa Engineers and Consultants Private Ltd., providing intellectual property in an agreement in which Nawa will provide sales, manufacturing and procurement. The joint venture company, McLanahan Nawa Engineers Private Ltd., will serve India, Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. According to a press release, Nawa employs 260 people across two offices and three manufacturing facilities in and around Hyderabad, India. Nawa's core products include crushers, screens and classifiers. Ron Thakurta will represent McLanahan's interest in the joint venture company, serving as director. Thakurta will spend significant time in India and work closely with customers for their processing needs. Keep Reading
Notes from Caterpillar’s Quarry Days
Caterpillar hosted customers at its second Asia Pacific Quarry Days in Japan. A handful of aggregates trade magazines from around the world, including Pit & Quarry, were also invited to participate in classroom-style presentations and demonstrations about Cat's latest equipment and technologies. Demonstrations took place at the Cat Demonstration Center in Chichibu, Japan, where all Quarry Days participants were given the opportunity to board equipment and ask questions to company reps. Proper loading techniques were among the practices demonstrated and discussed in Chichibu. Jason Hurdis, a senior market professional for quarry and aggregates at Cat, stressed a need to complete loads in two minutes or less and achieve cycle times of about 22 seconds between loader and haul truck. Hurdis also noted there's no need for wheel loader operators to have buckets fully raised while they're waiting for haul trucks to arrive. "You could blow a hydraulic hose waiting for the haul truck to arrive," Hurdis said. Haul truck operator performance is key to production, as well. Other Cat representatives… Keep Reading
