Management at Alleyton, Texas-based Southwest Concrete Products, L.P. (SCP) are firm believers in the old adage that timing is everything. In its five-year-plus history, this emerging concrete block and brick manufacturer has grown substantially amidst the uneven results reported by some of the region's larger players during this time.

In late 2000, SCP began production at its second block plant, a 29,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art facility in San Antonio. “It took a while to work out the bugs, so we didn't really get things where we wanted them until January 2001,” says Bob Whisnant, SCP's chief operating officer and co-founder along with Murphy Lents, president, and his brother John Lents, vice president of sales. “But the problems we had at start up with the new Besser technology were not that much different than the ones we had at our other plant in Alleyton.”

The San Antonio plant, located near the Sun Belt's main thoroughfare, Interstate 10, and just east of San Antonio's I-410 Loop, replaced an old, in-town operation that SCP took over following a June 1999 asset purchase from Alamo Cement Co. The greenfield Alleyton facility was opened about five months after SCP was founded, to serve Houston's concrete masonry market. The now-decommissioned Alamo property afforded a natural extension for the then-young company seeking a regional presence.

SCP serves masonry contractors engaged in building renovations, commercial projects and construction of schools and other large facilities. The company also produces foundation block products used for manufactured homes, along with utility bricks, retaining wall units and stepping stones. The Alleyton plant concentrates on gray product, while the San Antonio operation is geared to architectural and other value-added block, including split-faced, colored, UL-rated and high-performance units. “The education market continues to be one of our strongest sources of business,” says Murphy Lents. “About a year ago, several school districts in the San Antonio area passed large bond issues for schools, and much of that is being built now.”

First mover

Under a turnkey contract, SCP retained Besser/DeVere Joint Venture to build the San Antonio plant, which marked the debut of Besser's Autopac 1000, a four-at-a-time block machine engineered to expedite and automate height and mold changes. Besser also incorporated Jonel Engineering's Block Mate for batching and curing controls. “We've moved most of our custom block production to San Antonio as a result of having the Besser Autopac there,” says Whisnant. “We have about 30 mold changes per week, and the quick mold change device makes a big difference.”

“The ability to make a high number of mold changes per week was what we were aiming for with this plant,” adds John Lents. “For these quick mold and height changes, it's the only machine of its kind that allows us to do that. We're able to do the mold changes in about 10 minutes tops, as compared to one or two hours before. The machine is coming through for us as billed.

“There were two things the machine offers that I hadn't expected when we bought it: the cycle time is faster than I'd thought possible, so we're getting more block per hour; and the handling system and cubing system keeps up with the machine better than at the Alleyton plant. We have run up to 11 cycles per minute.”

Not long after startup, the San Antonio plant was running at full capacity with about 20 employees. “With an automated operation, you really don't need more than fork-lift drivers, office personnel, and a small number of well-trained people in the plant. Company-wide, the number of employees has increased about 50 percent since January 2001,” says Whisnant.

Moving product

Among SCP's San Antonio staff is a small but highly effective sales and promotional group. Besides the two regular salespeople, the company invested in a full-time marketing agent. John Lents explains, “We hired Manny Ramos whose primary job is to call on architects and engineers in the San Antonio area. It's made a huge difference, especially since we're relative newcomers in the marketplace. He has done a terrific job promoting our brand name and our custom-architectural products. He brings architects and other customers to the plant for tours, and they find it impressive to be in a modern facility with state-of-the-art machinery. The plant tours often count as continuing education for architects, and we've done a few box-lunch tours with entire firms. Meanwhile our sales team covers a 150-mile radius around San Antonio, and also south to Laredo and Eagle Pass.”

In addition, nearly every SCP employee participates in some type of performance incentive plan. “Our production people have a monthly bonus based on output, while our administrative people have a bonus based on the profitability of the company,” says Murphy Lents. “And of course, the sales guys get salary and commission. The incentives vary from job to job.”

With the abundance of construction in the south Texas area, it's not surprising that SCP management has already begun to consider additional expansion. “There's definitely room for growth in the market,” says Whisnant. “And not just in San Antonio, but all over Southern Texas. There's a tremendous amount of economic activity along the border, thanks to trade and imports/exports with Mexico. We've been busy since we opened this second plant. In the last year and a half, we've run about 2.5 million cycles on it.

“We are particularly excited about the potential for residential business for concrete block in Texas. Block has had a very small market share in the Texas residential market, but recently we have seen some block homes being built in the very high end and very low end of the market. Our climate in South Texas is similar to Florida's, and we think block homes could become as common here as they are there.”

SCP has also taken the road toward diversifying. John Lents explains, “We've started supplying block to a large hardware/lumberyard chain, and there's also quite a bit of foundation business right now. Most of our product is going to commercial construction products, but rather than just rely on contract business and schools, we made a conscious decision at the beginning of 2001 to vary our customer base.”

“We've got room to grow,” adds Murphy Lents. “We recently made some adjustments at the Alleyton plant, including adding a second cubing line, which increased capacity about 15 percent. At the San Antonio location, we don't have a large site, so if we were to add a plant there, we'd have to buy more real estate. In Alleyton, however, we've got 55 acres. We could put enough block machines there to meet any reasonable scenario. Our forecast is for a 2002 gross production of at least 22 million blocks between the two plants.”