The Future of Aggregates As the daily wrap-up speaker at Caterpillar’s recent Quarry Days, a two-week biennial customer and dealer event held in Tucson in September this year, I was invariably asked before each presentation, just what is the “Future of Aggregates”? (Never mind that attendance at my presentation of the same title might provide some answers to that question!) “Is the demand going to be there?” was the typical follow-up. My response? “Yes.” The demand for aggregates is always going to be there. In 2001, the Minerals Information Institute (MII) estimated that lifetime aggregate consumption per capita in the U.S. was 1.67 million pounds of stone, sand and gravel. In 2006, MII’s estimated lifetime consumption rose to 1.71 million pounds per person. We consume more aggregate material in our lifetimes than any other mineral, metal or fuel. And with the U.S. population now at 300 million, that’s a lot of aggregate! That said, the real question is: “Are you going to be able to mine the material to meet the demand?” The aggregate reserves are there – in large quantities. California alone has 80 billion tons of aggregate reserves; that’s 350 years at California’s current consumption*. And when you add current and potential recycling of concrete and asphalt, the material reserves are further stretched. The problem is that producers face numerous challenges in simply getting to the material – including obtaining the necessary permits to expand, open new sites and even to keep existing operations open to mine and process materials. Your neighbors don’t want a quarry or recycle operation in their back yards. And neither your neighbors nor the policymakers you deal with have the experience or education to help them understand the need for aggregate materials. So you’re left to deal with the product of that ignorance: the NIMBYs – “not in my back yard” – and their legislative champions who set the permitting policies. What can you do about it? Education is the key. Producers need to actively work to demystify aggregate mining and production. People are afraid of what they don’t understand. So if you can teach the public about the industry, you can dispel much of its fear. Teaching opportunities come from open houses, to which you should invite legislators as well as the community at large. Also, personally invite policymakers to tour your site. Get involved with the community at the same time. Participate in town councils, local committees and your local chambers of commerce. Your participation in local planning helps to familiarize government officials with the industry, and you will also get your voice heard early about the need for aggregate resources. Show them what’s actually available in local reserves, and educate them about land use restrictions, and how these create resource shortages. Make it clear to legislators why aggregates are necessary for local growth. This is something they can understand and relate to. A community relations program is also necessary to help educate the public. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s (NSSGA’s) Pinnacle Award winners for community relations excellence – being proactive, versus reactive and improving community relations – all have these “best practices” in common:
Through all this outreach, you can also hope to answer another challenge faced by the aggregates industry today: the hiring and retention of a good workforce. It’s an understatement to say that good employees are hard to find and retain. How did we get here? As baby boomers retire, an historical workforce base is shrinking. At the same time, parents and secondary educators have for years pushed students to attend a four-year college, versus pursuing a skilled trade. And then there’s the general public’s perception of aggregates mining as being dirty, noisy and dangerous, with little room for advancement. In answer to this challenge, there are recent initiatives nationwide that are working to promote the trades. For example, the two-year-old Skills to Build America Future Initiative and the High Growth Job Training Initiative emphasize trades, including construction-related careers. With only 18 percent of the U.S. population under the age of 18, many companies are answering their workforce challenges by finding new roles for older workers. And they’re looking to give younger workers what they want. For example, it’s possible to attract the younger, transient worker who comes on board during the summers and focus on recapturing that worker each summer until graduation, when a permanent position might have appeal. Younger workers also tend to work well with flexible schedules, such as longer hours, but fewer workdays. Entice workers with bonuses, promises of mentoring, lack of boredom and ongoing training. Constant skills improvement appeals to young workers’ career goals.** But once you find good employees, you still have trouble keeping them. Why? There is a perception among the younger generation of workers today that there’s no need for loyalty. First of all, the workforce as a whole is having children and taking on responsibilities such as buying a house later in life than the previous generation. In the meantime, workers bounce from job to job to see what catches their interest. Also, many of these workers have grown up with their parents’ layoffs. They see their parents work for major manufacturers their whole lives, only to be laid off and lose their pensions. So today’s workers wonder why they should be loyal to any company. It helps again to understand what motivates younger workers – and that’s not necessarily a paycheck. In order to keep younger workers, you need to make sure you deliver what was promised at hiring – whether that was flexible hours, training, bonuses, tuition reimbursement, etc. Employee opinion surveys can gauge overall job satisfaction, but these need to address the concerns and wishes that are noted by employees. With younger workers it also helps to create bonuses based on their schedule – making the bonus quarterly or bi-monthly, so the next bonus is never perceived as being that far off, but always within reach of an employee who might be considering a job change.** To address the actual and perceived issues of safety in the workplace, many mining and aggregate companies are creating safety programs that work as hard to eliminate unsafe acts by employees as they do to eliminate unsafe conditions. One of these programs (which are often referred to as human-factor-based or performance-based safety initiatives) is MSHA’s SLAM/SMART*** program. SLAM is the portion of the program geared toward operators. It’s an acronym meaning: SMART is for managers. The acronym stands for: In summary, it’s clear the biggest challenges the aggregates industry faces today revolve around the fact that the general public and policymakers are not aware of what aggregates are and what mining products contribute to their standard of living. In answer to that challenge, there is an ever-increasing need for aggregate companies, their employees and even families to engage the public to properly inform them of the vital contributions this industry makes to their well-being.
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