Pit & Quarry, October 2009

An Inside Look Where are we heading I f you asked that question at the beginning of this year the answer was simple The road ahead was a straight drop off There were fears of a depression and major bank failures Since that time a lot has changed The spring and summer continued to be difficult times for most aggregate producers production was down 27 percent in the first six months and there has been no great turnaround yet But all signs suggest weve reached the bottom of the hill and the road ahead is a long slow rise In mid September at press time Yahoo Finance posted an article headlined Aggregate Producers Positioned for a Recovery in 2010 The author expects aggregates demand to gradually trend up starting in 2010 By that time we expect stimulus spending on roads and infrastructure and a recovery in residential construction to drive growth in demand for construction materials Yahoo Finance says Vulcan Materials and Martin Marietta are both well positioned to benefit from this recovery And while some producers have already benefited from stimulus dollars the author estimates about 60 to 70 percent of the 28 billion in stimulus allocated for road work will be spent in 2010 For more on this see our expanded Road to Recovery section beginning on page 21 Rebuilds In the spirit of getting value during hard economic times were taking a look at equipment rebuilds Many manufacturers have rebuild programs in which they transform old beat up equipment into new looking machines that meet most OEM specs Some of the transformations are amazing and beginning in this issue well run photos of interesting rebuild projects See page 48 Pit on Twit Pit Quarry is now on Twitter and you can use this tool to stay up to date on industry news Visit us at twitter com pitandquarry If you already have your own Twitter account just follow us and youll start to receive news and blog headlines as they are posted Its free Darren Constantino EDITOR IN CHIEF dconstantino@ questex com ALL SIGNS SUGGEST WEVE REACHED THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL AND THE ROAD AHEAD IS A LONG SLOW RISE www pitandquarry com 600 Superior Ave East Suite 1100 Cleveland OH 44114 216 706 3700 Fax 216 706 3710 E Mail info@ pitandquarry com EDITOR IN CHIEF Darren Constantino 216 706 3747 dconstantino@ questex com SENIOR EDITOR Brian Richesson 216 706 3748 brichesson@ questex com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Mark S Kuhar mkuhar@ questex com SAFETY EDITOR Carl R Metzgar cmetz46840@ aol com LAW EDITOR Michael T Heenan michael heenan@ odnss com WESTERN U S CORRESPONDENT Bill Elverman elvermanwrites@ yahoo com PRINT ELECTRONIC ADVERTISING PUBLISHER Rob Fulop 216 706 3741 rfulop@ questex com SALES MANAGER Dino Vitanza 216 706 3744 dvitanza@ questex com CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Dino Vitanza 216 706 3744 dvitanza@ questex com ART DIRECTOR Kim Traum PRODUCTION MANAGER Krystal Lund 218 279 8841 klund@ questex com DIRECTORY PRODUCTION MANAGER Angela Dumonson 218 279 8845 adumonson@ questex com PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Rhonda Sande MANAGER AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Debbie Gullian LISTS Ilene Schwartz Kroll Direct 216 371 1667 Fax 216 371 1669 ilene@ krolldirect com REPRINTS 800 290 5460 ext 100 pitandquarry@ reprintbuyer com SUBSCRIPTIONS BACK ISSUES CUSTOMER SERVICE Phone 866 344 1315 or 847 763 9594 if outside the U S Fax 847 763 9694 Web www pitandquarry com subscriptions President Chief Executive Officer Kerry C Gumas Executive Vice President Chief Financial Officer Tom Caridi Executive Vice President Tony DAvino Executive Vice President Jon Leibowitz Executive Vice President Gideon Dean For Technology Research1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Aggregates Foundation SAND STONE GRAVEL And Education FOUNDER 2 PIT QUARRY October 2009 www pitandquarry com