After last year, which was a record breaker at many locations, we were expecting a slower year but that hasn’t been the case at all.  Due to the mild winter weather we had, we have gotten off to an excellent start everywhere.  This year is looking even stronger than last year so far.  

The Waterloo plant is well ahead of last year’s yardage so far.  They have been working on finishing up projects that started last year, such as a 6000 CY paving job at John Deere and the Lincoln School in Cedar Falls.  The Waterloo plant has also been successful so far in lining up work for this year.  We so far have the following large projects on the books:  a 9000 cy paving job at John Deere, a 10,000 cy paving job at the Hwy. 20/Ansborough interchange, a new floor at the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee and a new Walgreens store in Cedar Falls.  John Mummelthie is the new dispatcher for Waterloo.  John stepped up from ready mix driver to dispatch and has done a great job for us.  John is replacing assistant manager Chas Wagoner, who is learning the management duties from Larry Keller.  

The Independence plant is off to an excellent start.  As of today, Al has doubled his yardage production from this time last year.  There are projects popping up all over Independence and this year should easily surpass last year’s record year.  Mike Ritter has taken over the shop foreman/mechanic duties in Independence.  Mike had been a plant mechanic based in Waterloo before this change.

The other rural plants are all ahead of last year and should continue to go strong.  We currently have over 40 hog confinements on the books to be done this summer.  In addition to that, there are numerous IDOT projects throughout the area.

The hot new topic that the National Ready Mix Concrete Association is trying to promote this year is pervious concrete.  This is concrete that allows water to drain through it.  Dave Distler has done a pervious mix design and has poured two test panels at the Waterloo plant.  As time passes it will be interesting to see how the pervious concrete performs.

With all this work in progress and on the books for the year, trucks have been traveling all over to get the work done.  Please note that in order to get this work done we must think of safety first and continue to make sure that we work safely.  Remember that SAFETY is our number one priority, quality is second and production is third.  Continue to work Safely.