by Kerry Clines, Senior Editor

Times are tough for aggregate operations these days, but Southwest Rock Products, headquartered in Queen Creek, Ariz., hasn’t changed anything about the way it operates its company. According to Managing Partner Chris Reinesch, Sr., operations have been running cost effectively since the company began.

“Nine years ago, we started this company on a shoestring,” says Reinesch, Sr. “I had a three-month lease on a piece of property.”

Today, the family-owned company has several aggregate plants and several mobile custom-crushing plants that produce just about any type of product that are used for a variety of construction projects ranging from roadwork to airport work to construction of the Arizona/Mexico border fence. How does the company continue to prosper and grow? According to Reinesch, Sr., it’s all about attitude and doing things the right way the first time.

Good product, good people

Probably first and foremost on the list is the quality and dependability of the product produced. “It’s neat to have an operation like Queen Creek where we can actually bring a customer out to see what we’re about,” says Chris Reinesch, Jr., sales and purchasing manager and son of the managing partner. “When they get that product on the job, they’re not worried about it because they know it will meet spec. They gain a lot of that comfort level over time because they can come out here to see how we run our operation. They know we’re not going to shortcut things.”

Making and keeping a good reputation with customers is extremely important in these poor economic times. “It’s a testament not only to our business, but also to the people working for us,” Reinesch, Jr. adds. “We have guys who come in half an hour early just to sit around and talk before they actually start working. It creates a family-type culture — everybody cares about what’s going on. They take a lot of pride in the business’ success.”

That attitude shows in the cleanliness of the plant. There are no parts or damaged pieces of equipment lying around, and the concrete slabs beneath the crushers and screens are clean. Even the warehouse is neat and orderly with everything in its place. “I have not seen another operation as clean and well maintained,” says Steven Hood, co-owner of the company and nephew of Reinesch, Sr., “and it’s like that 365 days a year.”

One of the ideas embraced by Southwest Rock Products is that the company operates Queen Creek plant with only 15 employees. “We’ve never had an extra body, that’s the way we operate,” Reinesch, Sr. says. He believes he has the best employees in the industry, but he also expects them to be able to do any job. “All the plant foremen I have work and are as dirty at the end of the day as the lowest guy on the totem pole.”

“We all work, and we all do everything,” Hood adds. “We built the office, warehouse, and shop ourselves. We don’t hire somebody else to come out and build something for us when we can do it ourselves, and everybody pitches in for the common goal. Our guys are willing to do anything at any time, and not just do it, but take pride in doing it. We have worked hard to get good people.”

Well-maintained equipment

Most of the plant’s mobile equipment is manufactured by Caterpillar. “I’ve always been a Cat individual,” Reinesch, Sr. says. “They make a wonderful piece of equipment, and when you have a dealership like Empire, you have support when you have a problem.” The company meets with representatives from the dealership on a weekly basis to discuss any problems, handle invoices, and stay up-to-date on any new equipment developments.

“Empire does rebuilds on our major components,” Hood says. “Any other maintenance, we do ourselves.”

The company is known for getting more hours out of its equipment than expected. “We have units out there that have 35,000 to 36,000 hours on them right now,” Hood says, “and we don’t anticipate getting rid of them. They’re still good machines.”

Reinesch, Sr. attributes the plant’s well-maintained equipment to his employees and the business’ family-type culture. He expects his employees to do what’s right and take care of the equipment, and they do.

Digging deeper for profits

When Southwest Rock Products leased the Queen Creek plant property, it was on the heels of another aggregate operation that believed the area was practically mined out and had only a couple of years worth of aggregate left, but Reinesch, Sr. had other ideas. “We’re doing things here that nobody in this area has done,” he says. “Typically, everybody has taken 30 or 40 feet off the top and that’s it. Right now, our deepest pit is 180 feet. I probably have 20 years of remaining reserves.”

Reinesch, Sr. considers the plant’s trommel to be the most important piece of equipment they have. “It allows us to mine the high clay-content material,” he says. “It’s made by Fisher Industries and is a remarkable piece of equipment. This entire plant is built by Fisher Industries. We tell them what we want, and they make it for us.”

In addition to providing aggregate for contractors in the asphalt and construction industries, the Queen Creek plant hosts three ready-mix producers on site. “We give the ready-mix companies limited space,” Reinesch, Sr. says. “We try not to allow bigger areas because it consumes too much surface, which obviously takes up pit area. Our job is to produce their aggregate, sell it to them, and deliver it to their site efficiently.”

The company uses bottom-dump trucks, which dump the aggregate through a bridge directly over the ready-mix plants’ stockpiles. “This is a very cost-effective way of delivery which is passed on to our in-house customers,” Reinesch, Sr. says. “It’s just that simple.”

Dealing with regulations

Like all aggregates operations, Southwest Rock Products deals with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Reinesch, Jr., who handles all company dealings with MSHA, says that things have changed with MSHA the last couple of years. The standards of enforcement are becoming stricter and each inspector sees things a bit differently, making it difficult to stay ahead of the curve.

“However, we have an exemplary record when it comes to,” he adds. “We take pride in what we do here, and the last thing we want is for these guys to come in here and find something we missed. We’re doing what we absolutely need to do to make sure we provide a safe work environment.”

The company works with its neighbors and other agencies to meet all required standards. “We, as an industry, need to be better stewards about longevity and how people respect us,” Reinesch, Sr. says.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards are extremely strict in Maricopa County, where another of the company’s plants is located. So, the company has adopted the stricter EPA standards and tries to implement them in all of its plants, knowing that those standards will soon encompass the entire state.

As for noise, almost everything is below ground level at Queen Creek, so most of the noise goes up instead of out. “The nearby homeowners love us,” Reinesch, Sr. says. “They understand industry, they understand they need us, they understand we’re going to dig holes, but they also understand we are a company that cares. They can drive by and see that we take care of our plants.”

“They had the opportunity to see the people who had the property before we had it,” Hood adds. “We cleaned it up. It’s amazing how the property changed.”

Southwest Rock Products even has a plan for leftover concrete from the ready-mix companies. “These retaining walls are made from leftover concrete,” Reinesch, Sr. says. “It’s an unbelievable way to go, and it doesn’t really cost anything. The ready-mix companies buy the forms and the molds. Then all we do is set them up and tear them down.”

When leftover concrete can’t be used for the retaining wall or comes in late in the day, it is simply run back through the crusher.

Doing things the right way

Reinesch, Sr., boils the success of his company down to one thing . . . doing things the right way. “If you ask your people to follow and support your culture, you can expect to enjoy a very successful business,” he says. “It will give you good maintenance, quality production, cleanliness of the plant, and ultimately, an impeccable safety record. That’s the best success story.”

Queen Creek Equipment List

• Custom built structures with Svedala VGF (2)
• Overland conveyor (1,600 feet by 42 inches)
• H4000 Svedala cone
• E1Jay 54-inch rollercone 2
• H4000 Svedala Cone
• 26 x 36 Svedala jaw
• 26 x 50 Pioneer track jaw
• Pioneer 6 x 20 screens (3)
• Pioneer 6 x 16 screen
• Lime silos (2)
• 36-inch twin screws (4)
• 30-inch single screws (2)
• Fisher 36” log washers (2)
• Fisher trommels (2)
• 36-inch x 18-foot coarse material washers (4)
• 4 x 8 buzzer screen
• Westec 35-foot thickener
• AzFab 40-foot thickener
• AzFab durability cell (2)
• Krebs cyclone (2)
• Caterpillar generators (3)
• Caterpillar 988H loaders (2)
• Caterpillar 988F loaders (2)
• Caterpillar 980H loaders (2)
• Caterpillar 140G motor grader
• Grove 50-ton rough terrain crane
• Caterpillar 943 forklift
• Caterpillar 420E backhoe
• Caterpillar D8T dozer
• Caterpillar D9T dozer
• Custom-built bridges for aggregate delivery to batch plants (4)
• Fisher Industries conveyors

by Kerry Clines, Senior Editor

A recent executive brief released by the The Saint Index listed aggregates quarries as the third least popular business among not-in-my-back-yard (NIMBY) activists. Only landfills and casinos enjoy a higher level of opposition. However, that is not the way the city of Fort Payne feels about its local quarry . . . at least not now.

Fort Payne Quarry has been in operation for almost 20 years just across the tracks from the city of Fort Payne, Ala. As time passed, the quarry received less attention and investment from its out-of-state owner and fell into a state of disrepair.

The plant’s employees were really downhearted. The lack of involvement from the owner showed not only in the condition of the plant, but also in the attitudes of the employees. “What was there to be proud of at a rundown plant? Why should the employees care?” says George Grguric, Fort Payne Quarry plant manager.

New owners

In May 2007, Birmingham, Ala.-based Vulcan Materials Co. entered the picture. The company bought the struggling quarry operation and immediately set out to revitalize the quarry and change the community’s mindset.

Vulcan’s reputation for being a community-minded, environmentally concerned company preceded it, so the community welcomed the new owners. “We knew that Vulcan was coming in to improve the situation,” says Carol Beddingfield, executive director, Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce, “not just to drain the land of material, but to be a community-involved company as well.”

Since Vulcan came onboard, the plant employees’ attitudes have changed. They take pride in their plant and their work, and it shows. “Now, they want to do it right,” Grguric says. “We continue to improve in production, and they’re proud of that. They’re proud of the city. The people in the city wave, they’re happy to see us. We don’t shake the city anymore when we put shots off. You used to be able to find the quarry just by following the dust, now you can’t. My guys are proud of that.”

Fort Payne Quarry quickly became a leading corporate citizen in the area. It also became the kind of neighbor everyone would like to have by always trying to keep community concerns in mind.

In one case, the quarry worked with the city to develop a land-use plan involving set backs and vegetated, sloped embankments that bordered an old historic town cemetery. When stripping began near the area, the quarry employees made sure to leave plenty of space so the activity could not be seen from the cemetery. Little things like that make a huge difference to the community.

“That’s just an example of their community involvement,” Beddingfield says. “They have also supported downtown revitalization in Fort Payne. Usually, a quarry company wouldn’t even consider a thing like that — pleasing the citizens.”

The city of Fort Payne honored the quarry by presenting it with the city’s 2008 Large Manufacturer of the Year award for its improvements to the quarry and its commitment to the community. The accolades didn’t stop there, however. The Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce nominated the quarry for the 2009 Small Alabama Manufacturer of the Year award. This award is presented annually to a manufacturing company that employs up to 99 people and demonstrates superior performance in the area of customer focus, employee commitment, operational excellence, continuous improvement, profitable growth, and investment in training and retraining. Fort Payne Quarry won the award, an engraved piece of glass in the shape of Alabama, which was presented to Vulcan and Fort Payne Quarry representatives by the governor of Alabama, Bob Riley, during an awards ceremony in June.

“The company (Vulcan) is second-to-none in the industry with respect to safety, health, environmental stewardship, and community relations,” Beddingfield says. “They are all so community minded. If there’s any way, they will perform their jobs and provide the services yet keep the environment and community in mind. I think they do an excellent job of that.”

Operations, maintenance

Fort Payne Quarry is considered a small quarry by Vulcan standards; it produces 300,000 to 350,000 tons of rock per year. It’s not one of Vulcan’s automated, high-tech heritage plants either. The plant is an older one, relatively speaking, with some older equipment and machines that have to be operated manually.

“Everything we do, we have to do by hand,” Grguric says. “We can’t throw a gate to change our stone sizes. We have to go out and change the screens. We run one mode, go up and change the screens, and then run something else.”

The older plant and equipment can be quite a challenge when it comes to maintenance, but the quarry developed a daily maintenance routine that helps the employees stay on top of any potential problems.

“Many parts of this plant are still original,” Grguric says, “and they don’t last if you don’t take care of them. Maintenance is important.”

Daily maintenance begins with a pre-shift checklist. “We made up a checklist for everybody to use in each one of the areas,” Grguric says. “The checklist is specific to this plant. They go over this everyday.”

Each area is checked by those who work in that area and any problems are reported immediately. “I do the pit,” says Jeffrey (Bodean) Dean, pit excavator and loader operator. “Rex does the processing plant, and the yard loader operator will do the stockpile and roads. The guy at the primary will check that off. Then I check the shop and, if we have a driller, he’ll check that [the drill]. The stripping crew will check the berms and make sure the roads haven’t washed away before we start.”

Every day after operations shut down, the employees check their areas once again. “You’ve pretty much got to walk the whole plant,” says Rex Lowe, finish plant operator and head of plant maintenance. “I check my belts. I walk up there [by the conveyor] to see if there are rips or anything wearing. I check the bearings. I look at the crusher feed belts and the motor for the feed belts. I check the springs to see if one of them is busted. There’s a lot to it. If you catch a problem ahead of time, it can save you a lot of downtime and, possibly, equipment.”

Plant operating hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., which allows time for employees to performa maintenance in the afternoons and take care of whatever problems arise. “When something tears up, we fix it,” says Roger Barron, plant lead man. Whether it’s something as simple as changing out a filter or as difficult as replacing a conveyor belt, the plant employees work together to accomplish the task.

The quarry has had some help getting up to speed with maintenance. “Fort Payne Quarry, being relatively new to us [Vulcan], has had a lot of outside influence from central services in Birmingham,” says Alan Gulledge, area operations manager for Vulcan. “We’ve had groups from other quarries come up and work with the guys as far as maintenance practices. We’ve still got a ways to go to really get it [the quarry] up to par, but the guys have responded very well and they’re eager to learn. George and his guys have done a good job here.”

Surviving tough times

Vulcan Materials hasn’t been immune to the economic tough times that everyone has been facing, but Fort Payne Quarry has been successful in exceeding its prior year’s sales. Despite being an older quarry, the operation supplies all the crushed stone needs of the area and produces quality products that meet Alabama Department of Transportation specifications.

Part of the quarry’s successful sales can be attributed to the engineering and production of two new products at the request of its customers. The specialized stones and sizes have helped keep some of the quarry’s customers and are expected to increase future sales and revenues.

The quarry shares employees and equipment with two other Vulcan quarries in the area to help keep overall expenses down. The stripping equipment and operators float from one quarry to another as they are needed.

Vulcan has taken advantage of slow times at the quarry to tackle a few projects. One such project was the construction of the tunnel that runs beneath the surge pile. With the help of Vulcan engineers, plant employees helped install the tunnel. Not only did this provide a much-needed addition to the plant, it gave the employees a sense of accomplishment and pride in its completion, and a feeling of ownership in the plant.

“The Fort Payne area is a small market, and it’s difficult times right now, so everybody’s struggling,” Gulledge says. “I think we’ve done really well. During difficult times, sharing resources and making things work — making all the ends fit together — pays off for Vulcan.”

Grguric says he is extremely proud of his employees and what they’ve accomplished in the two years since Vulcan acquired Fort Payne Quarry, and he plans to continue that trend.

Equipment Line Up

Mobile Equipment

On site 100 percent of the time:

Cat 345B excavator

Cat 988F loader

Cat 770 haul trucks (2)

Cat 769C haul truck

Komatsu WA500 loader

Komatsu WA450 loader

Cat D7H dozer

Cat 226 skid-steer loader

Ford F800 boom truck

Kenworth T300 water truck

International S1900 tool truck

On site 50 percent of the time or less:

Komatsu PC750 excavator

Cat 771D haul trucks (2)

Stationary Process Equipment

Primary:

Svedala/Universal 3254 jaw crusher

Class #1 rip rap screen

Tramac pedestal-mounted breaker

Secondary:

Jeffrey Rader electromagnetic surge feeder

Diester two-deck scalping screen

Hazemag 1620 impact crusher

Diester twin three-deck finish screens

Tertiary:

Hazemag 1320 impact crusher

Simplicity wash screen

Ortner sand cyclone