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“We started the business in1964 with a $5,000 loan. Howtimes have changed,” MaryAnn Allen, AEC secretary/trea-surer and co-founder.But Mary Ann wasn’t 100

percent certain of what theywere getting into. At the time,Dewayne, her husband, wasworking in Illinois for a high-way contractor.“We lived in Illinois, and this

was started in Piggott,Arkansas, Dewayne’s home-town. I was teaching school andhad no idea I would be movingto Arkansas and be in the ready-mix business,” said Mary Ann. While the company was

founded in 1964, the Allensdidn’t move to Arkansas until1968. In the early years,Dewayne traveled and MaryAnn kept up with the office.They had a watts line directly totheir home, with which MaryAnn took the calls to provide adirect line for support day andnight.

The office in Piggott, Ark., in the mid-1960s, where everything began.

Allen Engineering Celebrates 50th Anniversary

The entire Allen family. (L-R): Leslie Allen, wife of Jay; Dewayne Allen; Grace Allen, daughter of Jay; DanielAllen, son of Jay; Anna Joy Allen, daughter of Jay; Jaxon Allen, son of John; Mary Leigh Allen, daughter ofJay; John Allen, standing behind Jaxon and Mary; John Allen, Jr., son of John; Jay Allen, standing behindMary Ann; Mary Ann Allen, Jessica Allen, daughter of Jay.

First and second generation ownership (L-R) include Jay and LesleAllen; Mary Ann and Dewayne Allen.

3

“At that time, we were only selling trussscreeds and I could rattle off a lot of informationand could explain hooking up an air compressorto an air screed and could provide quotes whenneeded. I grew up in the ready-mix business.Even though I was teaching school early on inmy career, I was completely in the ready-mixbusiness in the summer time so I was familiarwith concrete,” she said.

Necessity — The Mother of Invention

Allen Engineering Corporation (AEC) beganas a ready-mix concrete and aggregate produc-er, but that would change when Dewayne —chairman, CEO and co-founder of AEC —became frustrated (like others) with the lack ofnecessary tools for the job.“We were the concrete contractor on a job in

Paragould, Arkansas, for Monroe Shock Co.,and we didn’t have the right tools and the rest is history,” he said.Allen started looking at developing a screed to solve this prob-

lem, as did several other companies, but according to Dewayne,his company is the only original screed company left still work-ing to develop the right tools to use with concrete. “The original screed was built by a Mr. Baker in Texas who

worked for Brown and Root. He had developed a truss screedafter World War II. There were other players in truss screeddevelopment: Compton in Texas, Joe Owens in Chicago and theMorrisons in North Carolina, but we are the only survivors,” hesaid.The original screed design was already patented, but the

Allens were able to patent the options to the screed design, whichallowed Allen Engineering to differentiate itself from the others— a trait still evident today. To date, Allen Engineering has morethan 110 patents on its line of equip-ment.

A Worldwide People Business

Today, Allen Engineering is adesigner, manufacturer, and marketerof the Allen line of concrete sitepreparation, placing, finishing andpaving equipment.While establishing, growing and

developing their business, the Allenfamily said one thing stands out intheir minds — the great peoplethey’ve met and known in thisindustry. “When you go and do an equip-

ment demo and you’re there for two

Founders Dewayne and Mary Ann Allen celebrate 50 years in businessin 2014.

Dewayne and Mary Ann in 1987, in a photo taken at the AEC office in Euless, Texas.

The main factorywith the AllenEngineering 50thanniversary logoon the front of it.

4

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or three days, you really get to know the people. I may not getback to see a lot of them, but they come and see us at the tradeshows just to say, ‘hello,’ and that they’ve made a lot of moneyusing our products,” said Dewayne.

Mary Ann recalled that among her favorite aspects of grow-ing their company was the opportunity for global travel as theydeveloped new products and new distribution channels.

Dewayne said the company’s first export product was a trussscreed to Belgium in 1979. Not long after, Dewayne and MaryAnn traveled there to show the customer how to operate thescreed. This was the start of their international business, whichhas grown substantially and continues to be an important part oftheir distribution.

“The very first World of Concrete that we went to as AllenEngineering was in 1977. Right after, we moved back fromTexas and were building products. We went to the bank and bor-rowed $5,000 to go to this show,” said Mary Ann.

The crew had set up a tiny booth, a card table, some foldingchairs and a red-skirted tablecloth that the family still uses atThanksgiving and Christmas.

“I had no clue about World of Concrete at this time,” MaryAnn said. “And we wore these big t-shirts that said ‘ScreedTeam Mom & Pop’ during the whole show. It was pretty Hokey,but it attracted attention.”

The Allens made a lot of industry friends at that first expo andeven recalled making friends with some of their toughest com-petition.

“Everyone in this business is pretty close,” she said. “And ifyou don’t go to World of Concrete, that would be very bad andrumors would start.”

In the early years of Allen Engineering, in addition to promot-ing themselves at World of Concrete, the company also was bigon print advertising in trade publications for promoting theirproducts.

“We bought the back page of Concrete Construction on amonthly basis for about $1,100 and we put a watts line on the ad.

Mary Ann and Dewayne in 1979 sell screed to customers from HongKong.

Allen workers fine-grade a slab in the late 1970s at the company’s head-quarters. (L-R) are James Milton, Dewayne Allen, Jay Allen, and ChuckStone.

A truck heads out to deliver 800 ft. (243.8 m) of air screed in 1977.

7

The watts line would be answered 24 hours a day,by either me or Mary Ann or someone else. Youwould not believe the leads we got off of it … hun-dreds.”

Then there were the road shows.“We started putting dealers in place,” Dewayne

added. “When we would do a demo somewhere,we would call all of the potential dealers in the areafrom the Yellow Pages listings, and they wouldcome to the demo and some dealers just wanted toclaim the demo sale, but we said, ‘No, this is ourgoing-home money. Here is how you become adealer: you buy what’s left on the truck,’” Dewaynesaid.

Back in the beginnings of the road show demos,Buddy Blackshear was responsible fortrailering the equipment and setting upthe demos and Harry Horn would usuallycome to conduct the demo and close thedeal. Dewayne said, “they might do twoor three demos in a week, and Buddyactually did five in one week. He wentfrom Seattle, Washington, all the way toAtlanta that week.”

Allen Engineering employs more than130 people and Dewayne attributes com-pany success to the quality and longevityof the staff. “There are a lot of people thatwork here that have been here for morethan 20 years and some more than 30years. There’s a vast knowledge that hasdeveloped and grown in our businessover the years.”

Changing With, Adapting tothe Times

Everything changes over time andbusinesses must adapt. Nowhere is adapt-ing to change more important than withtechnology, and Allen Engineering hassteadfastly kept up with it.

“The biggest thing I’ve seen was when Wal-Martfirst starting building their stores, those jobs wouldlast two or three months to get the floors in,”Dewayne said. “Today, contractors using our prod-ucts and other manufacturer’s products can move inon a Wal-Mart Super Center concrete job onMonday and can go home on Friday and be done.On the bigger warehouse projects, these contractorsare doing 1.5 acres of concrete per day, over 60,000square feet with half the people they used to do itwith. When we started, 10,000 square foot floorswere a big day. We’ve come a long way.”

In 1977, Allen worked with Baker Concrete,

Eight hundred feet of air screed goes out for a delivery back in 1977.

The office inParagould, Ark.,circa 1978.

A job with one of the first engine-driven screeds made by Allen on a jobsite in the late 1970s.Jay Allen, president, works at the very end of the screed.

8

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which is the largest concrete contractor in the United States,on the contractor’s first big 500,000 sq. ft. job in Cincinnati,Ohio, and was able to improve their production to 12,000to 15,000 sq. ft. per day.

In the late 80s and early 90s, a nexus of flat flooring tookplace (as the Allen’s call it) with the start of the F-Numbersto scientifically measure the flatness of a floor, using a dif-ferential device known as a dipstick. This changed the wayindustrial flooring was done in the United States.

“At this time we were working on screeds and trowels,Dave Somero (inventor of the laser screed) was working onthe laser screed. We joined with them and others andbecame shareholders in Face International in Norfolk,Virginia. Concurrently, ACI [American Concrete Institute]adopted the F-Number system for measuring levelness andflatness of concrete floors. This was a big change in theindustry. A lot of people thought they were doing goodwork, but when they measured according to the new stan-dard, it really wasn’t very good,” said Dewayne.

The ‘Trojan Horse’The Holtz family from Chicago held the patent on the

riding trowel, but, according to Dewayne, AllenEngineering had to get the license from Holtz to build thetrowels themselves.

Ultimately getting the license, though, was, well, done inan unorthodox way.

“We talked to Mr. Holtz and he had already licensed abig company, but they weren’t doing very much businesswith riding trowels,” said Dewayne. “So we made amachine, took it to the World of Concrete in Houston,Texas, without a seat because the seat was a big part of thepatent. So we put a black box on it [a riding trowel], anantenna, a little red light that would flash and a switch.People who saw it went crazy and couldn’t figure it out. Butit got Butch Holtz’s attention real fast; he realized if thisreally worked, his patent was over.” Today, the Allens callthis their “Trojan Horse” approach to getting the license forthis product.

A technological innovation developed by Allen that hasimproved concrete floor flatness is the introduction of the“pan”. Simply put, the “pan” improvement involves the useof a steel pan under trowels. Pans were not new; they werebeing used in Europe on walk-behind trowels, but theywere new to the United States. It was added to the ridingtrowel to level and flatten the floor, mechanically with theriding trowel.

“And as we got more into using pans we had to add moreand more horsepower to the riding trowels,” said Dewayne.“So we eventually built a trowel that is still the biggest inthe world at 100 horsepower. So with three of these, a laserscreed and five or six people, you can do 60,000 plus feetof concrete in a day or more.”

One of the first auger pavers was made by Allen.This is it, the Model 12 Auger Paver.

This is 115 ft. (35 m) of screed smoothing out the foundation of a KeilStadium in St. Louis, Mo.

Jay Allen in 1982 shovels concrete on a jobsite.

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A New Material Enters the MixIn the mid 1980s, Allen Engineering started

working with polyester concrete. Polyester concrete was originally placed with

a truss screed. Now it is being placed with slip-form pavers and mixed in a large volumetricmixer,” said Dewayne. “The west coast is usingpolyester to overlay bridges and concrete pave-ments. It is a big business.”

“The advantage of polyester concrete is thatit will take an existing bridge deck or concrete pavement andextend its life probably 15 years, at a very reasonable cost. It’s avery thin overlay, minimum of three-quarters of an inch, and ofcourse, maybe thicker to get a good ride. We make thosemachines here in Paragould,” he said, adding that it will be a bigwave of future production for the company.

Allen Engineering builds machines specifically designed for

the polyester concrete industry. The model APSF1600 highprofile two-track polyester concrete slipform paver is theonly slipform paver designed specifically for polyesterconcrete overlays.

Allen Engineering — a WorldwideEnterprise

The company’s sales mix, at this time, on the entireproduct line, consists of 30 percent international salesand 70 percent domestic sales. International sales arechanneled through three main master distributors —one based in South Florida that handles LatinAmerica; one based in Australia that covers SoutheastAsia; and one based in Sweden that covers Europeand the former Soviet Republics.

In the United States, Allen Engineering sellsthrough approximately 500 dealer locations and 650rental center locations. Total worldwide sales or rentaloutlets for Allen Engineering products is approxi-mately 1,200.

“Our dealers are categorized in three groups for dis-tribution/rental: paving dealers, specifically for ourpaving equipment line; pro dealers, which would pri-marily be our pro place and finish line; and rentaldealers who work with our rental products,” said JayAllen, Allen Engineering President.Dewayne and Mary Ann with Randy LaJoie after he won the Daytona Busch.

A modern day picture of Dewayne and Mary Ann.

5

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Disaster StrikesMore than 10 years ago, Allen Engineering sustained a signifi-

cant setback.“In 2003, our Paragould, Arkansas, manufacturing facility

burned to the ground,” said Jay. “That was a real test in overcom-ing adversity, and the industry really rallied in our behalf. We haddealers and other manufacturers offering to help us out. If therewere ever a time when my parents seriously considered exitingthe business, it was then. Being the only manufacturing facility,we lost everything, including the warehouse. It was a longprocess, but a real team effort. The good news is throughthe tragedy, because of our insurance, wewere able to keep a core staff of

about 40 to 45 people on board to continue theirlongevity with us. The cause of the fire turned outto be a power strip in an office.”

A New AcquisitionIn late 2010, Allen Engineering bought the

Miller Power Buggy line, based in Youngstown,Ohio.

“We brought that line to Paragould [Arkansas]and that was our first acquisition; it is now theAllen Power Buggy line,” said Jay. “But what thatdid was open us to the equipment rental market.We had not really been in equipment rental up untilthis point. From that, we’ve learned much aboutthe equipment rental business. We were also fortu-nate to hire Roger Euless, former president ofMultiquip, who knew a whole lot about equipment

rental.”And at World of Concrete in 2014, Allen Engineering launched

a site preparation line and a towable mixer line to complement thePower Buggy line.

“Now, we’re offering a full complement of rental products.We’ve now been in our fourth ARA/Rental Show this year [2014]and that’s the fastest growing part of our business — the equip-ment rental side. This year’s The Rental Show and World ofConcrete, where we launched 19 new products, were both greatshows for us.”

The office building sits adjacent to the manufacturing plant.

The Paragould, Ark., manufacturing plant is 100,000 sq. ft.

15

Keeping Customers HappyThe Allens have always made it clear from

the beginning that their work was about gain-ing loyal customers.

“It all boils down to being a family-ownedbusiness in the central part of the United Stateswith competition in this business coming fromthe east by the German-owned company,Wacker Neuson Corporation, and from thewest by the Japanese-owned companyMultiquip,” said Dewayne. “Our big differenceis our core knowledge of concrete. We can goout and demonstrate our equipment and teachpeople how to use it properly … and they makemoney, and become loyal customers.”

Mary Ann added that she believes that over-all quality and service is the key factor in cus-tomer retention. “Our very firstready mix trucks had ‘quality andservice’ painted on them,” she said.

Over the years the company’smotto for the Allen EquipmentBrand has evolved into “FocusedInnovation — ConcreteReputation.”

Mary Ann said that she feels thecustomers recognize the compa-ny’s extra efforts in the market-place.

“They [the customers] come tothe trade shows to see what newproducts we have. Our dealers, likeStar Equipment of Iowa, who hasbeen with us since 1977, continueto be our larger dealers and I feelthey appreciate our innovation andour customer service.”

The engineers (L-R) are Tim Guinn, design engineer; Jeff Fielder, design engineer; AndyWaldon, CAD technician; Marcus Jarrett, manufacturing engineer; Nick Quintana, CADtech) and Scott Sugg, vice president of operations).

Some of the Allen Engineering staff at ConExpo 2014 in Las Vegas, Nev., promoting the completeAllen product line.

The marketing team is headed by Scott Ward (L), marketingmanager, and Kurt Kamphausen, marketing coordinator.

Accounting Department (L-R, back): Ioana Dunaway, accounts payable; KatieWolz, accounting manager; Jennifer Barrington, office manager. (L-R front):Karen Davis, system administrator, and Annice White, accounts receivable.

16 17

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Education MattersConsidering the family’s experience in

concrete, it was natural when the Allensfounded the Allen Concrete College (ACC) inParagould in 1995.

“Our salesman Harry Horn and I werealways talking about how we could educatethe people who buy our products,” saidDewayne. “You must teach them how to do itright. So we started having demos here, in thespring and in the fall. After we did it a coupletimes, we decided to call it the ConcreteCollege and we still continue to do this.”

The ACC combines a classroom seminarand hands-on training in concrete placing andfinishing techniques to produce high F-Number floors. Attendees learn how toincrease the flatness and levelness of floors,the basics of concrete flooring mix design,and the F-Number System. The company cur-rently brings in between 30 to 40 people eachcollege.

“The participants do the work,” said Jay.“We just set it up for them andsay ‘go for it,’ while our salesteam does the training. It hasbeen very successful. As a matterof fact, I would attribute ACC asa key driver of customer loyaltythat we have among concretecontractors.”

“I think it helps for ConcreteCollege to be here in NortheastArkansas, not in Atlanta, orChicago or some other large city.Attendees come here and theysee our facility and take a factorytour and we all become moreconnected,” Mary Ann added.

A Day at the RacesAllen Engineering also had a

brief sponsorship withNASCAR.

“We had a connection with anemployee who had a brother-in-law that was very connected withNASCAR, and driver, RandyLaJoie,” said Dewayne. “We metRandy, and became a sponsor forhis Busch Series car in the mid1990s, when he was runningstrong. In those days, you regis-tered at the Busch trailer and

Final whole goods ready for shipping in the warehousing area.

The machine assembly area of the manufacturing facility.

19

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could go wherever you wanted around the track or in the pits andeven see what the big boys, the Winston Cup drivers, weredoing. They, of course, have changed all the rules now. But backthen, we were in NASCAR at a great time. When the driverswere running hot laps [qualifying], we could sit on the wall rightnext to where they drive in and out on pit road.”

Looking Toward the FutureAllen Engineering sees that business is coming back and with

that comes growth potential. As a result, the company has inplace an aggressive five-year plan on growth expectations. “We have something called a 50-in-5 plan,” said Jay. “It’s kind

of a crazy dream, I cast a vision that we would like to be a $50million revenue company in the next five to seven years. Sothat’s essentially doubling our revenue. We want to grow bothrevenues and profits.”

Josh Price performs final testing and adjustments on a newlyassembled riding trowel.

Jason McCord completes a bearing shaft for a riding trowel in themachine shop.

In the fabrication shop, laser operator Chris Reynolds positions half aninch of steel in preparation for cutting track buggy parts with a 2,000watt laser cutter.

Doing some welding prep is Brad Nelson.Jeff Morris welds a screed bearing support.

23

With changes continuing in the industry (especially in theequipment rental industry), Allen Engineering sees opportunitiesfor its business to expand its product offerings. “We have a great brand, a great reputation, and a great loyal

following and we’re trying to parlay that,” said Jay.

In looking toward the future for personnel and staffing, AllenEngineering has a Leadership Training Program. “This is where we bring in recent college graduates, put them

through a 12-month program — six months working in the fac-tory actually putting product together, and then six months insales and marketing learning our customers, our processes, ourproducts, and how we go to market. After that, they get placedwherever we have a leadership opportunity for them or a need,”said Jay.Dewayne believes that to move forward, it’s all about making

Final engine assembly on a Kubota engine in an Allen 844 roller screedis being done by Billy White (L) and Michael Jameson.

Doing a chemical wash prior to paintwork is Michael Singleton. Cody Stephens powder coats a riding trowel frame in the paint booth.

Anthony Scoggin machines parts for the Allen riding trowel products. Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, C&C operator Steven Higginsworks on flange caps for small gear boxes.

24

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bigger machines and moving into highway paving and bridgedeck equipment. “We now have the Allen Laser Striker, a machine that is going

increase sales once we get it into full production,” he said.“There’s still a lot of need out there for people to understand howto build quality concrete floors. When we started out in this busi-ness, you had a straight edge and if you could slide a dime under-neath it, in the gap, if it was close, it was OK. But the advent ofF numbers for flatness and levelness, which were established inthe 1990s, changed the whole industry. So we need to keep goingdown the path of how we can make things better and how do wedo it more cost effectively. There’s still a tremendous amount ofwork to be done.”And there’s still a lot Dewayne wants to do, even after 50 years

in the business. “I am retired, but I’m not. I love to do this morethan sitting at home twittling my fingers. Essentially, the businessis my life. After you’ve been at it this long, I can’t just flip aswitch and walk away,” he said.Dewayne doesn’t travel as extensively as he used to, but he

still attends all the trade shows and still continues to call on someof his customers with various specialty needs. He continues towork with his engineers on designing new equipment.

“We want to be on the front-end of technology,” he said. “It’slike running a race, if you stay up front, you don’t get wrecked.We have the people in place to help with the engineering of thefuture. Our people probably have more experience in this busi-ness than anyone out there,” he said.The company has vastly grown its product lines over the

years. “For the first 20 years in business, all of the products we devel-

oped were related to concrete. In the past four years or so, we’vegotten into material handling, compaction and towable mixers,which are still close to the concrete side of the business. You’vegot to keep growing … you can’t just stand still and you have togrow with new products. Jay is doing a good job of getting us inother areas that we had not previously been in,” said Dewayne.Financial challenges have occasionally kept the Allens up at

night, but they’ve weathered the storms and have positionedthemselves as a rock solid company that continues to receive fre-quent inquiries from investors ready to buy their company,according to the Allens. Dewayne has declined all offers.“If I couldn’t come here anymore, I wouldn’t know what I

would do. I’ve been coming to our site in Paragould here since1968,” said Mary Ann. CEG

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Dewayne Hitchhikes, Changes Course of Own HistoryBy Dave BakkeSTATE JOURNAL REGISTER

It was near midnight, spring 1957, Missouri bootheel. A youngman stood alongside the highway hitching a ride. He was trying toget to Piggott, Ark., and home.A big two-door Buick Roadmaster slowed down. Inside were

three big men.“I was a little concerned,” says J. Dewayne Allen, who was the

hitchhiker that night.He needn’t have been nervous. How many lives were changed

for the better because that particular car was there and the youngman got in? Hard to say, but we’ll take a shot at it later.MacDonald Pine was at the wheel that night. He said he would

take Dewayne as far as Kennett, Mo.Pine had a highway construction business here in Springfield. He

and his crew were working a job on Missouri Highway 25 nearKennett. Mac dropped his workers off at a motel, then askedDewayne were he was bound. He had never heard of Piggott, but itwas only about 20 miles farther, so he took Dewayne all the wayhome. They talked. Mac recalls that there was just something about

Dewayne.“He wasn’t a door slammer,” said Mac. “He was a meticulous

man.”Mac remembers Dewayne as valedictorian of his high school

class in Piggott. Dewayne said no, he was ranked third or fourth inhis class. Either way, he did well enough in high school to go farther.Mac eventually got around to asking Dewayne about his plans

now that he had graduated. Dewayne said he had just lost out on ajob at Caterpillar in Joliet and that’s why he was hitching back toPiggott, where he worked at a dry cleaners. He was going home tofigure out where to try next.“Do you want to go to college?” Mac asked him. Sure, Dewayne

said, but his family couldn’t afford it. His dad drove a truck forTyson Chicken to the tune of about $63 a week. No college. The AirForce, maybe.“No, you didn’t understand,” Mac said. “Do. You. Want. To. Go.

To. College?”Dewayne said he did but “Be in Springfield on Monday,” Mac

told him.Mac’s company shared an office with McCann and Co. on

Catalina Lane north of the Illinois State Fairgrounds. When Macdrove up on Monday morning, Dewayne was already there, leaningagainst the fence. He had $2.37 left to his name, but he had made ithere from Piggott. Mac was impressed.“I said,” Mac said “I think I picked a good one.”He hired Dewayne to work at his construction company office.

More importantly, he paid for Dewayne to attend what was then

Springfield Junior College. After that first year, Dewayne’s gradeswere so good Mac sent him to the University of Illinois. Mac paidfor books and tuition. Dewayne got a job in Champaign, and Mackept him on at the company as well.Five years went by. On Feb. 12, 1962, Dewayne graduated from

the U. of I. with a degree in civil engineering. Two years later, hestarted his own company. “I eventually told him,” says Mac, “Maybe I sent you to college,

but now you can teach me.”Today, there is a pretty good-sized company in Paragould, Ark.,

with Dewayne’s name on it. Allen Engineering Corp. produces andsells equipment for use in the concrete industry.After coming to Springfield back in 1957, Dewayne met and

married Mary Ann Brass, a girl from Petersburg. They are stilltogether today. They named their first-born son Jay MacDonaldAllen after you-know-who. Jay is president of the company hisfather started.The right guy pulled over that night in Missouri. Dewayne Allen

knows it quite well, even 53 years later.“It’s quite a story isn’t it?” he says by phone from his company in

Arkansas. “Mac and I talk at least one a month, if not every otherweek. He’s my number-one mentor, number-one friend, and we’vebeen that way since we got acquainted. He’s like a father figure tome.”Mac is 85 years old and still lives in Springfield. He retired from

the construction business a long time ago. Mac’s wife, Maxine, dieda couple of years ago. He has a son in Florida, a daughter inAustralia, and of course, Dewayne in Arkansas. People would be crazy to pick up a hitchhiker these days. Jack

Kerouac isn’t out there anymore.“Back then,” Mac says of that night in Missouri, “you could pick

up a hitchhiker and not have to worry.”Think of the ripples from that night back in ’57. A marriage result-

ed when Dewayne came here and met Mary Ann. Their children andgrandchildren came of it. A business was created that employs abunch of people who don’t even know the backstory. A life-longfriendship resulted. Even more, I’m sure, came of that Buick pullingover to pick up that hitchhiker.Mac says there was just something about Dewayne’s posture and

the way he put his suitcase into the back seat nice and easy, even theway he shut the door of the car. All of those things and the boy’s sub-sequent conversation, even how clean Dewayne’s parents’ homewas when they arrived in Piggott in the middle of the night — it alltriggered something.“He was just raw material,” says Mac. “Nobody knew he had the

capacity to do what he’s done.”Well, one person did. MacDonald Pine.

This article was reprinted with permission from The State JournalRegister.

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Allen and Grace Industries: Building Bridges TogetherWhy purchase bridge building equipment? This question was

crucial to the owners of Grace Industries of Bath, Pa., in early 2009when the company chose Allen Engineering as the supplier for itsbridge deck finisher.Opened in 1982 by Ron Check Jr. and his brother Todd — both

civil engineers with no desire to be stuck in an office — along withtheir father Ron Sr., Grace Industries hit the ground running withcontracts for parking lots, landscapingand small pipe projects. Steady growthwas experienced as the companyexpanded its project list, and by 1995Grace was completing all of its ownexcavating, demolition, concrete curb-ing, sidewalks, retaining walls, bitumi-nous paving, underground utilities andlandscaping. By that time, single span bridge

building was also an integral part of itsbusiness, but it was all subcontractedout, leaving it at the mercy of some-one else’s timetable.The decision to tackle bridge build-

ing in-house was a natural progressionin the business. Ron said, “Thetransition from doing small proj-ects and single span bridges todoing full bridge constructionwas… quite easy.” Since Grace Industries already

built roadways, bridges, box cul-verts, concrete structures and sportstadiums as well as installing bothartificial and natural grass surfaces,all of which were handled in-house, adding the bridge buildingalso would alleviate the schedul-ing issues, allowing the companyto be more competitive in the mar-ket place. Decision made, and having been around this type of work for

years, Ron and Todd paid close attention to their sub-contractors’work and work practices, identifying excellence in suppliers andpersonnel whose resources would ease the transition.Enter Aug. 1, 2007, and the heart-wrenching tragedy in

Minnesota of the collapsed bridge on I-35, shedding light on thepoor condition of many bridges. Factor in the subsequent legisla-tion in the form of ACT 44, which provided enough funding toexpedite critical highway and bridge projects across theCommonwealth of PA. Add the 2009 disclosures by Penndot(Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) of $1,026 billion inprojects funded by the ARRA (American Recovery &Reinvestment Act) and a list of $1.8 billion in projects scheduled to

go to contract in 2009, and a staggering figure, close to $3 billion— the most highway and bridge work ever produced in a singleyear —revealed further need for the services offered by Grace.Having rented bridge deck finishing machines for years, the

Checks naturally considered the two companies that they had rent-ed from as possible suppliers for purchasing a machine. Also underconsideration was Allen Engineering Corporation. Grace contacted

Allen through its local dealerAdvanced Concrete Technologies ofLancaster, Pa. While comparing com-panies, an unexpected attitude sur-faced... “As we evaluated these three manu-

facturers, the two that we were familiarwith took the approach of ‘here are ourmachines, they are what they are, weare the big boys and therefore ourmachines must be better,’” said Ron.“However, Allen took a different

approach. Their sales people sat downwith us and asked us what we wantedout of a bridge deck finisher and whatour needs were. When we looked at thequality of all the machines, wenoticed how Allen paid attention tosmall details not found on the othermachines. Even with that, what putus over the top was when the ownerof Allen insisted on a conferencecall with us and the Allen sales staff.He wanted to hear what we werelooking for and how his companycould better provide it for us. As asmall business, that is the level ofattention we wanted. We wanted toknow when we needed somethingor needed support it was going tobe there. The other thing that wasunique to Allen was the knowl-

edgeable sales staff both locally and at Allen’s headquarters. Theyknew what they were talking about, understood the machine and itscapabilities, and were able to answer our questions,” he continued. Grace Industries took delivery of its Allen Model 4836B bridge

deck finisher in mid 2009 and since has been pleased with the deci-sion. Answering the current heightened need in bridge work, Graceis confident that the company’s dedication to the industry and itshigh workmanship standards added to the quality and performanceof the Allen Model 4836B, coupled with the support system inplace at Allen Engineering will provide its clients with excellence.Further, Grace Industries would proudly recommend the Allenbridge deck finishers to any contractor in the bridge building busi-ness, according to Grace.

Grace Industries took delivery of its Allen Model4836B bridge deck finisher in mid 2009 and ispleased with the decision.

Answering the current heightened need inbridge work, Grace is confident that the com-pany’s dedication to the industry and its highworkmanship standards added to the qualityand performance of the Allen Model 4836B.

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4360 N. Greenbay Ave.Milwaukee, WI 53209

(414) 267-4000Noram-clutch.com

Congratulationson 50 years!

Congratulationson Your First 50 Years...

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decoycpa@grnco.net

218 West CourtP.O. Box 428

Paragould, Arkansas 72451(870) 239-4086

2106 East MatthewsP.O. Box 22

Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401(870) 935-9867

DALE E. COYCertified Public Accountant

We would like to congratulate

Allen Engineeringon their 50 years in business.This is a great accomplishment.

Since 1978

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