Evendale, Ohio-based Tru Wall Concrete Inc. is a commercial contractor best known in the Cincinnati market for cast-in-place methods. With backing from additional investors, Tru Wall's owners are now hedging their bets on future wall and floor construction trends by diversifying into prestressed hollow core production. They launched Ohio Valley Precast LLC (OVP) last summer with an initial thrust on 8-, 10- and 12-in.-thick floor plank offerings.

“We have built a plant for low cost production in a market with no 4-ft. casting beds,” notes OVP President Stan Carlson, who is also chief financial officer of Tru Wall Concrete and one of its partners. After eight months in operation, he adds, OVP has gotten its feet wet; completed an initial audit under the PCI Plant Certification process; filled an order log to carry through late summer 2002; and is poised to “dig in and go.”

Ohio Valley's four-member charter sales team has thus far landed a handful of large plank orders, including ones for a Richmond, Ind., prison; Buckhead's Restaurant in Bellevue, Ky., and the Stanley J. Aronoff Laboratory of Biological Sciences at Ohio State University, Columbus. Sales representative Walt Sandy notes that with contracts secured on other big educational and institutional jobs, he and his colleagues are able to pursue smaller orders to fill in production slots. The objective early on has been to promote the economy and versatility of 4-ft. planks among construction professionals and facility owners across the Ohio River valley.

Brightening a brownfield

OVP occupies two 100- × 400-ft. bays at the Tri-State Industrial Center in Fairfield, Ohio. Up through 1989, the 1.4 million-sq.-ft. center was General Motors' Fisher Body Plant, dedicated to stamping components for Chevy Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds — both of which are being discontinued after the 2002 model year.

The mammoth Tri-State facility appears tailor-made for prestressed production, with acres of potential outside storage and proximity to three main interstate highways — or interstate arteries — serving Ohio (Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus), Kentucky (Lexington, Louisville) and Indiana (Indianapolis) markets of 250,000-plus population. OVP is leasing a corner of the center with high crane (25- and 30-ton) bays and a trailer-loading lane adjacent to the casting beds. The configuration allows the batch plant to remain on the exterior, while feeding an overhead mix delivery bucket that travels on rail mounted to existing structural steel.

With four 400-ft.-long beds, company officials note that production in the initial bay is nearing an optimum level, setting the stage for 4-ft. and 8-ft. bed construction in the second bay later this year. The wider beds will enable OVP to offer conventional wall panels, along with its current floor and vertical (96 × 48 in.) wall plank.