For too long, the construction industry has kicked the digital can down the road. For asphalt producers facing tariffs on building materials, tighter regulations, and stricter proof of compliance, compressed schedules, and higher customer expectations–sticking with paper-based processes is like throwing in the towel. One Command Alkon customer knows the value of removing inefficiencies associated with paper to connect and streamline their dispatch and back office processes.
Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc.
Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc., is a 100% employee-owned company that has been providing quality infrastructure solutions since 1916. Their services are in Central Indiana, Northern Indiana, and Michigan. Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc.’s infrastructure services include self-performing excavation, grading, underground utilities, site concrete, concrete paving, concrete structures, bridges, asphalt paving, and demolition services. Their material services include hot mix asphalt (HMA), cold mix asphalt (CMA), aggregates, sand and gravel, recycled asphalt materials, and recycled concrete materials.
Slaying the Spreadsheet Monster
Over 20 years ago in 1998, many of Rieth-Riley’s daily operations were done in spreadsheets, including their accounting processes. Pat Slevin, Programmer at Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc., connected with Command Alkon and implemented Apex Asphalt into their back office and ticketing operation.
“Manually keeping up with information from a spreadsheet adds to the complexities that the nature of the business already presents; the Apex way is significantly better. We’ve gone from buried in spreadsheets to streamlined.”
- Patrick Slevin, Programmer at Rieth-Riley
Patrick helped to implement and began utilizing Apex Asphalt when it was a DOS (Disk Operating System) program. Much has changed since the DOS days; now they operate with Apex Asphalt utilizing SQL servers as their underlying database. Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc. also implemented all of the data services that Apex provides.
“The data replication services that Apex Asphalt provides has significantly streamlined and improved our data flow.”
- Patrick Slevin, Programmer at Rieth-Riley
Over the years, Apex Asphalt has helped to automate and optimize their truck scale ticketing, transportation, and back office processes. With Apex Asphalt, re-entering tickets for billing is eliminated, significantly reducing office time and decreasing the chance for errors.
Apex Asphalt Boosts Speed and Efficiencies in Operations
Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc. uses Apex Asphalt’s loadout PLC and ticketing modules. Once the driver pulls up to their plant and confirms their assignment, Apex captures the tare weight and communicates the lane ID and target weights for the truck to the loadout PLC. The operator lowers the spout to begin loading the truck. Once loading is complete, the PLC sets the appropriate status and Apex captures the final gross weight. From there, the system prints a delivery ticket and the driver pulls up to the printing station to retrieve it.
They also implemented Apex’s Remote Printer Enclosure at a handful of their locations. The Remote Printer Enclosure is an automation add on to Apex, which allows drivers to pick up their ticket after weighing, never leaving the comfort and safety of their cab. Combined with a movable swing arm option, the enclosure is installed at cab height immediately following the outbound scale and rotates out of the way if bumped.
They’ve realized that their truck throughput at the locations where the Remote Printer Enclosure is working is much quicker. Many of their other asphalt plants that are operating without the Remote Printer Enclosure either use a vacuum-tube system to send the tickets to the driver, or the driver has to get out of his truck and go into the control tower to retrieve and sign his tickets. The Remote Printer Enclosure helps them to boost efficiencies and keeps their drivers safe in the cab.
Apex: Ensure the Production and Loadout of a Quality Product
Automating basic processes speeds job cycles; documents orders, deliveries and payments; monitors and validates compliance; streamlines audits and quality controls; and encourages information-sharing and collaboration among all construction stakeholders. Going digital paves the way toward a safer, more efficient, and more profitable asphalt operation.
