Last week, we looked at the exterior of the drum. Let’s face it; if this component fails this spring, you’re down for the count and not producing while the trucks form a line outside the gates. That means you want to use this season to get the drum conditioned for a smooth 2019 construction season.

A point you want to remember is every repair should be made according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lockout/tagout regs. Because we’re talking about the interior of the drum, you also have confined spaces regs to work within. Don’t take shortcuts. Please be safe. Please make a safety mindset your constant mindset, and check out the related article about Oldcastle’s safety line system before you make interior drum inspections or repairs.

What else do you need to check regarding the interior of the drum? It’s a long list that a consultant will help you with, but here’s a good place to start:

– Look at flights for excessive wear, heat curling, cracking
– Look for air leaks around the knockout box and ductwork
– Check the rakes at the mixer discharge for damage, bending
– Check the liners on the discharge collar
– Does the AC injection tube have wear on the end? Gotta fix that.

Now is the time to repair or replace faulty iron, seals, and the like. This is when you take care of all the elements that you might only “patch” during the height of construction season. When you’re in the drum, take advantage of the downtime to correct anything and everything to ensure a stellar start to 2019.

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Weekly Toolbox Tips

As this February edition of AsphaltPro finds its way to your hands via the mail, desktop, smart phone or whathaveyou, training season is well underway. Our industry typically takes the cold, winter months to assess equipment and shore up weaknesses. Unskilled laborers are a weakness you can solve with training and teaching. Of course, the person being trained needs the right attitude for the task, but assuming you have willing participants in company growth and in quality, safe mindsets, you have the opportunity right now to turn 2019 paving projects into bonus-worthy events.

You can train these willing participants in any number of ways, via classroom settings, one-on-one mentoring, fancy training courses on a desktop, etc. I’m going into self-serving mode for a minute, as I have the right to do in my editorial column, to suggest paving contractors have a training course available through AsphaltPro right now.

We worked with an award-winning paving consultant who’s been paving, rolling, working in the field since he was in high school a few decades ago. John Ball, the proprietor of Top Quality Paving & Training, Manchester, New Hampshire, guided us in compiling the videos, images and information you’ll find in the Asphalt Paving 101 online training course.

But we brought years of study to the project as well. The result is a beginner’s guide to getting a paving crew up and running.

The February 2019 issue of AsphaltPro magazine

If you have a new guy on the team, he needs to go through this course. If you have a veteran operator who’s working with a different machine this spring, he needs to go through this course. If you have a crew of different skill levels mixed together, they need to go through this course as a unit, talking about the points, answering the questions as a team, talking about their experiences and how they’ve accomplished projects in similar or different ways.

Now let’s focus on that last concept there. The crew can go through the Asphalt Paving 101 online course together if you want them to. Trust me: you want them to. The paving crew that will work together this spring and summer should be getting comfortable learning together.

Let the nerd in me explain: After he selected the four actors who would portray the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings films, Peter Jackson took them to New Zealand ahead of the rest of the films’ cast. He had the four vacation together for a week or so with no cameras, no lights, no filming and no media, for the purpose of building camaraderie. When filming began, the friendship among the four hobbits was genuine. What has that to do with your paving crew? Imagine the safe productivity you could get out of your paving crew if the members of the team train together and learn best practices together now with no pressure and no inspectors, for the purpose of building camaraderie and knowledge.

Whatever training and teaching methods you select for the members of your team, I wish you great success getting them all together in a safety and quality mindset. Here’s to a great start to the 2019 construction season, via a great training time right now.

Stay Safe,
Sandy Lender

It’s official: Audrey Copeland is now President and CEO of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA).

Although Copeland was announced as the association’s next president in September of 2018, her tenure officially began Jan. 22, 2019, during a ceremony at NAPA’s 64th annual meeting. She succeeds Mike Acott, who had served as NAPA’s President since 1992.

During the ceremony, Copeland addressed NAPA members and assured them she would continue NAPA’s work to “safeguard the asphalt industry, strengthen alliances and collaborations, and modernize the way the industry and the association do business,” said NAPA’s press release.

Audrey Copeland

“NAPA is in a position of strength and financially sound, having grown in membership and reputation over the past 30 years,” Copeland said, “We will continue to stay focused on delivering value to our members. Our willingness to take on challenges with integrity and a focus on collaboration will not change.”

Copeland joined NAPA in 2012 as its Vice President for Engineering, Research, and Technology, earning a number of victories, including building relationships with State Asphalt Pavement Associations, Asphalt Pavement Alliance, National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University, the Asphalt Institute, Federal Highway Administration, and other industry professionals and partners.

She was also the technical lead for industry-funded research  projects totaling more than $2 million and secured a cooperative agreement with the FHWA that resulted in the investment of more than $2 million in government funding to advance asphalt technologies.

Prior to joining NAPA in 2012, Copeland was a highway and materials research engineer with FHWA. She holds a doctorate in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Tennessee Technological University. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in Maryland and Virginia.

The Asphalt Pavement Association of Indiana (APAI) has welcomed industry leaders Dudley Bonte, Jim Burdick and Jim Gross into the APAI Hall of Fame. The ceremony was held at APAI’s Annual Conference & Trade Show in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Burdick graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1976. He then spent four years as a city engineer in the city of Terre Haute before joining Wabash Valley Asphalt as an estimator in 1980. Over the years, Burdick climbed the ladder, eventually serving as the company’s president from 2005 until his retirement in 2015.

Gross got his start in the industry in 1977 as an intern at Fauber Construction. After graduating from Purdue University, he joined the company full-time as an estimator. He then worked for Rieth-Riley Construction in northern Indiana, among other opportunities, before returning to Fauber as its estimation manager. After Fauber was purchased by The Heritage Group, Gross continued his career with The Heritage Group and Milestone Contractors, where he worked for more than 20 years as an area manager and Vice President of Asphalt Plants. He retired from Milestone Contractors in January 2018.

Both Burdick and Gross remained active members of APAI throughout their career. Burdick served as President of the APAI Board of Directors in 2004, is a member of Indiana Contractors, Inc. (ICI), and has served on the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) recycling committee. Gross served on the association’s technical, scholarship and conference planning committees, and served as the President of the APAI Board of Directors in  Technical Director for APAI where he retired in 2017.

Bonte spent 40 years with Rieth-Riley Construction Company, where he retired as Regional Quality Control Director. He also served on its Board of Directors for his last seven years with the company. Throughout his career, Bonte remained active within APAI, serving on several committees, including the association’s scholarship, education and technical committees. Shortly after retiring from Rieth-Riley, Bonte served three years as Technical Director for APAI where he retired in 2017. He is a lifetime member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologist.

Congratulations to Dudley Bonte, Jim Burdick and Jim Gross!]

On January 10, the California Asphalt Pavement Association honored industry leaders at its annual dinner in Los Angeles.

The association paid tribute to those who passed away in 2018, four “giants of the industry” who will be missed: Paul Rademacher, Wayne Church, Wally E. Hunt Jr., and Frank C. Hermann.

“Tonight is a chance for us to look back at the many contributions our members have made to the betterment of our industry, and to look ahead toward the challenges and opportunities that we face in the future,” said CalAPA outgoing Chairman Mike Murray of Hardy & Harper.

Other honorees included Steve Healow, recently retired from the Federal Highway Administration, who was admitted to CalAPA’s Hall of Fame for his “quiet yet effective work over many years to help industry and Caltrans develop and update technical specifications and procedures”.

Erik Updyke also joined the Hall of Fame after retiring from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works in 2018. Among Updyke’s many accomplishments is his development and advancement of the Green Book of public works standards.

Jack Van Kirk, recently retired from CalAPA member George Reed, Inc., was also recognized for his efforts to advance industry knowledge in asphalt pavement design, testing and acceptance. He received recognition as an Alumni Member, alongside Rich Shaon, recently retired from Sully-Miller/Blue Diamond Materials after almost 50 years of service.

Also at the dinner, CalAPA installed its 2019 officers: Jordan Reed with George Reed Inc. (Chairman); Jim Ryan with Marathon (Vice Chairman); Scott Bottomley with Sully-Miller/Blue Diamond Materials (Treasurer) and Toni Carroll with Graniterock (Secretary).

Existing executive committee members are Jeff Benedict with Valero, Scott Fraser with R.J. Noble, Alan French with DeSilva Gates Materials and John Greenwood with California Commercial Asphalt.

Sponsors of the event include California Commercial Asphalt, CEI Enterprises, Hardy & Harper Inc., R.J. Noble Co., Valero Marketing & Supply, Vulcan Materials, San Joaquin Refining Co., Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions, G3 Quality, Sully-Miller Contracting/Blue Diamond Materials, and Nixon-Egli Equipment.

More photos from the event can be viewed on CalAPA’s Facebook Page here.