Masonry Magazine October 1977 Page. 19
STRAPPING CONCRETE BLOCK
Q.-Hale Olson, why are you packaging?
Olson: I was the first one in our area to do it, starting at the end of 1968 or early 1969. I had had it with this constant fighting over wooden pallets with contractors. When we went to strapped block, the air cleared and there hasn't been a hassle on pallets since.
Q.-(Olson speaking) Now let me ask the Milwaukee contractors a question: When you're working on big jobs, say, a 40-foot wall, how do you get that pallet down after you've lifted it loaded into place? I'll bet you throw it down.
Hansen: They throw it down.
Olson: Even hardwood pallets are going to suffer if you abuse them. You can't drop a pallet 40 feet too many times and expect it to last. Considering the cost of wooden pallets versus strapping, strapping is better. I felt that way originally and I haven't changed my mind since.
Knuth: They don't make pallets out of hardwood. They use tissue paper.
Q.-Allan Klos, why aren't you packaging?
Klos: At a recent meeting of the Wisconsin Concrete Products Association, I asked who packaged block. I don't believe there was one company represented there that packaged block. Before that I asked our two leading mason contractors in Wausau if they would go for packaged block. They both said no.
If we went to packaged block, I would say it would increase our cost of block a half-cent or maybe a cent. We bid against a lot of non-union block producers, and we have a heck of a time bidding against them. A penny a block would throw us out of the market.
Q.-Let's say it costs two cents a block to strap, and you had 10,000 blocks on the job. That's $200. How many labor days is that?
Dufour: I would like to comment on that. I don't think I could eliminate any labor time by going to a strapped product, not with the type of work I am doing, unless I go to a highrise where I've got a lot of interior partitions and have to use my power buggy to get in and out of doorways. I am talking about my operation as it is in Milwaukee. I don't see where I could save any time with the packaged unit even though you could probably save some labor hours. I don't think I would.
Q.-Paul Bronson, why have you stayed with the procedures that you have?
Bronson: I would agree that in certain cases, particularly highrise jobs where you have doors to go through, strapping would definitely be an advantage to the contractor. However, we feel pallets are satisfactory. We spent a lot of money to get a decent pallet. We feel pallets are necessary for architectural block, split block, and colored block because there will be less chipping if the block rest on a wooden surface.
We have a hassle about pallets with our contractors all the time. In the Milwaukee market, the sloppy months are December through April, and during this time contractors will demand pallets on all basement jobs. We are using 40-some pallets at a tremendous cost to ourselves, just to have the blocks on pallets so they are not full of mud.
We figure we are giving contractors a cleaner, better product. However, if a contractor comes up and says, I need 280,000 block, can you strap them? I am sure for a job like that we would say, okay, it will cost you so much a strap, are you willing to pay for it? If so, fine. But in our area it would be economically unsound to strap everything. We don't have that type of market.
Q.-We have heard from two producers who do not strap block. Could we now hear from the producers that do strap and find out if their costs have risen since they've gone to strapping.
Olson: Strapping is still less expensive for us than paying for pallets. Paul, how much do your pallets cost?
Bronson: We have a tremendous cost with pallets.
Olson: Yes, it's built into your selling price. So if you strapped, would you credit the pallet expense against the strapping costs?
Bronson: I have three block plants. If I strapped, I would have to put an addition on every building.
Q.-Paul Bronson, would you say you would charge a man extra for strapping, or would you credit him for not using the product? The difference in the two costs might be surprising.
Bronson: Well, we could still get stuck with four or five months of winter. We still would have to put block on a wooden pallet.
Q.-(Olson speaking) Does the automated machinery used today to strap block lend itself to running pallets? I think I have the only automatic strapper that I can open up and run pallets through and not use them.
Zivkovic: Every machine Signode sells is able to accommodate both. They open up to a 40-inch dimension to accommodate a pallet.
Olson: I doubt it is less expensive to install masonry with wood pallets than it is with strapping on a per square
MAYCO C3OHD SMALL LINE GROUT & CONCRETE PUMP
NEW
HEAVY
DUTY
DRIVE
SYSTEM!
THE
#1 CHOICE
OF THE MASONRY INDUSTRY
VERSATILE:
Masonry and hi-lift
grouting
• Wet gunning
• Lightweight cellular
concrete floors
Pouring slabs, foundations
& footings
NEW FEATURES
Larger valving
increased
volume & ability to handle
harsher mixes
Three speed volume control
• Adjustable ball travel-
compensates for variation in
mixes
Improved piston head lubrication
system
For information and location of your local
MAYCO
MAYCO PUMP CORPORATION
4560 Sperry St., Los Angeles, Ca. 90039/ (213) 240-7070