Concrete plants designed and built by Milwaukee’s RexCon LLC are common fixtures near highway expansions and large construction projects throughout the Midwest and around the country. And while most folks might not notice them, RexCon’s plants are well-recognized by folks in the construction and road-building industries.
Most of RexCon’s plants are central mix plants, where dry concrete is mixed with water in the plant. These plants include a mixer, also made at RexCon. The wet mixture, ready for paving or pouring, is then loaded into a truck that will take it to the job site.
RexCon’s flagship plant is the Model S, a portable concrete plant, said Patrick Conerty, sales manager. Model S plants can be seen in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley where crews are mixing concrete for the Marquette Interchange and in Oak Creek where We Energies is building a new power plant. They’ve also been placed near Interstate 294 near Chicago, where crews are expanding a highway to O’Hare International Airport, and near Interstate 355, which is also being expanded.
“It’s been a proven plant since 1962, and it’s been our flagship product,” said Mike Redmond, RexCon’s vice president. “Without a doubt, it’s the premier paving plant in the country and the plant of choice for almost all aviation projects. And airport authorities are very particular about jobs.”
RexCon also currently makes several types of dry plants, and the company is expanding its offerings, Conerty said.
“Rex has always been known for its high-production, high-performance central mix plants,” he said. “We want to have more of a full line to appeal to all.”
RexCon has developed its own software and computerized controls that run its plants.
RexCon began more than 100 years ago, as the concrete product division of the Chain Belt Company, which later became Rexnord Industries LLC. RexCon was purchased in late 2003 by Redmond, John “Jake” Jacob and Michael Burns, who were partners at Illinois Aggregate Equipment Inc., an Illinois distributor of RexCon’s equipment.
“We had two problems (as a distributor),” said Redmond, who serves as RexCon’s vice president. “They couldn’t or wouldn’t make enough product for us. And they wouldn’t change their product line. They needed a lot of updating, and that’s what we’ve spent the last three years doing.”
Since the three partners bought RexCon, the company has increased sales, production and employment significantly.
In 2003, the company had 40 to 45 employees. Today, it has more than 100.
Four years ago, RexCon had about $5 million in annual sales. In 2006, the company had $25 million in sales, and RexCon is on track for almost $35 million in sales this year, Redmond said.
“The concrete market seems to be good,” he said. “There’s still a lot of business out there. I don’t see that changing drastically in the next five years.”
Much of the increased production at RexCon has been due to the demand for the company’s products, as well as some of the lean manufacturing principles the company has enacted, Redmond said. The company also has focused on just-in-time delivery and tries to have at least a small amount of inventory on hand for its customers, who typically order plants in the winter months so they can begin spring projects on time.
RexCon is now redesigning many of its products to use steel I-beams for their frames and other parts of their construction, instead of formed steel pieces. The redesign will dramatically cut production times, Redmond said.
“I can buy I-beams a lot cheaper than steel plate and forming it,” he said. “And the Chinese are buying up a lot of it too.”
The company also is re-engineering some components of its plants, including the Model S, Redmond said. Some plumbing connections are being redesigned for easier and more efficient manufacturing, without compromising volume or durability, Redmond said.
Production of the redesigned plants, including the Model S, should begin in March 2008, Redmond said.
RexCon’s concrete plants have been shipped across the United States and into Africa, China, India, Europe, the Caribbean and Hawaii, Redmond said. However, since he and his partners bought the company, they’ve focused on Midwestern business.
“We need to get control of our own market before we start expanding,” Redmond said. “We can only grow so much. It’s nice to be all over, but you don’t want to miss stuff in your back yard.”
Conerty said the company is working to expand its market share and distribution.
“We’re in the process right now of trying to fill in our distribution network,” he said. “We’re doing it at a calculated pace with our already existing growth.”
RexCon LLC
Address: 7100 N. Teutonia Ave., Milwaukee
Products: Concrete paving plants, mixers, pavers and related products
Revenues: About $35 million for 2007
Employees: 100
Web site: www.rexcon.com
