The Concrete Corner - Summer Wrap Up

Welcome to The Concrete Corner! This (sometimes) monthly newsletter highlights 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 current on concrete news and trends throughout the Midwest and the United States. Hopefully, this will be mildly informative, and a little entertaining. However, just like the ready-mix concrete business, I offer no guarantees!

In this month’s The Concrete Corner newsletter presented by Girls on the Run:

• P&L Concrete

• Girls on the Run

• New Home in Sedalia

• Coca Cola in a Bottle  

• Cor-Tuf UHPC

P&L Concrete

We are thrilled to announce that Farmer’s West Division has acquired P&L Concrete in Escalon, CA. P&L Concrete is a well-established and respected ready-mix concrete company that has served California’s Central Valley region since 1979. Under the leadership of Folsom Ready Mix, Inc., P&L Concrete has seamlessly integrated into our operations, allowing us to enhance our reach south of Sacramento. P&L’s expertise in ready-mix concrete, precast septic tanks, and landscape materials will complement our existing offerings, creating new opportunities for growth and innovation.

Our expanded services now include the Cart-Away, a versatile concrete solution for smaller projects. This towable rotating concrete mixer has a 1 cubic yard capacity and offers flexibility with 5 or 6-sack mix designs using 3/4” minus rock.

For landscaping needs, we provide delivery options via dump truck, capable of transporting 1-5 cubic yards of rock material or 1-7 cubic yards of bark material. Small dump trailers are also available onsite to rent to transport our rock and bark material. These trailers can carry anywhere from ¼ to 1 cubic yard of rock material or ¼ to 2 cubic yards of bark material.

P&L’s locally manufactured septic tanks, engineered to meet ASTM standards, are available for residential and commercial applications, ensuring high-quality and compliant installations.

Girls on the Run

Girls on the Run is an empowering, research-based program designed for girls in grades 3-8 that combines physical activity with essential life skill development. The organization offers two main programs: Girls on the Run for 3rd-5th graders and Heart & Sole for 6th-8th graders. Trained volunteer coaches lead engaging lessons that blend running and other physical activities with valuable teachings on managing emotions, fostering friendships, expressing empathy, and building self-confidence. Throughout the season, participants work on team-building exercises, complete a Community Impact Project, and ultimately participate in a celebratory 5K event. This comprehensive approach aims to nurture the physical, social, and emotional well-being of young girls, helping them recognize their inner strength, develop positive relationships, and make meaningful contributions to their communities.

Ozark Ready Mix has teamed up with Girls on the Run in a pretty cool way. We’ve given two of our new concrete trucks a colorful makeover, painting them purple and yellow with the Girls on the Run logo. Now, as these trucks cruise around Kansas City delivering concrete, they’re also spreading the word about this awesome program for young girls. So, if you’re out and about in Kansas City, keep your eyes peeled for our new eye-catching trucks!

New Home in Sedalia

Fischer Concrete is thrilled to announce the relocation of our main plant to a new site northwest of Sedalia, MO off of Snow Road. This move positions us to significantly enhance our production capacity, enabling us to better serve our growing customer base, particularly for projects heading west. With two plants now operational at the Snow Road location, alongside our original plant on Clinton Road, we are well-equipped to manage varying workloads efficiently. This expansion not only streamlines our operations but also reinforces our commitment to meeting the demands of our customers with improved service and reliability.

The dual-plant seup allows for greater flexibility in production and logistics, ensuring that we can respond adequately to customer needs while maintaining high-quality standards. As we settle into our new location, we’re eager to see how this change will enhance our operations and contribute to our growth.

Coca Cola

We are on the downhill side of our project with Lithko Contracting for the Heartland Coca-Cola bottling facility in Olathe, KS. The first pour for the footings took place on September 6, 2023. Weather permitting, we anticipate wrapping up the project in September or October of this year. Our team has done an outstanding job, putting in long nights and early mornings to ensure the success of this massive facility. Lithko has proven to be fantastic partner throughout this project and we look forward to many more to come. Stay tuned for some cool drone footage once the project is completed!

Did you know…Fischer Concrete is utilizing a remarkable high-performance concrete mix for the I-70 Rocheport Bridge project, incorporating Cor-Tuf’s Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) technology. This exceptional mix is designed to achieve an impressive 20,000+ PSI strength at 28 days - more than five times stronger than a typical 4,000 PSI concrete mix. What makes this mix even more unique is the inclusion of gold steel fibers, a key component that contributes to its exceptional strength. These fibers are loaded by hand via conveyor into the back of the concrete truck after the initial mix is loaded. Each cubic yard of this high performing mix requires a whopping 265 pounds of steel fibers per yard of concrete. Additionally, Cor-Tuf’s UHPC technology allows for easy integration into standard contractor practices, making it pourable and pumpable which simplifies the construction process while maintaining the mix’s exceptional properties.

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

Kenny Jackson!