It is 10 years since Jordan Bartlett, President of California based Bartlett Crushing, started out in business, initially recycling concrete and asphalt, and today he can look back on a decade well spent, rapidly growing and expanding the company across the region.
With a firm focus on portable concrete, asphalt and rock crushing, the business has taken him all over the country -from San Diego to Las Vegas – with every day being a learning curve, discovering what is possible and what isn’t, such is his passion and desire for success.
Truth is, there is very little that he hasn’t been able achieve in the area of crushing and recycling, employing not just the best people, but also investing in and utilising the best equipment, most of which he can service and maintain himself, making his operation more efficient and more productive, while eliminating the potential for costly downtime.
Having grown up around heavy machinery from the age of nine, Jordan found himself working for a paving company in his teenage years, but it was perhaps inevitable that he would one day run his own successful business, and that day came in 2016 when he entered the portable crushing market. He hasn’t looked back since.
Awesome Earthmovers caught up with Jordan at one of his crushing sites on the edge of the Mojave Desert in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Ridgecrest's unique terrain has been home to award winning movie productions such as Top Gun Maverick, Westworld, Star Wars and Jurassic Park.
In more recent times, Jordan has also invested in a third and very similar crushing site at Palmdale in the western tip of the Mojave Desert as he continues to build a highly respected reputation for himself in the industry, supplying rock and sand to ready mix concrete producers in the region.
“We spent about a year planning, designing and building the plant at Palmdale. We learned a lot in putting all the new equipment together, positioning it on a tight footprint and into a manageable, portable spread that is easy to set up and take down,” says Jordan.
A Seamless Operation
The closed circuit set-up at Ridgecrest utilises mainly Cat and Astec plant to produce one inch minus rock and 3/16-minus sand. It’s a seamless operation, with virgin rock being quarried out of the pit by a Cat 330 excavator, which is then fed by a Cat 982 wheel loader into the crushing circuit which includes an Astec FT2650 jaw crusher, an Astec FT6203 horizontal screen and an Astec FT200CC cone crusher.
The processed rock is then stockpiled by a McCloskey ST80 stacker, while the sand is stockpiled using a Superior 150 super stacker.
At Palmdale, a Cat 320 excavator and a Cat 988 wheel loader are used to feed a similar closed circuit set-up which incorporates a Fabtech CS2650 jaw crusher, a Cedarapids MPV380 cone crusher, a Cedarapids 6203 screen and a Superior 136 super stacker to produce a ¾ inch minus recycled base material.
Jordan favours these brands of plant because of their robustness and reliability in operating for long hours in a harsh desert environment. He also likes the Cat machines because of the technology they employ, in addition to lower fuel costs and carbon emissions which is an important consideration given the strict environmental rules in California.
Ease of Servicing & Maintenance
Jordan also draws our attention to another important bonus of using the Cat and Astec plant -ease of servicing and maintenance. “Operating in the middle of nowhere for much of the time, it is essential that we can carry out our own servicing and repairs to limit any potential for downtime,” he says. “We carry a lot of spare parts, but if ever we need something not readily at hand we can easily collect it from our suppliers who are just a short distance away.”
He has also been full of praise for his local Caterpillar dealer Quinn Cat. “They’ve definitely been a big help to us down through the years. The team there understands my business and my requirements and they have provided excellent service and support when needed.”
Looking to the Future
It is fair to say that Jordan has come a long way from those early days in business when he first learned how to run a crushing plant, and after 10 years of steady growth, Bartlett Crushing can look to the future with confidence.
“We have no doubt there will be challenges, but we will be firmly focused on making our business even more sustainable over the next five years,” says Jordan. “It is important that we consolidate what we have already built up, and that we continue to keep our employees happy at their work.”
Indeed, hiring the right people over the years has been hugely instrumental in the success of Bartlett Crushing. “Our team operates for up to 10 or 12 hours every day, so we need to look after them. It is hard work maintaining our demanding production schedules, but it can also be enjoyable as long as we continue to provide the right working environment.”
“IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE CONSOLIDATE WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY BUILT UP, AND THAT WE CONTINUE TO KEEP OUR EMPLOYEES
HAPPY
AT THEIR WORK.”
Jordan Bartlett President Bartlett Crushing