OHAUS Scales Provide Accuracy, Reliability for Tons of High Quality Asphalt Production
APAC-Southeast, Inc. is a leader in high quality hot mix and
warm mix asphalt production as well as asphalt testing. The company
sells concrete to commercial construction companies that build
parking lots, roadways and driveways, and also performs asphalt
testing for municipalities, cities and counties, including the
Department of Transportation (DOT) for the state of Florida, as
well as private companies. These tests are often performed in the
company's in-house laboratory, where minute calculations and
measurements can be the difference between critical performance and
catastrophic failure. On the roads, these test results
directly influence how cars and trucks carrying precious cargo
traverse highways throughout the Southeast. Accurate measurement
and calculations are integral to both the asphalt production and
testing procedures.
Adding to the importance of accuracy in analysis, APAC's
contract payments are based upon its test results. DOT, for
example, has minimum quality standards. If the company meets those
standards, they receive 100 percent of the contract price.
Exceeding these can lead to bonuses, whereas failure can lead to
monetary penalties.
Testing the Mix, to Pass the Test of Time
Expectedly, APAC-Southeast relies heavily on its testing
equipment to perform comprehensive analysis. Multiple tests are
performed for gradation, maximum specific gravity, while the team
looks to optimize asphalt mix designs and batching. Accuracy is
essential to APAC's business and scales are very important part of
ensuring the precise measurements that are so important to many
aspects of their processes.
To accomplish such repeated acute analysis, the APAC-Southeast
team has relied on a mix of OHAUS weighing equipment for two
decades, consisting of OHAUS Explorer Pro high capacity industrial
balances, in tandem with OHAUS Ranger and IP Series scales. APAC
has found that their OHAUS scales have been very easy to setup,
require minimal recalibration, and accuracy has been better based
on historical use. They have also found that scales
manufactured by other companies tend to go out of calibration
quicker than their trusted OHAUS scales.
Specifically, the Explorer Pro balance utilizes AutoCal™, a
fully-automatic internal calibration system from OHAUS. Therefore,
it eliminates the need for external masses, and the costs
associated with maintaining external weights.
With the assurance that their testing equipment can handle the
continual use, the APAC team analyzes the content for asphalt
voids, which allow it to expand and contract according to changes
in temperature. The team also tests volumetric properties, such as
mineral aggregates. Some of these tests can determine causes for
some potholes, by measuring the amount of water in the base
material. Without the correct amount of water in the matrix,
continual traffic will push the asphalt into the base material
underneath it, thus causing a collapse, or pothole.
Accuracy and Durability Result in Continual
Business
Incorporating OHAUS scales into the APAC application for more
than 20 years has enabled an increase in testing accuracy. Though
providing the asphalt analysis and verification for Florida's
expansive system of roadways is a daunting task, APAC's quality
testing reputation has driven business growth for years.
Thanks in part to the durability OHAUS products are known for,
APAC quickly came to expect its OHAUS equipment to remain on-line
and productive. And in fact, these key features are expected
to keep the two companies working together for years to come.