At Fred Weber, Inc., located near St. Louis, Mo., over 400 pieces of mobile equipment are used among the company’s nine limestone quarries, six sand plants, one sanitary landfill, nine asphalt plants and one transfer station.

Equipment maintenance manager Ed Moss is responsible for the upkeep of every machine at Fred Weber, and he understands the important role that tires play in equipment maintenance. He also knows that the quality of a tire can affect productivity. “When it comes to the price of tires, you get what you pay for,” Moss said. “When you buy a cheap tire, it will not last long.”

Fred Weber, Inc. has been using Michelin® tires for approximately 10 years. Throughout his normal inspection routine of the company’s vehicles, Moss noticed that the machines with Michelin tires were getting great wear. The Michelin tires, which were fitted on a fraction of the fleet, were averaging up to 9,000 hours. So why wasn’t he getting the same performance out of all of his tires?

Moss brought the matter to the attention of Tom Floring, vice president of purchasing at Fred Weber. Floring was curious as to the difference in tire wear and suggested a weight study be conducted on their fleet. They contacted John Mikelonis, the local Michelin sales representative, who put together a team to conduct the weight study in May, 2004.

“At the fleet’s request, we conducted a weight study to verify our PSI recommendations,” Mikelonis said. “Mike Brown, our project engineer, was instrumental in the test, as was the entire Central Zone Michelin Earthmover team that included Earthmover business manager Chuck Threet, and Earthmover sales managers Terry Beach from Kansas City, Jim Lawrence from Dallas and Doug Trausch from Chicago. From the results of the weight study, we determined that many of the tires were overinflated, so we adjusted the tire pressure accordingly.”

After analyzing results from the weight study, Mikelonis conducted a job condition analysis at one of Fred Weber’s quarries. “Due to the results, we all felt that the X-Quarry® S tire would be the best fit for many of Fred Weber’s machines,” Mikelonis said.

“The X-Quarry S radial is cutting edge in tire technology,” said Tomas Bennett, market segment manager for Michelin North American, Inc. “It is very durable, and was designed specifically for conditions like the Fred Weber quarries. We think it can improve productivity at their sites.”

Moss was not only thankful for the information he learned about his operation from the tests, he was also impressed with the Michelin service element. Because of the excellent performance and customer service, Moss has expanded Michelin’s presence throughout Fred Weber’s entire fleet. Besides the haul trucks that are currently trialing the X-Quarry S tires, they are in the process of converting all of their stockpile and production loaders to the Michelin® X MINE® D2, XLD® D2, and XHA™ tires.

“Since we turned to Michelin to conduct the weight study and job condition analysis, we have virtually eliminated tire failures, which saves us a lot of money,” Moss said. “Our tire costs have already gone down, and it definitely has improved uptime and productivity on our machines.” Michelin tires continue to increase productivity at Fred Weber.

Ultimately, the quality of Michelin’s product, research, service and technology has helped this site better manage their tires and reduce tire failure. Maryland Heights, Mo.-based Fred Weber, Inc., is an employee-owned company that specializes in full-service concrete and asphalt-paving projects.