ACME Block & Brick has been making concrete block since the late 1890s, and a recent tour of its Crossville, Tennessee, manufacturing plant shows how much the production side of masonry materials is changing.
During a visit hosted with members of the UT Center for Industrial Services Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Partnership peer group, the Crossville facility was running at a pace that produces three 8-inch blocks per cycle, with each cycle taking about 8 to 9 seconds. That adds up to roughly 5,000 to 6,000 cycles per day, or about 15,000 to 18,000 8-inch equivalent blocks daily.
ACME is headquartered in Kingston, Tennessee, and now operates across middle and eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, and southern Kentucky. After starting as ACME Block and Tile Company in the Roane County area, it was bought in 1942 by A.J. Rivers Sr. and remains family-led today under President Brantley Rivers. Across its plants and corporate operations, the company employs about 150 people.
For mason contractors, the biggest takeaway is what modernization can look like on the supply side. ACME rebuilt the Crossville plant from the ground up, doubling the facility’s size and output. It has also invested in newer autonomous machinery across locations. In Crossville, block is made, cut, cured, and transported autonomously, with the main hands-on work observed focused on quality assurance, including checking split block and pulling pieces that do not meet spec. Another location is adding robotics.
ACME is also building a tumbling center at Crossville to meet demand for a rustic, worn look in outdoor hardscape products. For contractors, that is a reminder to talk early with suppliers about finish options, quality checks, and what products are gaining traction in your market. The company’s shift to a stronger social media presence, a customer road show, a new product catalog, and school-based workforce training also signals a focus on both demand and the future masonry workforce.
Read the full, original article from Teknovation.biz here.