Fitting It All Together

Just as equipment can help you break into a new market, it also can help you increase your productivity.

As the paving and pavement maintenance industry's leading trade magazine, we work hard to cover all the different aspects of running a pavement maintenance business, and this issue is no exception. When contractors want to add a new service, they need equipment they can afford for the type and amount of work they intend to do. Recognizing the need, manufacturers get their R&D departments going to develop a piece of equipment that can do the job. Cold planers, also known as milling machines, are a great example, and "Can You Offer Pavement Milling?"enables three contractors to tell their story – not only why they bought their own milling machines but also how the acquisitions have enabled the contractors to grow their business: They all are more competitive and more successful because they acquired a new piece of equipment.

And just as equipment can help you break into a new market, it also can help you increase your productivity. "Repairing Utility Cuts & Potholes" offers insights into asphalt maintainers, spray patching equipment, and infrared equipment – all of which enable you to offer more repair services while increasing crew productivity. Much the same is true in "Heat Up Sales With Thermoplastic" which points out that the thermopastic technology is now available to pavement marking contractors of just about any size because manufacturers have realized not every contractor needs or can afford a separate trailer-mounted melter and walk-behind hand liner.

Implicit in this discussion of services, equipment, and productivity are your company financials. In "Are You Using Your Financials Like a CPA Would?" the Pavement Network provides a peek into some of the things they've learned (how to reduce insurance costs, the impact of labor costs) by collecting and analyzing financial data of 13 member companies. And the labor cost issue leads right back to productivity, and "Tailgate Talk" examines the time employees waste–through no fault of their own–and offers tested tips on how to reduce wasted time to improve productivity and profits. Service, equipment, productivity, financials, labor...trying to help you fit it all together.

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