Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/791382
54 • March 2017 www.concreteproducts.com FEATURE SHOW REPORT A 20-mile drive from the geographic midpoint of the United States, Smith Center, Kan., is home to new operator Fusion Concrete Prod- ucts, founded by a construction-wise father and son team, Dale and John Franklin. The decision to enter the ready mixed business, "was about more than just investing in a concrete plant. It was about investing in the community," says John Franklin, a hard-working entrepreneur who has grown a contracting business by doing a wide variety of work. "You have to be able to work at lots of different things in a town this small." When contemplating concrete production, the Franklins had the opportunity to buy out a local company with three aging, but func- tional ready mixed plants, but attended the 2016 World of Concrete, where CEI Enterprises unveiled the Fusion Hybrid-Process Ready Mix Plant. The model combines precision aggregate blending with traditional cement metering, which augments mix consistency and optimizes cementitious materials dosages The heart of the Fusion is a series of in-line bins that hold mul- tiple sizes of coarse and fine aggregate. Each bin releases to its own dedicated feed conveyor, fitted with its own belt scale for accurate sand, gravel or stone monitoring quantities in real time. Feed convey - ors release to a collecting conveyor that runs underneath. Aggregates are precisely blended in ribboned layers before they enter the mixer drum. An absence of clamshell gates and air solenoid valves contrib- utes to the plant's low maintenance design. A fall 2016 visit to CEI's Albuquerque, N.M., plant, where the premier Fusion Hybrid-Process model was staged for demonstrations, convinced the Franklins to invest in new equipment versus incurring the repair and maintenance costs for the aging plants back in Kansas. — CEI Enterprises, 800/545-4034; www.ceienterprises.com Booth C30332 Aggregate blending method elevates transit mixed concrete consistency Committed to rural Kansas, the Franklin family deployed the first Fusion Hybrid-Process Ready Mix Plant, naming its new venture Fu- sion Concrete Products. CEI Enterprises applies aggregate blending technology from its as- phalt production equipment to the Fusion Hybrid, whose PLC con- trols simplify equipment operation. Precision blended aggregate grades are conveyed in ribboned layers to the mixer drum.