Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/94387
OPERAT 1 Set the stage for success and distribution yards. Like marine shipments, rail can expand the market reach of operations through low-cost, environmentally friendly shipping. In contrast to deep-water marine B transportation, however, it allows op- erators to respond a litt le more quickly to market needs, says Gary Yelvington, president of Daytona Beach, Fla.-based Conrad Yelvington Distributors, part of the Oldcastle Southern Group. "It's easier to manage inventory needs when you're bringing in smaller quantities, such as 10,000 tons weekly versus 'as needed' material in 60,000-ton vessels," Yelvington says. "You have to schedule boats a lot further ahead than the short time it takes us to react with our trains. As many manufacturing businesses " have discovered in recent years, inven- tory management plays an important role in the business' success. "Many of us understand lean manufacturing principles, and I think the same thing really applies to terminals, whether they are ship or rail," says Bob Domnick, vice president of sales, marketing, and engineering for Morris, Minn.-based Superior Industries, LLC. "Th e right inventory at the right time is critical." A network of rail terminals also allows Conrad Yelvington to supply aggregates to markets where local inventories simply don't exist or can't keep up with demand. "When I began working for the family business, we initially started railing materials from AGGREGATES MANAGER Gett ing the Product Close to Market ulk shipment of aggregate by rail off ers some interest- ing advantages to operators who have access to rail cars Tennessee," Yelvington says. "We had a market, but we had lost the local source in Florida, so we started railing it down. "During that time, Disney was starting to boom and really expand. Th ere was a prett y big demand for a lot of products that were just not locally available, " he adds. "We opened our fi rst rail distribu- tion yard in Orlando in 1983." Over the next nearly 30 years, the company grew to include 28 rail yards. In 2007, it was sold to Oldcastle Materials Group. Conrad Yelvington Distributors currently has two types of business. In its Gulf Coast markets — includ- ing Northwest Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi — it owns and operates terminals that provide freight handling for other aggregate producers' materi- als. Yelvington moves the material, but the quarry owners are responsible for the marketing and sales portion of the business. "We just provide the rail trans- portation, rail cars, unloading of the cars, staffi ng of the terminals, and the terminal sites themselves," Yelvington says. In Northern and Central Florida, the company also transports its own material for consumption by internal and external customers. For example, granite is shipped from Oldcastle's new greenfi eld quarry in Camak, Ga., to supply the Florida market, including Oldcastle's APAC asphalt plants. "We have a lot of terminals with a big distribution footprint," Yelvington says. "It's very competitive in Florida. We've been transporting aggregate for a long time, and we've located our terminals in most of the bett er markets where there is suffi cient demand for our products. " A well-organized site is important to effi cient rail transportation. Consider how many and what types of cars will be unloaded, and make the corresponding capital investment in equipment, whether in terms of the number of locomotives or the size and type of conveyors carrying material away from the unit train. 4 Consider speed to market Distribution yards located in close proximity to customers offer an additional marketing advantage. They may simply feed an asphalt or ready-mix plant that serves the local market, but it is increasingly common to see the terminals set up for re-sale of aggregates, with stockpiles set up to suit retail customers.