Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/472327
Severe Service 40 | Overdrive | March 2015 Tex-Mix Concrete got its start in 1996, and during the last two decades, the family-owned and -operated outfit has grown by supplying ready-mix concrete for residential, commercial, industrial and government projects in and around Austin, Texas. "Ready-mix concrete is a very local business," says Logan Owens, chief executive officer of Tex-Mix. "It's a perishable product where all of the materials that we use are sourced in very close proximity to the plant." The company's 88 mixer trucks are a common sight along I-35 and State Route 130, delivering Texas Department of Transportation- and city-approved mixes for construc- tion projects from seven plants. The company has two new concrete plants under construction to keep up with demand. James LaRue, Tex-Mix fleet main- tenance manager, says the Freightliner 114SD spec'd with the Detroit DD13 engine results in a durable vocational truck that technicians appreciate for its ease of maintenance, while drivers like its visibility and comfort. The Detroit Virtual Technician onboard diagnostic telematics system helps LaRue stay on top of things. In ready-mix, if a truck breaks down and the driver is unable to keep the load active, it will set. When that happens, not only is the cost of the concrete lost, but also another $3,500 or more to have the drum chipped out and three to seven days of downtime. "If it's a minor issue, the driver can keep running," LaRue says. "I don't have to take the truck out of service. If it's a major issue like when we had a coolant hose fail- ure, I get the e-mail right away." Freightliner Trucks, FreightlinerTrucks.com View a Freightliner-produced video about Tex-Mix's ready- mix business in the October 2014 edition of the online Severe Duty Report newslet- ter at FreightlinerTrucks. com. To pull the video up on your mobile device, scan the QR. With a fleet of 65 Kenworth C500s, ATK Oilfield Transporta- tion provides oil rig moving ser- vices throughout Western Canada and Texas. ATK was launched in 2010 with then-new C500s that remain "most critical to our business," says Les Ovelson, ATK chief operating officer. The trucks have 430-inch wheelbases and are outfitted with a large, long bed used to dismantle drilling rigs. ATK specs its largest-bed C500s with tandem-steer and -drive axles, Cummins ISX15 600-hp engines, Allison automatic transmissions and four-speed auxiliaries. Steer axles are Dana's 22,000-pound-capacity axles, while 90,000-pound Kessler axles support the rear. The company uses winch trac- tors to pick up heavy loads and "travel up and down the highway taking rigs from point A to point B," Ovelson says. "We'll keep those trucks maybe five years before we trade them." Kenworth Truck Co., Kenworth.com The Kenworth C500's straight frame rail runs "to the very front of the truck," says ATK's Les Ovelson. "When we get stuck in the mud with 230,000 pounds of gross weight, we're able to tie a couple of trucks together to pull." Tex-Mix expanding around ausTin ATK TesTs C500s in oilfields Peterbilt's VOCAtiONAl 567 gets New Axle CONfigurAtiON Peterbilt launched a new configura- tion for its vocational Model 567: a set-forward front axle version suited for mixer and other weight-conscious applications. Like the set-back axle ver- sion, the Model 567 SFFA is available in both 115- and 121-inch bumper-to- back-of-cab lengths. The 115-inch BBC has a bumper-to-front-axle distance of 29 inches, and the 121-inch BBC has a bumper-to-front-axle distance of 31 inches. The company says these dimen- sions were engineered to maximize maneuverability. Peterbilt Truck Co., Peterbilt.com