News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 19, 2008

Contacts:
Owen Blevins, 888-378-6212
Ken Stadden, 888-378-6241

NEW PLANT AT ROHRER’S QUARRY FEATURES FIRST U.S. HORIZONTAL REVERSING MIXER

Lititz, PA –Mid Atlantic Concrete Equipment announces the startup by Rohrer’s Quarry, Inc. of its new state-of-the-art central mix concrete plant.  The plant, a CON-E-CO SLP-GS-HRM*, is a gravity-fed design featuring the first production example of CON-E-CO’s newly designed HRM-12 horizontal reversing mixer. The entire plant is fully enclosed in a steel building designed and erected by Horst Construction.

Located southeast of Lititz, PA, the new plant represents the culmination of a dream for the Rohrer family. After decades of producing ready-mix concrete for customers in central and western Lancaster County, the family-owned business decided to replace an aging dry batch plant to increase volume and quality and to provide new products such as pervious concrete and roller compacted concrete.

Selecting CON-E-CO as their plant manufacturer, the Rohrers were delighted to learn that the company was about to release its first-ever horizontal reversing mixer. This allowed the Rohrers to deal with one supplier for both mixer and plant. Prior to learning about the new HRM-12, they had been considering a Canadian-made horizontal mixer. CON-E-CO is the only U.S. manufacturer of HRM-style mixers.

Rohrer’s Quarry won the race to put the first CON-E-CO HRM-12 mixer in regular operation. (Ralph Clayton & Sons, Tinton Falls, NJ, is close behind with a second HRM-12.) Featuring a cylindrical barrel revolving on rubber tires, the HRM-12 reverses direction to discharge concrete. The simple, sturdy design has no hydraulic tilt mechanism, gears or pinions to wear out.

“We’re as pleased as we can be” says President and CEO Wilbur Rohrer. “We’re already seeing cycle times cut in half over the old plant, and customers are saying good things about the product.”

An added challenge was posed during construction as the new plant was erected around an existing dry-batch plant, which backs up against a quarry wall. Rohrer’s fleet of concrete mixers drove beneath the new plant to receive their loads, and there was no interruption of service to customers.

Erection began in January 2008, and the first test batches were run in early July. A grand opening for customers, suppliers and media is planned for Friday, September 26.

Funding for the multi-million dollar project comes from a tax-free bond issue, a strategy which lowered financing costs significantly. “The IRS allows income tax-free bond financing to encourage manufacturing-related jobs,” says Rohrer’s Controller Tom Kifolo. “The investor who purchases the bond pays no income taxes, and Rohrer’s will save 1 to 1.25 percentage points in interest compared to a conventional bank loan” 

Mid Atlantic Concrete Equipment brought on Lancaster, PA-based Horst Construction as project manager. Horst designed and erected the plant’s enclosing building to protect area residents from noise and dust, and to shield the plant and personnel from the elements.

Equipment supplied to Rohrer’s by Mid Atlantic Concrete Equipment includes:

• A network of 10 Bosch day/night, high-resolution color IP cameras for plant observation and security, sending images to twin wall-mounted 46-inch LCD monitors.
• A steel-framed building fully enclosing the plant to address fugitive dust and noise.
• A spacious, air-conditioned batching control room, a driver lounge, kitchen, locker rooms, and offices.
• Three 200-ton cement silos and 340 tons of aggregate capacity divided into six equal compartments.
• A 430-foot vertical curve conveyor originating beneath six 12' x 15' receiving hoppers set into a below-grade concrete bunker.
• A Command Batch  computerized batch control system, by Command Alkon.
• A BIN-MATE material handling system controller by ATECH Industrial Electronics
• Two 15,000 gallon Infern-O-Therm water tanks fed by clean-burn waste oil heaters

*CON-E-CO = Concrete Equipment Company;
  SLP = Stationary Low Profile;
  GS = Gravity Style;
  HRM = Horizontal Reversing Mixer

Background
Serving concrete producers since 1986, Mid Atlantic Concrete Equipment, Inc. specializes in selling and servicing concrete batch plants, automatic controls, dust control systems and water heating and cooling equipment. Founder Jay Robinson has over 30 years of experience in the concrete business, having worked as vice president and general manager of a medium-sized precast concrete manufacturing firm for five years before starting his own company and becoming a CON-E-CO dealer. Vice President Owen Blevins joined the company in 2005 and is a driving force behind the company’s expansion. Serving concrete producers in 13 states from Maine to Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, the company maintains headquarters in Lititz, PA, and branch offices in Narvon, PA and West Danville, VT. For additional information, please visit www.maconcrete.com.

Celebrating its 50th year in business in 2007, CON-E-CO, an Oshkosh Corporation Company, designs and builds the industry’s highest quality mobile, portable and stationary concrete batch plants. Employing 340, the company maintains headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Blair, Nebraska, as well as three other manufacturing facilities in neighboring states and one outside Mexico City.