The Manager of Environmental Engineering at Keystone sat down with Midwest to discuss dust control, operational costs, and the benefits of strategic maintenance.
Eleven years ago, Dallas-based Keystone Steel & Wire enlisted Midwest Industrial Supply, Inc. to address airborne emissions at their steel plant. To remain in compliance with environmental regulations, Keystone needed to suppress dust on its transport roads. The steel fabricator had initially employed trucks to douse the unpaved roads with water up to three times a day.
This daily regimen was not only costly and labor-intensive — it also further degraded the surface of the road and proved to be an unsustainable practice. After implementing Midwest’s comprehensive Managed Services program, Keystone reported a significant reduction in both their dust emissions and their overall operational costs. Chad Erdmann, Keystone’s Manager of Environmental Engineering, sat down with us to discuss Midwest’s dust control solutions.
Reducing Costs
Following a thorough on-site audit, Midwest “developed a proactive and flexible dust control program that adjusts to traffic levels, seasonal changes, and weather conditions and enables us to operate efficiently and compliantly without worrying about dust emissions,” says Erdmann. Specifically, the product and application experts developed a continued application program that employed both Soil-Sement® and Road Pro NT®.
These environmentally friendly polymer emulsion products actually strengthen roads while reducing fugitive dust, and their application cut Keystone’s overall costs when factoring in the labor that had been required to water the roads. “I’ve seen first hand that strategic maintenance means long-term savings,” Erdmann told us. “Midwest’s strategic approach to dust control has reduced the need for frequent watering and grading at the plant.”
Long-term Solutions
According to Erdmann, “When you work with Midwest, you’re not just buying a product — you’re buying best-in-class customer service and dust control expertise.” Following every application of Soil-Sement and Road Pro NT, a Midwest representative checks in with Erdmann to update the manager on the project’s progress and any necessary adjustments.
“We’re in regular communication with the Midwest team, and they always over-deliver and exceed our expectations on everything from the smallest project to the creation of new roads at the facility.”
Continued Efforts
Today, Midwest continues to work collaboratively with Erdmann and his team to maximize the facility’s efficiency. “Recently,” he says, “they helped us develop new, stable, unpaved roads at the plant and have gone above and beyond to ensure that the roads are ready to stand up to our heavy traffic.”
“Midwest handles the dust, and allows the Keystone team to focus on what we do best. We don’t worry any more about dust emissions because Midwest’s team communicates proactively with us to make sure all of our dust control needs are taken care of. We count them as our dust control partner, and they live up to their slogan because at Keystone, we ‘Consider it Done.’”
(Image credit: Ken/flickr)