TRACKING PRODUCTION, HOURS & DOWNTIME BARD now records and analyzes tonnages of various products produced at each site, as well as hours for employees and equipment with B2W Track. Unexpected downtime – a critical KPI for aggregate operations – is also easy to record and review, Gribben says. Managers and executives use the data to understand individual incidents and spot trends or patterns related to the performance of equipment in crushing lines. They see, for example, if a certain piece of equipment is down more often than others. “Having this information at our fin-gertips and being able to compare across sites helps us evaluate whether we need to upgrade or replace equipment,” Gribben says. “We can also analyze how much we might be able to get production numbers up by making that investment.” ACCEPTANCE IN THE FIELD Some supervisors at BARD offered what Gribben describes as “minimal resistance” to the new software at first. But that’s typical of any technology-based initiative in a construction environment, he says. “Once they got the tablets in their hands and saw how it worked – how easy it was – there were really no complaints,” Gribben says. “I don’t think anyone would want to go back to the way we were doing it before with Excel.” Support requirements have also been minimal, he adds. “The software works the way it is sup-posed to work, so we really haven’t had to call B2W for support,” Gribben says. Future plans at BARD include refining and adding more reports and dashboards to take further advantage of production data. P & Q THE AUTHORITY ATE ON A EQUIPMENT How BARD Materials got its name The “BARD” in BARD Materials is actually an acronym for four indi-viduals who were instrumental in giving shape to the Iowa-based producer of aggregate and ready-mixed concrete. According to the company, the name BARD was adopted in 1971 following the purchase of Besler Ready Mix. An acronym was con-structed incorporating the first names of the two founders (Bill Mescher and Art Thier) and their two sons (Roger Mescher and Dennis Thier). Thus, the BARD name was born. Source: BARD Materials pitandquarry.com February 2021 PIT&QUARRY 21
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