Family-owned Wingra Stone Co. will celebrate its 100th anniversary in another six years.
The company acquired a number of Wisconsin properties containing mineral reserves over nearly a century, and it currently has 11 active aggregate operations. Wingra produced roughly 1.3 million tons across those sites by its last count in 2020.
Reaching a mark like that each year is somewhat strategic, though, as the company counts on its sites surrounding Madison, Wisconsin, to each contribute volumes to the Wingra ledger. Wingra relies heavily on portable equipment because of its makeup, moving crushing and washing plants around as needed to meet the market’s demands.
“One of the good things about where we are is we can move plants, and we have an advantage on the trucking,” says Travis Wise, vice president and general manager of Wingra Stone, who joined the company in 2018. “Instead of hauling it all the way to the east side, for example, we’ll make material at the east-side pits and have closer trucking. That’s the nice thing about being versatile.”
Portability emphasis
Wingra Stone’s top-producing quarry at the moment is the O’Brien Quarry, which it leases from Payne & Dolan.
According to Wise, Wingra produces about 400,000 tpy at the O’Brien Quarry in Fitchburg, the city that also plays home to the company’s office and maintenance facilities. Wingra produces eight products out of the O’Brien Quarry with a portable setup that’s essentially fixed within the site.
“This will be the last one that shuts down for the year,” Wise says. “It’s usually one of the first ones up and the last ones down.”
Construction projects aren’t as consistently available throughout the production season to justify crushing daily at some other Wingra Stone sites. In those cases, Wingra will move crushing plants to desired locations to keep material on the ground.