Standard Concrete Products Inc.
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More Than Just A Ready-Mix Supplier
By Tammy Boone
Photos: Terica Messmer
As an industry leader in the production of high quality, ready-mixed concrete, Standard Concrete Products has carved a niche in the ready-mix market of Southern California through a commitment to research and development and the use of state-of-the-art equipment.
The end of June, Standard Concrete received delivery of their newest piece of equipment, the Volvo L90F Wheel Loader from Mathews Machinery in San Diego. Mark Cavender, Standard’s Purchasing Manager, put out bids for the new equipment, and along with Doug Smallwood, Operations Manager, chose the Volvo. Standard Concrete also has a Volvo L90E Wheel Loader that they run at their Vernon, California batch plant.
According to Doug, the L90F is being used at one of the batch plants to move material, feed the plant, and clean up.
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 Standard Concrete plant located in Santa Monica, California.
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“We’ve been very happy with the Volvo equipment we currently own,” Doug says. “Volvo gave us the best price and warranty for the new wheel loader.
“Mathews has sent out a service representative to train both our equipment drivers and mechanics on the new machine,” he continues.
According to Volvo’s website, the company’s wheel loaders are “characterized by low fuel consumption, quick and easy maintenance, and high resale value.”
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 Volvo L90F loader pushing material for use in concrete loads.
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Standard Concrete has been operating in Southern California since 1949. The originally privately held company is now a wholly owned operating unit of the Heidelberg Cement Group. Together with their sister company, Calaveras Standard Materials (CSM), they run ready-mix plants in all of the major economic areas of metropolitan Los Angeles Basin and major portions of Orange County. Their batch plants are located in: Irwindale, Santa Monica, Sun Valley, Palos Verdes, Vernon, Long Beach, Santa Ana, and Westminster.
Standard Concrete supplies ready-mixed concrete to clients in all arenas: residential, commercial, and industrial. With 200 plus mixers and more than 300 employees, they are able to supply concrete for jobs of all sizes. Representatives from their Quality Control and Technical Services groups provide customers with professional services before, during and after delivery. The Technical Services department also monitors the quality of their ready mix concrete products and of all raw materials received at the batch plants.
Some of the company’s memorable jobs include supplying ready-mixed concrete for the super flat floor of the Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers national basketball association team and the Los Angeles Kings national hockey league team; high rise condominium complexes, and for Pier 400 at the Los Angeles Harbor, and being the primary supplier for the new Chick Hearn complex across from the Staples Center. Because Standard Concrete supplied such a large percentage of the concrete during 2001 and 2002 for the Pier 400 project, the company operated an on-site batch plant at the jobsite for a couple of years. The Los Angeles/Long Beach port is one of the largest in the world.
One of the strengths of the company is their continued education program, which offers educational seminars to the company’s employees and customers, as well as the industry. Class offerings are on a range of topics from the latest concrete products to legal questions pertaining to the construction industry. Representatives from Standard Concrete will come to the customer’s place of business to offer customer-designed seminars, as well.
According to Doug, one of the challenges to the ready-mix industry is increasing environmental concerns and regulations.
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 Volvo loader keeping the plant full.
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 Volvo L90F loader feeding the plant.
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“More and more our industry has come under scrutiny for water runoff issues, so that now there is a zero runoff policy,” Doug explains. “We also must pay closer attention to reclaiming old and unused concrete.”
One way Standard Concrete has come up with to respond to environmental concerns was to install the Enviroguard Chute Wash System on its entire fleet of concrete trucks that service the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. This system, which consists of a double-air diaphragm pump, is installed on the back of a ready-mix truck. When it comes time to clean up, instead of hosing down chutes on a job-site, which can lead to ground water contamination, the clean up is contained by the Enviroguard system. The customer also benefits because with the completely self-contained system, there is no need for a wash out box and no cost for disposing waste.
In addition to ready-mix concrete, Standard Concrete Products offers colored concrete in many tones, including blacks, reds and tans. They also offer Octa-Bloc products, which are used for retaining walls, storage bins, fences, temporary job-site use, roadblocks, traffic separation and stockpile containment. Octa-Bloc’s locking system is compatible with most other concrete retaining block systems.
Standard Concrete Products prides itself in customer service, Doug says. The company believes in “Raising the Standard,” which involves working in close conjunction with each customer to ensure that they receive the best service and quality they can get. They believe that projects succeed when there is a strong relationship between the customer and the supplier.
Other companies in the Standard Concrete Products family include CSM Transportation—a trucking company that hauls cement and aggregates, and CSM Concrete Pumping.
For more information look online at www.standard-concrete.com or call 1-800-CONCRETE. Cc
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(Left, L-R) Loader operators, Richard Herada, Raul Galvin and Luis Cobian.
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Raul Galvin batching trucks. |
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