WAVE PTX Cement Industry Case Study

Smith Ready Mix, Inc. opened their first concrete manufacturing plant in 1949, in the Northwest Indiana town of Valparaiso. Over the years, the company steadily expanded their operations. Today they produce and supply concrete for the tri-state area of Northwest Indiana, Southwest Michigan, and the south suburbs of Chicago.

Smith Ready Mix has ten concrete plants equipped to supply construction jobs of all types throughout the year. Residential, commercial, and industrial construction each have distinct requirements necessitating precision timing for concrete application. To facilitate the constant flow of orders and materials, Smith Ready Mix employs 75 trucks and drivers along with over 20 managers. The managers at each plant must be able to maintain constant communication with the concrete trucks. In turn, drivers require instant communication with workers on the construction sites.

The Challenge

Delivering ready-mix cement is a time sensitive operation. Fresh concrete has a short pot life. This creates urgency every moment that trucks are on the road travelling to their destination. When out on delivery, Smith Ready Mix truck drivers may be many miles from the dispatcher or construction site. So, serving customers located across three different states requires careful coordination. Reliable communication depends on a reliable communications network. In the past, when the trucks were far from the central dispatch office, the wireless communications technology wouldn’t always work when it was needed. When the signal failed, critical time was lost.

After years of trying various technologies, such as smartphones, Smith Ready Mix sought a new communications solution that would consolidate their needs into one ultra-reliable and rugged system.

The Solution

Smith Ready Mix selected the WAVE Two-Way Radio TLK 100 system with the instant communication, location tracking, and clear, reliable connectivity capabilities needed to keep up with the demands of their fast-paced daily operations and dispersed workforce.

The WAVE PTX push-to-talk platform provides Smith Ready Mix with the ability to bring all of their devices together under a unified system. With the WAVE platform, managers are able to use smartphones to communicate with front-line workers who use two-way radios in the field. With a Motorola-provided cellular network, all employees have crystal clear, reliable communications, regardless of location.