Pennsylvania producer steps up Prestressed remains at the forefront of concrete market segments through which new material and fabrication technologies are most easily transferred downstream - to contractors, developers and building owners. Such positioning is owed to producers like High Concrete Structures, Inc., which has added advanced structural and architectural lines and advanced production equipment to its Denver, Pa., operation.

"Our company is better positioned to respond to growing customer demand and shrinking lead times on fast-track projects," notes Vice President of Operations Doug Lorah. "The key challenge for a company in a growth mode in a strong business cycle is to maintain quality. That way, during a business slowdown, we can keep the customers we have."

During a recent plant tour, Concrete Products saw first hand how High Concrete continues to solidify its Mid-Atlantic market position in parking structures and architectural precast through capital investment and product development. On the concrete side, the company has become an early subscriber - among precaster ranks - of high intensity, twin shaft mixers. Its new batch plant has two Simem twin shaft models, along with 12 aggregate bins, including eight for architectural product mixes. The mixers and bins are each equipped with Hydronix microwave moisture control technology to impart greater mix consistency and cement optimization. After fine-tuning the mixers and raw-material handling systems, and integrating them and the moisture sensors into a new controls package, High Concrete is now installing a custom liquid-color dispensing system incorporating diaphragm-type pumps.

As new batch equipment enables hourly output up to 150 yd., plant crews are experimenting with self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixes in structural and architectural members. The mixes incorporate third generation-type superplasticizers along with carefully graded aggregate; they typically require little if any vibration. Thus far, High Concrete has found SCC to yield prestressed double tees with very smooth surfaces and minimal bugholes, and exposed-aggregate architectural panels with extremely uniform matrix characteristics.

Testing with SCC and the batch plant commissioning earlier this year coincided with the opening of a 52,000-sq.-ft. architectural product building. It followed a 1997 opening of a structural product building with one 12-ft. and three 15-ft. wide double tee casting beds. High Concrete's 15-ft. members, dubbed Mega Tees, were introduced four years ago and have become staple offerings in the company's parking structure business.

Moving into 2001, High Concrete plans to level very dated office and shop space to make room for a new three-story structure for plant management and crews. Over the 1997 to 2002 period, the company anticipates a production climb to about 300,000+ tons of annual output, with plant payroll rising from 225 to nearly 350.