Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/917007
AGGREGATES MANAGER / January 2018 3 January 2018 Vol. 23, No. 1 aggman.com /AggregatesManager /AggManEditor Editorial Editor-in-Chief: Therese Dunphy Editorial Director: Marcia Gruver Doyle Senior Editor: Kerry Clines Online Editor: Wayne Grayson editorial@aggman.com Design & Production Art Director: Sandy Turner, Jr. Production Designer: Timothy Smith Advertising Production Manager: Kim Knight production@aggman.com Construction Media Vice President, Construction Media: Joe Donald sales@randallreillyconstruction.com 3200 Rice Mine Rd NE Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 800-633-5953 randallreilly.com Corporate Chairman: Mike Reilly President and CEO: Brent Reilly Chief Operations Officer: Shane Elmore Chief Financial Officer: Kim Fieldbinder Senior Vice President, Sales: Scott Miller Senior Vice President, Editorial and Research: Linda Longton Vice President of Events: Stacy McCants Vice President, Audience Development: Prescott Shibles Vice President, Digital Services: Nick Reid Vice President, Marketing: Julie Arsenault For change of address and other subscription inquiries, please contact: aggregatesmanager@halldata.com. Aggregates Manager TM magazine (ISSN 1552-3071) is published monthly by Randall-Reilly, LLC copyright 2018. Executive and Administrative offices, 3200 Rice Mine Rd. N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. Subscription rates: $24 annually, Non-domestic $125 annually. Single copies: $7. We assume no responsibility for the validity of claims of manufacturers in any advertisement or editorial product information or literature offered by them. Publisher reserves the right to refuse non-qualified subscriptions. Periodical circulation postage paid at Tuscaloosa, Alabama and additional entries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Aggregates Manager, 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. Gearing Up for 2018 by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief tdunphy@randallreilly.com EDITORIAL I n mid-2004, our staff brainstormed the creation of the Aggregates Manager Industry Forecast. We wanted an analytical way to measure what we felt was taking place in the market. At the time, the industry was recovering from what we would now almost nostalgically describe as a recession. The indus- try hadn't hit the production peaks of 2006 and had no indication of the impending trough that would stretch from 2008 to 2010. To capture data, we turned to you, our readers. Each year, you open your doors — fi guratively and, sometimes, literally — to let us in and see your operations and glean insights into your operations and management practices. Thanks to all who answer the call and share what's happening at your sites. You've helped us create a forecast that captures the condition of the market in an accurate and dependable manner, year after year. (For the full results of this year's survey, turn to page 8.) As you'll read, 2017 was a very good year for the aggregates industry. From a pure response perspective, business ratings were the strongest we've ever received in the 14 years we've gathered them. Of course, there are variations depending on region, commodity, and size of operation, but the overall sentiment is overwhelm- ingly positive. We share all that information so you can benchmark your own results against those operations with the similar characteristics. In addition to sharing viewpoints on business ratings and production, operators tell us that their confi dence in the market is translating to signifi cant investment in equipment. Nearly one in four respondents (23.9 percent) to the Aggregates Man- ager 2017-2018 Forecast Study said they expect their capital expenditure budget to increase in 2018, with an average increase of 11.6 percent. This anticipated increase marks a second year of increased investments. In 2017, nearly 30 percent of respondents said they boosted their equipment spending, with an average increase of 23.2 percent. Year-over-year growth means more new iron in many operations. Top categories for increased equipment investment in 2018 include: crushing and screening (33.3 percent), loading and hauling (31.7 percent), equipment and truck maintenance (30.8 percent), conveying and material handling (27.3 percent), and automation (26.4 percent). By region, respondents in the South (38.5 percent) and Northeast (36.9 percent) are most likely to invest in crushing and screening equipment, while those in the West are most likely to spend more on equipment and truck maintenance. North Central respondents reported a three-way tie (at 30.3 percent) on areas for invest- ment, including crushing and screening, loading and hauling, and equipment and truck maintenance. With production on the rise, these equipment investments will likely pay divi- dends as operators prepare to meet the production demands that lie ahead.