Considering today's concentration of plant capacity among a few major players, it is difficult to envision a concrete product category that has seen shorter infancy and faster maturity periods in U.S. market development than paving stones and segmental retaining wall (SRW) units. But as big producers keep getting bigger - growing their hardscape unit operations through retail distribution and contractor sales - niches in specialty pavers and retaining wall block seem to widen.

Few independents can underscore this market dynamic better than Hessit Works Inc. The Freedom, Ind., producer was founded in 1988, when U.S. producers were following their Canadian counterparts' lead by carving out a new concrete masonry segment. After operating a stationary machine for five years, Hessit Works switched to a Zenith Multilayer-Traveler 940S. A second such machine was installed opposite the original in a new 25,000-sq.-ft. enclosure earlier this year.

"We have always focused on color variations and specialty blends, which the travelers can handle better than stationary units," notes Hessit Works partner Idella Naether. "Capacity had been oversold - and workdays stretched beyond 12 hours - for three years when we decided to expand to two machines."

Her husband Friedrich, the second of three company partners, came to the U.S. in 1983, operating a saw mill on the present 22-acre Freedom site. Unlike some of his contemporaries who became paving stone and SRW believers only after seeing the Canadian market development example, Friedrich Naether knew concrete hardscape units' strong potential first hand from experience with his family's business - Hessit Werke GmbH - in Germany.

Although located more than an hour from a major population center (Indianapolis), Hessit Works enjoys distribution from Ohio to Missouri. The company's product line features 19 shapes, including licensed SF-Rima and two other profiles proprietary to Hessit Works, Comet and Charisma, in 31 standard colors.