2. Company Background Vulcan Materials Company was founded in 1909 by the Birmingham Slag Company based out of Birmingham, Alabama. The mining facility became a publicly held company in 1956. Vulcan has expanded throughout the United States with a total of three hundred forty-three facilities in the U.S., with thirty-five of the divisions in the Southeast. Vulcan has just under 10,000 employees. Was names one of the mostadmired companies inFortune Magazine for 2007.
3. Operations Management: Vulcan’s Products! Vulcan is the nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates, producing mainly crushed stone, sand, and gravel, but is also a major producer of other construction materials such as asphalt and ready mix concrete. Vulcan is also a leading producer of cement in some regions, such as Florida. All of Vulcan’s materials are produced at a quarry where natural depots of various materials such as granite, limestone, or trap rock can be found. These materials are what Vulcan’s products are formed form. Customer records show that over half of the aggregates Vulcan produces are used in either the formation or repairs of highways, roads, streets, and various other public works projects. The remaining aggregates go to the construction of housing, nonresidential buildings, commercial or industrial facilities, and several non-construction uses including agricultural and various industrial applications.
4. Operations Management: Materials Management! Vulcan's main source of materials is through earth itself. Most materials they collect come directly from the pits that they mine from. They have a strict quality control process where they checks for size, and most importantly contamination. A slight discrepancy in the material can cause the whole load of material to be contaminated. Vulcan also deals with over 250 vendors and moves on average 28,000 tons a day. On an annual basis they sell 3.5 to 4 million tons, and moved 2.5 million tons in 2009.
5. Operations Management: Inventories! Vulcan has a great accounting system that allows them to always know how much rock is has been blasted, crushed, and sold. A record of how many rocks are being crushed by each crusher per hour is recorded in order to keep track of how much is being produced. Inventory at Vulcan is carefully recorded and stored weekly. The government conducts a “flyover” once a year to measure stock piles. This is how they know how much to tax Vulcan each year.
6. OperationsManagement: Competitive Priorities! More than 5,000 companies are active in the aggregate business, and no single producer dominates the industry. Martin Marietta, Lafarge, Hanson, and Old Castle are the leading competitors for Vulcan Materials. Vulcan strives to be the low cost producer in their industry and also to be the standard-setter with regards to quality service and technical support. Vulcan is ranked in the top quartile of the U.S. Industrial Companies as measured by profitability and growth in earnings. The way that Vulcan achieves profitable growth is through the extension of existing profit lines, addition of new products, and development of new sites and business acquisitions.
7. Operations Management: QualityManagement! Vulcan’s mission is to provide quality products and services, which consistently meet our customer’s expectations; to be responsible stewards with respect to the safety and environmental impact of our operations and products; and to earn superior return for our shareholders. Every year since 1999 Vulcan has been named in Fortune Magazines list of America’s most admired companies. Vulcan provides technical and educational assistance so customers are able to use their products in an efficient, safe, and environmentally proper manor. Vulcan offers a 100% satisfaction guaranteed program and insures they measure all of their products for quality control, correctness of size and density, and also against any unusual levels of contamination.
8. Operations Management: Vulcan’s Layout! Vulcan considered those residents living around them when they built their facility. The quarry is about a mile back from the road. Most all noises can be muffled to the point that they do not disturb surrounding residents. Overall, Vulcan’s layout is a product oriented. The strategic implementation is shown through the conveyor belts that come from the pit carrying crushed rocks up through the mining facilities, dropping them into crushers, and then moved again through the quarry to the different areas depending on the size of rock needed before sale. Vulcan also uses a fixed-position layout. Since the quarry is so large and the crushers and conveyor belts are positioned adequately all over, it allows individual projects to remain in one area. All projects stay within the quarry and do not leave the quarry until the final items are sold.
9. OperationsManagement: ProcessDesign! Aggregate can be processed at remote locations using portable crushing and screening equipment, or it can be processed at a plant, like Vulcan. Aggregate processing commonly consists of first transporting rock, sand and gravel, or rubble to a plant, crushing, screening, washing, stockpiling, and load out. Upon sale, the product is loaded on trucks, railcars, or barges for transportation to the final destination.
10. OperationsManagement: Forecasting! For each individual quarry, there are operating reports made each week to reflect the sales of each item that was sold. Reports are done at the end of each month, three months, all the way up to the year when the numbers are compared with those of precious years and able to predict what the next period sales should be at. Their technical forecasts have grown from $1.5 to $2 million in sales annually in 1950 to an astonishing $3 billion in current years. The current estimate of 13.3 billion tons of aggregate reserves that Vulcan has forecasted has proven profitable with a reflection of a 0.6 billion ton increase since the last estimate that was made at the end of 2007. The current economic hardships in the world has caused Vulcan to have a 30% drop in shipments of aggregate.
11. Problem and Solution Problem 1: Keeping noise and vibrations to a minimum Solution 1: Vulcan uses ammonia nitrate to alleviate noise and vibrations Problem 2: Removal of vegetation and soil cover Solution 2: Keep corrosion and sedimentation to a minimum due to proper engineering techniques Problem 3: Physical changes to the environment Solution 3: They use mining software which makes it easier to predict physical changes to the environment
12. Community Involvement Sponsors Kennesaw Days Involved in the community with around 7,900 tours a year Partnership with Kennesaw Elementary School, Big Shanty Elementary School and Kennesaw Charter Elementary School
13. CheckVulcanOutOnline! To view Vulcan’s website yourself, Click Here! OR To see a great video about Vulcan Materials, Click Here!
14. The End! Thank you for viewing our presentation and please take time to visit Vulcan Material yourself for a tour!(770) 427-5277
