Major supplier of high-quality equipment Astec Industries is celebrating 50 years of connecting people, processes, and products from Rock to Road.
On the 9th of August 1972, Dr Don Brock and four friends gathered around a kitchen table in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Their goal was to develop a plan for a company that would deliver creative design solutions into traditional construction industries. On that day, 50 years ago, Astec Industries was born.
Astec today is a fully-integrated, highly-respected manufacturer of state-of-the-art construction, engineering and industrial equipment for customers around the world.
From its beginnings, Astec was focussed on providing innovative design solutions to industries not often exposed to specialist technical and operational knowledge.
At the heart of the company’s ethos were three key objectives: an unwavering commitment to customer service, the design and manufacture of ground-breaking products, and enhanced operator safety.
These objectives remain enshrined in Astec’s core values of safety, integrity, devotion, respect, and innovation.
In June 1986, Astec Industries listed on the NASDAQ exchange, raising $12 million in the initial public offering. The move led to further growth in the US and expansion into overseas markets.
OneASTEC
In September 2021 Astec announced a major restructure and the OneASTEC model, incorporating a new business structure, was deployed across the company’s global operations.
With the implementation of OneASTEC, the company has reinforced its commitment to the provision of outstanding customer service through innovation, and increased capacity to leverage growth via brand acquisitions.
Astec continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of its customers through investment in systems that streamline operations, accelerate innovation and technology platforms, and lead the market from Rock to Road.
Through the OneASTEC business model, the company has established an operations hub at the centre of every region, in the same time zone as its customers.
This ensures experienced local Astec team members, with an intimate understanding of the local market including standards, regulations, logistics and environmental conditions, can more readily assist customers, especially when they are undertaking projects in remote areas.
Operating under OneASTEC has led to development of a company-wide common purpose, delivering greater efficiencies and value for all stakeholders.
Astec Australia
In Australia, Astec is a leading supplier of equipment to the mining, quarrying and civil engineering sectors.
With its updated corporate branding – the streamlined grey and blue ‘A’ – Astec’s expanded product line is highly visible on projects across the country.
The company designs, manufactures, and services an extensive range of material handling systems and mobile equipment for infrastructure projects including asphalt plant, pavers, material transfer vehicles, screeds, cold planers, cold in place recyclers, road brooms, stabilisers, and reclaimers.
In terms of quarrying operations, Astec provides turnkey fixed plant or individual equipment with a range of machinery from jaw and cone crushers, impactors, screens, washing and classifying equipment as well as bulk material handling systems.
Astec is also a well-respected supplier to the mining industry, providing a line of specialist equipment that includes fixed rock-breaker boom systems, feeders, crushers, conveyors, and underground vehicles.
“We’ve got a long history, some of our brands go back over 100 years,” Astec Australia business line manager – materials solutions, Adam Gordon told Quarry.
“And with that long history and wide reach, we can take care of our customers’ crushing, screening, or sizing needs – start to finish.”
“We make the individual components that can stand alone, or go together to form, say, an Astec crushing and screening plant or an Astec asphalt plant.
“We also provide the shuttle buggy to transfer the asphalt material into a paver and then the paver that spreads it on the road, ensuring a uniform temperature of material.
“Then at the end of its life, we’ve got profiling machines that come and dig up that section of road, and recycling machines to recycle and reuse that material,” Gordon explained.
“In particular, our recycling line of equipment is vertically integrated, so we can go from Rock to Road in delivering the asphalt, then recovering it, and recycling it to put it back onto the road or for other uses,” he added.
Providing quality year after year
Astec has a reputation of providing equipment that is tough, durable, and built to the highest standards.
“Crushing gear, for example, has to be especially robust,” Gordon said. He explained that rock geology is unpredictable.
“You could have a 100 million tonne deposit and every single tonne is slightly different.”
“This means where one rock might shatter beautifully inside the jaw crusher, another rock, because it’s much harder or has no inherent faults or bedding planes, could shoot itself out of the crusher.
“So you’ve got different varieties of material as well as different performances and different yields. Astec equipment accounts for those differences and delivers, regardless of the situation,” Gordon said.
Astec also provides assistance and advice in the form of extensive customer support and reliable supply of parts.
“Sometimes there are hiccups – every OEM has hiccups – and when it happens, we’re there straight away. We just get in and fix it,” Gordon said.
Astec prides itself on the breadth of its capability. From a single part or a one-off machine for a customer, to product upgrades for an existing project, or equipment and advice in establishing a new operation – Astec is able to draw on 50 years of experience and expertise.
Visit astecindustries.com for more information.