Simplicity makes M-B's "Basic" Highway Striper Appealing to Contractors

In the pavement marking business since 1985, Superior Pavement Marking Inc., Knoxville, TN, generates 95% of its sales from road and highway striping and 5% of sales from striping airports.

Superior markets its pavement marking services primarily to three states as well as cities and counties in Tennessee, southeastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia. And according to Burnette, the equipment they rely on for their long-line highway striping are truck chassis-mounted stripers manufactured by The M-B Companies, Chilton, WI. "We think it's state-of-the-art equipment, and that's why we've continued to buy them over the years," Burnette says. "Their equipment is very solid and that is essential because the equipment is our lifeline. Equipment and people is what this business is all about and without either you're not going to make it."

Burnette says that of the almost 40 pieces of equipment (such as walk-behind stripers and thermoplastic melters and applicators) Superior Pavement operates, six machines are M-B's 500-gal. units each equipped with a 3,000-lb. bead tank. Burnette says Superior's oldest M-B machine is 10 years old, while the newest was bought last year. "It's a solid machine that doesn't break down. If they ever do break down they are relatively easy to fix. And that all starts with the engineering behind the trucks," Burnette says. "M-B takes that approach all through the manufacturing process. They just do an excellent job on their equipment."

Features

Steve Muellenbach, M-B Companies sales manager, says the truck chassis-mounted stripers have been a staple of the company since introduced in the early 1960s.

Muellenbach says the highway striping machines are not designated by model number but instead by paint capacity. Models are available with 300-gal., 500-gal., and 800-gal. capacities, with the 500-gal. unit being the basic and most popular version.

"It's our very basic unit, though it has continually been upgraded along the way," Muellenbach says. "It's really a very simple machine, easy to operate and maintain -- and that's the kind of machine a contractor needs to be productive and profitable." Muellenbach says the unit can be constructed on a truck the contractor supplies or M-B can spec and supply the entire vehicle. He says about half the buyers supply their own truck while the other half buy the vehicle through M-B.

"We quote the truck to them and they tell us what they can get it for. If the prices are close they usually buy locally and just keep the local service issue intact," Muellenbach says. "Some contractors would rather use a chassis distributor in their local area so that if they have a problem they can get it taken care of locally."

He says that when contractors want to supply their own truck, M-B maintains control over some of the specifications. "We have to have control over gross vehicle weight, alternator size, wheel base, and cab-to-axle dimensions," Muellenbach says. "We have to maintain proper weight and balance, with roughly one-third of the weight on the front axle, two-thirds of the weight on the rear axle."

Once the truck has been selected, the other standard components are added, including the appropriate ASME standard steel tanks; a 185cfm compressor; a 315,000btu heater; and an 804 stainless steel heat exchanger. Burnette says the heat exchanger, which is used to heat the paint, is a good example of the engineering differences his company appreciates. "Some manufacturers run the heat off the engine to heat the paint, but that's kind of a low-cost way out," Burnette says. "It's less expensive, but it's actually quicker and more efficient if you have a separate furnace, like M-B has, to heat it. It's not as big an issue now as when you had to heat solvent paint, but we still have to heat the waterborne sometimes and it can become important."

Another valuable feature is the M-B 3001 microprocessor, which stores and displays the amount of feet applied for each gun. He says the controls work with any type of paint and feature a touch-tab that enables the operator to change the cycle and display feet or meters. "The microprocessor can tell the operator immediately how much he's painted," Mullenbach says. "That's important to the contractor because that's how he's going to get paid."

Burnette says that one of the options Superior takes advantage of is the machine's microprocessor-based controls. "Rate of application is critical today, and these controls do a good job of helping us track that," Burnette says. "We're paid to put a certain amount of paint and beads down and we need to make sure we're doing what we're supposed to -- especially as more and more states and cities go to performance specifications."

Repair Made Easier

Burnette says the "basic" nature of the striping truck makes it easy for his crew to work on, and Muellenbach says that's by design. "If a striper breaks down on the road you usually can fix the machine right there on the spot. The machine is laid out so you can do that," Muellenbach says. "We try to keep everything where you can get at it. In fact, the truck itself is set up on 10-in. risers so a contractor doesn't have to crawl under to see what's wrong."

Burnette says one service that makes using M-B's striping truck especially easy is that when Superior (or any other company) buys a specific piece of equipment from M-B, Superior is given a manual with the serial number of the machine on it. A second copy of the manual, also with the machine's serial number on it, is kept at M-B offices. "So when you call up there with a problem they can pull out the manual and they know exactly what piece of equipment you're talking about," Burnette says. "They aren't trying to guess what year it was made or what options is has because they know. And when they're explaining a solution they can tell you to turn to page X and it's going to be the same page as the book in your hand. It's much easier to troubleshoot and solve problems when you're on the same page."

And that's all aimed at keeping contractors productive. "It's a very production-minded piece of equipment," Muellenbach says. "A contractor can easily paint 75 to 100 lane miles per day depending on the road quality."