TIME TO DE-FRAGMENT WISCONSIN’S READY-MIX INDUSTRY
Fragmentation – the loss of unity and cohesion and the breakup of something into isolated and often conflicting elements – describes Wisconsin’s ready-mix industry.
Though consolidation impacts ready-mixed concrete producers and industry vendors and suppliers, the industry remains fragmented, obsessed with direct competition while ignoring or rejecting the power of association to further industry interests – at the state capital … with potential allied-industry partners … in global knowledge-communities … and in local, regional, and statewide marketplaces.
Ready-mix plants serve each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, all of Wisconsin’s 1,259 towns, and every incorporated and unincorporated municipality in the state, employing local residents, fueling local economies, contributing significant tax revenues, and literally providing the foundation for the high quality of life Wisconsinites enjoy. Ready-mixed concrete enables clean air, clean water, secure housing, good schools, and durable bridges and highways, and underpins and envelops factories, office complexes, commercial establishments, and institutional and recreational facilities.
Approximately 3,000 persons (by my estimate) are employed directly in Wisconsin’s ready-mix industry, and an additional 2,500 persons (again, my estimate) support the industry through provision of equipment, materials, services, and supplies. United, they would create a formidable army of ready-mixed concrete ambassadors – mighty marketers for the most beautiful, durable, versatile, available, and environmentally friendly construction material in the history of the planet – and powerful local, regional, and statewide voting constituencies.
At the 2004 Wisconsin Ready Mixed Concrete Association Convention in Green Bay, a four-foot by five-foot color map of Wisconsin, framed and mounted on half-inch thick foam board, greeted the membership. When convention participants registered and picked up their nametags and convention materials, they received one or more map flag-pin(s) and were asked to place the flag pin(s) at the location(s) of their plant(s), showroom(s), office(s), warehouse(s), or distribution or parts center(s).
A stunning, graphic portrayal of the power available to advance Wisconsin’s ready-mix industry resulted from their actions.
Imagine and Grab a Seat at the Table
Imagine the success the industry could address in the areas of legislative action, promotion, and education, if it were able to fully tap into the enthusiasm and industry expertise each flag pin on the 2004 Convention Registration Map represented. Imagine the marketing and legislative power unleashed if every state industry stakeholder invested in the future of Wisconsin's dynamic ready-mix industry through active involvement in the WRMCA.
For computers, defragmentation improves file system performance and system reliability by physically reorganizing the contents of the disk to store the pieces of each file close together and contiguously.
To improve performance and thrive and prosper in the years ahead, Wisconsin’s ready-mix industry needs to defragment, reorganizing, through the avenues of the Wisconsin Ready Mixed Concrete Association, as a marketing, legislative, and knowledge-management powerhouse.
Standing pat as a fragmented juggernaut obsessed with direct competition maintains an underperforming industry at risk of commoditization.
It is time for industry leaders, within and outside the WRMCA, to sit at a table and create an engaging vision of success … and a road map to achieve it.
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