By DON SHILLING

By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
Kim Parrott is intent on cracking into the concrete market in southern Mahoning County.
The owner of Bessemer Supply, a trucking and building supply business in Bessemer, Pa., has crossed the state line to create another business, Bessemer Concrete, at 13501 Youngstown-Pittsburgh Road.
Parrott has invested nearly $400,000 to create a concrete-making plant and buy six used trucks to deliver the concrete to job sites.
His goal is to build a customer base among concrete finishers who work in areas such as Poland, East Palestine, New Springfield and New Middletown. Those areas have more residential construction than the area around Bessemer, Parrott said.
He figures having a plant in southern Mahoning County gives him an advantage because concrete must be used soon after it's mixed.
Expanding business
He first thought of expanding into concrete five years ago. He started out with a truck that could mix concrete on a job site.
Demand for the service never matched his expectations, however.
"We needed to do it right or get out. I was too stubborn to get out, so we jumped in with both feet," Parrott said.
Doing it right meant building a plant, which mixes the ingredients that make concrete -- limestone, cement, water and small amounts of chemicals.
Bob Gerner, batchman at the plant, has been mixing concrete for years and enjoys the modern technology used at Bessemer Concrete.
Years ago, sacks of powdered cement would be opened and dumped into a bin. Now, Gerner stands in an air-conditioned trailer before a control board. He enters the type of concrete he needs mixed and hits the necessary buttons to start the mixing.
The powdered cement falls into the truck from a silo above and is mixed with water and limestone, which is brought up to the truck on a conveyor.
Making the move
The plant, which has eight employees, opened in September, but Parrott said the spring was difficult because of the weather, although sales increased monthly.
Contractors can't pour concrete when it's raining, and even the threat of rain can cause them to put off doing work, he said.
The responsibility of finding work relies primarily with Jim Habuda, company salesman. Habuda has worked in the concrete business for 40 years, including a position at the former Boardman Supply, and is using his contacts in the industry to build up business for Bessemer Concrete.
Parrott is hoping for the same success he had building his other business, which he has operated for 20 years.
He began hauling powdered cement to concrete plants and later expanded into selling building materials such as sand, stone, blocks and bricks. Bessemer Supply employs 30 and operates 23 tractor-trailers.
U.S. cement shortage
Contractors in Florida and some other states have been hampered this year by a shortage of cement. Mike Wilson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Home Builders and Remodelers Association, said the shortage hasn't been a problem here, however.
Marianne Gooch, a spokeswoman for cement maker Cemex, which operates a plant in Wampum, Pa., said the shortage is only affecting high-growth areas that have a lot of construction.
The Portland Cement Association, a trade association of cement makers, said the shortage is affecting 22 states, with supplies in Ohio and Pennsylvania being normal.
Besides a boom in construction in some areas, cement supply has been hampered by a lack of ships to transport cement from other countries, the association said. The economic boom in China is tying up ships. About 20 percent of cement used in this country is imported.
Parrott said the local region is unusual because it has two cement plants to supply area concrete plants -- the Cemex plant in Wampum and an Essroc plant in Bessemer.
One effect of the shortage will be higher prices, Parrott said. Cement companies normally raise their prices in April, but this year they have announced an additional price increase for August.
shilling@vindy.com