A W 2000 acquired at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2005 in Las Vegas is powering the growth of a new cold milling contractor in Utah and represents the first Wirtgen machine to be based in that state.
The contractor has been relying on its W 2000 since spring and likes what it sees. “It’s a very impressive machine,” said Stacy Jones, owner of Construction Material Recycling Inc. (CMR), South Jordan, Utah. “Looking at the W 2000 physically, you can tell its construction is simply of a higher quality than our other makes.” CMR was so pleased with the W 2000 that it bought a W 1200 F/T immediately afterward. The W 2000 and W 1200 F/T are among six cold milling machines owned by CMR but are the ones that get most of the call.
CMR does airport and highway work, but its main focus is on municipal and county streets.
“We do trench work with our W 1200, so we don’t just do milling but are marketing our services as excavators,” Jones said. “Instead of costly, time-consuming saw cutting, we can trench the road for you. Saw cutting requires cutting, then you have to tear out the trench with a backhoe. We’re taking it out with the mill in one pass down to 12 in., and the resulting patch shows two straight lines, not crooked lines where the backhoe worked.”
“Our Wirtgens save the contractor time,” said Cody Thorn, project manager and estimator for CMR. “Time is one of the most valuable things in this industry. Every project that we have bid on with the Wirtgens we seem to finish ahead of schedule. Nobody wants the work extended for three weeks when it can be done in one week, making people happy. And the after-product looks great.”
CMR will use both Wirtgen machines for trenching, depending on the width of the trench. It acquired the W 1200 F/T with the Flexible Cutter System, which permits operators to change drums of different working widths—with tool holders fitted—in less than four hours, on the jobsite if necessary.
“The cutter drum does a really, really clean job in picking up the material, which all our clients like,” Thorn said. “As a result we don’t have to worry about the brooming quite as much. And you can adjust the speed of the conveyor belt to push more material out or slow it down, depending on the distance to the truck.
“We now can do cleanup in-house, and instead of spending four or eight hours out on a job sweeping, we can cut that time in half, which equates to personnel savings,” Thorn said.
Wirtgen’s electronic control system also is aiding CMR’s productivity early on. “It makes the asphalt layout contractor look better when they’re through with what they’re doing, because it’s right on the money,” Jones said. “It gives them the smooth base and crown that they need for a smooth pavement. Last week we had a new general contractor come to our door and say, ‘You guys are awesome,’ and that our work had made his crew more productive. Everything about the machine has worked really well for us.”
