When Cemstone, a ready mixed concrete, sand and gravel producer and concrete block manufacturer was founded by Hammon T. Becken in 1927, the company’s trucks routinely drove by Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. The then 3-year-old stadium, home to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, was considered a modern marvel. The construction of the 56,000-seat structure in 1924 used 1.4 million ft. (42,000 m) of lumber, 1 million bricks and 90,000 sacks of cement.
More than eight decades later, Cemstone and Hammon’s great-grandchildren who work for the company have played a pivotal role in the construction of TCF Bank Stadium, new home for Gopher football, scheduled to open this fall. The current generation of Beckens — which includes chief executive officer Hammon (Tom) Becken, president Thor Becken and senior vice president of operations Tim Becken — was able to rely on the company’s fleet of Kenworth W900S cement mixers and Kenworth T800 pumpers equipped with booms to supply the concrete for the new $228 million, 50,000-seat football stadium.
With 53 batch plants located throughout central Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northern Iowa, Cemstone is a leading supplier of concrete in the three-state area.
“We have a fleet of more than 450 trucks, mostly Kenworth T800 and W900S models,” said Jim Dewall, Cemstone fleet manager, who has been with the company for 20 years.
“We started buying T800s back in 1994 when Kenworth and Rihm Kenworth worked with us to build an all-wheel drive T800 mixer, which gave us a competitive edge in our market by handling well in mud, snow and sand. We did a lot of jobs then which required off-road concrete pours — we didn’t have the big concrete booms we have today. Traction was important and we were the first company in our area to run a 6 by 6.”
While Kenworth T800s are still stalwarts in the fleet, Cemstone has more recently specified Kenworth W900S mixers with set-forward axles.
“The W900S is a great set up for our bridge laws and we can carry about 11 yards of concrete,” said Dewall. “And, with a recent change in our length laws [from 40 to 45 feet], we’ll be able to add another pusher axle in our future truck orders, which will allow us to haul up to 3,000 more pounds, or 11.75 yards, of payload. That will be a big boost to productivity.”
While the TCF Bank Stadium is high profile, the company also has been involved in several other large and notable projects over the past two years.
“Cemstone is the exclusive concrete company for the new Minnesota Twins stadium, which will open next season, and we supplied concrete on the I-35 bridge project which opened this past fall.”
It stunned the country when the Saint Anthony Falls Bridge, which carried I-35 across the Mississippi River, collapsed during rush hour on Aug. 1, 2007. Thirteen people died and 145 were injured. Reconstruction of the fifth busiest bridge in the state of Minnesota, carrying 140,000 vehicles per day, began within two months of the tragedy. Cemstone worked closely with the general contractor, Flatiron-Manson, providing more than 60,000 yds. (54,860 m) of concrete over the construction period, which took just a year to complete.
“This was a project that normally would take two to three years to complete. But the state and the general contractor fast-tracked the project, which meant we were on call 24/7,” said Dewall. “We had a batch plant close to the bridge and about 40 Kenworth W900S mixers dedicated to the job. From a concrete standpoint, it was a very difficult job — our engineers did a great job of creating a concrete that was extremely strong with a fast cure rate to reach full strength. And we were dealing with the Minneapolis cold, which meant we had to wrap enclosures around the concrete to keep it warm during the set period. It was one of the biggest challenges our company has ever faced.”
The I-35W bridge project went on to earn Cemstone “Project of the Year” from the Aggregate & Ready Mix Association of Minnesota (ARM) as well as eight national and regional awards of excellence.
Dewall said his current fleet of Kenworth’s have withstood the test of time.
“We still have many of our original Kenworth T800s,” he said. “They may have gone through a couple mixer barrels and feature a second coat of paint, but they still perform and are reliable. We put a lot of trust in these Kenworths and they’ve paid us back in reliability and consistency,” he said. “Kenworth trucks are easy to work on, and since the cabs are constructed of aluminum, we don’t have the rust problems other truck brands might have. Kenworth trucks remain our truck of choice based on how they hold up, their productivity, serviceability and driver acceptance.”
For more information, visit ww.kenworth.com.
