It became clear over the last five years that the need for hollowcore concrete products was growing in the markets serviced by Lincoln, Neb.-based Concrete Industries, Inc. Since the company's Flexicore system, built in 1968 and confined to 2-ft.-wide planks, wasn't exactly being reinvented for the new century and area competition for hollowcore business was ramping up from as far away as Minnesota and Iowa, Concrete Industries' leadership decided it was time to find a system that best suited them.

“We definitely wanted to stay in the hollowcore business,” says company vice president/general manager Mark Lafferty, P.E. “We studied cost of manufacturing and ownership and discovered the slipform method is least expensive.”

Concrete Industries chose hollowcore equipment from Belgium's Echo Engineering — represented in North America by Wisconsin-based CTI Inc. — thanks in large part to its flexibility and ease of use. “It was the easiest to put in block-outs and plates, omit tubes, and change product heights” explains Lafferty. What sealed the deal in deciding upon the Echo hollowcore system was a visit by Concrete Industries President Robert Nordquist and a group of personnel last year to De-Am-Rom Building Systems in Owensboro, Ky., which was using the same system.

The company was impressed that Echo sold equipment to cut out openings in the hollowcore panels. “We were interested in doing more than just a standard 4-ft. piece of hollowcore, and this system has that flexibility,” he says.

Concrete Industries decided not just to purchase new hollowcore equipment but also to build an entirely new structure in which to house the line. With a new batching system already in the works, the across-the-board upgrade made sense. The 450-ft. × 60-ft. facility that houses the Echo line and a bridge product line took a little over one year to build and began production in April 2005. “We had to decide whether we wanted our main panel product line to be 4 or 8 ft., but with floor and roof panels, 4 ft. makes the most sense,” explains Lafferty. “We couldn't believe the difference with the Echo system, going from 2 ft. [with the Flexicore system] to 4 ft.”

The new operation includes three, 300-ft. × 4-ft. wide beds that can produce 8-, 10-, and 12-in. hollowcore; the option to purchase a core for 16-in. panels is also offered. “We like that we can make three sizes with one machine, and it only takes about one hour to change sizes,” Lafferty says. An aspirator sucks concrete out of the forms with a nozzle to form block outs and access plates. “This is a big selling point for us,” he adds.

A hot-water curing system — purchased through Echo — runs under the beds, although Lafferty estimates that eight months out of the year, the company won't have to use additional heat because the beds and tarps are insulated.

LIFTING EXPERIENCE

In addition to hollowcore, Concrete Industries also fabricates parking garage components and insulated flat wall panels. Lafferty says that the markets the company serves have also seen an uptick in sales to office buildings (usually three- to four-stories tall); hospitals; water treatment facilities; and residences, primarily in floors to extend basements under garages or basements in which people want to eliminate any partitions.

Flat slab wall panels are lifted by a 26-ton-capacity, rotating Aerolift flat vacuum lifting device, which picks the panel products from the mold with vacuum and rotates them 90° onto their sides for shipping or storage. Concrete Industries is the only precaster in the country to use vacuum lifts to do this.

Lafferty is quick to point out that the company does not keep any stock in its vast yard. “All of it is sold product,” he explains. What's even more remarkable is that the entire facility is build upon concrete pavement, which results in less dust and makes clean up much easier. “We have a single street sweeper to clean the grounds, but he's always moving.”

From its humble beginnings when General Steel (formed in 1929) and Inland Concrete (1955) merged and created Concrete Industries in 1982, the company actually consists of four interrelated businesses, all on the same vast property. In addition to the structural precast business, the one-stop shop operator has a concrete pipe plant, a rebar fabrication business and a construction materials warehouse. Sister companies (all under parent NEBCO Inc.) also are involved in block, asphalt, ready mixed (through Ready Mix Concrete of Lincoln, which has four plants around the city), highway construction, fly ash, highway protection barriers, construction signage, sand & gravel (Western Sand & Gravel), limestone (Kerford Limestone Co.), and even insurance and liability for contractors. Sixty mixer trucks operate out of the Lincoln locations, plus a fleet of product delivery trucks.

“The company has always been interested in working with people who want to build a legacy for themselves,” explains Lafferty. “That goes for employees, partners and customers; we like working with those types of people.”