Skip to main content

Luck Stone targets success through multiple innovations

Luck Stone says it is the first company in the crushed stone and aggregate industry to launch a remote control pit loader. Based in Richmond, in the US state of Virginia, the firm collaborated with several partners, including experts from MIT, to develop the remote control tool. It is already being put to use extracting stone from Luke Stone’s Bull Run Plant in Chantilly, Virginia. “This tool gives us options that we’ve never had before and allows us to optimise resources at our plants while creating
December 3, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
6511 Luck Stone says it is the first company in the crushed Stone and aggregate industry to launch a remote control pit loader.

Based in Richmond, in the US state of Virginia, the firm collaborated with several partners, including experts from MIT, to develop the remote control tool. It is already being put to use extracting stone from Luke Stone’s Bull Run Plant in Chantilly, Virginia.

“This tool gives us options that we’ve never had before and allows us to optimise resources at our plants while creating a more sustainable environment.” said Bob Grauer, the company’s president.

For another innovation, Luck Stone has harnessed the power of GIS technology to improve efficiency for daily load management with its subcontractor haulers. The company utilised the expertise of its IT department to design an app that can track vehicle locations, give directions for deliveries and place stone orders, among other features.

Luck Stone distributed iPads with the Hauler App to around 250 haulers in Virginia and North Carolina.

“The haulers absolutely love it!” said Grauer. “It helps them make money by managing their business more effectively, and that’s good for everyone.”

Now in its third generation of leadership by the Luck family, 1923-founded Luck Stone is the largest family-owned and operated producer of crushed stone, sand and gravel in the US.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • HxGN Live 2014: Hexagon CEO lays out firm’s machine control vision
    June 5, 2014
    Hexagon CEO and president Ola Rollén has outlined the company and its global brand network’s vision for the future of mining and construction machine control. Speaking during a Hexagon media luncheon Q&A during the four-day HxGN Live 2014 conference being staged at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Rollén emphasised the strength of Hexagon’s Mining Division which currently consists of Leica Geosystems surveying equipment; SAFEmine mine safety and collision avoidance systems; Devex and Leica Geosystems Minin
  • Better roads through asphalt plant innovation
    August 19, 2014
    In Africa, one of the world’s fastest-growing cities is using the latest asphalt plant technology to boost its road maintenance work; while leading firms are finding their innovative solutions in demand in Europe and the Americas. Guy Woodford reports A new up to 180tonnes/hour Marini UltiMAP 2000 plant is helping Lagos State Public Works in Lagos, Nigeria implement a five-year strategic road map aiming to ensure high standards of road maintenance and improve infrastructural development across the city of m
  • Ibiza quarry relies on Cat
    July 30, 2012
    Forty years ago the father of Juan Cardona, the current owner of the quarry Cantera Can Orvay on the island of Ibiza, Spain, started extracting limestone. Today, with 20 employees and a daily output of 3,000tonnes, the company, Áridos y Prefabricados, has grown to become the biggest family owned quarry in the island. "When my father asked if I'd like to study or work, I said I'd like to work. And so I've been working here for 27 years. Since my father's retirement, I've been in charge of the quarry," Juan C
  • Doosan’s Cumbrian Way
    July 20, 2012
    Thomas Armstrong (Aggregates) in Cumbria, North West England, has taken delivery of two new Doosan Infracore DL420 wheeled loaders. The new machines, supplied by Doosan Cumbria and southern Scotland dealer Lloyd Ltd, are the third generation of Doosan wheeled loaders to be purchased by the company over the last 10 years. Operating at the Thomas Armstrong (TA) quarries at Overby and Newcowper in Cumbria, the new Doosan DL420 wheeled loaders succeed the company’s Doosan DL400 wheeled loaders which, in turn,