In with the new: Mulzer crushed stone finds that using a hydraulic material handler is more efficient than the cable cranes of old

Pit & Quarry, Feb, 2004 by Mark S. Kuhar

The third generation of Mulzers aren't really so different from their founding fathers--with the help of more than 500 dedicated employees, they oversee quarries, look after a river fleet that crosses the Ohio and Kanawaha Rivers and monitor a truck operation that covers the southern third of Indiana and a large portion of West Virginia.

Mulzer Crushed Stone has flourished because of its ability to adapt and improve to meet the needs of its customers. Although the company continues to use the same processes that have been in place for decades, today's demands mandate quicker and more-advanced technology. That includes adding newer and more-efficient equipment for its river operations.

While river barging has long been a cost-effective and productive way to move materials, Mulzer Crushed Stone found that it didn't have the most-efficient machinery in place. The company had always relied on cable cranes to unload barges and recently switched to hydraulic rigs for the increased power, comfort and ease-of-use--proving that updating machinery to stay current with the times ultimately ensures success.

Mulzer in demand

The history of Mulzer Crushed Stone began in 1935 when three brothers--Edgar, Arnold and Roland Mulzer--started building culverts for highway construction. Then, during the booming economy post-World War II, the small construction company grew quickly.

The demand for a supplier of construction aggregates was high, and the Mulzer brothers had earned a reputation for hard work and integrity. Capitalizing on the opportunity, the Mulzers began a journey that led from construction to coal mining, and coal mining to rock quarrying. The first Mulzer Quarry was opened in 1946, just north of Eckerty, Ind.

Headquartered in Tell City, Ind., Mulzer Crushed Stone has come a long way since then. Today, the company has more than 500 employees, owns and operates six quarries, 16 retail yards and three other family companies--Materials Transport, Evansville Materials and Shamblin Stone. Each division of Mulzer Crushed Stone works to provide millions of tons of crushed stone products each year throughout Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

"Our secret to success is something that we've been doing since the first generation of Mulzers," says Bart Mulzer, vice president of river operations. "We give our customers the personal attention they expect from a family owned business and back it up with the resources of a large corporation."

Barging down the river

Mulzer Crushed Stone owns and operates a diverse fleet of equipment including cranes, hydraulic material handlers, boats, barges, crushing equipment, conveying equipment, sand and gravel dredges, drilling and blasting equipment, wheel loaders, excavators, motor graders and sand-and-gravel processing equipment.

Doing the bulk of its work from quarries, Mulzer has three river operations and three trucking quarries to serve its markets. Located throughout Indiana in Abydel, Cape Sandy, Charlestown, New Amsterdam, Temple and Tower, these quarries--especially those situated on rivers--help the company stay ahead of the competition.

"We have a definite advantage over the competition because we barge our materials down the river with our own equipment," explains Mulzer. "That means that we can move a lot of material at once, move it faster and know exactly when it's going to arrive."

Mulzer Crushed Stone has found great success with river barging and continues to improve these operations. The process begins with crushing the stone at one of the river quarries, loading the material onto barges and moving the barges 100 miles down the Ohio River to one of the river yards.

Carrying about 1,500 tons per barge, river barging allows Mulzer to move a lot of material in a relatively short amount of time, which ultimately increases productivity and reduces cost per ton. "The stone is plentiful at our quarries and river barging allows us to move a great deal of material at once," Mulzer says. "It would take a lot of trucks to move the material we can move with a single barge. In the end, this is the most-efficient way for us to get our product to the customer."

Although river barging has its advantages, it also creates a set of challenges. Using about 120 floating pieces of equipment on the river at any given time, Mulzer Crushed Stone is at the whim of conditions beyond its control. "The river never sleeps," Mulzer says. "That means that the water level is always going up or down and it is our job to constantly watch the river and make sure that the equipment is safe and secure."

Not your average excavator

Getting the materials where they need to be is only half of the battle. The other half is unloading them as quickly as possible, so the barges can be sent back up the river for another load. To tackle a job like this and stay current with the latest machine technologies, Mulzer Crushed Stone purchased a Komatsu PC400LC-6 hydraulic material handler in June 2003 from distributor Brandeis Machinery & Supply Corp.