ForConstructionPros.com

In the competitive Chicago market, having the best equipment is essential for the survival and growth of any asphalt producer, says Greg Rohlf, general superintendent of Plote Construction Inc. And when the City of Chicago acquired the company's Des Plaines' location to accommodate the expansion needs of nearby O'Hare International Airport, Plote used the relocation to Franklin Park (south of O'Hare) as an opportunity to replace its 15-year-old Bituma asphalt plant.

Plote owns six plants — a CMI, an Astec, three Gencors and a new Dillman DuoDrum — in the Chicago area, and as Rohlf, who has over 40 years of experience in the industry, put it: "We expect a lot out of our plants. When we invest in a plant, we expect to get 10 million tons of production out of it before we have to replace it."

The old Des Plaines' plant was a Cedarapids/Standard Havens, which Plote sold prior to finalizing the purchase of its new Dillman plant. With a good cross section of various plant brands, Rohlf and Plote had ample experience to determine what they wanted out of a new plant.

"When we were evaluating different plants on the market, we narrowed our decision to what we consider the heaviest (materials used to construct plant components) and highest production capabilities, and we decided we would either buy another Gencor or a Dillman," Rohlf says. "We've had good luck with our Gencors, but the Dillman offered more heavy iron (beefier construction), the fuel savings we were looking for, and we were able to get want we wanted at approximately 10 percent less than any other comparable system."

Plote finalized the purchase of its new plant in January 2005 and had the system up and running by the end of April.