UPM® Permanent Pavement Repair Material has led the market for over 50 years because it is engineered to be Best-in-Class and supported by a strategy creating premium customer value.
The strategy continues to generate customer loyalty as business risks increase.
Cheaper products providing limited value have challenged UNIQUE Paving Materials strategy since inception. Controlling raw materials, manufacturing and quality are the foundation by which we provide a lifetime performance warranty.
Providing consistent quality and a “Once and Done” repair strategy, we promote permanent repair, a critical component for pavement maintenance.
Providing continuing education throughout the industry via seminars and demonstrations increases end user awareness of alternatives to conventional cold mix, which by design will increase business risk and contribute to environmental deterioration.
Cold mix is only one of many products supported by our UNIQUE strategy. Environmentally friendly Kold-Flo® pourable crack filler and Integra-Seal asphalt sealer, anionic emulsions, in-place recycling materials, adhesion/moisture control additives for HMA and concrete repair materials as well as the tools to install the products are all supplied by UNIQUE.
Providing premium products and customer value requires resources, teamwork and commitment. Not the least expensive business strategy but preferred as it provides the greatest advantage and lowest risk to our customers and the environment.
The consequences of short-term simple business strategies, i.e. buy cheap “we can fix again later” have closed many companies, bridges and road ways. UNIQUE will continue a winning strategy and applauds those who do the same.
TYPICAL RESPONSE FROM THE COMPETITION
The most common position expressed by competitive cold mix suppliers is “Cold mix is cold mix and my product is equivalent to UPM Permanent Pavement Repair Material”. This is far from the truth and not supported by analysis or controlled performance testing.
Anyone can make a cold mix simply by mixing 95 parts rock to 5 parts asphalt. The product can be marketed as equal to other cold mixes. However, the product will not have the performance like UPM repair material.
To provide a simple look into the complexity of making high performance cold mix, refer to the graph above showing aggregate surface area measurement from a single 10,000 ton pile from June 2009 through May 2012. Surface area, one of the most critical parameters in cold mix design, determines the amount of material to achieve optimum cohesion (rock to rock holding together force) and adhesion (rock to surrounding pothole-wall holding force). The 24 samples highlight the variation.
Unique analyzes every aggregate in advance, supervises every production, makes on-site adjustments during production as necessary and conducts post analysis to verify quality and assuring optimal material performance. Managing permanent performance does not happen by chance; it is designed into UPM repair material before the production and optimized during production.
We at Unique manage approximately 450 productions annually and analyze most competitive cold mixes. We look for overall performance and consistency from location to location.
Most cold mix suppliers use a one size fits all strategy, using available aggregate. Unique analyzed 394 different aggregates in 2009; we identified 71 aggregates as acceptable for UPM repair material. The radar charts highlight typical differences relative to UPM repair material. The parameters measured are correlated with field performance. Improved field performance is proportional to score.
Those undertaking the challenge to conduct comparative testing will quickly identify differences between conventional and high performance materials.
