This month we are pleased to feature Anchorage Sand & Gravel as part of our Meet a Precaster blog series. Answers were provided by Paul DuClos, assistant manager.
Don’t forget to check out all of our Meet a Precaster blog posts and if you’re an NPCA producer member and would like to be featured in a future Meet a Precaster post, please send an email to NPCA’s internal communication and web manager, Sara Geer.
1. Where are you located?
We are located in Anchorage, Alaska. We mainly serve the central region, but have supplied our precast products to a widespread area. Varied locations include the northern slope of Alaska at Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay, along with Kotzebue, Kodiak and other regions. Recently, we have supplied customers all the way to Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands and Sakhalin Island, Russia.
2. How did your company get its start?
Pre-Cast Concrete Company was established in 1977 by John McGee. PCC grew over the years providing building products for local utility companies and supplying various precast concrete products throughout Alaska. In February 2000, Anchorage Sand & Gravel purchased PCC, and in the Spring of 2003, we moved to our present location. We now have two production facilities with more yard space, which increases our productivity and capacity to serve customers with quality concrete products year round despite the harsh winter conditions.
3. What value does NPCA bring to your company and to the industry?
NPCA has been very instrumental in numerous aspects of our business. For instance, the extensive amount of marketing products, guides and helpful articles has assisted us in our advertising agenda. The online education is also a great tool for us to use for new employees, managers and owners.
The impact has been very strong in the short amount of time we have become certified. Already, we have quoted multiple projects because we are the only certified plant in Alaska. It solidifies our position in the market and allows us to provide a diverse and expanded product line.
NPCA also provides networking and business resources relevant to our success, such as online courses, conventions and seminars for dealing with the customers, vendors, suppliers and competitors.
Colored precast concrete walkway panels
4. What’s the most interesting or unique precast product you’ve worked on?
An intricate project we produced are precast concrete bleacher sections for the new sports arena at our local college. Many obstacles had to be overcome with the sequencing of bleachers such as the complex shape made picking points difficult and shipping, storage and placement was difficult. Lastly, we produced these in the middle of winter and had to make sure the finish was uniform throughout the 150 total sections.
University of Alaska Anchorage sports arena bleachers
5. What drives you and your employees to produce quality precast concrete products?
We pride ourselves in making the highest quality product we possibly can. Being an NPCA certified plant, we are required to follow a very stringent quality control process that meets customer’s timeframe and expectations. Our products will be seen throughout Alaska, so we want to make sure each is made safely, within spec and meets the high standard of quality.
6. Tell us about a time when you changed the spec to precast on a project and why the change was made.
Recently, we supplied footing sections for aluminum culvert stream sections that were originally bid as cast-in-place. The reason we offered a precast solution was due to the strict schedule they needed to meet to beat the snow and harsh winter conditions. We worked with a local engineering firm to establish the exact footing layout and connection details needed to combine the multiple sections into one uniform footing.
We have supplied precast in place of cast-in-place for various products and needs. Alaska has a very fast-paced construction season, which requires us to adapt and become diverse for our customers.
Large precast concrete catch basin for ExxonMobil project in Sakhalin, Russia
7. How do you see the precast concrete industry – and your company in particular – evolving in the future?
Precast concrete is environmentally friendly, durable and long lasting. It serves as an endless opportunity to implement in place of other competing products. We see ourselves continuing to be the leading producer of precast in our state, possibly becoming involved in the production of prestressed and/or post tensioning. We are always on the lookout for new products and higher efficiencies to reduce costs for our customers. We look forward to the coming years, meeting new customers and relationships and overcoming challenges to maintain the level of quality and services our community has come to expect from us.
The opinions expressed in this blog post are solely those of the member, and not of NPCA or any of its employees.
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