Company uses laser machine to lay level concrete

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As the sun was setting on the evening of March 22, Ed Textor stood outside the Knights of Columbus building and the Computer Specifications Institute show inside, explaining an amazing machine the laser screed.|ret||ret||tab|

The machine is one of four owned by Textor and his company, Advanced Concrete Technology Inc., and they enable the firm to lay almost unimaginable expanses of concrete with surfaces that are virtually perfectly level.|ret||ret||tab|

The screed, according to Textor, uses a "3-D profiler system," lasers and computers to define three-dimensional parameters to guide concrete placement. The equipment includes a remote target, a military-grade laptop computer "you can drop it a huge distance and it won't break," he said a "total station," a sonic laser tracer and other elements. |ret||ret||tab|

Aided by the screed's laser technology, Textor and his workers laid the largest continuous concrete slab placement in the history of the region, 142,900 square feet for the Sunbeam Warehouse site in Neosho. Then, last October, they pulled off the largest single concrete slab pour in Springfield history 97,500 square feet for the NorthStar Battery Inc. building located at 4000 Continental.|ret||ret||tab|

Producing "laser-flat" concrete floors is a major part of ACT's business. In 1999 alone, they "screeded" more than 8 million square feet of concrete floor. The company does, however, also provide concrete footings, retaining walls, curbs and gutters, tilt-up concrete walls, post-tensioned concrete slabs, paving and sidewalks. Their major projects in recent years are too many to name, but include the Plaster Sports Complex in Springfield and such Branson structures as the Wayne Newton Theatre, the Factory Merchants Mall, the Factory Stores of America Mall, and John Q. Hammons' Chateau on the Lake. Other major projects include Wal-Mart Supercenters in Lebanon, Monett, Nixa, and three in Springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

"I was raised in construction," Textor said. "Both of my grandfathers, my father, several uncles and three brothers were all in the construction business. By the time I was 21, I was supervising large commercial projects where the major structural components were concrete."|ret||ret||tab|

One of Textor's last projects before moving to Springfield in 1980 was a $70 million hospital at Fort Campbell, Ky.|ret||ret||tab|

Ed Textor started Textor Construction in 1984, he said. Among that company's projects were several school additions in the Springfield, Willard, and other school districts. |ret||ret||tab|

In the early '90s, realizing that his company was already doing its own concrete work and believing there was a need in the area for another good commercial concrete company, he made the transition from general contractor to concrete contractor.|ret||ret||tab|

In 1993, Textor attended the World of Concrete Annual Trade Show in New Orleans and saw his first screed. In 1994 he bought his first for "around $185,000 they run about $300,000 now." |ret||ret||tab|

That same year, Textor started Advanced Concrete Technology, and the rest is history.|ret||ret||tab|

Textor said he has a continued goal in mind: "Through continued education and research, the management of Advanced Concrete Technology is determined to reach the pinnacle of excellence."[[In-content Ad]]