CEG photo
The Cat 988K XE is a 120,000-lb. machine with a 10.5-yd. bucket.
Among the largest construction services and products firms in the Northeast, O&G Industries is a fourth-generation company owned by the Oneglia family. Founded 101 years ago in 1923, the company currently has more than 700 employees and a fleet of more than 3,500 vehicles and pieces of equipment.
Photo courtesy of O&G Industries
One of the company's most distinguishing features is its diversity.
Its portfolio includes the production and distribution of aggregates, concrete and asphalt from its six quarries, and eight concrete plants and nine asphalt plants, strategically located throughout Connecticut and eastern New York. O&G Industries' mason division is among the east coast's largest masonry services and solution suppliers. In addition to road, bridge and dam construction, the company's heavy civil division also has tackled large scale sitework, power and energy projects.
O&G Industries Building Group's portfolio includes education, healthcare, commercial, office, industrial, manufacturing, municipal, community, athletic venues, transit, utility, water and wastewater projects.
Evolution as a Company
The company began when two friends, Andrew Oneglia and Flaviano Gervasini, formed a partnership hauling sand and stone. Despite setbacks, the company experienced rapid growth in its first 50 years and purchased its first quarry in Woodbury, Conn., in 1936.
By the end of the 1950s, the company was involved in major road construction and
Photo courtesy of O&G Industries
had built the Thomaston Dam for the Army Corps of Engineers.
The building division was established in the 1960s as O&G Industries expanded into school construction projects and the division continued with rapid growth throughout the 1970s. The next decades saw the additions of asphalt and concrete plants, as well as the mason division.
O&G has built more than 300 schools, including more than six million square feet of sustainable, net-zero and LEED-certified space.
The success is built by the dedication of thousands of employees over the decades. Every milestone of the company's first 100 years comes down to a simple fact: working strategically and professionally, they have accomplished great things together.
Investing in Sustainability
The type of work that O&G Industries does can often be associated with having a negative impact on the environment. However, for some time, O&G Industries has focused on the critical work of being a good environmental steward and is constantly looking for ways to improve operations at all of its facilities to eliminate adverse environmental impacts.
The company and its board of directors have adopted an environmental policy "to protect the environment for the health, safety and quality of life for their communities, their employees, their customers and the general public."
CEG photo
This commitment has been demonstrated in a variety of ways.
O&G Industries invested in adding solar power to many of its facilities, the most significant being the Southbury quarry, where 3,762 solar panels generate enough electricity to run the entire quarry and run surplus energy back into the grid.
O&G Industries' asphalt and concrete plants have taken the ENERGY STAR Challenge to improve the overall efficiency of its plants by at least 10 percent. It also is committed to producing greener asphalt; the goal being to produce net-zero pavement by 2025. It also is constantly introducing new products to its asphalt customers, such as fiber reinforced asphalt, which is 100 percent recyclable.
In Connecticut, Urban Mining is turning glass from local recycling facilities into a product called Pozzotive, an additive to concrete that makes the concrete very high performance and more sustainable, and at the same time, cuts the energy needed to produce the concrete and reduces CO2 emissions from the concrete production process. These and other commitments that O&G Industries has made to protecting the planet are not just for show, they are a long-term part of the company's corporate philosophy.
Equipment Plays Major Role in Green Initiatives
Recently, Scott Gilligan, H.O. Penn Machinery's sales representative, worked with Jim Zambero, vice president of O&G Industries, to make a major equipment purchase that would further advance the company's green initiative. Zambero, who has been with O&G Industries for 44 years and manages its entire equipment fleet, is constantly looking for ways for his fleet of literally thousands of pieces of equipment, to contribute to O&G Industries green initiative.
CEG photo
Scott Gilligan (L), sales representative of H.O. Penn, and Jim Zambero, vice president of O&G Industries.
Gilligan contacted Zambero about an extraordinary new quarry loader, the Cat 988K XE, a new hybrid loader that would fall right in line with O&G Industries initiatives. The cutting-edge technology in the new 988K XE creates a diesel-electric hybrid machine.
A traditional 988K that has been retrofitted with an electric transmission and as a result, the power plant is substantially smaller, which produces approximately a 50 percent savings in fuel consumption with no reduction in power and generates 32 percent less CO2 emissions. The three-speed electronic transmission generates more force into the pile and more bite into the pile than the previous transmissions, making it a more efficient machine. Not only is it consuming less fuel and producing less emissions, it also is reducing cycle times. Because the transmission is electric, the increased amounts of torque and bite are there immediately. There is no waiting for increased rpms and horsepower to get the increased torque.
"A great added feature is that you can turn the torque down on rainy days when traction is an issue, and you don't want as much torque because ultimately it would create more tire wear," Zambero said.
In a traditional loader, the operator is constantly on and off the throttle: revving up the throttle to break into the pile, reducing the throttle when pulling out of the pile, making constant throttle adjustments. With the electronic transmission, all of that is handled within the transmission. The throttle of the engine stays pretty much the same throughout the entire process.
The Cat 988K XE is a 120,000-lb. machine with a 10.5-yd. bucket. According to Gilligan, "This new concept with the Cat 988K XE is gaining momentum with northeast aggregate producers. With more power and half the fuel consumption, it just makes sense. This technology will continue to spread throughout the Caterpillar product offering."
"There is a premium price you are paying for this technology, but the fuel savings paid for it in a very short time," said Zambero. "Making the decision to buy this machine was not a painful process. It's not very often you see a return on investment in such a short period of time.
H.O. Penn Works Closely With O&G
"The majority of our fleet is Caterpillar machines from H.O. Penn," he added. "Scott [Gilligan] is very knowledgeable and hands-on with our account. He and I meet on a weekly basis to discuss future equipment needs including rentals and purchases.
"Phil Molloy, our PSSR from H.O. Penn, does a great job handling and scheduling our service and warranty repairs. He provides a computerized inspection report of all our crawler machine undercarriages. He monitors all of our oil samples that have warranty coverage and provides a host of other services that keep our downtime to a minimum. Whenever I am asked, I encourage other equipment fleet managers that are planning on making a purchase of new or used machines to make sure they are working with a reputable dealer that has a strong service and parts department to ensure their machine up-time. That certainly describes H.O. Penn." CEG
Today's top stories
