Walsh & Kelly Creating Its Own Opportunities

Transportation of asphalt mix can be one of the most costly parts of your business. Not only does it cost money to physically haul the mix to the jobsite, but as the mix cools you’re also potentially letting money fly out the window (or in this case the truck bed) with every passing mile.

Walsh & Kelly, one of the largest civil contractors in the Northern Indiana, recognized the value in having plant proximity to developing areas and have expanded their plant operations to meet demand.

Recently, Walsh & Kelly opened a new production facility on a more-than-20-acre site on County Road 450 North just west of Indiana 39. The company has five other asphalt plants in Griffith, Valparaiso, Lowell and South Bend.

The company’s plan was to grow the amount of work it does in the LaPorte area by reducing the cost of transporting the product and maintaining quality by shortening the distance asphalt travels once leaving the plant, according to John Wall, a project manager with the company.

''We can service that market from afar, but this new location will allow us to be more competitive and a little more aggressive in the marketplace for the municipal work and the state jobs and some of the private commercial work that we do,'' Wall says.

 Guaranteed Growth

Any decision to buy and build a new asphalt plant is not one taken lightly or without the potential for a return on investment.

One of the reasons Walsh & Kelly chose this location for their new plant was based around city planning. Wall said among the new job prospects in the area is the city of LaPorte, which is laying plans to adopt a wheel tax for fixing a greater percentage of its streets than in previous years.

The Wheel Tax Ordinance is a response to the Indiana Department of Transportation Community Crossing program in which the city will have the ability to receive $1 million for road and street repair if a matching $1 million can be raised by the city.

“We made an analysis of the future work volume in our markets and the appropriate plant configuration to meet the projected work and determined that a new plant in the LaPorte area would best serve the needs of our customers and our continued growth,” says John Peisker, Walsh & Kelly vice president of Asphalt Operations. “As we mapped out our other asphalt plants our analysis indicated that locating a plant in the LaPorte area would allow us to more efficiently serve our customers in that area, especially with the new wheel tax initiative."

''Logistics are what keep the economy moving," Wall adds. "You need to get goods transported from one place to the other and that's really what we're talking about being able to do that better and more efficiently with this location.''

Upgrades

The company chose a portable Astec Double Barrel portable plant with a Phoenix Talon burner, paired with two long-term storage silos.

“Our market is changing somewhat and we wanted the flexibility to serve a larger geographic area made possible by a portable plant,” Peisker says. 

While this is the only portable plant the company owns, Peisker says the potential is greater for the market and a plant with the option of portability. "We are looking at other sites in other counties that will add to our ability to serve them," he adds.

The company started receiving parts mid-January and the plant was ready two months later with production beginning in June. 

The company chose the Phoenix Talon burner as it utilizes the latest burner technology to deliver very low emissions combined with energy efficiency. With the optional silencing package, it’s even possible to have a phone conversation on the burner platform while it is firing.

“The burner and drum combination we selected provide a significant noise reduction benefit,” Peisker says. "In this location it's not a big deal, but this gives us the option of being a good neighbor in any environment we choose down the road where we would have homes or businesses located close by."

Each of the two silos can store 200 tons of hot mix for as long as 48 hours depending on conditions. The company outfitted the drum with the Astec V-Pack Stack Temperature Control System and the company retrofitted the plant with a warm-mix system they already had on hand.

The new plant produces about 400-tph in a full range of mixes as their customers include the Indiana Tollroad, Indiana DOT, counties, municipalities, airports and private developers, along with custom mixes for specific use.