70. What all does a Plant Manager do? with Dan Snyder Artwork

Loaded: The Hahn Ready Mix Podcast

A podcast for the employees of Hahn Ready Mix

Loaded: The Hahn Ready Mix Podcast

70. What all does a Plant Manager do? with Dan Snyder

June 29, 2026 • Griffin Hahn & Andrea Meier • Episode 70

0:00 | 24:02

Andrea, Griff and Lex are joined by Dan Snyder, plant manger at the Eldridge Plant. Dan gives us hist story including his experiences on the I-74 Bridge project as well as walks us through a day in the life as a plant manager.

Also: 4th of July, Brady Street Sprints.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Loaded, the Hahn Ready Mix podcast with Andrea Meyer, Griffin Hahn, producer Lex, and a special guest today.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Welcome, Dan Snyder. Welcome to the Welcome to the Pod. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

It's good to have everybody back together, plus more.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Well, I mean, I think we did just fine without you, actually.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Uh okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Uh you wouldn't know because I don't think you've listened to. I did listen. Oh, you did listen.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I did listen.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

As of yesterday, you hadn't listened. Yes, I. Okay, then grade us. How did we do it?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Um I like Lex doing the intro with his ultra low voice attempts. Um, but the enthusiasm was lacking.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

It was very lacking. I listened to the I listened to the one the other day, and I was like, oh sh.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

It didn't really excite me to continue listening. Not that my intro does, but there's a little energy there. I try.

unknown 1:11

Well.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

So what's new? You guys are dressed uh like you're not doing concrete today.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

We are uh jumping on uh flight to LA after this is over. So came in just to do this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

They're soccer nerds, Dan. You would know this if you listen to the podcast more.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

At least you didn't call it football.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

They're they're nerds.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Yes, we'll take that. But we're nerds that are gonna go see the U.S. in the World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

So we'll have fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Yeah, it should be a good time.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Don't worry about us.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

We'll just we'll be here. We won't be. All right, what do we got for announcements today?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

I just had wanted to clarify the 4th of July holiday. I know it's confusing always confusing when the holiday falls on a weekend, especially during busy season. So hourly people will get holiday pay for Saturday, yeah, the fourth. But you should plan on working on Friday the third and on Monday. I think we will be busy those days. I think Jeff said on the podcast last week that the the front office will be closed, but dispatch will be here.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

We'll be working on Friday.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Yeah. Well, especially with the amount of rain we've got, you know, it's compressing. Can't miss the day.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

So yep, that's right. Uh along with that, on Saturday the fourth at 10 a.m., uh, we'll be in the Bendorf parade. So that's always fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Yeah. Yeah. Uh it always seems, speaking of rain, it always seems to have a torrential downpour in the middle of that parade.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Or it's so hot and sweaty, you wish it would rain.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Yes, that's true. Yeah, it's it's either 95 degrees or we get three inches of rain. Uh so yes. Well, last year we didn't get our entry in in time. Filled up. So yeah, we're excited. We we went big this year. We got three mixers and John's kind of special car in it. So should be uh should be a fun time.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Very good.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Cool. Uh I had a couple announcements uh uh on the topic of July 3rd. I had some feedback that for our uh battle up Brady trials, folks weren't wanting to stick around after work on a holiday Friday.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

So I wondered.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Yeah, that probably didn't throw it.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Another thing that I would have been able to help with if I had been here.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

You're right. If you had been here, you're right, you would have. Um, so we're gonna try that July 2nd instead. That seems like a better plan.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

So um again have you had people knocking down your doors to sign up?

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Nobody other than people who had already showed interest before. So if you want to participate in uh the Brady Street Sprints for Bix, we are going to do Team Han. Yeah, Team Han. We're gonna do um a relay up it, and we need to find out who the four fastest people are here. So we're gonna do our trials on. I can guarantee you that's not me. Uh oh. Okay. Well, spread the word anyway, and and um, yeah, let's get let's put our best foot forward. So that'll be fun. I also have, speaking of World Cup, a World Cup pool update. And Chris Juergens really killed it in the second round of group play, and he's leading the pack now.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Took over Darren's leader position.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Darren fell down, and Lex and and Dubs came out of nowhere. Dubs was like in last place. Um, I think only your husband was behind dubs and then is he continuing to do it? Or your husband? Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

So he's uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

So anyway, yeah, congrats to Chris and I hope he does terrible from here on out. So optimism. Yes. Okay, should we get into this?

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

All right. Well, Dan, thanks again for coming on here. So uh I think it's a good opportunity to learn everybody, learn a little bit more about you for one, and then um also, you know, what a plant manager does, because I I wonder if folks maybe don't really realize the extent of the role, right? So, but yeah, let's start with you. Give us your your background. Um, where are you from? How did you how did you come here?

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Uh I'm actually from Dixon, Illinois. And don't hate me on that because it's Illinois. That's Andrea's neighborhood too, where she grew up.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

So is it? Yeah. Okay. So, you know, now things make a lot more sense.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

That's why we like each other. Oh, okay. After I graduated, uh, I was your typical teenager, you know, bouncing around, doing whatever. And then one day, a buddy of mine, he started uh working for Kroll. And I was working for Riverstone at the time, delivering drywall. Okay. And that was a long time ago. He called me up one day, he goes, Hey, why don't you come work over here? I'm like, is it better? He goes, Oh yeah. So I started working for Kroll, and I've been in this field 22 years. Yeah. Yeah. And it just I learned a lot. I drove for the first five and then I became plant manager over there. And then came here. And I'm just not going anywhere else.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Great, great. That was my next question. It was gonna be, you know, you did work for a couple competitors before you came to us. Yep. Um, was there anything that was different when when you joined Han, or was there I mean it's more of a family feeling here.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah. You guys don't treat us as numbers, you treat us as like we're family members, which is really nice. Well, your number is number uh 107. Uh oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. And uh, you know, we get along great here. Anytime we need help and you guys are there. Uh, like that time with my mom, you guys didn't hesitate.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Yeah, that's what it's about, right? Yep. So so when you joined us, you started in quality control, right? Or were you drove? Drove first for a little while and then quality control. You know, you were working in QC during the I-74 bridge. Yes. That was an experience for all of us, right? Oh, yeah. But um uh tell us a little bit about what that was like, you know, being out on the barges and hitting those tight specs and all that.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

What you know, hitting the tight specs, ooh, that was that was we earned our money for that one. Yeah. It was close. And but being out on the barges in the summertime, oh, that was nice. It was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Uh-huh. Well, speak in the summertime too. I one of my favorite videos from that project is you know, we would do the liquid nitrogen and we'd have those clouds of the vapor, right? And the vapor was like way colder. And you couldn't see anything, right? You couldn't see a foot in front of your face. We and we have a video showing the vapor cloud coming out, and you were taking a sample, and you're walking through that vapor cloud. You can see you just walk in, and there's no way you can see anything at all. And you were just so used to like, yep, I just know where I go and where stuff is or not. And it is just kind of hilarious to see you just disappear into this cloud. It's a good video.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

It's good to know you really enjoyed that because you hardly ever went home during that time.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah. Oh God.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

If we were working 18 hours a day, you were working 18 hours a day.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah, what was it? I got 3,000 hours of overtime. Oh wow. Yeah. In that one year. Yeah. That was that that's when it first started. Yeah. And I was just like, oh.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

That was uh that project was trying for all of us. Yeah, for sure. But it was a good experience. Yeah. Yeah. We all learned a lot. Absolutely. Okay. How about outside of work? Uh, I know you love to smoke meat. Uh we can talk about that, or what what other uh hobbies do you have?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Um I go shooting a lot. Yeah. Smoking meat, grilling, Xbox. Yeah. Yep. All right. Great. Great. So you guys like soccer and I like Xbox, me and my brother, because he lives up in uh near the Gurney area. Okay. So we'll jump on and have our phones. We'll message each other. Yeah. And then we'll just play together. Cool. That's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Awesome. You've been with us almost 10 years. Yep. And was it about five years ago you moved into a plant manager role with us down at the river plane?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Yeah, that sounds about right.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah. Okay. All right. So obviously you'd had some experience doing that before, but what made you want to switch to the plant manager position from quality control?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

I w I actually wanted to move up. Yeah. And you know, you can only go so high as QC. So I just want to keep moving up and doing more. Yeah. Because it helps me out, helps you guys out. Absolutely. That's that's what I like to do.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Cool. So having that experience in quality control, did that change the way that you approach batching or make decisions while you're batching? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yep. Uh when I was at Kroll, being the plant manager, I didn't know anything about moistures or anything like that, or the constituents that went in it. And so I'm just up there pushing buttons. All right, this is gonna work, hopefully. But then after being in QC, you learn a lot about the mixes. Yeah. And then you learn to, as soon as it pops up, check the air, make sure if it calls for recover, put recover in it. If it calls for calcium, make sure that goes in. Yeah. And then there was this one time I was just about to load a load and it had 800 pounds of flash per yard. And I'm like, that don't sound right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I called up Andrew and I'm like, what's this mix supposed to have in it? And he looked it up on his end. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not even close. Yeah. Like, uh, what was it? 400 pounds. So somebody doubled it. Oh, shoot. Yeah. I was like, yeah, we're gonna go ahead and change this back.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Right, right. Well, yeah, that's great. I I think that uh we kind of stumbled upon a good path there of having that concrete knowledge before you're into the production of it is I agree. Um I I think it's super helpful.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

It makes batching easier because you understand it. What do you think others would be surprised about the batching process, right? Like what goes into it that um maybe your average person listening to this wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Well, you have to learn about the Mexicas. Just because it pops over, it doesn't mean that that that's the right one.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Well, you're trimming water and adjusting air contents, right? Based on on knowledge. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

I thought you were gonna say like how many times a day or a week you get a text message or a Teams message from me or stop by. I feel like that still surprises you every time.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I'm la I'm like I hear the ding and I'm like, it's either Andrea or Andrea. Yeah, it's Andrea.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

People don't see that, but it's happening.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yep, yep. But no, I I think if anybody does do batching, they should do QC for a while so that they do understand what what's going on with that mix and what's gonna happen when you actually hit the start button.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Yeah. All right, let's go through like what all your responsibilities are, right? So you show up in the morning, uh, what are the first things you're doing before we even start batching?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

I go out there, turn the uh air dryer on, check the oil and the compressor, turn that on, uh go over there, turn the water on, and then as I'm walking by, I'm checking out the uh tail pulley, the seals, the bearings, yeah, uh the rollers as I'm going up. Uh just looking for any trip hazards, just make sure everything's clean. Well, it's clean-ish. Yeah. It's already mixed. But yes, yeah. Then I go back, uh, fire up the computers, turn the TVs on, and then go through the mixes that I have for the day, make sure I got well the day before, I make sure I have all the fiber I need. I walk out, look at my admax tanks, see if I need to order any more.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Uh check the yard, make sure everything's where it's supposed to be. Tornado didn't come and like push everything away.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yeah. I mean, you uh up in Eldridge, because it's our one dry batch plant in the quad cities, you sometimes get uh there's certain types of mixes that load better out of a dry batch plant, right? So you get some of that specialty stuff gets pushed to you. Uh there's a lot of benefits to a wet batch, but that dry batch does have a little bit of versatility on some of the specialty stuff. So yeah, we you do all the pea gravel loads and things like that, right, in the quad cities, because that's that works out better from there. Yep. Um so yeah, you you gotta be kind of on top of it for what what's coming up.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

What's coming, yeah, for sure. And it's also easier to do uh uh drier concrete out of out of a dry batch.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Because you don't have to dump it out of the big drum. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're not you're not gonna plug it up. Right. So yeah. You know, there's the people element too, right? So you've got Lauren up there and and you've got a great group of drivers and we do. Um so we do.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

We we all work good together. Yeah. Because there's times like if somebody's late, which it happens, we'll go out there, get the truck fired up for them, find out when they're gonna be there, you know, pre-trip it so they don't have to take that extra 15, 20 minutes when they get there. You know, and basically Lauren can do my job and I can do his job. So if something does happen, yeah. I mean, I'm still teaching them. Right. But he's learn he's learning pretty good. Yeah. He does great. Yeah. And the guys up there, we all know what we have to do. Yeah. And we get together and sometimes grill out a lot up there. Yeah. For the morale. Yeah. We make a good team out there.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Absolutely. I agree. And you've had some some veteran people that have set the culture that, you know, like Joe's retired right now, but uh that have come through there that have really, you know, helped set the standard. And yeah. And so I think that that helps too. Yep. So everything's ready in the morning, you've grilled some breakfast burritos or something before. Yeah. Uh so you know, on the QC side, right? You're setting moistures, checking concrete temperatures, uh, looking at trim air content, right? Like how how much are you adjusting load to load and taking like if you get feedback from a driver, like how do you uh incorporate that in your decisions?

SPEAKER_01 15:37

If a driver has to add a lot of water, they'll come in and be like, hey, I'd add 40 gallons of that.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

All right. Let's say I trimmed out four. Yeah. Well, what I'll do is I'll turn around, I'll trim out two. Yeah. Because that initial water is better than after. Yeah. So and then usually they'll come in and let me know. Yeah. And if it's too wet, I fix it.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

That's you know, one of the things at a dry batch plant, right? We have to drive we have to load it a little bit drier than we can at other plants because otherwise we get dough balls. Yeah. And so uh that's always in the back of your mind, I'm sure. Yes. You know John Allen's gonna call you from the site if he sees dough.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

He does.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Yeah. Okay, what's different like between kind of a perfect day like today where it's 70 degrees and you know, cloudy and and when it's scorching hot, right? So anything you're doing different on those days?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Uh when it's really hot, I actually put more water into the mix. Yeah. Because the hotter it is, the the more moisture it's gonna take out.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yeah. More evaporation in transit. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

And then you always gotta watch the air content when it's hotter.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Because when it's hotter, you have to raise the air because it's gonna eat there.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah. It doesn't entrain as well. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, and we're doing stuff like water in the stockpiles, right? When it gets hotter, the the the those can get into absorption and and so we're we're doing those things to make sure we're that everything's right, you know? Yep. You know, plants break, things go awry. Let's talk about like the communication between Bear and his team and dispatch and drivers and it, you know, how do you handle those situations?

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Well, if something breaks down, the first thing I'll do is I'll just go out there and see if I can find out what the problem is. Yeah. And then once I find out the problem, if it's bad enough, or if it's good enough, I can fix it, me or Lauren, I'll call dispatch, I'll be like, hey, give me 15 minutes, I gotta fix this problem.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Yeah. Uh if not, then I'll call Bear or Heath, say, hey, plant's down. This is what's wrong with it. Yeah. You know, and then they'll come up and fix it. Then I'll call Dispatch and Darren and I'll let them know, hey, plant's down, there's nothing we can do. Yeah. And then we wait.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Yeah. So let's say uh a driver comes to you and say, says, uh something's wrong with the load, right? That he's got. He's looked at it, he's done what he's supposed to do, he or she, and something is wrong with the concrete. And you know, they're gonna they're gonna come to you for a second opinion, right? So what what are you looking at when that happens or or how do you handle those situations?

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Uh basically I get up and I go look at it.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

If it's sometimes you might get contamination, so you might have too much rock in there. Yeah. And if it's really bad, there's not much you can do to fix it. Right. But if it's on the verge of, you know, maybe if I throw in you can adjust, you can batch on top of it and we'll, you know, maybe the customer asked for seven yards.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

They got eight, but we proportioned it out to to fix it, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

So uh I would rather fix it than throw it away.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Right. Yeah. It's cheaper. Yeah. And we can do that too when it's too wet, right? We can add some dry concrete on top of it to to dry it up.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Unless it's a ten and a half yard load, then yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Well, if we're already at max, then it just it is what it is. Yeah, we gotta throw it away. But what's a like what's a mistake that can be made in the panel that like people wouldn't know about that you gotta be wary of, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Instead of minusing. Oh. Yeah. I I did remember you were standing behind me at River Plan where uh dumb truck paving. Yeah. Yeah, it came out at like a nine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Yeah. If you're going minus five and you accidentally go plus five, then all of a sudden in a ten-year load, there's an extra 50 gallons of water in there.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yeah, that was pretty wet.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Yeah, yeah. That that's definitely one that is, you know, it's so easy to accidentally delete that minus. Yep. Right. And then it's and then you're like, oh yeah. It it um they should make that on the panel like it's a drop-down, the plus or minus. So you'd have to go change that. It's not in the same field. That would make that would help fix that. But anything else that like can go awry in the batch panel that you're I've had it to where it's just shut off on me.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Sitting there badging and it just bloop. Yeah. I'm like, okay, this ain't good. And the batch panel, you could well, like mine, once I get that new head, I won't have to mess with the mix, you know, trying to slow it down, speed it out so it doesn't hit and flood and all over the place.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Yeah, the the truck's gotta be able to take the feet the material feed coming into it. Yeah. Back to your crew and managing people. What's the hardest part of managing folks? I know I know you got a good team.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

And so it's I don't think any of it's hard because if somebody messes up, they'll come up and they'll own it. Yeah. And I'll just be like, okay, hey, let's not do that again. Right. It's not really hard managing them. My guys up there, we're that's we're such a small group. Yeah. We know what we want, we know what we need, and when it's go time, everybody knows. Concrete first. Yeah. Then once it's done or it slows down, well, you can either grill or whatever. Yeah. Clean the bathroom. You can't see this.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Um, I I think you have the benefit of a lot of experience up there. A lot of people that have been around for a long time and they're kind of already consistently doing things the way they should be doing them. Um, so I think in that way it's kind of easier to keep it in motion that way rather than uh, you know, when we try and change something like telling them to turn their trucks off every 10 minutes or something. That's where we run into more of a struggle with you with your guys.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah. I've been I've been getting on them, you know. And I'm like, if you guys aren't sure, come in, look at the board. If you see you're gonna be waiting 30, 40 minutes, shut it off. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

What do you wish drivers specifically understood about your role or what the job you have to do?

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Well, with the experience I have, they know that I have that. And they just I don't know, it just it up there just clicked. 22 years is a long time. Yeah. And most of them up there know. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

So I mean it's good. Like if someone sat next to you and that you were had to train them to be a plant manager tomorrow, what would you what was the first thing you'd tell them? Don't panic.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Don't panic. Yeah. I like that. Because something will go wrong. Yeah. And if you panic, it's just gonna make it worse. Yeah. Um double check everything before you hit that go button and then just start teaching them. Yeah. Cool. What what gives you most pride in the work that you do? It's gonna sound weird, but the work I do. I mean, it does. It's you know, I'm doing this for so long, it's just I have a standard for myself and I have a standard for everybody else.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Um, I try to keep all of our standards up. Absolutely. So, you know, there's not very mess ups. I just like it.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

Absolutely. Well, I think that that shows that you have those standards and helps us be successful for our customers, right? So well, cool. Well, this is your your chance. Anything else you want to tell everybody while you've got the mic here and we're not grilling out today. We're not grilling out today.

unknown 23:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Good. Awesome. Well, we really appreciate you coming on. I think this is a great discussion and hopefully gives some some insight into everybody on, you know, what the plant managers actually do and and the kind of challenges you guys face. And I wonder if uh Andrew's listening to it.