Kirkpatrick Concrete’s Central Division has hit a new milestone, reaching the 50-mixer mark in 2023. The majority of the delivery fleet (33 trucks) are less than three years old with the balance made of up of fifteen 2015 mixers. The two oldest trucks are 2006 models in good operational condition.
“When I came to Kirkpatrick three years ago”, says Keith Rickles, general manager of Kirkpatrick’s Central Division, for our central Alabama area we had 12 mixers around the Birmingham area, and 14 in the eastern area. And that just wasn't enough to grow as quickly as we wanted to. So, we started adding more mixers each year.”
The move is all about providing excellent customer service. “When you're in a commodity market, you set yourself apart by your customer service. We can't get the jobs if we don't have a quality product, that's a given. The only other option for competitive advantage is to have great customer service,” says Rickles.
“When you’re in the ready-mix business, you need to run a really good trucking company. We've got to have the capacity to do the logistical gymnastics required to deliver high volumes of concrete in a short timeline.”
That 50-truck milestone is showing up in the projects Kirkpatrick Central has been able to win as well as the yardage the division is able deliver. “That’s how hitting a milestone really pays off,” Rickles says.
