In 1989 a team of Granite Rock Company employees, in concert with Roberts and Shaffer Engineering Company, redesigned the aggregates loading system in the sprawling distribution complex. Dubbed GraniteXpress, the new system stores aggregates in elevated hoppers. GraniteXpress customers are issued plastic cards similar to ATM cards. At the GraniteXpress loading area, drivers present their cards for access, which starts the billing process. The driver pulls the rig under the proper chute and pulls a cord to load.
Computerized scales weigh the load as it is delivered.
When the load is complete, so is the weighing, enabling the driver to use the express checkout where the Granite-Xpress computer calculates the bill and issues two copies to the driver via pneumatic tube. After signing one copy and returning it via the tube, the driver is on his way back to the job site with a load metered accurately to within 60 pounds. The NOVA Award was presented to the Osterberg Load Cell for inNOVAtion in performing in-situ testing of soil capacity. Field tests to verify the load-carrying capacity of heavy building foundations are time consuming, costly, interfere with other work on the site, and have inherent safety risks. Dr. Osterberg's method places a load-generating hydraulic cylinder, the load cell, at the bottom of a foundation pier.