Local Concern Thrives On Competition, Varied Output

SATURDAY, DEC. 11, 1954

THE ANN ARBOR NEWS, ANN ARBOR, MICH.

PAGE THIRTEEN

Local Concern Thrives On Competition, Varied Output

Ann Arbor Construction Co. Expands Through Michigan

Asphalt, Ready Mix Concrete And Building Supplies All Sold Here

(Editor’s Note: This is the 30th in a series of articles dealing with the history and operation of Ann Arbor industries.)

By Ralph Lutz

This year the Ann Arbor Construction Co. delivered its one-millionth cubic yard of concrete since beginning the transit mix concrete phase of its operations in 1937.

Yet, indicative of ever increasing output though this figure may be, it represents but one facet in the makeup of this local business firm. It must be regarded in the light of other considerations.

To start with, the Ann Arbor Construction Co. was organized with asphalt paving as the basic product. Asphalt paving is still a cornerstone of the firm’s operations.

Started In 1920

Manley Osgood, company president and a prime mover from its early days, said the firm was organized in 1920. It was called the Ann Arbor Asphalt Construction Co. until 1924, when the present name was adopted.

The Ann Arbor Construction Co. is also a retailer for building supplies, selling every material used in construction, except concrete blocks and lumber products. In fact, the firm has, from time to time, erected buildings. Within its store rooms, one finds items ranging from aluminum doors and windows to stockpiles of bricks. Its customers run the gamut from large contracting concerns to individual home owners.

Today, when people see the firm’s transit mix concrete trucks moving to their destinations, they witness but one division of the firm’s output. And it might be noted that the passing of the millionth cubic yard of concrete delivered this year is a story within itself.

When the firm began delivering transit mix concrete in 1937, it found itself in direct competition with virtually all contractors, large and small alike. Nearly all operated their own portable mixers in conjunction with their trade. It was not until more recent years that area builders accepted the ready mixed concrete as a basic material. Today there are, throughout the state many transit mix concerns.

Fewer Asphalt Plants

There are a limited number of asphalt plants in Michigan—about 60 in all. Of these, the Ann Arbor Construction Co. owns and operates four.

W. B. Ratliff, vice-president and secretary of the Ann Arbor Construction Co., pointed out that the firm has an asphalt plant on N. Main St., just south of the Whitmore Lake Rd. bridge, now under construction. This plant had to be relocated, for it was in the scheduled path of bridge.

In addition to this plant, there is a plant near Pontiac and two portable asphalt plants. These move throughout the state from job to job. When a job is completed, they are left at the site until needed at another place. At present, one of these is near Clinton and the other is at the town of Glennie, about 40 miles south of Alpena.

The Ann Arbor Construction Co. home plant is at 221 Felch St. Here are located main offices, headquarters for the building supply division and a batching plant for transit mix concrete. It also has two other transit mix plants, one in Ypsilanti, the other in Plymouth.

Employes Vary

The firm owns about 85 vehicles of various kinds. During the peak employment season in the summer. there are from 200 to 250 employes on the payroll. During the winter months when construction slumps, this may drop to from 75 to 100. As many employes as possible are retained. Some of these use part of their time to overhaul road equipment for the coming summer season.

Ratliff, during a tour of the Felch St. concrete batching plant and the N. Main St. asphalt plant, described the basic operations.

Work at a concrete batching plant centers around a tall tower like structure. In this are housed bins to receive the concrete’s “aggregates,” stone and sand, and the cement. Water is piped into the product through pipes in this tower.

A large crane is used to deposit the aggregates in separate bins at the top of the tower. Cement is handled in bulk from bulk cement transport trucks through a system of a bucket elevator, screw conveyors and storage bins to the cement weigh hopper. In the tower, an employe using a system of levers, drops the aggregates from the hopper bins into an aggregate weigh hopper where each is weighed separately. Cement is weighed info another weigh hopper automatically.

Water is added by volume and the substances are blended together as they funnel down a chute into the waiting transit mixer truck. The truck’s mixer completes the mixing of materials en route to the job. It requires no less than 50 or more than 100 fast revolutions to prepare the concrete.

The asphalt plant operates in much the same way, but with some extra steps. Raw materials consist of stone and sand, along with fly ash and asphalt cement.

Process Described

The sand and stone must be dried they pass through a flame-heated rotary kiln drier where they are dried and heated from 400 to 425 degrees. They are then elevated to the top of the tower by a bucket elevator which discharges onto a vibrating screen where they are reseparated into sand and stone.

Fly ash is handled in the same manner as cement in the concerte batching plant. The asphalt cement is heated in storage tanks and pumped through heated pipes to the tower. Sand, stone and fly ash are weighed into their respective hoppers by a “mixer man.” Liquid asphalt, meanwhile, is weighed. All materials are then batched into a mixer and deposited into a truck for delivery to the job.

The asphalt concrete must be spread while hot. This puts a limitation on the haul distance. The Ann Arbor asphalt plant, with Washtenaw county, the main area served, can produce up to 100 ton an hour.

As to the concrete transit mix operation, trucks used in Ann Arbor hold three, four and one-half or six yards of concrete.

Highly Competitive

The Ann Arbor Construction Co. is in a highly competitive business. Each of its highway jobs is obtained through bidding against similar firms. Most of the jobs are advertised in two publications — “Michigan Contractor and Builder” and “Michigan Roads and Construction.” To be eligible as a bidder on MSHD work the firm must be prequalified by the department each year.

Ratliff said the largest project undertaken by the firm was let in August, 1952, and completed in 1953. It amounted to a series of projects to widen and resurface US-23 from E. Stadium Blvd. intersection to Carpenter Rd. and thence down US-23 to the Expressway intersection, and on US-112 from the expressway to a point three miles west of Clinton. This required about 75,000 tons of bituminous concrete.

Manley Osgood joined the firm in 1920, the same year it was organized. Its home for the first year was in the Ann Arbor Trust Building, after which it was moved to its present Felch St. location.

Osgood said the original firm was a partnership known as Letchfield and Stewart. Many of the corporation’s prime instigators are still on the board of directors These include Rudolph E. Reichert, Herman F. Gross, William Arnold, Dr. A. C. Furstenberg, and Osgood. Other members who comprise the remainder of the board are R. F. Hutzel, Wayne G. Cowell and Ratliff.

CENTER OF OPERATIONS: This tower is the center of operations in a transit mix concrete plant. The crane is depositing stone which, along with sand, constitutes the “aggregates.” In this tower, stone, sand, water and cement are mixed by weight (volume in the case of water) and deposited into the waiting truck seen underneath the tower. The blended ingredients are mixed en route to the job.

HOME PLANT: This aerial photo of the Ann Arbor Construction Co. transit mix concrete plant at 221 Felch St. shows a portion of the firm's growing facilities. Note the tall tower and crane. This is where concrete’s ingredients are mixed in proper proportions. The trucks, parked in rows, are part of the company's 85 vehicles, which include many types for many jobs. The long building (left) is storage, for the building supply division of the firm. At the upper left is the office, with garage area to the right. The Ann Arbor Construction Co. also has transit mix concrete plants at Ypsilanti and Plymouth.

ONE OF FOUR: Here at the Ann Arbor Construction Co. ashpalt concrete plant on N. Main St., just south of the new Whitmore Lake bridge, a truck is about to be filled. Here, asphalt or bituminous concrete is made of sand, stone, fly ash, water and asphalt cement. The firm has three other similar plants—one near Pontiac and two portable plants.