A top-notch executive and some ex-NHLers have joined forces to revolutionize an unlikely business sector: road paving.
Kamloops-based Ecopave Systems Inc. was founded more than 25 years ago, but languished in obscurity until 2006, when founder Al Rorison convinced his brother-in-law to invest in the company.
That brother-in-law is ex-Boston Bruin Ron Jones, who at the time had put his business career on ice after a stint with Boston Pizza International Inc. as vice-president of business development.
Retirement wasn’t going so well.
“I took about a year-and-a-half off and I liked it for a while, but I got quite bored with it,” Jones, 59, told Business in Vancouver. “I kind of missed waking up at 2 a.m. with problems. Sleeping through the night isn’t all that much fun.”
He soon became vice-president and director of Ecopave.
His mandate: to change the way roads are paved in B.C.
The company has developed what’s called a two-stage hot-in-place asphalt-recycling machine that minimizes the cost and environmental impact of resurfacing roads.
Essentially, the Ecopaver (which is actually four machines) heats the old asphalt, digs it up, throws in some new asphalt and lays it back down.
Jones said the system’s ability to reuse existing asphalt means it consumes a fifth of the asphalt that conventional pavers lay down.
The Ecopaver, which sells for around $3 million, also uses 80% to 85% less oil than traditional pavers.
“After 20 years … it’s comparable to conventional paving and in my mind it’s the same except it costs half as much,” he added.
But to effectively market the technology Jones needed some more investment help.
That’s when he brought on his two sons-in-law: ex-Canuck Brendan Morrison and Dallas Stars colour analyst and ex-NHL goalie Daryl Reaugh.
Then he asked former Boston Pizza colleague Mike Cordoba to get on board.
“It’s quite intriguing,” said Cordoba, Boston Pizza’s former CEO. “I really like the fact that we were able to build the company. It was growth, and I was fascinated that it was green.”
Although Rorison had manufactured and sold 14 Ecopavers throughout the company’s life, it was difficult to convince large conventional paving companies the technology worked, and sales eventually dropped off.
To jump-start the company’s brand, the team bought a small contracting outfit to get the Ecopaver on the road.
“When you’re trying to sell an automobile you always have a demo machine so we needed to have a demo machine and use it,” Cordoba said.
Jones added that the company has grown 30% per year in the four years since the new team was brought together.
But questions remain about the Ecopaver’s ability to replace conventional pavers.
Jones and Cordoba concede the technology is more useful on rural roads and highways because it takes time for the system to set up and urban areas have time limits.
And if a road is so far gone it needs to be completely remade, well, the Ecopaver can’t do that.
But Jones will fight accusations the Ecopaver’s repair work doesn’t last as long as conventional pavers.
“The government would not be using this equipment if the roads were lasting a less amount of time,” Jones said. “We’re using the same material. Why would it last less?”
Skip Stothert is convinced.
In 1989, he founded Green Roads Recycling Ltd. in Fernie, believing that the rising cost of oil would create a business case for asphalt recycling.
He bought a machine from Rorison and has paved 11,500 kilometres of road across B.C.
“If we weren’t cost effective, we wouldn’t be here,” Stothert said.
But he added that the big paving companies refuse to buy into the technology.
BIV attempted to contact several paving companies in B.C. about asphalt recycling, but they declined comment or didn’t return calls.
However, Lafarge North America, the continent’s largest materials and paving company, said its asphalt mixes use 30% recycled material and reuse waste material such as roof shingles, tire rubber, glass and spent rail ballast.
Jack Davidson, president of the BC Road Builders & Heavy Construction Association, said it was difficult to determine if Ecopave’s technology is better than conventional pavers.
“It has some good points and bad points. I don’t think there’s a definitiveanswer yet,” said Davidson.
Even though rivalries may exist in B.C.’s paving sector, there are no such feuds between Ecopave’s team despite each of their rough and tumble backgrounds in professional sports.
Well, except one.
“We have a small rivalry,” Jones said with a chuckle. “I was the highest draft choice. Daryl was the first or second goalie picked the year he was drafted, but neither Daryl nor my career can compete with Brendan’s. His is a whole lot better. That’s what comes up.”