Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/610317
AGGREGATES MANAGER December 2015 24 ness, starting with my great grandfather, who was one of the original Lambert Brothers," says Kirk Lambert. "They were one of, if not the largest, quarry outfits in the country when sold to Vulcan Materials in 1958. That is when my grandfather, George Lambert, made the bold decision to crush on his own." Today, Lambcon Ready-Mix boasts six plants, with about 25 employees at each plant, and more than 100 trucks. With loca- tions in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Athens, Cleveland, Lenoir City, and Ooltewah, the Lambert family now serves customers large and small. "For us, no job is too small or too big," Kirk says. "We service everyone from small residential jobs all the way up to huge manufacturing plants and even bridges." Building the mobile fleet In 1997, the Lamberts decided to concentrate efforts on grow- ing the ready-mix business, but it wasn't until 1999 that things really stared to take off. "I dove right into this wheel loader market and tried all of them," Kirk says. "The wheel loader is the key to the whole deal." The search for the best wheel loader required numerous product demonstrations. "Companies brought demos to our plant, and I was flown to proving grounds to try out other machines from other manufactures," Kirk says. "It became ob- vious that Volvo machines were definitely the best choice in every way." That first Volvo wheel loader purchased in 1999 was a used L120D with 3,000 hours on it. "It had a rusted bucket, but we didn't have a budget for a new wheel loader. I loved the trac- tor, so our Volvo representative, Dave Parker, added a new bucket for us with new pins," Kirk says. "It runs to this day — now with over 20,000 hours on it. "This is the one loader I would choose to run as my pref- erence over all others. By itself, it just loaded all the materi- als for a 2,000,000-square-foot Amazon distribution center and a 400,000-cubic-yard polysilicon chemical plant, supply- ing all the concrete from the ground up," he says. The Lamberts now run seven Volvo wheel loaders from an L90E up to an L120G with 3.5- to 5-yard buckets, and contin- Lambcon Ready-Mix has six plants, with approximately 25 employees at each plant.