Lehigh Southwest Cement: What's New

Lehigh has been successfully selling in the Phoenix Market for three years and continues to expand to better serve its loyal customers.

On Monday, April 25^th 2006, Lehigh SouthWest Cement Company began loading trucks at our new Phoenix Distribution Terminal. This multimillion dollar project, which began nearly one year ago, will help continue to establish Lehigh as a new, viable cement supplier in the metropolitan Phoenix area.

Lehigh entered the growing Phoenix market in January, 2003 and was immediately embraced by the local construction industry. Thanks to the outstanding efforts of Pat Neilio, the Arizona Territory Manager, customers were cultivated and relationships were established. With the help of Art Lozano, the terminal operator, and his staff, railcars were quickly and efficiently managed and unloaded, and trucks were loaded for their destination. Sales exceeded expectations in that first year and again last year, the Phoenix team exceeded their plan in spite of rail and manufacturing issues.

The new, state-of-the-art terminal facility employs the latest in technology and incorporates efficient, high speed railcar unloading and bulk truck loading systems.

The New Phoenix terminal is supplied by Lehigh Southwest’s Tehachapi Plant and their hard-working plant personnel. The Tehachapi Plant team has worked diligently to increase shipments to Arizona to support the new terminal.

Patrick Neilio (602-321-3316) is Lehigh's Arizona Territory Manager. Pat is based in the Phoenix area.

Pat is responsible for the sale, marketing and promotion of cement, as well as for providing customer service and technical assistance to Lehigh Southwest’s Phoenix area customer base. In addition, he is also responsible for managing the operations of the Terminal.

Pat has a BS degree in Civil Engineering, and over 20 years experience in the cement and concrete industries primarily in the Phoenix area. His experience in sales and operations has included working as Vice President of Manufacturing for Phoenix Cement; Vice President of Operations for Clawson Concrete in Novi, Michigan; Area Manager for United Metro Materials in Northeastern Arizona; and Southwest Area Manager for ISG Resources in Phoenix. Pat also has extensive experience in building and running rail terminals, managing start-up operations, permitting new facilities, and designing process, plant, and terminal improvements.

Art Lozano was hired as the Phoenix Terminal Operator. A longtime resident of the Phoenix area, Art started his career in the cement industry in 1970. He has worked in cement and mining operations in Phoenix, Las Vegas and West Virginia. Art has also worked as a heavy-equipment operator. He is now responsible for all functions of loading trucks and unloading rail cars, along with the maintenance of the Terminal.

Lehigh Southwest looks forward to a long and prosperous presence in the Arizona area. Please contact us for more information about our Arizona operations.

Lehigh's Tehachapi Plant personnel teamed with the Lehigh Southwest Sale's staff to show "Driver's Appreciation" by serving lunch and breakfast to all truck drivers hauling material to and from the Plant. The meals were catered by Kowbel's Custom Catering and featured biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit and pastry for breakfast and deep pit BBQ for lunch.

Drivers were also given a custom Lehigh/Tehachapi Plant tee shirt to thank them for safely and efficiently hauling materials to and from the Plant over the past year.

CSM Transportation recently delivered the first load of Lehigh cement to Pacific Ready Mix's new plant on the site of their aggregate deposit in Lake Elsinore. Pacific is a division of Castle and Cooke, which is owned by billionaire David Murdock. John Gunia, Vice President of Aggregates was hired in early 2004 to start up a new ready mix operation from scratch, as well as handling their aggregate operation. In order to "hit the ground running", John used his connections to the local market to hire personnel with many years of experience in the Inland Empire. Key hires were Joe Rodriguez, dispatcher, and Steve Moody, batch man, as well as numerous drivers with local experience.

John places a high value in empowering his employees, and strives to make Pacific Ready Mix "their company". As an example, John had his drivers design the color scheme for their mixers, and he has sought their input in specifications for the purchase of new mixers. Pacific commenced operations with a new Conoco portable batch plant, but will build a high capacity "wet" plant in the near future. John is currently assessing which plant will best serve their needs. John is clearly building a company for the "long haul", and Lehigh Cement looks forward to being with him all the way.

Lehigh Opens Distribution Terminal In Phoenix