Benefits from aligning with Falcon Asphalt Repair Equipment
By Jeff Winke
Tango Construction is located in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, a city with roots back to the 1660s when the wilderness there was known as Turkey Hills. Where the New England city is now located had changed ownership frequently and provided rich game for the local inhabitants. It has grown to a city of 40,000 in a beautiful, hilly setting along the Nashua River.
Follow a timeline forward from frontier roots to 2012 and meet the Alonso Brothers, Grecco, Rodrigo, and Gonzelo, who formed Tango Construction Inc., a highway / heavy construction general contractor with its primary scope of work in road construction services with a focus on manhole and catch basins. The company’s primary coverage area is Massachusetts, with work throughout The New England states including the Cape and Islands.
The company has fueled its growth through hard work and making smart capitol asset buying decisions based on purchasing equipment with demonstrated reliability, great parts availability, and with local servicing dealers. “Those key factors were instrumental in our decision to align with Falcon Asphalt Repair Equipment several years ago when we purchased a 4-ton Falcon asphalt recycler and hot box,” stated Grecco Alonso.
The Falcon trailer asphalt recycler and hot box features a single burner and is designed to be a cost-effective way to transport asphalt and keep it hot all day, hold hot mix overnight, and heat or re-heat cold patch. When built with two burners, the trailer can also recycle leftover asphalt, chunks and millings.
“Falcon’s simplistic, common-sense approach to asphalt hot boxes made the decision for the large-capacity 10 Ton machine easy when we were looking for an alternative to conventional patch trucks/ infrared heating source,” Alonso said.
A combined effort of Falcon’s local dealer and direct contact with the equipment manufacturer was said to have made this process seamless. Falcon’s regional sales manager and the company’s engineering team worked with Kenny Trombley, Tango equipment manager, to design what would become exactly what Tango Construction requested for tackling the tough challenges the New England weather and heavy traffic patterns that are created.
“Falcon heard our specialized needs and designed exactly what we were looking for,” Trombley said. “They delivered a customized solution for us.”
“The 10-ton machine is not new to Falcon, but the chassis-mount made this one a bit unique” said Brian Thornton, Falcon Regional Sales Manager. “The Alonzo Brothers required a large capacity, versatile hot box designed to fit a specific chassis. With our experienced, flexible, and skilled sales engineering team Falcon was able to meet the challenge.”
Tango’s 10-ton hot box has several important options that were included. There is a 15-gallon auxiliary tank mounted on the curb side of the machine, that holds the environmentally safe release agent the crews use to spray their tools down, wash the inside of the hopper and for general cleaning. The cleansing water is dispensed by a 12-volt spray system and hose. There is also a hydraulic compactor lift mounted to the frame of the truck on the curb side of the machine allowing operators to stay on the safe side of the truck and away from traffic as they compact the asphalt. Additional LED work lights and warning ambers are designed to make sure oncoming traffic knows the crews are working and that they should slow down. The flip-down-style shovel apron allows operators to shovel material from an ergonomically correct height while also providing the option to make large volume dumps when in the folded position. Multiple tool holders allow the operators convenient access to the tools of the trade.
“Thanks to Falcon’s 10-ton operating capacity matched with the efficiency of the hotbox, we have essentially learned a new way to do business–we’ve had a mindset change,” Trombley stated. “We do not lose production hours sitting at the plant while the crews are waiting for material. With our Falcon machines our operators can load the next day’s work and hold it at temperature for up to 72 hours.”
Trombley continued, “Labor hour savings, extremely low fuel consumption and reliable heat means, this machine will pay for itself in no time.”
Falcon’s VIP® protected, dual 12v Beckett diesel burners, are designed to deliver heat through a maintenance-free, one-piece, vacuum formed ceramic combustion chamber. The patented design of the combustion chamber tumbles hot air from the lowest point of the hot box to the Falcon-designed heat management system.
“Our exclusive Falcon features are designed to deliver heat from the burner box on the floor of the machine up through the walls of the machine to the top cap of the hot box,” stated Ric Simon, VP of sales and marketing. “The patented ceramic-based insulation compressed between the machine’s triple-wall construction is designed to ensure that heat stays where it belongs, blanketing the asphalt in regulated and controlled heat, while safely isolating operators.”
Simon continued, “The 10-gauge structural steel interior coupled with the 12-gauge mid and exterior-walls, matched with full-depth welded gusseting, corner molding and top cap provide a long service life to this moderately priced answer to the market’s demands.”
As an option, Falcon Asphalt Repair Equipment offers customizable colors on their machines. For Tango Construction they matched the company’s distinct corporate blue it uses on all machines in its fleet.
With its firm business relationship with Falcon, the Alonso Brothers of Tango Construction will continue to grow and thrive from its historic New England location.
For more information, please visit www.falconrme.com or call 989-495-9332.
Jeff Winke is a business and construction writer based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He can be reached through jeff_winke@yahoo.com
