This Virginia producer has found that Astec is a ... - Hot-Mix Magazine

YOU HEAR BIG PROMISESnearly every day from salesmenwho are just trying tosell you something. It would beeasy to take a jaundiced view ofall sales efforts—so it is nice tobe able to report a customer’sreactions to promises that appearto have been more than fulfilled.We are referring to a letter writtenrecently by Arnie Slimmen, plantoperations manager with B. P.Short & Son Paving Company, Inc.of Petersburg, Virginia. Here is abrief excerpt from that letter, whichwas addressed to Phil Tippitt, anAstec regional sales manager:“The main reason I decided to sitdown and write this letter is tocommend all the professional peoplewho work for your company,”This Virginia producer has foundthat Astec is a companythat makes reasonable promisesabout product performance...and then works hardto live up to those promiseswrote Slimmen. “Many manufacturersmake equipment that willget you from Point A to Point B—and their equipment might comparesomewhat in price. But theyonly want to sell steel. Once theyship their product to you, theyseem to forget that you even exist.This is not what we have foundwith your company. You not onlysell a great product, but you arealso very willing to help your customerget it running and keep itrunning. In the times that I havecalled for service or advice, I havealways felt that your people con-sidered me important. They neverleave us without solving ourproblems. And even if one personcan’t solve the problem, theyalways get us in touch withanother one who can.Slimmen concluded his letter toAstec by saying that in his opinion“…the service we receive is evenmore important than the productwe purchased—because what goodis a product if you can’t keep itrunning?”The company Slimmen worksfor—B. P. Short & Son PavingCompany—purchased a portableAstec Turbo 300 Six Pack Plantlast year. The company operatesfour other hot-mix-asphalt plantsin the state of Virginia, but this istheir first Astec plant.HOT-MIX MAGAZINE 12 VOLUME 4, NUMBER 2

Burton P. Short III, president ofthe company, said that he had readSlimmen’s letter and agreed withits content.“Arnie just felt that the supportfrom Astec was so good that heshould write the letter and patsomebody on the back. Honestly,everything is going great with thenew plant. We’ve been reallypleased with the production andeverything about it.”The company’s new portable AstecSix Pack plant includes a Turbo300 Double Barrel drum mixer, apulse-jet baghouse, and a portable,self-erecting surge bin. There isalso a four-compartment cold-feedsystem and a portable recyclefeed system. The facility also hasa portable 30,000-gal. (113,000-liter) Heatec Heli-Tank that is separatedinto two compartments soit can hold two different liquid-ACcompounds.Short said the new Astec plantwas delivered last October. Theyset it up adjacent to another, olderdrum plant, just to give it a brieftrial run on a Superpave job theywere working. But they were infor a surprise.“We had been having some segregationproblems with the oldplant on the BM-25 Superpave mixwe were running. We were gettingsome really bad areas in the load—and we were able to narrow itdown and pinpoint the old drumas the source of the problem.Once we installed the new AstecTurbo 300 plant, the problemwent away. It did a great job! Thedifference in the mix was reallylike night and day.”B. P. Short & Son Paving Companycurrently operates five plants inVirginia. They also run threepaving crews from the variouslocations. The firm is well-establishedin the area.“On August 30,” said Short, “wewill celebrate our 69th year inbusiness. Back in 1930, my grandfatherand a friend started up acompany they called ‘Short andThompson.’ They split up in theearly 1950s and we became knownas ‘Short Paving Company.’ Wehad another company—Burton P.Short & Son—that did surfacetreatment and grading. In 1980,we combined both companiesand started using the name ‘B. P.Short & Son Paving Company.’”When Short was asked why theypicked an Astec plant this time,he said there were three reasons,aside from the obvious productfeatures and benefits.“We bought two of Astec’s storagesilos a couple of years ago,” saidShort. “That gave us a chance tosee first-hand what kind of serviceand support Astec had to offer.“Then, there were the schoolsB. P. Short & Son Paving Company’s new Astec Turbo 300 Six Pack plantincludes the Double Barrel drum-mixer (above) and the portable baghouse(below). “One reason we got the Turbo 300 instead of the Turbo 400,” saidShort, “was the fact that we didn’t need the Turbo 400’s big productioncapacity. We do mainly 1.5-in. (3.8-cm) overlay work. When you start doingthe math on 1.5-in. (3.8-cm) overlay in 12-ft. (3.7-m) widths with a plantthat turns out about 400 tph (360 metric tph)... Well, they don’t makeenough compactors to keep up with that kind of production. Don’t get mewrong. The Turbo 400 would be great for new construction. But for what wedo, the Astec Turbo 300 is the perfect solution.”FOR MORE INFORMATIONabout Astec’s Turbo 300 and Turbo 400Double Barrel ® drum-mix facilities, just call this numberand ask to speak with Diane Hunt:423-867-4210(FAX: 423-867-3570)and seminars that we’ve attendedduring the off-season at Astec.We’ve probably had 15 peoplethere over the years. I’ve been tothe Executive Session twice andmy vice president has been thereonce. We’ve had plant personneland paving superintendents go tothe technical schools at Astec andRoadtec. You get a chance to meeta lot of contemporaries. And we’vealways come away with somegood ideas.“Finally, Astec’s commitment toNAPA (National Asphalt PavementAssociation) really impressed me.We’ve been members of NAPA formore than 40 years, since itsinception. I believe strongly in theAssociation. And I believe that oldsaying: ‘It doesn’t cost to be amember; it pays.’“What advice would I give to someonewho was considering thepurchase of a new hot-mix plant?I’d mention all of those things,”said Short.For Arnie Slimmen, it all comesback to promises made andpromises kept. Here is anotherexcerpt from his letter to Astec:“We started by adding two of yourNew Generation storage silos toone of our plants (two years ago).They have lived up to all the claimswe saw in your advertising. Theaddition of these silos turned amediocre (non-Astec) drum plantinto a plant that was much bettersuited for our needs.“The silo we replaced would notstore mix and keep it as a usableproduct more than overnight.When we looked at your proposaland compared it to others, wefound that Astec was the onlycompany that put down on papera guarantee of four days’ storage.The very first time we tried tostore some mix, we got stuck withit for five days because it wouldn’tstop raining. When we finally gotto open them up and pave, wewere worried that it would not evencome out (of the silos), much lessbe usable. To our pleasant surprise,the mix (that had been stored forfive days in the Astec storage silos)was so good that the inspectorssaid they couldn’t tell that we didn’tmake it that morning.” ▼▲▼HOT-MIX MAGAZINE 13 VOLUME 4, NUMBER 2