www.martinmarietta.com | September/October 2 2019 The Conveyor 21
It took scores of
employees five, 24-hour
days and a slipform to
continuously pour the
concrete needed for
a half-dozen silos in
Eaton, Colorado. Paige
calls the project one
of the most rewarding
of her career.
requirements and a variety of applications.
These products can harden over
specific time frames and meet specific
costs. Gray is the standard color of
choice, but if you want a white, red,
orange or black ready mixed concrete
design, that’s all possible. It’s a world
that truly knows no bounds.
This is why she’s often on the lab floor
by 7 a.m. and on her feet until 5 p.m.
This is why she and others on the team
come in on occasional Saturdays to
test concrete cylinders. This is why the
lab remains active even when working
conditions outside become prohibitive.
“We never slow down,” she says.
“The rule outside is that you can pour
concrete as long as the temperature is
15 degrees and rising. In the winter, our
teams do a lot of interior work – like
warehouses and garages. But we keep
this lab at 70 degrees year-round, so we
never stop testing.”
Though highly knowledgeable in her
field, Paige makes it a point to never
stop learning. The wide range of testing
and mix designs at Quivas constantly
keep her on her toes and, recently, she
earned her concrete technologist level 2
and 3 certifications from the National
Ready Mixed Concrete Association.
When she’s not in the lab, she’s joining
her colleagues across town in the
division office, where she works with
three different sub-committees tasked
with improving the division’s performance.
One sub-committee works on
developing ideal product mix selections
for local sales teams while the other two
Paige pours concrete into a
cylinder for testing down the line.
focus on loader operator training and
plant operator training, respectively.
Paige also designs and delivers training
programs for other employees and meets
with third-party labs and customers to
offer educational information about
company and industry standards.
Somehow, she also finds time for
community service. She volunteers
regularly with the American Concrete
Institute and the Colorado Ready Mixed
Concrete Association and, earlier this
year, worked with engineering students
from the Colorado School of Mines as
they competed in the American Society
of Civil Engineers’ National Concrete
Canoe Competition.
Though she seems to never stop
moving, Paige says she did pause for a
moment in August 2018 to take in the
enormity of one of her most rewarding
growth experiences: a five-day, non-stop
concrete pour in Eaton, Colorado.
One of scores of Martin Marietta
employees involved in the complicated
project, the group created six 135-foot
silos using a slipform that moved slowly
and continuously upward as the concrete
was poured. Paige had designed the
mixes for the job and initially went to
the worksite to see how they would
perform. It wasn’t long, though, before
she found herself completely immersed
in the process.
“There were a few minor hiccups, so I
just jumped right in,” she says. “I had
never really worked as a liaison between
the jobsite, dispatch and the customer,
but that’s what I did for the entire week.
The experience was so much fun.”
Paige says she takes great pride in the
silo slipform project, in part because it
was different and challenging, but also
because it’s the type of job that will
stand the test of time. That same pride
strikes her whenever she spots a Denverarea
structure built with Martin
Marietta ready mixed concrete.
“This work is my way of leaving my
mark,” she says. “There was one night
where I looked at the silos and said,
‘Wow, I can’t believe that I have a part
in this. This structure will likely be here
long after me.’ That’s a feeling I get
whenever I see our products poured
here. It’s a feeling I get to carry with me
forever.” ▼
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