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Construction interests groups lead by the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), the Associated General Contractors (AGC), the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED), the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), and a representative of Oldcastle Materials, met June 28 with Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) chief of staff and her staff on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to discuss the senator’s Ban Asbestos in America Act of 2007 (S. 742).

The group requested the meeting to reinforce to Sen. Murray that, while the group strongly supports the concept of banning asbestos in products in the U.S., it is exceedingly important that the definitions of asbestos and other minerals be scientifically accurate to avoid characterizing as asbestos other construction materials that have not been shown to cause asbestos-like disease.

The group participants each discussed their organization and shared concerns regarding the proposed bill. Participants were encouraged to continue talking, but were advised that Sen. Murray intends to move the bill expeditiously and a mark-up of the bill is likely the third week of July.

(Source: National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association Washington Watch & e-Digest)

USGS records significant production drop in first quarter

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has estimated that 434 million metric tons (Mt) of crushed stone, sand and gravel were produced and sold in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2007, a 26 percent drop from the 547 Mt produced in the same period of 2006.

The latest figures include an estimated 255 Mt of crushed stone, a decrease of 21.6 percent compared with that of the same period of 2006 (310.08 Mt) and 179 Mt of sand and gravel, a 23.5 percent drop from the 221 Mt produced in the same period of 2006.

USGS said that during the first quarter of 2006, there was a large increase in aggregates production due to the combination of favorable weather and strong demand that the industry has not experienced so far in 2007. 

Severe winter weather in some areas and lower aggregates demand from residential construction were the main causes of lower aggregates production during the first quarter of 2007, USGS said.  The agency speculated that until the residential construction markets recover, aggregates production will most likely continue to be lower than that of 2006.

(Source: National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association Washington Watch & e-Digest)

MSHA outlines actions taken to aggressively implement the Miner Act

On June 15, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued a news release outlining the actions it has taken in order to aggressively implement the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act:

MSHA outlined the following actions it has taken since June 15, 2006, to aggressively implement the MINER Act provisions:

• Issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) – seven months before the deadline set by Congress – to increase the strength of seals in underground coal mines to 120 pounds per square inch (psi) and require environments behind 50 psi seals to be monitored and maintained inert.

• Established new maximum penalties for flagrant violations. MSHA already has issued 13 citations.

• Required directional lifelines in all primary and alternate escape routes out of a mine.

• Mandated additional safety training and expectations training on the use of self-contained self-rescuers at underground coal mines.

• Required redundant underground to surface communications systems in underground coal mines.

• Required all underground coal mines to submit emergency response plans that include, among other things, post-accident breathable air for trapped miners.

• Assigned three family liaisons to assist miners’ families at a recent accident and trained 11 other liaisons to be available nationwide in the event of an emergency.

• Fined operators who did not report serious accidents within 15 minutes.

• MSHA also outlined the following actions it has taken to improve safety in mines:

• Issued an ETS on mine evacuations three months before the MINER Act was enacted.

• Proposed the three largest civil penalties against underground coal operators in the history of the agency.

• Revised its civil penalty regulations to increase civil penalties across the board.

• Launched special emphasis programs to examine retreat mining practices, highwalls, roof/rib supports, black lung awareness, and coal dust control methods.

• Issued comprehensive accident reports on the Sago, Aracoma, and Darby accidents, which provide teaching models for lessons learned.

• Put eight mine operators on notice that MSHA is prepared to use its strongest enforcement tool against them if they repeatedly disregard mine safety and health regulations.

(Source: Mine Safety & Health Administration)

Steel and asphalt decline, but remain at high levels

Concrete prices in May remained nearly flat for the second straight month with a modest 0.1 percent gain, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Producer Price Index.

Steel and asphalt declined, 1.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, but remain at high levels with steel prices increasing 13.9 percent during the past year. Asphalt prices rose 11.2 percent in the last 12 months.

Concrete prices have changed at a slower rate, with a 4.5-percent increase since May 2006.

Lumber prices continued to decline with a 12.5 percent negative change from 2006.

According to the spring PCA Cement and Construction Forecast, the relative price improvements of concrete compared to other materials that materialized during the fourth quarter of 2006 and has continued through recent data collections, will increase national cement intensity in 2007.  Cement intensity refers to the tons of cement per dollar of construction activity.

(Source: Portland Cement Association)

Fatality No. 13 for metal/non-metal mines

On June 13, 2007, a 45-year-old contractor welder, with 17 years experience, was injured at the surface lime plant of an underground limestone mine.

The victim was assisting co-workers to install a section of 42-inch diameter pipe at Mississippi Mine Co.’s Peerless Mine in Missouri when the pipe shifted and struck him, according to a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) report. He was hospitalized and died on June 19.

MSHA offers these best practices to prevent this in the future:

• Identify and review hazards associated with the task to be performed with all personnel involved. 

• Securely block equipment against all hazardous motion at all times while performing work. 

• Implement measures to ensure persons are properly positioned and protected from suspended loads.

This is the thirteenth fatality reported in calendar year 2007 in the metal/non-metal mining industries. As of this date in 2006, there were 14 fatalities reported in these industries. This is the fourth machinery in 2007. There were 3 machinery fatalities in the same period in 2006.

Cemex now Rinker majority shareholder; Rinker board asked to resign

Monterrey, Mexico-based Cemex now has more than a 50-percent interest (50.34 percent to be exact) in Rinker Group Limited and has declared its offer to acquire Rinker as “unconditional.” At Aggregates Manager press time, the offer was set to close on June 22 at 7 p.m. Sydney, Australia time (5 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time).

Now that Cemex has majority ownership, the company will take control of Rinker “in due course,” according to Cemex. Rinker shareholders who do not accept the Cemex offer will become minority holders in Rinker. The Rinker Board has unanimously recommended the offer and says it will accept the offer for their own shares, according to Cemex. The final offer is $15.85 per share.

In a written media statement on Cemex’s Web site, Cemex says Rinker has confirmed that as part of the company takeover — and at the request of Cemex — all Rinker directors retire from the board. Cemex nominees will replace the open positions.

Cemex says it plans to nominate the following people to the Rinker board: Hector Medina, Cemex executive vice president of planning and finance; Jan Pablo San Agustin, Cemex senior vice president of corporate strategic planning; Ramiro Villarreal, Cemex general counsel and secretary to the board; and Stephen Walker (no additional information on Walker was immediately available from Cemex). Cemex also says it is working with an independent executive search firm to find an additional director.

Holcim closes the sale of its majority stake in Holcim South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA—Holcim one June 5 announced that it has completed the sale of 85 percent of its 54-percent stake in Holcim South Africa to AfriSam Consortium (Pty) Ltd based on an enterprise value of ZAR 16.4 billion.

Holcim maintains a 15-percent stake in Holcim South Africa.

The South African company will be deconsolidated and henceforth equity accounted, according to a media release from the company. The proceeds of the sale of ZAR 7.5 billion will be used for the further growth of the Holcim Group.

Holcim South Africa has a consolidated annual capacity of 4.1 million tons of cement. For 2006, the company reported sales of CHF 918 million and an operating profit of CHF 253 million, with a workforce of some 2,000.

The company has a 62.5-percent interest in Tanzania-based and listed Tanga Cement Co. Holcim South Africa is also involved in the aggregates and ready-mix concrete businesses.

W.Va. approves first wireless mine communications, tracking gear

The first wireless system designed to help rescuers track and communicate with trapped coal miners was approved Thursday for use in the state’s approximately 177 underground coal mines.

The approval of Ontario, Canada-based Varis Mine Technology Ltd.’s gear is a milestone of sorts for U.S. coal mining.

The industry has raced to develop communications and tracking gear capable of surviving explosions and fires since the deaths of 12 trapped miners at the Sago Mine in Upshur County in January 2006. Balky radios and a lack of knowledge of the miners’ location hampered rescuers at Sago.

The state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training also gave conditional approval to three other tracking and communications systems and two that offer only tracking.

While the approvals apply only in West Virginia, the state’s actions are being watched closely across the country. Sweeping federal mine safety legislation passed a year ago requires wireless communications and tracking in more than 600 underground coal mines across the country by 2009.

West Virginia is considered a potential national model for the national rules. But some fear the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will come up with different requirements and make pricey equipment purchased for West Virginia obsolete.

Miners’ Health, Safety and Training Director Ron Wooten said Gov. Joe Manchin, state officials and the state’s delegation in Congress are trying to resolve the situation with MSHA before West Virginia mines begin purchasing systems that manufacturers estimate will cost $100,000 or more per mine.

West Virginia mines must submit plans for wireless communications and tracking by July 31. Modification and approval of those plans is expected to take until October and state officials hope to have equipment installed in every West Virginia mine by the end of 2008.

For now, Varis is the only choice.

Lexington, Ky.-based Matrix Design Group, Ona-based Marco North America Inc., Liberty Lake, Wash.-based Venture Design Group, Beckley-based Hughes Supply Co. and Elkins-based Hannah Engineering all received conditional approval.

But those systems still must be deemed safe by MSHA. While the agency does not judge whether equipment works, it does determine whether electronic equipment poses a danger of setting off methane gas explosions.

David Chirdon, who heads the electrical safety division at MSHA’s approval and certification center, said during a speech to the state-sponsored Coal Forum in Charleston that the agency is processing 33 applications for communications and tracking equipment.

(Source: Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader online edition, kentucky.com. Posted on June 7, 2007. By Tim Huber, Associated Press Business Writer.)

Cemex increases Rinker holding to 55 percent

Mexican cement maker Cemex has increased its holding in local material firm Rinker Group Ltd to 54.89 percent.

The world’s third biggest cement maker secured more than 50 percent of Rinker shares last week, at which time it declared its $US14.25 billion ($A17.50 billion) takeover bid unconditional.

Cemex has proposed that a formal handover of the company occur in the week starting June 18, which will have all Rinker directors retire from the board in favor of Cemex nominees.

(Source: AAP, June 13, 2007, in the Sydney Morning Herald online edition)

Vertical wall collapses, kills Granite Construction contractor

A 45-year-old contractor died June 12 after being struck by a large section of clay when a vertical wall of the trench collapsed while he was working at Granite Construction Co.’s Felton Quarry in California, according to a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) fatality report released today.

This is the twelfth fatality this year in a metal/non-metal operation, according to MSHA.

MSHA is offering these best practices to avoid this type of incident in the future:

Carefully examine ground conditions prior to performing tasks near excavated embankments, trenches or ditches.

Identify hazards associated with the task to be performed, review those hazards with all personnel involved, and implement measures to ensure persons are properly protected.

Support trench walls or slope the walls to a safe angle.

Granite Construction acquires California asphalt manufacturer assets

Granite Construction on June 1 acquired certain assets of Raisch Products, a asphalt concrete manufacturer in the Santa Clara County, Calif., market. The assets will be operated by the Bay Area Branch of Granite Construction Co., a wholly owned subsidiary. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“This acquisition is consistent with our vertical integration strategy and further strengthens our presence as one of the leading asphalt concrete contractors and producers in the San Jose and Santa Clara markets,” James H. Roberts, Granite’s senior vice president and manager of Granite West says in a media statement posted on the company Web site.

Management

Know Your Limits

When it comes to property lines and permits, it’s important to know and mark your boundaries.

by Chris DiMaggio

Among the many issues that operations managers need to stay on top of, there’s one that’s literally on the fringe: boundaries. Experienced plant managers can often leap from labor negotiations to fixing broken-down equipment, but even the smartest and most versatile often need help making sense of boundary issues.

The costs of mining across a permit setback or property line can be enormous, especially where an operation is surrounded by high-value urban or suburban real estate. Old maps, temperamental streams and rivers, and even burrowing animals are just some of the things that can make boundaries hard to figure out. But preventing costly mistakes really requires only three simple steps: knowing your boundaries, marking them, and making sure to operate within them.

Know your limits

An aggregates operation employee accurately installs an iron pipe boundary marker using GPS.

First and foremost, get a real map before starting any new excavation. Assessor maps or Internet satellite photos are poor substitutes for a real survey by a licensed surveyor who can physically locate historic property corners on the basis of recorded maps.

Give the surveyor a current title report and ask the surveyor to prepare a base map showing property lines, easements, and zoning. At the same time, conduct a thorough internal records search for any operating agreements or other obligations that may be tied to the land but may not be matters of public record disclosed in the title report.

Easements, leases, licenses, permit conditions, and even private-party agreements can all create excavation limits. Most of these limits exist only on paper and are invisible on the ground, but mining across any of them can result in costly violations and lawsuits.

Ask the surveyor to map these off-the-record items, as well. The resulting base map can be updated as entitlements and topography change, creating an invaluable tool for both mine planning and compliance monitoring.

The base map may not remove all uncertainty, but it can help highlight areas that need further investigation. One operator along a briskly flowing mountain stream in northern California discovered that its mile-long westerly boundary was almost completely unknown. Per a 60-year-old deed, an adjacent landowner claimed everything below the original 1,805-foot elevation contour, which was impossible to locate after decades of floods, landslides, and channel repairs.

Another operator faced litigation for environmental clean-up costs because its decades-old lease agreement did not contain an accurate map. Though the operator subleased only a small portion of a 500-acre site alongside many other tenants, the operator shared liability for contamination throughout the entire site because the sketch of its lease premises lacked any dimensions or references to property lines.

An accurate base map tied to a legal description of the property can protect the operator from such vagaries, which often arise where informal operating agreements and partnerships are customary.

Mark your limits

Witness posts made of composite materials offer an inexpensive, but durable way to mark boundary lines.

Know that fences are fickle. Because personnel often install fences without surveying tools or raining, they are commonly built dozens of feet from the actual property line. You would never build a house without first staking the foundation corners, but fence staking is just as critical. Before putting up a fence, call a qualified surveyor to stake it out according to the base map.

It is also useful to install witness posts at frequent intervals along mining limits. Durable fiberglass strips that can withstand extreme weather conditions and that can even be driven over a time or two, posts made from composite materials can easily be labeled or color-coded specifically to indicate what kind of limit they protect, whether property corners or buried utilities. More expensive, more permanent monuments can be installed by simply embedding a 4-inch iron pipe in a concrete footing and painting it a highly visible color.

Mine within your limits

Unfortunately, it isn’t enough for the plant manager to have a detailed base map hanging on the wall, or to carefully mark off un-minable areas with fences or other markers. Unless the plant staff that does the actual excavation is kept up to date about boundaries, costly overdigging can still occur.

One California operator learned this the hard way after one of its excavators pushed over a chain-link fence and began removing overburden from several acres set aside for endangered species mitigation. Within only a few hours, the operator had incurred a multi-million dollar fine and the wrath of regulators, community members, and environmental groups.

A plant manager at another California operation was startled to discover that his excavators had dug around each of the pipe markers he had recently installed, leaving a sawtooth pattern at the edge of the pit that encroached into the plant’s permit setback.

In both cases, managers had failed to educate their workers about where the mining limits were and why they were important. The latest generation of GPS-enabled earthmoving equipment can help to ensure that excavation goes according to plan, but ultimately there is no substitute for making sure that plant staff is kept informed and up to date about mining limits.

Researching and marking limits and educating plant staff about them can offer the operator an excellent return on investment. When one operator recently dug 5 feet into a 25-foot setback adjacent to a residential neighborhood, it had to spend nearly $500,000 on slope repairs. But for only $10,000, the operator could have accurately surveyed, fenced, and marked its limits, saving not just a lot of money, but a lot of hassle and frayed community relations, as well.

There will always be uncertainty about mining limits at many aggregate operations, often just by virtue of the operation’s location. The same meandering streams and rivers that can create an aggregate deposit can also tear out fences and property corners. Even the beavers and other burrowing animals that live along rivers can abscond with corner monuments. But for a relatively low investment, managers can constrain this uncertainty and make sure that their operations stay within the lines, remaining good neighbors and environmental stewards in the process.

Chris DiMaggio, P.E. is a land-use consultant in Southern California. He can be reached at chris@chancelhill.com.

Mobile plants get new buzz

New parent company Sandvik has turned up the intensity of Fintec Crushing and Screening marketing in North America. Based in Northern Ireland, Fintec is being positioned as an industry leader in quarry-grade mobile screening plants. Along with the Fintec 1107 (see June RollOuts) and the 1080 (see May RollOuts), the company is offering the 570 Screen, which features a high-capacity 18- by 5-foot screenbox with two decks, and the 640 Screen which features a two-bearing, 12- by 5-foot heavy duty screening box with two decks.

The 570 Screen boasts an additional 5-degree screening angle built into its bottom deck, which is said to help provide 20 percent more screening area than most comparable units. The company says it also has a larger, eccentric throw than most competitive models for more aggressive screening action.

The 640 Screen can work in tandem with the Fintec 1107 track-mounted primary jaw crusher, or as a standalone, three-way split screener fed by a shovel, excavator, or crusher.

Separates up to six products

Powerscreen says its new Chieftain 1700 is a highly mobile two- and three-deck dry screen that can separate up to six products and is designed to fit between the Chieftain 1400 and 2100 models. It has four integral stockpile conveyors that fold hydraulically to travel with the machine. Its two-bearing screen action exposes material to varying amplitudes and G-force to help separate the material more efficiently. The screen box uses meshes from the Chieftain 1400 to help reduce mesh inventories for companies that operate multiple machines.

Increased bearing protection

Continental Conveyor has introduced a new line of dead-shaft pulleys that offer increased bearing protection. The company says dead-shaft pulleys are an alternative for many non-driven pulley applications; they are designed to minimize shaft wear and decrease weight compared to live-shaft pulleys that are more complex to design, build, and maintain. Continental recommends its dead-shaft pulleys for applications such as belt storage units or tail loading sections where weight or available space is an issue.

Quarry-tested wheel excavator

Cat has taken its wheel excavators to a new generation with the roll out of five D-Series models, ranging from the 127-horsepower, 31,000-pound M313D to the 165-horsepower, 44,000-pound M322D. Field testing for the new series included an extensive trial in a quarry where the unit was used with a hammer for breaking overburden as well as for loading and utility functions.

All four models have noticeably more power and working speed, and are said to be 7- to 8-percent more fuel efficient than their predecessors. The power surge comes from new Tier 3 engines, the addition of a dedicated hydraulic pump for the swing function, and a push-button heavy lift mode that boosts lift capability by 7 percent when short bursts of power are needed. Improvements also include enhance visibility and ergonomics in the cab, and reduced maintenance requirements. Maximum travel speeds for these machines range from 23 mph for the M313D, M316D and M318D, to 16 mph for the M322D.

For more new products for the industry, check out the RollOuts section
in each month’s print edition of Aggregates Manager.
 

Astec Industries of Chattanooga, Tenn., announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of Peterson, Inc., of Eugene, Ore., for $34 million.

Dyno Nobel Americas has announced a long-term supply agreement with Cervantes-Delgado, Inc. (CDI) of Brea, Calif., to distribute, in parts of North America,

DYNOx (high-purity urea and urea solutions) and anhydrous ammonia, which reduce nitrous oxide gas emissions.

Dyno Nobel Americas’ Vice President/Commercial Nitrogen, Bill Barnett said that, for the past several years, anhydrous ammonia has been used throughout the United States as an effective reductant of nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx). “These products help to reduce the collective negative environmental impact by reducing the nitrous oxide gasses which are emitted from power plants and diesel equipment,” Barnett said. 

Finley Engineering Group, Inc. (FINLEY) is the construction engineering consultant to Brayman Construction Corp. on the new I-64 Kanawha River Bridge between Dunbar and South Charleston, W.V. When finished in 2010, the bridge’s 760-foot main span will be the longest concrete box girder span in the United States.

The $82.8-million West Virginia Department of Transportation project includes eights spans at a total length of 2,950 feet, with a 65.5-foot-wide deck accommodating four lanes of traffic and two shoulders on a single-cell box girder.

The new bridge will carry eastbound traffic on an improved curved alignment as part of the widening of I-64 in Kanawha County. Westbound traffic will remain on the existing steel plate girder bridge. The project is a major piece of a long-term project to alleviate congestion and improve accessibility on I-64 through West Virginia.

The project design includes the construction of seven piers - five on land and two on the edge of the river. In addition to the 760-foot main span over a navigational waterway, the bridge includes 460-foot and 540-foot side spans and five additional approach spans ranging from 144 feet to 295 feet.

The continuous girder has a varying depth of 16 to 38 feet at the main span and a constant 16-foot depth at the approaches. The structure is designed to be built by balanced cantilever using form travelers with 175 cast-in-place segments.

Metso Minerals has appointed Tyler Equipment Corp. as the exclusive Metso mobile screen distributor for the state of Connecticut. 

Tyler Equipment will rent, sell, and service Metso’s Lokotrack ST Series track-mounted plants as well as the Nordberg CV wheeled units. The mobile screens will be offered through Tyler’s branch located in Prospect, Ct.

SPM Instrument AB, Sweden, experts in machine condition monitoring, has entered into an OEM partnership with Metso Minerals in Columbia, S.C.

Findlay, Ohio-based National Lime & Stone Co. of Findlay has hired Christopher W. Beeman as CFO and vice president of finance.

Beeman joins National from Lafarge Corp. of Herndon, Va., where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and property.

Beeman graduated from The Ohio State University with a double major in accounting and finance. He earned his C.P.A. in Chicago in 1986 and completed executive training in mergers and acquisitions at the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

Julie Clark has joined Barlow Marketing Group (BMG), the Fort Wayne-based sales development, research and marketing firm specializing in the North American and global construction and agriculture industries.

As Senior Marketing Director, Clark brings 18 years of experience to BMG, with a strong background in construction and agricultural electronic marketing, communications and training, sales and distribution development, marketing strategy and plans, and program management.

Continental Conveyor & Equipment Co. has announced four key appointments to its management team.

Rex A. Waller, P.E., has been named director, field sales and services. Previously a district sales manager with Continental, Waller in his new position will oversee all company sales operations in North America. A University of Missouri graduate with a bachelor of science degree in civil and structural engineering, Waller has a total of 21-years experience with Continental Conveyor & Equipment Company

Mark Bryant has been appointed national accounts manager for North and South America. In his new position, Bryant will be responsible for OEM and A/E sales in North and South America.  Mark has held the position of district manager, and most recently was group manager/conveyor components.  Mark attended Walker College and has over 17 years experience with Continental®.

Succeeding Bryant as group manager/conveyor components is Carl Weeks.  In this role, Weeks will supervise conveyor component sales in the coal, aggregate and other bulk materials handling markets. Weeks joined Continental Conveyor & Equipment Co. in 1988 after graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in business.  Previously, he was Continental’s manager of order and billing services.

The new manager of order and billing services is Lavenia Miller. The Winfield, Ala., native joined Continental almost 26-years ago and her new responsibilities include assisting customers in tracking the status of equipment orders, as well as order entry and all invoicing.  She has worked in the Order and Billing Services department for more than 20-years.

Kolberg-Pioneer, Inc., has promoted Jeff Wendte to product manager for the washing and classifying product line manufactured at Kolberg-Pioneer, Inc.

As product manager, Wendte will focus on new and evolving processes for washing and beneficiation of aggregates to continue the growth and success of that product line for Kolberg-Pioneer Inc.

In other company news, Jodi Heirigs has been promoted to product manager for the material handling product line manufactured at Kolberg-Pioneer.

As product manager, Heirigs’ prime responsibility is working with the national dealer sales force along with day-to-day communications with customers relating to material transport and handling along with loading and unloading systems.

With 19 years of experience in the construction, aggregate and environmental markets for Kolberg-Pioneer, Heirigs has gained considerable knowledge in the many facets of material handling. Heirigs also holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the South Dakota School Of Mines and Technology.

Thompson Pump & Manufacturing Co. Inc. has hired Gary Marshall as a sales representative for the public works department.

Marshall has 25 years industrial equipment sales experience with pumps, instrumentation, controls, and valves. He will focus on new business development in the municipal market of south Florida.

Zonar Systems, which manufacturers electronic vehicle inspection tools and telematics solutions, has hired Jason Fallon and Taek Sung as vice presidents in charge of national accounts. They will be based in Seattle and report to Andrew Lee, director of sales.

Fallon and Sung will be responsible for expanding Zonar's portfolio of national accounts in commercial trucking, pupil transportation, public transit, government, utilities, and other markets that require verified visual inspections of mobile and stationary assets.

AIRLANCO, a designer and manufacturer of air management equipment, has promoted veteran engineer Doug Watkins to operations manager.

The company also has promoted two other employees to new positions within the company. Leon Huning, former engineering manager, will now serve as the company’s new research and development engineer. Meanwhile, Jake Farwell, of the engineering staff, assumes the department’s supervisory role as engineering manager.

Compiled by Tina Grady Barbaccia, Aggregates Manager Senior Editor.
To contact Tina about the newsletter content, send e-mail to e-news@aggman.com or call (630) 364-2306.

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