Walbec Updates, Integrates, Innovates with Command Alkon’s Apex
BY AsphaltPro Staff
It was in 1922 that Walter Bechthold partnered with Max Payne and Barney Dolan to form Payne and Dolan in Illinois. Having begun his career in 1917 at the State Highway Department before working as a county engineer for Racine County and later the Racine County Highway Commissioner, Bechthold brought valuable experience to the company as it purchased its first asphalt paving machines in the 1930s and performed work for military complexes and airports during World War II.
After buying out Payne’s interest and splitting the company in two (Dolan maintained ownership of Payne and Dolan in Illinois and Bechthold maintained ownership of Payne and Dolan in Wisconsin), Bechthold and his successors either founded or acquired several other companies to make up Walbec Group’s six vertically integrated companies that exist today.
“In the last decade, we’ve rebranded our family of companies as the Walbec Group in honor of Walter [Bechthold],” said Walbec Strategic Improvement Leader Linda Pawlak. “[As Payne and Dolan], we started off primarily doing asphalt paving and road construction, but now we are a vertically integrated family of companies that produce high quality construction materials and deliver unparalleled professional design, engineering and construction services.”
Despite the benefits vertical integration brings to customers of the Walbec Group, it isn’t without challenges. For example, it makes a seamless and efficient workflow all the more important. To achieve the level of efficiency the Walbec Group and its companies desired, they often had to develop their own technology solutions.
“Up until about 15 years ago, our appetite for technology was stronger than what the marketplace had to offer, so we developed a culture of building our own technology,” Pawlak said. This included the company’s bidding, payroll and job costing software. To date, Walbec continues to use its homegrown scheduling software. Then, in 2010, the company replaced its homegrown bidding software with a solution from HCSS.
“Throughout that process, we worked closely with the leadership at Command Alkon to say, ‘Here’s the good, the bad, the ugly’. We’ve always looked for vendors who are interested in a partnership, not just a sale.” — Linda Pawlak
When Walbec decided it was time to replace its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the company decided it was an optimal time to identify other technologies it should implement in advance of the replacement.
“The ERP is the heartbeat of integration for our organization,” Pawlak said. “One of the foundational aspects of choosing the right ERP was choosing one that could integrate with our already-valued third-party vendors.”
When Walbec identified its ticketing system as one project to resolve before replacing its ERP, Pawlak said they “went out to the marketplace and entertained several vendors, but ultimately chose Libra because of their experience ‘swinging the gates’ of the asphalt plant.”
When Walbec decided it was time to replace its ERP system, the company decided it was an optimal time to identify other technologies it should implement in advance of the replacement. Its ticketing system was identified as one project to resolve before replacing its ERP, Pawlak (right) said.
Acquisition and Implementation
It was in 2020 that Walbec began implementing Libra production, loadout and e-ticketing software at all its aggregate sites and asphalt plants, according to Tim Schmidt, Apex operational lead at Walbec. He shared the goal was automating e-ticketing, “which is really valuable to the project managers in the field as well as our customers at the DOT level.”
The Walbec Group had just finished implementing Libra software in its facilities when Command Alkon, Birmingham, acquired Libra. “We found ourselves caught in the worst possible timing of [that acquisition],” Pawlak said. “We had just finished the implementation process with Libra, so transitioning again was a heavy lift for us.”
According to Schmidt, Walbec already had a punch list of issues they were working to resolve with Libra before the acquisition occurred. All of a sudden, they faced the challenge of resolving these issues with new partners while Command Alkon’s own staff was familiarizing itself with Libra.
“After Command Alkon had a moment to catch their breath, they really showed up to fix some of our red-hot issues,” Schmidt said. For example, trying to get all of Walbec’s relevant facilities on the same platform; all of its sites had been on Libra at the time of the acquisition and then had to be moved over to the Libra/Apex version prior to its ERP system being installed.
Throughout the implementation process, Schmidt said Command Alkon’s staff was “very present.”
The Walbec Group performs more than 2,500 projects per year, primarily asphalt work, that range in size and scope from commercial parking lots to large highway jobs.
“They had people front and center at our asphalt plants to work through some details on their initial offering of putting Apex and Libra together,” he added. “There were weeks on end that they had people here to support and train our people through that transition.” After all of Walbec’s plants were running Apex/Libra, Schmidt said, “things got pretty steady for us.”
Once the ‘red-hot’ issues were resolved, Command Alkon set about working through Walbec’s punch list of remaining requests. “We could begin integrating the best of what Libra was already offering us with what Apex brought to the table,” Pawlak said.
In addition to marrying the best of each system, the partnership Walbec established with Command Alkon illustrated to Walbec that Command Alkon was willing to learn and eager to listen. “Throughout that process, we worked closely with the leadership at Command Alkon to say, ‘Here’s the good, the bad, the ugly’,” Pawlak said. “We’ve always looked for vendors who are interested in a partnership, not just a sale.”
Once that trust was established, Walbec began to play a role in shaping some of the features Command Alkon might want to include in its next generation of software, Apex 7.8, which acts as a unified Apex/Libra solution, as opposed to two systems with an interface between them.
The new software has addressed Walbec’s remaining punch list items. For example, day-end reporting features from Libra that weren’t initially available on the Apex platform. Apex 7.8 also allows credit card processing through a strong integration with BASYS.
“We think the beta version we’re running now will be superior to both what Libra and Command Alkon brought to the table initially,” Pawlak said. “I think the new version of the software is really a result of the collaboration between us.”
“Up until about 15 years ago, our appetite for technology was stronger than what the marketplace had to offer, so we developed a culture of building our own technology.” — Linda Pawlak
The success of the transition from Libra to Apex/Libra to Apex 7.8.XX has also encouraged Walbec to consider some of Command Alkon’s other offerings. “Command Alkon has a lot of relevant technology for us to look at, not only on the asphalt side but also at our ready mix plants, so they’ve become an obvious choice for us to consider when we have an appetite for new technology,”Pawlak said. “As we plan out our next project and our next project, we see them as a partner we can count on to innovate farther out than our appetite for today.”
“Innovation is one of our company’s core values, so we strive to find partners who share that value,” Pawlak said, adding that when Walbec chose its third-party ticketing software, they were looking for a vendor that could grow with them. Command Alkon has become that partner. “They aren’t waiting for us to say what we need next. They are out there figuring out what the marketplace needs.”
Command Alkon’s commitment to innovation—a core value shared by Walbec—made the companies a great fit. “It’s really about finding the right partners who are a good fit for us culturally,” Pawlak said, “partners who innovate, partners who integrate.”
Integration, she adds, is a key word for the company, both in terms of vertical integration of services and technological integration between software. After the full implementation of Apex, Walbec has since wrapped up the implementation of its new ERP with integration to Apex as well. “Being vertically integrated means making the process seamless for our customers, and that’s true of the technology partners we choose to partner with.”