Episode 71: Mark Krause reflects on nearly five decades in aggregates

Our brand-new episode features a conversation with one of the aggregates industry’s most respected voices: Mark Krause, vice president of sales and business development for the Americas at McLanahan Corp., who is retiring this week.

During our interview, Krause reflects on a career spanning 47 years. He discusses the evolution of ConExpo-Con/Agg and his popular Crushing 101 seminar, as well as why relationships remain at the heart of the business – even despite technology changes.

The interview also explores the trends shaping aggregates today, with Krause discussing equipment availability, automation, changing purchasing decisions and the outside forces influencing the industry. Additionally, Krause reflects on receiving this year’s Barry K. Wendt Memorial Commitment Award – an honor made even more meaningful because of Wendt’s mentorship.

Following the interview, co-hosts Kevin Yanik and Jack Kopanski break down the biggest business news affecting aggregates – including Martin Marietta’s planned $13.5 billion combination with Lhoist North America and CRH’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Arcosa.

Additionally, the episode includes Yanik’s reflections from Hillhead, the three-day trade show in the UK where manufacturers showcased the latest crushing, screening, washing and classifying equipment in June.

For 108 years, Pit & Quarry magazine has been the premier monthly aggregate processing information source. Through multiple platforms, we deliver the very latest in equipment and technology news and information that is critical for safely achieving the highest level of efficiency and profitability. Editors Kevin Yanik and Jack Kopanski cover the market in print, online and through e-newsletters. As respected industry insiders, they moderate the annual Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference and speak at industry conferences and meetings.
 
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Also, follow us on YouTube to see full-length episodes of the podcast, watch our Road to Prosperity videos and see other clips from our travels and events.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome back in to another episode of Drilling Deeper. Today we've got a special guest who's officially retiring as we're dropping this episode. We'll look forward to hearing from him and sharing some pit and quarry updates and more on the back end of the show today. But first, let me welcome in my co-host Jack Kapansky. Jack, great to see you. Hope you had a happy fourth.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Very good fourth, Kevin. Good to see you as well. Thankfully, uh I am not retiring, so we're not talking about me. I I don't believe we're talking about you. Uh I th I I think you still got a few more few more years left in the tank, but uh, a few more decades, maybe a couple of things. Let's fingers crossed, let's hope, you know. Uh but yeah, no, excited to be here. Glad to be uh glad to be back in the in the studio and uh looking forward to to sharing this interview that you had.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah, and as I tease it at the top, we have uh a special guest appearing on the show today. That would be Mark Krause, who has served McClanahan Corporation as vice president of sales and business development for the Americas. And Mark's been with McClanahan for 14 years and and he's been a friend of the magazine, he's been a friend of so many people across the agaritz industry, Jack. You know, we see him at industry events, McClanahan's own, the National Stone Sand and Gravel Associations as well. Where you know he's taken a leading role with their MS division in other capacities, and just somebody who who's kind of done it all at the end of the day. You know, we'll get into his bio in a little bit here, but but he's somebody that that has the tremendous respect of so many people across the industry, who knows so many people, and so many people know him, just because he has kind of you the unique distinction, Jack, of really operating in his career, his 47-year career across three different lanes in the industry, those being the aggregate producer lane, equipment manufacturer, and dealer. And Mark's kind of done it all, and you know, at the magazine, I feel like it's we're always kind of turning to those three those three sources of information because they have different perspectives on things. And Mark has that perspective across almost a half century, which is impressive. But but uh again, he's he's kind of the crushing one-on-one guy. A lot of our listeners probably are familiar with Mark just from his presentations at Con ExpoCon Ag, which he he delivered again this year and at AG One and other industry events, but an impressive resume to say the least, Jack, on Mark Krause.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Yeah, I mean that's that that's definitely putting it lightly. I think, like you said, unique is the unique is the operative word where we you know we have there's a lot of contacts and a lot of people we know in the industry that have worked, you know, they've been a producer, they've been a manufacturer, they've been a manufacturer, they worked at a dealer, they've been a dealer, they've been a producer. I I don't know many or any others that kind of fill that role Mark has where he has that perspective from all three realms of the industry. So just an invaluable wealth of information. And and yeah, like you said, of a very impressive resume, as you mentioned, 47 years in the aggregate industry, graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, started his career at Nordberg, and went on to work with other well-known equipment manufacturers. He served as process optimization specialist and operations manager for Lafarge North America, and he joined McClanahan in August 2014 as general manager of the aggregate processing division, and he is ending his time at McClanahan as uh, as you mentioned, vice president of sales and business development for the Americas. So, I mean, you know, he's sort of taking the words out of Johnny's Johnny Cash's mouth. Man, he's been everywhere, he's done a little bit of everything, and uh, man, what what a career.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah, I mean, congratulations to him. We we can't say it enough times. I was super excited to have the opportunity to sit down with Mark earlier this year. We were at Con Expo Con Ag, as was the rest of our listeners and viewers out there, you know, just taking it all in. You know, Mark, again, McClannahan, obviously, so he was there representing the company, you know, in his final year, as it turns out. Um, his final con Expo Con Ag, maybe. Although it sounds like we're gonna see Mark at uh at future events, you know, maybe even does some crushing 101 down the road. So um, you know, that's kind of the great part of the industry. You know, a guy retires, you know, he puts in his time, you know, his 47 years in Mark's case, for example, and you certainly earn the right to go off and and uh into the sunset and and do some things and change the pace of your lifestyle. I think that's what what everybody's desiring at the end of the end of the day, you know, in their life and in their career. Um but I'm hopeful that we'll see Mark, you know, out and about at industry events. I mean, when I think about the aggregates industry in in my time, Jack, I mean, it's you kind of envision it a certain way. I mean, when you take a person out like a Mark Krause, you know, and every day at least take him out, it just changes the dynamic a little bit. It's not the same. Um, I guess life goes on, as Mark probably even said it during the interview. I mean, but it just it's just not the same. Yeah. So um, so I really uh was fortunate to have the opportunity to sit down with Mark again at Con Expo. Um and just when I think about Mark over the years, same with you, Jack. You know, we were talking before we turned the cameras on. I mean, he's probably one of the first names I think you said that you were familiar with. I mean, as a guy to know, somebody with you know a reputation in the industry, somebody uh to turn to, somebody to listen to. Um and I I guess when I think of Mark, uh again, it probably goes back to my earliest years with with the magazine, but I think of high energy. And a lot of our listeners probably don't have this viewpoint, but it's similar in whatever your experience was with Mark. But at Pitt and Quarry, you know, we're we're the media, obviously, so we're going to trade event, trade press events, media events, press conferences, and and Mark uh represents McClanahan, you know, in a leading capacity. And a lot of these press conferences we attend, you know, they're very formalized and structured, and and McClanahan is to a degree as well, but the one thing I always appreciated about theirs is that you know Mark was representing them and he kind of just plainly told you how things were going, or he had a way of just kind of softening things, or maybe in the layman's terms, just explaining things so that anybody can relate. You know, not saying I'm the smartest person in the world or in the industry by any means, but but Mark certainly, you know, took the time to educate me and so many others in the in the trade press and and make us more knowledgeable, make uh make our brand stronger, to just have a better understanding on how things were going. Um so certainly authentic, high energy, uh his style is just just one that uh that I kind of long for at the end of the day. I feel like you know, our industry is tremendous. I love it. I don't have nothing really disparaging to say about it, but I think maybe the one thing I would say is it's an industry that's becoming more corporate, a little bit more buttoned up, and Mark kind of represents maybe the old school approach. That's kind of what I relate to personally, what I appreciate, and I want to see more of that continue. I'm sure Mark does as well. Um but uh Mark also received the 2026 Barry K. Wendt Memorial Commitment Award this year, right around the same time as we sat down for the interview that we're gonna play for you here in just a minute or two, but but he received that award at the NSSGA annual convention. We're gonna get into that award, what it what it is, what it means, uh, what it means to Mark here here in a moment, but but uh we'll talk a little bit about his crushing 101 seminar. He delivered that again at at Conx Con Expo Con Ag in Vegas again back in March, and he talked about a little bit about the attendance there, and it's always one of the the more highly attended seminars at Con Expo and Ag One Jack, but but he had an interesting observation about who was in the room there and how many people were in the room, which really says a lot of good things about what's happening in the aggregates industry these days. So um so we'll talk about his crushing one-on-one seminar there at Con Expo, and more broadly, I think the majority of the interview, we're gonna play it it's about 14-15 minutes. You know, we it's a little bit stepping back, like looking at then and now, you know, Mark's career in the industry. He started in 1983. 47 year years, I mean there's some timeline of that. I mean, um I think that's when he said he delivered his first presentation, rather, but um just so perspective is what you're gonna hear then and now on different subject matters. But at the end of the day, I think Mark kind of brought it back home and it all kind of comes back to people. You know, Mark's gonna articulate it better than what I am here, so um so a lot of fodder with Mark Krause, and without further ado, Jack, let's play our interview with McClanahan's Mark Crausey. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

Mark, great to see you. How you doing today? Doing well. It's kind of the end of the week, but uh all in all, lots going on, and it's good to be part of the energy.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, no, it's been an exciting week. We're hearing pretty much only good things. I mean, that's pretty much us that's pretty much usually the case, I guess I would say, for Conn Expo, but but uh you know, you've been here since since the weekend, the NSSGA annual convention, and and congratulations first off the top here on being the recipient of the 2026 Barry K. Went Memorial Commitment Award. That's a huge honor. Yes, it is. They flashed the names from over the over the years. I guess it's been about been about 30 years since 29 years. Twenty nine years. Yeah, and and uh, you know, they they made it known at the uh at the board meeting where they distributed that that award to you and shared it with you that that you had worked with him and had great history. So I mean that's got to be tremendously meaningful to you. It very much is.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

I have somebody that actually was one of my best mentors of all time to to win the award name for him is really special. And again, a lot of the things that Christy said about his life, I think I like to have hope that I've done the same.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah, yeah. Well, again, we're here at Con Expo and NSSGA's convention was over there at the uh the Fountain Fountain Blue Las Vegas this week and and a lot of high energy, but but you know, we're kind of getting toward the finish line here on Cone Expo, Mark, and how would you characterize you know what you've what you've heard both here and across the way at Fountain Blue at the NSSGA annual convention? Um mostly positive sentiment. You hearing any questions, concerns? Where are we at?

SPEAKER_03 9:26

I'd say you know from the from the NSSGA side, just a lot of optimism about the highway bill getting it done ahead of time. I'm not sure I share that optimism just because who knows what's all going on in the world. Right. It usually waits the last minute. So I think by the time we hit LPF in September, there'll still be some questions. But I I I guess I can see that they're confident that it'll happen because again, we're such a necessary thing, and they're gonna need some wins, so I anticipate we'll get that. Other than that, it's just a lot of energy. It's that that to me is the biggest takeaway. My biggest takeaway this week was when I did my class, question one-one, and then came out of the hall, and I'm coming from West Hall to the Central Hall, and you just see this mass humanity of people trying to move like I'm at a football game or something like that. And I've don't I don't remember that kind of energy level before. And there's just the number of people that came to the class and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Just you had 260 people. 260 people.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

I you know, usually we average like 125. Right. So the the fact it was that big and and people asking a lot of questions and interested, uh, I just think kind of sums up the whole week. Yeah. The other thing I think I'd say about this week is that it's been a little more buying than usual. You know, we think of Balma as a buying show. We don't think of Con Expo as a buying show, but this one seems more like okay, people have been waiting and they're gonna step forward and make the investment and and take the if you want to call it risk, but just uh plan for the future and and not worry about what's happening today.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah. I think maybe something I'm taking away after four days of Con Expo is that the numbers may be a little down, and I'm not sure we haven't we haven't heard those yet. But we've got maybe the right people on the floor, there's decision makers on the floor. And I feel like we've been talking about efficiency more and more at pit and quarry, you know, with with OEMs and producers, and you know, it doesn't matter how you're being efficient. Um, but I suppose in a way it kind of translates to the show and how how producers, you know, your customers are maybe going about it. So maybe whereas in the past they're sending droves of people here in 2026, they're being a lot more strategic because things are expensive. I mean, Las Vegas the pricing is unlike we've ever seen.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Right, it sure has. And I'd say the other thing is this idea that they're gonna try and use Friday and Saturday to be maintenance focused. And we had some people in the booth this morning that are headed over to the North Hall because that's what they're gonna do, the sessions. And I'm interested to see how that works out because again, it's trying to bring a different group of people in, it trying to extend the show and and make something on the back end that normally doesn't happen. I'll be interested to see how that goes. But you're right, other than that, um uh numbers, I don't know. We've seen waves kind of through the booth, but again, the people that we've seen are coming in and wanting to talk about actual projects, not just kind of you know, renew your relationship that you haven't had in a little while.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Right. Mark, back to the crushing one on one presentation. I mean, to be double or more than double. Well like what was the makeup of the profile of the person in the audience? I mean, I'm guessing a lot of young or or middle-aged.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

A lot of young and and a lot of I don't want to say inexperience that sounds bad, but just say people that are learning, yearning for knowledge. I had six people, I think if I counted, that actually had seen me before. So that means there's a lot of new people, a lot of new exposure, and that's what I get excited about, just the the chance to share that passion for the industry, but also, you know, some key takeaways so that they learn something and want to come back and learn some more. But you know, that's all part of the energy that I felt this week. It just was really exciting.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Well, Mark, just kind of stepping back a little bit, I mean the the Barry K Went Award, super exciting for you. I mean, I was reading one of your your pieces that you contributed to uh an NSSGA publication, I think it just came out this month, and and you're talking about technology and trends and changes over the years. I mean, you've you've seen a lot, and you've seen iterations of of technology and iterations of of just how the industry is doing. Just kind of stepping back and reflecting a little bit again on you know on your career. I mean where do you even start at this point, you know?

SPEAKER_03 12:57

I guess I'll start this way by saying what I said at the Cresh 101. I said my first presentation was 1983 about automation. And I said the one thing I didn't have to do in 1983 was tell people to silence their phones because they didn't exist. That's my takeaway for the week. But you know, in a lot of ways the industry has changed. Yeah, technology's here, and yet at the same time, there's a lot of similarity of people still buy from people, people want to look them in the eye, shake their hand, know who's behind it, make sure they're honest and they're sincere. And I don't see that part really ever changing. Yes, the things we put on, the sensors, predictability, more on maintenance, trying to use AI however it fits in the industry, I think all that's gonna be here for quite a while. Yeah. And as we learn it, and some people are learning it faster and better than others, but that idea of that predictability, that availability, efficiency, whatever term you exactly want to use, I think that will continue to exist. And I think that's been through my whole career that way. It's just kind of manifested itself differently as technology improves.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Yeah. In terms of technology on the floor, McLenahan had had a few things, including the quick change filter gloss system, which, you know, I saw that at SME's Mine Exchange not too long ago, and and you guys are touting that a little bit before as well. But um just the idea of taking something and simplifying it to such a degree, I feel like I've seen that across the floor a little bit. So my point, I guess, is that we've been there's things we've been doing a certain way for 20, 30 years, maybe dating back to 1983 when when you were doing your first presentations, and and even here in 2026, there's opportunities to reevaluate processes and and simplify them dramatically. So we're just great to see that on the quick change front. And again, I feel like that's that's a trend that's taken place on the show floor. And a lot of that's got to be based on customer feedback. I feel like that's what I've heard from from OEMs is you know, we're listening to our dealers, we're listening to their pain points, what their end users are telling us in terms of you know their inability to do certain things, and you guys are continuously developing solutions as OEMs at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

We are, and it, you know, I get to look after agriculture and mineral as well as aggregate. And I will say the one consistency is they all want availability. They just want their equipment to run. That's how they know they're gonna make money when it's running, when they're not make running, they know they're not making money, and that's pretty consistent across the board. And like I said, that's kind of the trend is okay, you know, historically you had kind of had that gut feeling experience or tribal knowledge, whatever term you want to use for it. And and today people are expecting more from electronics, sensors, that kind of stuff to help predict what's going on so they can better plan and it's safer and it's cheaper, and they know they're gonna get more out of it that way.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

What do you what do you think is next? I mean, in terms of technology. We right now we're talking a lot about AI, autonomous trucks, and how autonomy is gonna come more fully into different areas of equipment. What excites you in terms of what maybe the next 10 or 15 years is gonna look like?

SPEAKER_03 15:39

A couple of things. First of all my first takeaway is we were talking about autonomous loaders yesterday with some recycle people. They go one thing that an autonomous vehicle is not gonna do is be able to see the feed and know what's going into that pile. Because whatever's in that pile is gonna end up in that plant. And they said they're wondering how that's gonna play out. So that's just an interesting little aside of, yeah, we can rush the technology, but at the same time, there's some things that might have to be viewed a little differently.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

But for me, the the exciting part is there's just the whole idea of how can we use AI to benefit what we do. Yeah, we know we can do a lot of things, as long as you have somebody that knows what they're talking about, looking at it, but can we use it for predictability and can we use it for consumption modeling, and can we use it to help our dealers and customers stock the right inventory, knowing when they're gonna need it, but then also know how to install it when the time comes. And and I think that's where technology is gonna help us so much. It's just gonna be how does that happen and who's your expert that's gonna know that? Because now you need an expert on AI as well as equipment itself. And so we have our own AI people, I'm sure a lot of people do. Yeah, but even they're a little hesitant because they're still saying that things are starting out. You looked at the guy that spoke at NSSGA. He had spoken nine months ago and he talked about what a difference it's made in nine months. So just think about two or three years from now, when you have smarter people that know what they're doing using it, uh I just think there's gonna be so much there that we can't even visualize today.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

And that's kind of why I was tr probing a little bit about the makeup of the person coming to your crushing 101. I mean, we've seen the industry change over the years. We've seen waves of of uh, you know, guys retired head on out, and all that tribal knowledge that's typically passed on down to the generation behind it, you know, goes away. And you know, I think we've seen a couple of points of that of late. Um so it is reinvigorating to to hear that that there's some young people there. And I feel like just over the last few years, we've heard, you know, that this push of like the these new and up and comers, they're they're pushing the old the older guys, the old timers, whatever you want to call them, to challenge the business, challenge the ways things are done. And and that's that has to happen. Um I think just from uh an expediency standpoint, the aggregates industry's been a little slower to adopt, but I do think the last three, four years we've made some gains, and and the fact that we've got more young people in there, decision makers, pushing and challenging things, that's just only going to continue to move us forward where we gotta be.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Yeah, I'd say the one one big takeaway I'd have, as I think back over the years, is um we all come in with different ideas, and we were the young guns back in the day. And you know, the then the thing was the move from spring cone crushers and hard time making adjustments and working on them to hydraulics and what happened. And and we don't remember that that was only 1980, whatever, something when that all became popular, and it moved us into a different era as far as how we crushed. So, yes, that next group's got to come along because it is gonna challenge us because they're gonna have different ideas, they're gonna look at things different, they're gonna be more willing to take risks, I think. Um, and so I because of that, I think we'll see continued growth. But at the same time, it happens in every generation. You know, at some point I won't be doing this anymore, but somebody will take my place and that's fine. It's all good.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yeah. Did you ever envision yourself getting into this industry when you when you got going? And you've got kind of an interesting background, Mark, because you were on the dealer front, you were a producer, and you know, you've come full circle. You've done the whole triad basically. Um I guess when you look back, the fact that you had that that opportunity to have those different stops and those different experiences, that has to be valuable. And I don't know, I'm sure there's there's things that that you you scoff at a little bit, but that's definitely a unique experience to have that.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

It is. I've been like I was lucky to get into this. I I I went to school to be a commercial loan officer, and I ended up in this industry because I had a fraternity brother that you know was in the right place at the right time for me, and I got hired and I've been able to stick with it. And I always say that the one thing that if you want to get a headhunter to kind of get give you a confused look, just tell them, well, what if I like what I do? Because they don't know how to answer that, because everybody you're moving on to the next thing. So uh yeah, it it's interesting. I'll say it that way. And then as far as being able to do other things, yeah, life for me was timing, and a lot of times I was in the right place at the right time. I've uh I've left jobs of my own choice, and I've left jobs not because of my own choice, but it all in all it's always been on my feet. I will say that about the industry. You know, I I I was in transition from one job to the next. Within 30 days, I had three offers. And that's the kind of industry we are. We're small enough in that. You know, once you kind of get in there, maybe it's five, seven years, and people get to know you, and if you're an honest person and you respect you respect people and respond to what they ask for, uh you can have a great career in this industry. And it might mean you move. Our family had to move, we had to move, but all in all, I think we're better for it. We've learned different things. I've learned different things, like I say, where I've been in my career, and uh I hope other people get that opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yeah. I guess uh on the the people side, the the business side, has has that front front changed tremendously over the years? I mean, just kind of who we are, the dynamics of the phone. No, I don't think I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

I think that's what I said. I think you know, if you're honest with people, you respond when they when they ask questions or whatever. I don't see that change. How we respond, yes. You know, you like I said, we didn't have cell phones, and now today, you know, we don't text message anymore. We teams or we video chat or whatever. So the methodology might be different, but the concepts are basically the same. Like I said, it it's not that complicated. It's just respect people, be honest with them, what's going on, look them in the eye. That's really what it takes.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah. Well, Mark, maybe just kind of bringing it home here a little bit, but looking ahead to the year that's that's ahead, and we've got a big chunk of 2026 ahead, obviously. What what should we be keeping an eye on if it and quarry? What what's gonna be capturing you these days? Something that we should be following as well.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

You know, I get I guess the one thing would be for me is um outside events really do affect our industry and our businesses more than we probably ever ever talked about. And so there's just a lot of different factors uh that and I don't know what you know whenever we're talking about this, like I said, by the time we get to September in LPF, I think we'll look back and say, wow, we didn't see this coming or that coming or we didn't know about this. But again, we'll all just react and that's we'll we'll go with the flow kind of. And and I guess what it also then means is you know, six months is a long time. And and but if you're really gonna plan for the future, six months isn't a long time. But we have no idea where we're gonna be in six months at all. So it's just kind of go with the best you got, communicate as best you can, keep your eyes open to what's going on, and and make a decision and go.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Lamarck, it's always so great to see you. Had a great con expo, and and uh congrats again on the Barry K. Went Award. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks for everything.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Arizona fine aggregate business, ASFAB, is a leading manufacturer of fines recovery, dewatering, and water management systems for the aggregate and mining industries. Backed by over 60 years of combined expertise in process design and equipment engineering, ASFAB delivers innovative solutions that improve efficiency, boost productivity, and help producers maximize profitability.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Are you looking to strengthen your onboarding program? Pitt and Cory University is a free training resource that guides new employees through every stage of aggregate production. From crushing and screening to conveying, loadout, and safety, the 11th chapter program covers it all. Plus, every chapter now includes a quiz to reinforce learning and measure progress. Visit Pitt and Cory.com slash PQU to get your staff up to speed.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Well, thanks again to Mark Krause, McLannan Corporation, for for visiting with us, being our featured guest here on episode 71. Jack, as we kind of let out there at the top of the show, I mean, Mark put out a lot of different commentary. I guess our our conversation drifted into a few different areas related to the industry, but I had taken some notes, some things that kind of resonated with me that I wanted to kind of put out there a second time. But you know, Mark said this about technology. He said, you know, technology is here, and yet at the same time, there's a lot of similarity. People still buy from people, and I don't see that part ever changing. Um that's the thing that I think I appreciate the most about the industry. We we get more technology coming in, we have different types of people coming in. The way they they go about doing things is a little bit different. Or the platforms, whether it's technology or social media, email versus facts from 40 plus years ago, it's a little bit different. Like we're we're using different mechanisms, I suppose. But it all comes down to people at the end of the day, and that's I think what makes this industry great. He doesn't see that part ever changing. I don't either. If it does, I think we're going to lose a little bit of who we are as an industry. So, you know, that was something that I kind of took away. And um maybe more on the equipment front, Jack. He said something like producers want availability. That's kind of the trend. Um, that's certainly the case today. Maybe it was back in 1983, back in 1993 as well, but um downtime is is the killer. We've talked about that on the show a lot, and whoever has it, the manufacturer, the dealer that has that crusher, that has that that widget, whatever it is on hand, you know, they're gonna win the day. Because those producers, our listeners out there, you know, they they just can't afford to be down, they're not willing to do it. So um and maybe lastly, I'll just offer a third third bullet point. But he talked about autonomous loaders. Jack, on the show, we talk a lot about autonomy, a lot about hauling, because that's kind of where the the development and the conversation has been in the early years of autonomy related to aggregates. But at Conexpo, he mentioned he had a conversation or some sort of takeaway about loaders, and he made the comment about how autonomous loaders would be going into a pile, at least how they are here in 2026, and they would take whatever's in that pile to feed the plant. Um so exciting opportunity, but whatever's in the pile could be a problem. And if it's if it's a big piece of chunk of metal, big piece of something else. I mean, so there's still still some things to work on on that front. But uh again, just a lot to take away from Mark. I really appreciated the opportunity to sit down with him. Didn't realize that it was going to become uh kind of a farewell interview with him when we were sitting down with him at Con Expo in Vegas, but but we kind of held on to that interview for a while because we were sifting through a lot of our con expo content, getting it out there in in the Stratosphere podcast video and elsewhere, Jack. But um but again, th thanks to Mark, thanks to McClanahan for for you know letting letting us have the opportunity to visit with him.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Yeah, 100%. And and you know, and you you shared, you know, obviously obviously you had a great interview with him and you and you shared kind of what your experiences with him have been to this point, and just such a I I I think I think the one word you hit on was was so accurate, just authentic. Like you, you know, if if you if you meet the from the first time you met Mark to the last time you meet Mark, like he he's the same guy. He's you know he's not he's not putting on a show for anyone, he's not you know hamming it up again in press conferences or whatever. That's just who Mark is. And and you've obviously had a lot more experiences with him than I have. Um, you know, in my time in the industry, I've I've probably had maybe a half dozen to ten um you know interactions with Mark, but I you know, I I'll just reiterate that every time, you know, he's just such a such a personable person, but you can tell that it's it's this weird, it's this weird balance between this, you know, guy that can sort of be goofy and you know and joke around with you, but like you can tell underneath that at all times is like this professionalism, this seriousness, this just immense wealth of knowledge. So it's it's a really just a really great guy. I've always enjoyed being around. You know, I again I wish I wish I would have been able to get a few more few more interactions with him during my time here. But uh, you know, obviously have enjoyed have enjoyed when I have interacted with him most recently at uh Anaconda's open day in Elma, New York. You know, we were just kind of I was just standing around getting some pictures and videos of the crusher going. He just walks up to me and you know starts starts chatting me up like he's known me for 20 years. And I'm just like, oh hey Mark, how's it going, man? And we just sort of, you know, we were talking sports, we were talking football, pro college, we were talking everything, and you know, he offered his condolences to us for the for the for Shadur Deshaun situation. Uh bit of a twist of the knife there. But anyway, um, you know, it it's just uh and and we hit on it earlier. You get a guy with nearly five decades of experience in any industry, five decades of experience almost, spanning really ever the the the key three facets of our industry, producers, manufacturers, and dealers. I mean, what a what a perspective to be able to get. And and like you said, I I'm it it does sound like he's gonna continue the crushing one-on-one presentations at Con Expo. I hope he does. You know, it's really one of those things you can kind of you can take the man out of the industry, you can't take the industry out of the man. So uh hopefully for the industry's sake, for you know, for all of our sakes, hopefully he continues doing that. And you know, he really was when I started here almost five years ago at this point. There are there are a few names that I've heard almost, I don't want to say constantly, but but come up a lot. And one of the first names that I remember hearing up from about whether it was from you or Rob or Dino or whomever, was Mark Krause. And you know, a lot of times we if there was we had a question about something, if we needed clarification on something, if we were considering someone to contribute something, a lot of times one of the first names that comes up, Mark Krause, Mark Krause, Mark Krause. It's just this this dude has he's he's forgotten more than than I'll ever learn about the aggregate industry. So, but yeah, no, just uh obviously congratulations to Mark on you know what's been a phenomenal career. Hope we continue to see you around and uh yeah, just uh just what a career.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Well again, congratulations to Mark. Thanks again for for sitting down with with me at Conn Expo for episode 71, which we're dropping here, and best of luck to you. Looking forward to seeing you hopefully, you know, the next AG One, the next something related to aggregate. So enjoy enjoy this uh this nice transition from uh from the everyday to the everyday that's you, I guess I should say. So, what else is happening at Pit and Quarry and within the aggregates industry these days? Well, it's been an interesting time on the merger and acquisition front, to say the very least. And Jack, I feel like we're harping on that from time to time on the show, certainly covering it on pit and quarry.com when a big deal goes down and within an eight-day span in the June-July timeframe. Obviously, we're sitting here about mid-July at this point, but we had two of the biggest deals in the history of the aggregates industry go down. The first one was the smaller of the two, and and the first one is probably one of the biggest biggest deals that has happened in construction materials history. That was CRH announcing the acquisition of Arcosa for $8.5 billion. I mean, unbelievable dollar price on that. Makes huge news. It's funny, we're preparing the magazine, our August edition at this stage, and I feel like, okay, I mean, that's one of our lead news stories that we're going to be promoting on the pages of the magazine. Lo and behold, eight days later, Martin Marietta trumps the $8.5 billion deal that is is the Arcosa transaction, and and they basically announce a thirteen point five billion dollar merger deal with Lo Lo West. Loest, that is, spelled L-H-O-I-S-T. It's a company that we don't necessarily talk about on the show. I don't know that we have mentioned them once in in the 71 episodes of Drilling Deeper Jack, but but they're one of the bigger guys, one of the bigger producers out there, and Martin Marietta came to terms with them on a merger agreement, which again blows anything out of the water, I think, that we've we've ever seen in the history of the industry. So um so we've got some some fodder on that on pit and corey.com. We're gonna get that that edition into our uh or that announcement into our August edition here. So you can look for that when it hits your mailbox, hits your inbox if it's your digital edition, but but just astounding. And yeah, it says a lot about where we are as an industry, Jack.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Absolutely. I mean, we were talking before the show that I love I love when these deals happen, you know, whether whether it's whether it's a massive deal like this, or even if it's a you know, smaller scale um merger or acquisition between producer companies, because it really does show you that the industry's healthy, that these large companies are wanting and they're able to grow, they're able to, you know, they're able to spend this kind of money to acquire these companies and and increase their assets. So love, love what this means for the industry as a whole. Excited for both Martin Marietta and uh and Crh uh for what's what's moving forward after these acquisitions. Just for a little perspective, and I and again we were talking about this earlier today. Almost almost two years ago, well about a year and a half ago at this point in February 25, when QuickReed acquired Summit. I mean, that was the biggest deal I'd seen to that point. 11 and a half billion dollars, one of, you know, uh probably a top five, top ten crushed own sand and gravel producing company in Summit. You know, we had recently inducted Tom Hill into our Hall of Fame as you know a Summit member. You know, we we were running into uh uh their their CEO in a lot of places, and then all of a sudden they get acquired by QuickReed in this massive deal. And it's like, okay, well, that's kind of that's gonna kind of be the benchmark for big deals. And then, like you said, in the span of just over a week, we get 8.5 billion and 13.5 billion. That last one obviously superseding the QuickReed Summit deal by two billion, just kind of an astounding number. And it's and it's very impressive. Like you said, with with Loest, it's not not necessarily the household name, Martin Marietta, uh Crh, Vulcan, uh some other some of those other producers are, but it it is one that again, you see a USGS ranking, you see any type of top producers, they're all they're always gonna show up, and a lot of times they're in the top ten. For example, at the time they were acquired, USGS had just recently put out a uh a top 100 list of their crushed stone and sand and gravel rankings. Lewis ranked ninth. They were right inside the top 10. And Martin Marietta, ranking second, just acquired another top 10 producer. I mean, that's like, you know, uh in in the MLB scale, that's that's like a blockbuster trade going down. You know, that's like that's like adding that's like adding Ken Griffey to uh you know, I don't know, the Yankees. Yeah, exactly. Um and and even still with CRH acquiring Arcosa, Crh ranks fourth in Crush Stone production, Arcosa's 44th, still nothing to sneeze at, obviously. You just just two top five companies getting astronomically bigger and also stronger, which again is great to see for the industry. And then even looking at sand and gravel, CRH, the top crush the top sand and gravel producing company, Arcosa ranked 11th, and Martin Marietta's coming in at third at uh sand and gravel. Uh Leweste wasn't in the top 100 uh sand and gravel producers, but nonetheless, I mean, just a massive, massive, massive acquisition. Um, and then I know you have some details there about as far as what what it is exactly that Martin Marietta and CRH are actually getting uh as part of these acquisitions. Yeah, that's right, Jack.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Um Martin Marietta's deal encompasses 20 quarries and production facilities and 45 distribution terminals, and they describe their their get as high calcium lime, telemetic lime, industrial mineral products for end markets like steel, manufacturing infrastructure, heavy non-residential, and and you know, a few others, but but uh more than two billion tons of limestone reserves in Sunbelt Metro Corridors. I mean, those are some premium aggregate markets. We've been talking a little bit more these days internally and in our publication different platforms, Jack, about data centers. And I mean, I feel like a lot of this this uh development, a lot of the MA deals that we see transpiring, it's how are you how do you sit your situate yourself for for that boom activity, which is the data centers, and there's other mega projects out there, but um and the Sun Belt is just data center central, right? Yeah, no, you're right. So um I don't know that that there was a lot of commentary coming out of that directly tied to that from Martin Mariette or these companies, but you know, just behind the scenes, you gotta think, you know, these projects are popping up the next five plus years of data center development is going to be huge, and it has been for a couple of years now, but there's so much more to come. So, how do you situate yourself for that that growth or those opportunities? I mean, well, it's not easy to start a new quarry or start 20 of them. So why don't you go buy 20 of them at the end of the day if you can?

SPEAKER_02 35:38

I'll just I'll just chime in real quick, but I'll I'll let you get back to the to the numbers there. But I'll just say I I you you kind of you kind of teed it up and teased it a little bit. I highly encourage anyone listening to check out our August edition because in that edition is a phenomenally well done feature story by Alan Mayo talking about exactly what Kevin's saying, the importance of geography and the the criticalness of understanding what projects are going on in your region, situating yourself so that you know a truck only has to go 25 miles versus 125 miles, or just setting yourself up as someone that a company that is working on these data centers or other massive projects can count on for phase one, phase two, phase three over the course of years, not just weeks, months. Um, so yeah, just you you you teed that up. That made me think of it. I highly encourage you all to check out our August edition and check out that feature by Alan Mayo, as well as the other phenomenal content in our August issue.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

Absolutely. So uh that's Mark Marietta Lowest in terms of the numbers and a little bit more detail on the CRH Arcosa acquisition, Jack. But um Arcosa obviously publicly traded, headquartered in Dallas. They operate 109 quarries and yards, nine asphalt plants, nineteen terminals across the United States. And based on the numbers reported, Arcosa shipped about 35 million tons of aggregates last year. Some big numbers there. I mean, we talk about 20 quarries being acquired by Martin Marietta in its deal. I mean, 109? I mean, that's astounding. That's a big figure. Um, just crazy numbers at the end of the day, but this is where we are. And I guess when you're kind of going through the top 100 lists on those crushed stone and sand and gravel fronts, Jack, and based on what we've seen in recent years, in the back of my mind, I'm always wondering well, there's not gonna be anybody anybody else to acquire here pretty soon. I mean, there's so much MA activity, you know, it's been kind of gangbusters for years, decade plus, even you could say, in terms of some of the the mega deal activity, but there's there's always organic greenfield, there's new players getting into the game. We see that all the time, every year. I mean, I think the b and I say this all the time. I think I did when I was at Hillhead, I had this conversation with a couple people in recent weeks, but the big guys, they're gonna acquire small guys, they're gonna acquire the mid-size, they're gonna acquire the big guys. Yeah. Um, this is just how it goes. And it says a lot about our industry. It's it's big money, there's big dollars, um, and huge opportunity in in aggregate. So uh just just a big rundown. I mean, that's that's been kind of center stage for for the aggregates industry the last couple weeks, I guess, here, Jack. Again, those went down eight days between each other, the CRH and Mark Marietta deals. So um hard to believe that that much that much dollar, that much money could be tied into two deals across about a week.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

I can it's funny, I can almost envision the you know the folks at CRH kind of sitting there going, man, we got we got the news of we probably got the news of the quarter here. You know, we just spent eight and a half billion dollars acquiring our COSA. You know, we're we're you know, we're we're gonna be the you know the news for the next few months. And then Martin Marietta swoops in and CRH is just probably sitting there like, really, guys? Couldn't couldn't give us our moment in the sun. And you know, it's just again, it's a great, it's a great indication for what's going on in the industry. So very cool.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Absolutely. And the other big thing I guess I was gonna mention was that I just already teased that I was at Hillhead. That was end of June, back half of June, I guess. Um awesome experience. Appreciate all the work that the Pit and Quarry team did here in our Cleveland office to kind of get the the news and developments out there. We did a lot of video, did some written updates, developments on the news front. So if you haven't seen our coverage from the three-day Hill Head show, which again takes place in Buxton, England in the UK, I'd encourage you to check out pit and quarry.com. Our social media platforms have a lot of the videos that that our digital media specialist, Mason Copy, put out. So appreciate all the work he did there. And and uh just I was telling telling Rob Fullop on our team, Jack, that that that show, you know, I I always enjoy that show, and I've only been twice, but I'm I'm hoping to go back in 2028 or beyond when it returns. But it's uh it's it's just a good change of pace. You know, it's a obviously it's based in the UK. Um I think there's maybe less pressure to kind of to kind of do business or do things there on on our front. So I feel like it's just a better opportunity to just kind of have casual conversations with people in terms of what's happening in the market there. There's certainly things that that evolve there um that are relevant to North American producers. There were three press conferences that I went to, McClanahan, you know, obviously we talk about McClanahan, the show a lot. They had one, Terex had one, Aztec had another, and uh a lot of the folks that we're familiar with here that you'd see at Conexpo, that you see at Ag One, and you know, that just represent those brands here in the US and Canada. I mean, that they're over there marketing themselves, marketing their wares to to the UK market. So um interesting, you know, what's happening happening in the UK at this point in time. Actually, I went over there and I know I did a video with with Alistair at Alistair at Anaconda, and we were talking about the Prime Minister of England or the UK, and I think they're on their sixth or seventh one. Right as I was getting off the plane, they were getting ready to get the next one in there. So um he was just talking about that in one of the videos we dropped on pit and quarry.com and just kind of the uncertainty or the instability that some of that kind of creates. But uh again, just a great show. A lot of great people over there that I got to meet, you know, for the first time that aren't really present here. But again, it kind of goes to show that the U.S. is is a very desirable market. It's a target market, and you know, I think a lot of equipment manufacturers who have their headquarters or basis over there, I mean, they're always looking at the U.S. So when they see a pit and quarry walking around or they hear that you know I'm from America, like that's intriguing to them. So um, so again, look for our Hill Head coverage on on pit and quarry.com. I think we have a dedicated URL at pit and quarry.com slash tag slash hillhead. So if you want to just dive fully into our show coverage there, I'd encourage you to check that out. And we'll have some additional content in the August edition, which we already teased as well. Our August edition check's gonna have some washing and classifying focus, special section dedicated to that. So you could look for additional content on that topic within that. Our dealer issue is already out. I know we talked about that on a past show, so make sure to take that in. It's our dedicated annual dealer issue. I think it's our eighth or ninth. Starting to lose track. I know, yeah. At this point, but uh, but that's out there additionally if you're looking for for more from Pit and Quarry. And I know you're already starting to think about some portable plants things, Jack. Absolutely. September's coming around and you're getting ready for for that next edition of our sister publication.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, you know, September's coming up on us here, uh, working on working on that that issue of portable plants right now. Our annual buyer's guide, always a fun issue to do. Uh uh, certainly a lot of content to find in there. Um, not only in our buyer's guide section, but it's gonna be you know it's it's gonna be uh uh what what what I'm hoping is uh is an edition chalk full of of good feature content from a lot of different voices in the industry. Very excited about uh about what we have what we have in store for this edition. And uh, you know, as we get closer to September, be sure to keep an eye out for our buyer's guide edition of Portable Plans.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

We'll do that, Jack. And I feel like we covered a lot of ground here. We talked about those big MA deals. We had Mark Krause as our guest, a little bit of fodder from Hillhead here at the back end, but but uh another great show. Looking forward to getting the next one out here in another couple weeks. It'll be episode 72. Not sure what exactly it's gonna be at this stage, but I'm sure we'll have a featured guest or two to to put out and share with you. But until then, thanks for listening, everybody. See ya!