Photo courtesy of Pugmill Systems LLC
Seen here is a stabilized sand plant in central Texas.
Since the mid-1980s, Duane Allen and his team have been designing and manufacturing pugmill mixers and related equipment for Pugmill Systems LLC in Columbia, Tenn., south of Nashville.
Allen's son, Jared, who has been involved in the family business for 16 years, is the elder Allen's partner and has served as the company's general manager for the past few years.
Photo courtesy of Pugmill Systems LLC
Today, Duane Allen is semi-retired, but still comes into the office several days a week just because he enjoys it. Like most company founders, he loves having a hand in the business and watching it thrive, even if he no longer runs the day-to-day operations.
"Dad realized he was ready to work a little less and have a little less responsibility, and it has worked out very well for both of us," said Jared. "He gets to choose special projects he wants to work on and, for me, Dad acts as a consultant in the office next door to mine who I can call on with questions. He has been in this business for a long time and is so well known in the industry, I'd be crazy not to want his input as long as he's willing to give it."
Indeed, in the four decades since Duane Allen entered the pugmill industry, his stellar reputation, combined with strong recommendations from his customers, has resulted in steady growth and a customer base that is spread across the country.
Designed to work in a variety of industries, pugmill plants are noted for combining solid and liquid feed components into a homogeneous mix. They are most commonly used to make various products in the road building industry. Rock quarries, county road departments and large highway contractors make up a large segment of their users.
Among Pugmill Systems' lineup of products are stationary, portable, skid-mounted and track-mounted pugmill plants.
Expansion Leads to Adding Concrete Plant Line
Recently, though, Pugmill Systems embarked on adding a second product line to complement the original machines that made its name in the road-building industry.
A few years ago, the manufacturer purchased five acres of land adjacent to its Columbia site, primarily because the seller's price was so reasonable. Although the company had no immediate need for the property, Jared Allen said the acquisition got him and his father thinking about the company's future.
"We started realizing if we were going to grow Pugmill Systems, we were either going to expand our shop, build a new one or change locations all together," he said. "After exploring all of our options, it soon became clear that building a shop on our new land was the right answer at that time.
Photo courtesy of Pugmill Systems LLC
"We moved in around Christmas 2022 and in doing so, we approximately doubled our shop space and added more overhead cranes. The old shop was on two levels and the cranes did not connect both levels, making it very inefficient. Now everything is on one level, and we bought our first plasma burn table, which has been a game changer for us."
The Allens also decided the time was right to make an even bigger move if they were serious about their company's continued prosperity.
"Once we moved into the new shop and got settled, we knew it was time to decide how we would utilize our expanded manufacturing capacity," Jared said. "But we also knew that there are only so many pugmills that get built each year. It is somewhat of a limited market compared to other equipment in the construction industry. We felt like we needed to add additional equipment to our product line, something other than the pugmill plants we're known for — something that many of our existing customers are already familiar with."
After seeking advice from trusted folks in the industries they served, the father-and-son team kept coming back to the idea of expanding their product line to include concrete plants.
"We had been asked in years past, ‘Why don't you guys build concrete plants?' and they are pretty similar to pugmills," said Jared. "They look alike, and they have a lot of similar parts, but there are definitely some important differences — enough that we knew we had to reach out for help to our pugmill customers that also have concrete plants. So many of them were generous with their time in teaching us about concrete plants and answering the million questions that we had. Being able to lean on their expertise was priceless and allowed us to confidently enter the market with a plant we could be proud of."
He spent 2023 figuring out where to enter the concrete plant market due to the industry's broad range of designs — from basic stationary units to self-erect mobile plants that have a price tag of more than a million dollars.
In the end, the Allens decided to jump into the concrete industry in two ways: by offering complete batch plants and by offering to replace elements on existing plants.
"Obviously, we'd love to sell everyone a whole plant, but we also want to work with companies that just need a new silo, conveyor or bin," Jared said. "We really just want to help folks out however we can."
For the complete plants, they decided to begin offering small- to mid-size stationary and portable plants that can easily be modified to increase production as needed. When a small producer's business and demand grows, the manufacturer wants the plant to be able to grow with them.
"We feel like this is a good starting point for us since there are already so many similar concrete plants set up around the Southeast," he added.
Photo courtesy of Pugmill Systems LLC
In his market research over the past 18 months, Jared noted, "the fact that most manufacturers have a lead time of around one year, left the door open for us to enter the market."
It also became obvious to him that there was room for Pugmill Systems in the concrete plant business if they could build a quality plant at a reasonable price and in a reasonable amount of time.
"I'd be pretty frustrated if I were a concrete producer who had decided they were ready to invest in a new plant only to find out they will have to wait in line for 14 months or so before they take delivery," he said. "That is especially tough to navigate if you are not one of the major regional or national ready-mix companies."
Allen hopes to be able to keep his lead times to under six months, approximately the same amount of time it typically takes to fill orders for the company's pugmill units. Currently, order fulfillment is approximately four to six months on the pugmills, he said, "but we just happen to be very busy right now. I am blessed to be able to say that."
Allens Add Eric Endsley to Its Team
To bolster its in-house knowledge of the concrete industry, the company brought in longtime industry professional Eric Endsley, who has more than 20 years' experience in the ready mix and quarry industries. He began in the industry after graduating from MTSU with a degree in Concrete Industry Management. Endsley has a very diverse background in the ready mix industry ranging from plant maintenance, operations, QC to finally managing a multi-state operation for a national producer.
"Having someone with the level and type of experience Eric has will be great for our customers," said Jared. "Using him as a resource to discuss the real-life challenges that are commonplace for concrete producers will ultimately lead to a more productive plant with less down time. We really couldn't be happier to have Eric on our team."
Partnering With Top Parts Makers a Must
As Pugmill Systems continues to develop its newest product line, Allen is encouraged by the fact that many of their pugmill customers also have concrete plants and that their good word about the manufacturer within the concrete industry will help to further publicize its new equipment.
Allen also picked up a tip from acquaintances that he feels will help raise Pugmill Systems' profile even higher among concrete movers and shakers.
"One of the things that we have learned from our friends in the world of concrete is that being partnered with the best parts brands is very important to that industry," he said. "In our advertising, we let people know that we can use controls companies like Command Alkon or Marcotte as well as brands like MAC, Bray and Badger, just to name a few, because over and over we heard those were the parts brands that industry professionals already prefer and will want us to stock.
"As we get deeper into the concrete plant business, we intend to further increase our parts inventory to help support our new ready-mix customers."
For more information, call 931/388-0626 or e-mail jared.allen@pugmillsystems.com. The company is located at 204 Cemetery Ave. in Columbia, approximately 10 mi. west of Interstate 65. CEG
Eric Olson
A writer and contributing editor for CEG since 2008, Eric Olson has worked in the business for more than 40 years.
Olson grew up in the small town of Lenoir, NC in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he began covering sports for the local newspaper at age 18. He continued to do that for several other dailies in the area while in college at Appalachian State University. Following his graduation, he moved on to gain experience at two other publications before becoming a real estate and special features writer and editor at the Winston-Salem Journal for 10 years. Since 1999 he has worked as a corporate media liaison and freelance writer, in addition to his time at CEG.
He and his wife, Tara, have been married for 33 years and are the parents of two grown and successful daughters. His hobbies include collecting history books, watching his beloved Green Bay Packers and caring for his three dogs and one cat.
Read more from Eric Olson here.
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