 |
1775
Old 6 Road |
|
|||
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 Brad Manatt As the year winds down and the equipment moves “home” for maintenance and service, most of us have time to take a little breather, sit back, and reflect. Several things seem to come to mind as I look back over the last year . . . First and foremost, on a work-related note, we bid work in a very tough environment last season. There were no “easy” jobs for us to get in any division - asphalt, subdrain, concrete paving, ready mix - there were no exceptions. I believe this is a direct reflection of present economic factors. In the Iowa construction industry, there is simply too much capacity to produce for the dollars available to spend. Only one of two things can happen to right this balance, or lack of in this case - either we can get rid of production capacity, or there will be contractors getting out of the road construction business altogether. The state’s budget will not increase for roads anytime soon. Twenty-five percent of Iowa’s current road funds will probably go to Des Moines for the reconstruction of I-235 over the next 7 years. Up to this point, we have not been very successful in this market. We were fortunate this year to have a few jobs close enough to where we like to work that we could use our competitive advantage. This certainly helped out our ability to see some profit. We have always prided ourselves on our good, newer, well-maintained equipment. This helped us to be highly productive meeting or exceeding our production goals. This coupled with a very skilled work force made the difference! We will continue with this approach next year. I presume that the bidding will get tougher. I enjoy new opportunities and challenges. It makes life interesting. This past summer, we took on more reclaimation work than we had reclaimers to get the job done. In August, we rented a second reclaimer from Wirtgen to do the extra work. What a “moose” this machine is! It’s both powerful and fun to operate! In September, we did one of the IDOT’s first foamed asphalt projects on the shoulders of Highway 30 west of Boone. The job went well and we decided to buy the second reclaimer (this machine is also referred to as a ‘recycler/stabilizer’ - see picture below). The state has plans to do more foamed asphalt work and we have the first and only reclaimer in Iowa capable of foamed asphalt. If you asked Dave Schinckel about foamed asphalt before the season started, he probably would have told you he had never heard of it. Now, this winter, he will be giving speeches on the subject and is considered to be the State’s expert! Nice going, Dave! Kurt Kelly and Steve Heishman played a big role in the success of our foamed asphalt project. Congratulations on the success of the project!
If I have one thing to be disappointed about in the past season, it would have to be our accident record. We had accidents that seriously injured people (thankfully, no one was killed). I have no tolerance for this. Little accidents eventually add up as well! It is absolutely the one thing we will turn around next year. We are presently establishing policies that will eliminate the job of a person who doesn’t take the responsibility to safely perform his or her work. We can no longer tolerate carelessness. We have too many good things going for us to let a few careless acts take us down. I do not want any employees under my watch injured or killed. In an effort to raise awareness of our commitment to safety, we have changed our Company mission statement. In the future, it will read as follows, “To Safely Do Everything We Do Better Than Anyone Else.” As our mission becomes more focused, we will continue to get more employees involved by asking them to serve on our safety committees. If we raise awareness, we will be better! Finally, the past year has been filled with election rhetoric - much of it negative. Hopefully, now we can come together as a nation and do what is needed to help resolve World peace. My what a mess there is out there in our World. So much of our future depends on how our elected and appointed leaders craft solutions to the World’s problems. What a heavy burden they carry! Support them. They have a tough job. Thanks for all you do to make this a great company.
|
 |
|