When you’re ready to move into the next stage of your asphalt operations, you seek consultants and professionals who’ve been there to guide you. From state asphalt pavement associations (SAPAs) to in-person asphalt-centric conferences to online training courses to publications like this one, you seek information to help you make informed decisions.
It makes sense that you’d reach out to asphalt industry resources when expanding your operations because you’re not building a typical business with typical operating concerns.
Sure, many business management truisms will translate across all industries, but the asphalt professional who wants to take his paving company to the next level needs information from places like TheAsphaltPro.com and his SAPA. Let’s face it—if you have five crews and an allergy to waiting on the local plant to produce your mixes, you might be ready to buy your own plant. “Frustration with the competition causing three projects to run late” isn’t a line item on a typical business spreadsheet.
You look to this publication, the state association and a trustworthy original equipment manufacturer to guide you in next steps. You’ll read up on how to assess the market for tonnage, upcoming agency funding allocations, residential or commercial infrastructure development and its potential to influence future projects, local workforce pressures, and so on. The consultants you talk to will have at least one foot in the asphalt industry because they will be able to assist in more than the financial planning—they can help map the physical plan for success.
I mean, while a new donut shop owner down the street might have a consultant taking into consideration traffic flow both onto and around his property, he’s probably not overly worried about company vehicle fuel economy on-site. You, on the other hand, will be extremely aware of stockpile placement in relation to cold feed bins for the purpose of optimizing wheel loader fuel use—or battery consumption.
You’ll also consider stockpile placement based on drainage and stormwater runoff, not only for environmental concerns but also to minimize moisture affecting your production temperatures and mix quality.
And don’t forget the neighbors. You can position the stockpiles close to the robust and beautiful tree line you build along the back perimeter to pose a noise barrier between your plant and potential developments moving in 10 to 20 years from now.
Note I’m assuming you’re building on a large plot of land in the middle of No and Where with room to pave beneath sloped stockpiles.
Whatever tract of land you have to work with and wherever that land is positioned, you want to seek out industry professionals to assist you in mapping it for your most efficient and environmentally friendly plant layout. Reducing the path for haul truck drivers to take around your yard for loadout means less opportunity for struck-bys, less dust kicked up for you to contend with and less fuel use for your customers.
The list of simple tweaks to the layout could fill this entire issue of AsphaltPro, but I asked the team at CWMF Corp., Waite Park, Minnesota, to tease a few for you here. Catherine Sutton-Choate from Astec Industries, Chattanooga, spelled out a few ideas in the article on permits in the February issue. And there are more articles in our Expand Your Business series coming to help you with planning the next stage in your growing operations.
Stay Safe,
Sandy Lender