Heldenfels Enterprises Inc. (HEI) is among Texas precast, prestressed producers that rode a strong Great Recession recovery, then positioned its human and plant capital for even healthier public and private construction market activity after 2020. Based at an 85-acre San Marcos site along Interstate 35, HEI is uniquely equipped to serve segments accounting for the bulk of the state’s structural precast deliveries: Highway and Bridge, Marine, Industrial, Sports and Entertainment, plus Commercial Building.
Third and fourth generation Heldenfels family investments in San Marcos headquarters and Corpus Christi legacy plants during the 1980s and 1990s sealed the producer’s Lone Star State market leadership potential. Underlying routine or major contract successes since consolidation of plant facilities are seasoned production teams whose dedicated members uphold HEI’s “core values of integrity and innovation” in nonresidential building and heavy/civil construction. Their skills and craftsmanship are evident in projects from the Dallas Cowboys home, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and Texas A&M University’s Kyle Field to the SH 99 Grand Parkway toll road outside Houston and Tesla Gigafactory near Austin.
“The senior leadership in the plant has over 50 years of combined experience in precast, prestressed concrete,” says HEI Operations Manager Jake Maier. “They possess a constant will to adapt and succeed with each new job. Their approach is a testament to each individual’s personal investment in every project Heldenfels is part of. When it comes to a competitive advantage, I believe our people are it. We would not be where we are today without them.”
Nearing 2020, HEI production teams were poised for record or near-record industrial building contracts fueled by a semiconductor and electronics manufacturing renaissance, concentrated in the central Texas Capital Region. Such activity has helped the Lone Star State grow to represent 10 percent of U.S. economic output.
At the outset of the decade, volume and schedule demands tied to projects with millions of square feet under roof compelled HEI to double San Marcos plant mix production capacity. The investment would reduce concrete delivery cycles across a vast girder, panel, column and flatwork expanse. It would likewise add new backup capability respecting the tight timetables of design-build contractors or industrial facility owners for whom speed is the prevailing cost variable in a nine- or 10-figure project budget. Further validating the decision to raise mix capacity are the additional volume demands and ever-increasing quality standards emanating from public or private projects with funds from the 2021-2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Chips and Science Act.
SHORTENED CYCLES
HEI enlisted EquipPro Distributors of New Braunfels, Texas and sister company PA-PO Industrial Systems to design, fabricate, and install a second batch plant alongside an existing workhorse whose ribbon and twin shaft mixers showed their age. Under normal operating conditions, the old batch plant turned 4 yd. loads for Tuckerbilt delivery vehicles in seven minutes.
The new batch plant was completed in 2022, anchored by a 6-yd., EquipPro-customized Sicoma twin shaft mixer and patented MixRig mixer structure. The machine cuts production and loading cycles to under five minutes utilizing a two-stage mixing process—new in the case of Texas Department of Transportation contracts. EquipPro engineers tailored the plant around three new 75-ton Meridian silos, whose compartments facilitate Type I/II and Type III portland cement, Class F fly ash, plus other prospective binders. All pneumatic fill piping is fit with HammerTek cast vortex bends, allowing semi-dense refill from three horizontal vessels at higher rates of densified cementitious materials. To expedite delivery to the twin shaft mixer, engineers opted for high-speed, large diameter screw conveyors with direct drives located on the discharge end feeding a weighing system fit with compression load cells for superior resolution.
“Success in building a batch plant relies on the synergy between both parties, where trust, communication, and a shared vision create the foundation for innovation,” says HEI Ancillary Services Manager Raul Armedariz, who oversaw the work with PA-PO and EquipPro. “Together, we unite our expertise and resources, ensuring that each step, from design to execution, is aligned with precision, commitment, and mutual respect.”
“The new batch plant is easier to operate. From loading to mixing the materials, concrete output has become faster and more efficient,” adds Superintendent Octavio Ruiz. “The structure itself is also high quality. The EquipPro team was very reliable and always provided great communication.”
A focus on cementitious material inventory in batch plant configuration reflects private project customers’ increasing tendency to prescriptive and proprietary mix designs, especially where carbon metrics are concerned. Downstream construction parties’ greater concrete production scrutiny—thorough batch plant inspections in some instances—also drove EquipPro’s customization of dust control and maintenance features. The firm positioned higher capacity, top-mounted WAM dust collectors for all silos and utilized a large, fan aspirated scavenger atop the aggregate in-feed conveyor discharge directly in front of the mixer. The configuration creates an air curtain pulling mostly fresh air up the conveyor and allows the collector to foil any measurable dust outcome from the mixer.
EquipPro performed concrete, structural and millwright work plus commissioning as turnkey. HEI took on the electrical subcontract, rental machinery, and shared project management role. The result: a fast-track batch plant. The productivity and quality factors attributable to the new batch plant drove HEI’s decision to tap EquipPro and PA-PO Industrial for a 2023-2024 overhaul of the original batch plant. EquipPro fabricated an entirely new low-profile Euro-style—but heavier duty—galvanized modular batch plant and mixer mezzanine. The bin set utilizes a reversing belt on VFD for material purging and is equipped with premium ceramic head pully lagging due to the moistened limestone aggregate typifying HEI mix designs.
Installation of a second customized Sicoma mixer, WAM dust collector group, level indicators, actuation valving and high-speed screw conveyors helped HEI bring the legacy batch plant and four silos up to performance and matching their new twins. Both plants run on Command Alkon’s COMMANDbatch CP control platform.
MOMENTOUS MARKET
The HEI headquarters lies amid a Texas corridor whose rich limestone deposits support five cement plants in a 35-mile radius: Alamo Cement, the producer’s primary Type III supplier, and Capitol Cement, both San Antonio; Cemex USA, New Braunfels; Texas Lehigh Cement, Buda; and, Ash Grove Cement, Hunter. The San Marcos precast, prestressed yard is also strategic to Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston plus Austin and the Capital Region. They represent the three largest markets in a state nearing 20 consecutive years as tops for population growth—a trend most immediately indicated in 2023 single- and multi-family housing starts exceeding 230,000.
Texas Department of Transportation and Texas Economic Guide figures show the depth of market drivers and prospects awaiting producers like HEI and their public and private construction customers. A July 2024 report, Connecting Texas 2050, projects TexDOT annual funding eclipsing $20 billion within two years and increasing about $1 billion annually through midcentury. In addition to federal funding and state motor fuel tax receipts, the agency enjoys more than $4 billion annually from general state and energy royalty funds.
Deep transportation coffers help fund projects like I-35 NEX, a $2.5 billion undertaking to add elevated lanes throughout San Antonio’s main north-south artery. For starters, joint venture design-build contractor Alamo NEX Construction LLC has awarded HEI a contract for 2,782 TX girders, totaling 392,000 lineal feet. Subsequent phases over a six- or seven-year window will spur voluminous prestressed concrete orders.
Alongside a very healthy transportation log for at least the remainder of the decade, the Texas nonresidential building market bears on its own rock-solid footing. Current or near-term technology, semiconductor and other electronics manufacturing project commitments total upward of $100 billion. About half of that figure entails 25 facilities, each valued at $250 million or more and announced in one 12-month period alone.
The most telling demand and output indicator for HEI and its peers in manufactured or ready mixed concrete is Texas’ portland and blended cement consumption over the 20-2023 window, climbing from 14.9 million to 19 million metric tons by U.S. Geological Survey records.
