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Crushing
the competition
Rocks and research put Luck Stone out front among country’s
aggregate producers
Related
story:
- Fixing Interstate 81
by
Doug Forshey
Virginia
Business
October 2003
For
every highway mile built in Virginia, it takes 38,000
tons of crushed stone. If the massive Interstate 81
project gets built, for every lane added it will take
close to 3 million tons of crushed stone, the main ingredient
in today’s busy roads. All these tiny pebbles add
up to big business for Luck Stone Corp., the largest
privately held, family-run crushed stone business in
the country.
Headquartered
in Goochland County, the 80-year-old company operates
18 quarries in Virginia and one in North Carolina. Its
raw materials can be found in major construction projects
around the state from the Dulles Greenway highway in
Loudoun County to the Route 288 connector in metropolitan
Richmond and Henrico County’s new Short Pump Town
Center mall. Altogether, Luck’s work force of more
than 900 has supplied more than 75 different aggregate
products for major projects in recent years. In fact,
Luck Stone is the 12th-largest producer of crushed stone
in the country — quite a feat considering it’s
not part of an international conglomerate (like many
of its competitors) and that it does almost all its
business in Virginia.
Helping
to build vital infrastructure is something company President
Charles Luck IV takes pride in. “When you think
about communities and the essential things that make
them up — like schools, water treatment plants,
airports, roads, building foundations, erosion control
— these are things Luck Stone has had a positive
contribution towards. And we’ve done it with an
eye towards the environment and the air, water and noise
quality in and around our quarries,” he says.
Aggregates play an essential role in the construction
of roads and buildings, particularly construction aggregate,
since nearly all residential and commercial structures
rest on a concrete foundation. Seventy
percent of Luck Stone’s revenues come from the
construction aggregate side, according to Wayne Feigenbutz,
the company’s executive vice president of construction
aggregates. “Concrete is 80 percent crushed stone,”
says Feigenbutz, “and roads are almost exclusively
comprised of aggregates since crushed stone is usually
laid down as a road bed foundation, followed by a layer
of concrete and finally topped off with a layer of asphalt,
which is about 94 percent aggregate and 6 percent hot
tar.”
Luck
Stone quarries produce three basic materials for construction
that can be delivered efficiently to customers within
a 30-mile radius. Sixteen of its quarries produce hard
rock in the form of granite or limestone (needed for
roads) native to mountainous regions. These quarries
are all located west of Interstate 95. The company also
has three quarries east of I-95 that produce the third
material — sand and gravel, native to that coastal
area. Crushed stone is heavy and transporting it long
distances can be expensive so local suppliers have an
advantage. Luck Stone is constantly looking for new
quarry locations based on the present and future demand
for aggregates in an area.
Providing
customer service through research is another company
goal. Each of the quarries contains a research lab,
and Luck Stone works with road, commercial and residential
builders to develop cost-effective ways of using aggregates
in construction. The idea is to cut costs while delivering
an improved product. For example, in the creation of
asphalt the most expensive component is the hot tar
that binds the aggregate. Together, the two materials
form the hard road surface. If Luck Stone can produce
aggregate that is “cubular” (like a pair of
dice), rather than completely irregular, this change
would reduce space between stones, reducing the amount
of hot tar needed for binding, thus saving money and
improving the longevity of the roadway surface.
Since
aggregates are a commodity much like an agricultural
product, contractors give some consideration to price.
Luck Stone executives claim that what sets them apart
from competitors isn’t price, but good customer
service. “Five years ago we did strategic planning
as we faced more low-cost producers. We decided to offer
a higher-level of quality and personal service than
anyone else,” says John Pullen, vice president
of strategic development. To support that initiative,
Luck Stone implemented a Web-based customer relation
management system earlier this year that allows customers
to review account history, calculate bids, place orders
and track shipments in a secure, real-time environment.
The online tool, called Luck Stone Advantage, is password-protected
and easy to navigate.
Consistency
is important to the success of any aggregates business,
and Luck Stone strives to meet customer time frames.
“A consistent product, delivered on time, when
and where it is needed. That is what our customers depend
on, and that is what Luck Stone delivers,” says
Feigenbutz. Serving the customer well has been one of
the company's main strategies since Charlie Luck IV's
grandfather started the business by purchasing the Sunnyside
quarry in Richmond in 1923. A Luck family member has
headed the operation ever since.
Over
the years, the company has developed into an innovative
industry leader. It was the first to convert its manufacturing
process from steam to electric power in Virginia, one
of the first to offer electronic ticketing and the first
to open an architectural stone business at its quarries.
Luck Stone also expanded its business in 1998 into tennis
court construction with the purchase of Lee Tennis Products,
makers of clay tennis court surfaces. Still, highways
bring in more business, and Luck Stone is one company
that thrives by taking the rocky road.
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