Western Mobile Southern, formerly Broderick & Gibbons, with offices in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, is a supplier of construction materials in southern Colorado. To answer the needs of this growing region, the company completed an asphalt plant upgrade, which has greatly improved material output, as well as the quality of material.
The company anticipated this regional growth and were ready for it when it happened. Mike Hurley, southern area manager explains, "Western Mobile recognized Pueblo's growth potential five years ago and planned to expand our asphalt operations to meet future needs. Now that Pueblo is growing, we are ready and able to provide an important resource."
Rusty Cochran, Pueblo asphalt superintendent adds, "In essence, we bought a saddle with the hope that someday we would get the horse."
And the horse has arrived, in the form of one of the largest asphalt jobs to date in Pueblo--a 6.5-mile stretch of I-25. The job involves milling off the old surface and laying down a new one. The work is being done at night and has a completion date of October. It is estimated that this project will use 60,000 tons of asphalt, a fitting job for breaking in the new plant.
While this is the company's largest current job they remain involved in numerous overlay, subdivision and commercial projects.
The plant
The new rotary mixer, supplied by Gentec, Louisville, Ky., is the final addition in a five-year plan to upgrade a 1953 batch plant. Hurley explains, "We started out by moving the under-ground feedbin, and the oil tanks were moved above ground and replaced with new, larger tanks. We added silo capacity and a load-out scale system under the silo. Then we added the recycle capabilities and now we added the mixer." The new drum mixer replaces the batching tower. The drier and baghouse have been retained.
Planning, and updating the new plant was an employee effort. "We had a picture of the perfect plant, and what this plant could be, and our employees stepped up and made the project happen," states Cochran.
The new rotary mixer, which took three months to install, is environmentally friendly, and computer-automated. The company has reported that the new computer system has increased loading efficiency and improved the comfort level of the mixing operator.
To familiarize and prepare its personnel for working with the new system several plant employees were given computer training.
"Western Mobile is committed to training our employees to work in a more computer-operated environment," says Hurley. "This has become a very technical industry during the past 10 years and training our employees to operate these new automated systems benefits the employees, the company and all the communities we serve."
To help run the new operations the work force was increased by five jobs to a total of 50 employees.
Environmentally friendly
The new facilities have improved the company's ability to be an environmentally responsible asphalt supplier. With this upgrade the company now boasts owning the only asphalt plant in Pueblo with recycling capabilities. Approximately 30% of the asphalt produced by the company contains recycled asphalt, saving more than 25,000 tons of asphalt per year from going to local landfills. Additionally, according to Western Mobile, the upgraded plant nearly eliminates dust and smoke emissions because of a 30% reduction in transfer points, areas where raw materials are transferred during processing.
The new plant has allowed the company to cope with the increased construction activity in the region. "It helped double the production capabilities. We went from approximately 160 tph to 300 tph. It also gave us the capability to handle different types of mixes, and gave us the ability to run a night job and a day job," states Hurley.
