Welcome to the new readers joining us this month. If you need a copy of AsphaltPro delivered to one of your team members, it’s easy to subscribe. Among our how-to project stories, you’ll find discussions of new tech, iron and best practices, to enhance your bottom line at the asphalt plant, lab and work zone. Amid our talk of “new tech,” we keep the essential worker in mind.
Even with intelligent systems—like Astec’s IntelliPac™ Moisture System, which computes necessary drying adjustments based on real-time aggregate moisture changes—we still need workers on the team who understand the basics.
A few years ago, industry was looking at the feasibility of putting a lone worker at a loadout site where automated controls handled logistics. While it’s within the realm of possibility, it’s not a safe solution to workforce gaps.
To oversimplify it—someone with a working knowledge of asphalt paving systems must monitor these advanced operations. We cannot think the new hire will hop onto the automation-filled roller and produce a bonus-worthy mat because he (or she) is proficient with a video game console.
Just because we can let AI systems compute impact spacing, yield, potential for vehicle incursion, and other vital aspects of asphalt operations, we still need sentient workers on the team. We need operators who understand mix design, production, and paving basics to program, use, and monitor not only the technology but its mistakes, too. If the AI on the breakdown roller senses an obstruction and shuts down vibration (good) and stops on the 300° mat, someone needs to know how to resolve the issue, so the 14-ton machine isn’t sinking two 84-inch-wide canals in the pavement.
My most recent “caution” comes courtesy of travel during World of Asphalt 2025.
At the end of the show, I was fortunate to spend some time with my parents, who live in the St. Louis area. We met outside the city; Dad drove about an hour in his 2024 Honda hybrid before the car detected an error, which it couldn’t identify, and shut down. He had no choice but to pull over to the side of I-44, and call Honda Roadside Assistance. I’ll not bore you with that part of the story. The point is the car decided to stop, so stop it did. It wouldn’t allow the driver to reach the next available exit or restart.
One might argue this was a safety feature.
As a person stranded on the highway for an hour, I’d suggest “safety” wasn’t the first thing that came to mind. What did come to mind was the inconvenience such a thing would cause to a contractor’s project.
Imagine being on a multi-million-dollar state job and your MTV flashes a message, “Error detected. Shutting down until you fix that.”
In the March/April edition, I wrote about the positive use of compaction technology allowing a less experienced worker to operate a roller to complete the day’s paving successfully. (See “NDDOT Trials New Technologies on Hwy 14.”) While at WOA, the AsphaltPro staff took notes on smart tech that would shut down to protect workers from struck-bys and when detecting errors. The former—Sakai’s Guardman™—looks like a fantastic use of technology to prevent fatalities; the latter could be a fiduciary nightmare if you don’t have alternate equipment staged nearby.
Like my dad, you probably don’t anticipate a 1-year-old machine will experience a small rock piercing the radiator and sending its computer into panic mode. You probably don’t anticipate needing a backup breakdown roller at the side of the multi-million-dollar paving project. Are we in the infancy of the “smart” technology where backup machines are necessary? I’d like to hear your opinion.
When you set up your paving train, do you make concessions for smart equipment to shut down? That’s some unplanned downtime I hadn’t considered prior to WOA travel. Have you considered it?
Stay Safe,
Sandy Lender