The Concrete Corner - October

Welcome to The Concrete Corner! This is a monthly newsletter highlighting Ozark Ready Mix, Fischer Concrete Services, and all things concrete and concrete products. In this newsletter, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at our concrete operations, meet outstanding individuals and businesses, and stay up to date on concrete news and trends throughout the Midwest and the United States. Whether you are a contractor, homeowner, or just curious about concrete, this newsletter has something for you. Hopefully, this will be mildly informative, and a little entertaining. However, just like the ready-mix concrete business, we offer no guarantees!

This month’s The Concrete Corner newsletter is presented by Shumaker Industries

I’ll Take a Diet Coke – After a couple of weeks of setup and some weather delays, we had our first footing pour last month for the new 1 million square foot Heartland Coca-Cola manufacturing and distribution facility in Olathe, KS. This is ORM’s first portable plant project in the Kansas City area. This is also our first project utilizing our newest portable plant the Stephens Clydesdale! A special thanks to the guys with CMW Equipment for all of their help with the plant purchase, delivery, and set-up. We have teamed up with Lithko Contracting for this project. The work will span roughly a year and will include multiple footing, tilt-up, slab, and exterior paving pours, as well as a new wastewater treatment facility on site. It’s reassuring to know we’ll have Lithko’s experience and expertise in our corner.

Welcome to the Car Wash - We installed our first Load & Go Ready Mixed Truck Wash system at our Olathe, KS location. After receiving the final stamp of approval from the local utility company, electrician, etc., Shumaker’s team was full steam ahead and had this up and running in just a couple of days! It takes our trucks less than 60 seconds for a complete washdown. Not only are we saving time and water during the wash-down process, but our trucks also come out looking spotless! We can’t thank the Shumaker team enough for their fantastic product and all their help with getting this up and running. One thing is for certain, it will not be our last Load & Go system!

Down by the River - We wrapped up the first phase of the new Rocheport Bridge on I-70 over the Missouri River earlier this summer. This has been one of our more challenging locations and projects to deliver our concrete to. We couldn’t have done so without the help of our partner Lunda Construction! For many of the pours, we have had to barge fully loaded-trucks down the river just to place the concrete. A handful of pours have needed a 25,000 PSI mix. That’s a lot of cement! We have completed a significant amount of MoDOT bridge and infrastructure work over the years, but nothing quite to this scale. MoDOT seems to be moving in the right direction. Federal grants, state infrastructure bonding, motor fuel tax revenue, and funding from the state’s general fund will help spur the much-needed improvement of Missouri’s current and future infrastructure needs. Fischer Concrete will continue to do our best to service these MoDOT projects throughout central and northern Missouri.

The Music City Rodeo - Michael Twehus (Jefferson City), Dennis Leo (KC-MO), and Curtis Dodd (Olathe, KS) all competed in the NRMCA 17^th Annual National Mixer Driver Championship in Nashville, TN! Over 100 of the best-of-the-best concrete delivery professionals from across the US showed up to compete this year. The competition included a written exam, pre-trip inspection, ticket inspection, and a behind-the-wheel driving and skills course. Congratulations to Michael, Dennis, and Curtis on their outstanding performances! If you see them on a job site or around the plants, give them a high five for a job well done. Next year’s championship will take place in Aurora, CO.

Did you know…It’s almost cold weather concrete season. What does that mean? In cold weather, for us to achieve normal setting times and strength gains, we will need to use hot water to get the concrete to a desirable temperature range (50°-70° F). For our customers, our “winter service charges” or “hot water” will begin November 1^st and run through April 1, 2024. Additionally, as most of you know, accelerating admixtures, concrete blankets, and if possible, windbreaks are your friend this time of year!

See you next month for another peek behind the concrete curtain!

Kenny Jackson