Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/103664
Editorial Editor-in-Chief: Therese Dunphy Editorial Director: Marcia Gruver Doyle Senior Editor: Kerry Clines News and Digital Editor: Tina Grady Barbaccia editorial@aggman.com Design & Production Art Director: Sandy Turner, Jr. Graphic Designer: Kristen Chapman Advertising Production Manager: Linda Hapner production@aggman.com Construction Media Senior VP, Construction Media: Dan Tidwell VP of Sales, Construction Media: Joe Donald sales@randallreillyconstruction.com 3200 Rice Mine Rd NE Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 800-633-5953 randallreilly.com Corporate Chairman/CEO: Mike Reilly President: Brent Reilly Chief Process Officer: Shane Elmore Chief Administration Officer: David Wright Senior Vice President, Sales: Scott Miller Senior Vice President, Editorial and Research: Linda Longton Vice President of Events: Alan Sims Vice President, Audience Development: Stacy McCants Vice President, Digital Services: Nick Reid Director of Marketing: Julie Arsenault Aggregates Manager TM magazine (ISSN 1552-3071) is published monthly by Randall-Reilly Publishing Company copyright 2012. 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 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Aggregates Manager, 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. STATE OF THE INDUSTRY by Kerry L. Clines, Senior Editor S ince 2004, we've been asking operators to report year-end business results, as well as expectations for the coming year, and sharing those results in our annual forecast. Typically, we send out the survey in late October or early November, but since 2012 was a presidential election year, we held the survey until a day after the election. Given the passionate opinions held by many of our readers, we simply couldn't ask for business predictions before the presidential race had been determined. Knowing that the outcome wasn't what many of our readers hoped for, it was with no small amount of trepidation that we sent out this year's survey. There was certainly a risk Challenges Facing Aggregate Producers that voter dissatisfaction would be reflected in the survey responses and, potentially, skew the results. While there are signs that the presidential race may have had a slight impact on responses, overall results don't appear to be Challenges Facing Aggregate Producers particularly pessimistic. They indicate improving Community relations conditions for many, but Regulatory compliance certainly not all, operators. Regulatory fines For business ratings by Safety region, core product, and Major problem Aggregates availability/permitting annual production, see the Minor problem Retaining workers forecast on page 24. Water availability In addition to Environmental issues production-related Competition for sales questions, we ask about 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 core challenges facing operators throughout the nation. As with every year we've asked this question, competition for sales took the top spot among responses, with 85.2 percent describing it as a problem. Regulatory compliance and environmental issues tied as the second greatest challenges for operators, with an overall 62.4 percent saying these were problem areas. Of the two, more operators (20.8 percent) were likely to say that regulatory compliance was a major concern, compared to 18.8 percent of operators reporting that environmental issues posed a major challenge. The environmental category was added to this year's survey based on our reader interest survey conducted this summer. Given the strong response to this category, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's aggressive stance in recent years clearly creates a challenge for a growing number of operators. It was most frequently cited by operators in the West (72.8 percent) and Northeast (71.4 percent). Rounding out the top five problems facing producers were regulatory fines (61.4 percent) and aggregates availability/permitting (50.5) percent. Areas not considered high trouble spots for operators include community relations (30.7 percent), safety (34.7 percent), and retaining workers (39.6 percent). It's particularly interesting to note that, while safety is a high priority at most operations, only 1 percent of respondents consider it to be a major problem. This correlates to improvements in safety records across the industry. To all our readers taking the time to respond to our survey, thank you. Whether your business results were excellent or poor, your feedback, which is incredibly consistent from year to year, allows operators throughout the United States to benchmark their business results. AGGREGATES MANAGER January 2013 3