When Ed Theut Jr. told friends about a new ready mixed plant along Michigan M-53, some responded, “Where?” Considering the plant lies at the front of the 22-acre Theut Products Inc. flagship property in Romeo, Mich., he can consider the question as mission accomplished.

“Our company has been here a long time and is well known in the area,” says Theut. “By building something other than a typical concrete plant on a high-profile site, we have improved our image and made the location more inviting to visitors.

“The new plant is our latest investment aimed at better production and service. Customers have told us about the quality and consistency in material from new central mixed equipment. This plant is also a tool to show customers what can be built with cast-in-place concrete and concrete or clay masonry.”

Product merchandising at the headquarters, he adds, ranges from colored, pattern-stamped or exposed-aggregate pavement surrounding a new building for the batch plant operator, drivers and quality control staff; split-face concrete masonry along the batch plant enclosure's 32-ft.-high base; a brick garage for mixer parking in winter; and, large (2,400-lb.) textured retaining wall block along truck ramps and the bank of a half-acre pond. Future work at the site will include construction of a waterfall over the block along the bank, funneling settled water from collection vessels ahead of the plant alley.

Romeo is one of seven Theut Products sites on the Detroit periphery, six of them combining ready mixed production with a masonry supply yard. In addition to gray and architectural units from the company's block plant, adjacent to the Romeo ready mixed operation, the yards distribute Owens Corning Cultured Stone veneer; concrete landscaping units; and clay brick. Theut Products also owns a sand and gravel operation in Yale, Mich., which supplies some of the concrete plants. The company is one of a handful of Michigan's remaining medium-sized (50-100 trucks), independent operators.

LAND OPTIMIZATION

The new plant at Romeo is a twin central and transit mixed alley, replacing a 1960s-vintage dry plant. The Theut family acquired the equipment and property in 1973 from Maas Concrete, and added a concrete block line in 1976. Built on land adjacent to the original transit mixed structure, the new plant surrounds a plot leased for a cellular communications tower with a modular equipment building.

Despite what might seem like an abundance of land, Ed Theut Jr. had very little space to work with in the new plant footprint. The key to keeping the height down was a design without overhead aggregate storage. Following the lead of two other Michigan producers — Grand Rapids Gravel and Bay Aggregate — who have commissioned twin alley, wet/dry plants in the past few years, Theut Products opted for a reverse drum mixer. The unit has fast central mixed capability, or can be bypassed for transit mixed operation — an option especially suited to slower winter periods.

Ontario-based Inventure Systems engineered the batch plant footprint beginning with a drive-over grizzly and five 100-ton underground aggregate bins, each feeding a weigh hopper. Aggregates are then dispensed to a belt conveyor that directly charges the mixer. Cement, fly ash and GGBF slag are gravity fed, respectively, from twin 176-ton and two 85-ton square silos. The 12-yd. mixer runs on two roller tracks and turns with power from four motors; following the mixing cycle, the drum is reversed, with fins configured to convey fresh concrete to a charging hopper. The equipment requires less maintenance and structure than a conventional tilting drum mixer.

Business in Romeo, which lies about 40 miles from Detroit, has grown steadily with continued residential development north of the city. Theut Products reports that the plant has seen 10-20 percent annual growth during the past four years. The company is preparing Romeo to host the Michigan Bricklayer 500 competition, sponsored by SpecMix, whose silo units are among Theut Products' masonry related offerings. With the headquarters operation substantially completed, the company has turned to another investment involving the construction of a similar twin alley batch plant at Chesterfield, closer to Detroit.