ForConstructionPros.com

As production manager for Lakeside Industries' plant operations throughout Western Washington, Bill Dempsey obviously gets excited when a new facility is brought online. That was the case in early November, when Dempsey and plant operator Gary Swanson, a 30-year asphalt veteran, turned on the newest installation in the Lakeside network of plants at the company's Monroe, WA facility.

Dempsey has been a fulltime Lakeside associate for the past 25 years, covering the gamut of jobs from laborer to plant operator to quality control manager to division manager to his current position, and he's impressed by the ever-improving technology plant manufacturers are bringing to the industry.

"When you start evaluating the upper-end of plants available in the market, they all have comparable features and benefits," Dempsey says. "Lakeside has a variety of reliable, productive plants, so we're fortunate to be able to draw on the resources of top plant manufacturers."

The company chose to install a new plant at its Monroe facility because the existing plant needed to be moved off land Lakeside was leasing from the City of Monroe.

"We purchased land adjacent to the leased land and decided to purchase a new plant that would meet our needs for that particular market for the next 25 years," Dempsey says. "We kept our other plant running during the installation of the new plant, but now we'll move that 300-tph plant to another location."