Crushers run to settings that seem fine. Screens recirculate what they should have passed. Belt scales drift and the pile on the pad no longer matches the book. The tonnes still have to leave the gate.
01
A balanced circuit
See whether the screen, the cone or the conveyor is the real bottleneck, instead of opening the crusher and wearing the liners to make the shift.
02
Tons that match the pad
Close the gap between belt-scale production, truck tickets and a measured stockpile, so month-end is not a write-off.
03
The stop while it can still be planned
Read crusher, screen and conveyor signals the plant already logs, so wear is flagged before the unplanned shutdown.
On the quarry and the plant
Aggregates plants lose tonnes in three places that rarely show up as one alarm: equipment that is down, a circuit that is out of balance, and a stockpile number that is only true on paper. BCG's 2025 aggregates survey names asset reliability as the primary operational constraint.
ReliabilityBCG found equipment reliability is the industry's main operational constraint, and that nearly 70% of surveyed aggregates companies do not track overall equipment effectiveness comprehensively. Downtime and inconsistent maintenance keep repeating.
The circuitUnbalanced settings, mismatched screen media and crushers run beyond force or power limits raise recirculation, wear and energy use. Aggregates Business, drawing on Metso plant-training work, names these as common pitfalls once experienced operators leave.
The yardStockpile tons are still often walked or surveyed infrequently, while belt scales drift. Ninety percent of aggregates are used within 50 miles of the pit, so a wrong inventory number is not an accounting detail. It is a truck that cannot be loaded.
The easy answer is a harder crusher setting. That usually costs liners, power and spec.
INSUS works from the plant data, tickets and records a site already keeps. If the gap is a worn screen cloth, a drifting belt scale or a maintenance job, that is what we will say.
Industry figures
Four external figures, each with its source. Nothing on this page is an estimate we made up. Where we cannot cite a number, we describe the situation in words instead.
Crushed stone
1.5bn t
of crushed stone was produced in the United States in 2025, valued at about $27 billion, from an estimated 3,500 quarries. About 72% went to construction aggregate, mostly roads.
Source: USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — Crushed Stone
Haul
90%
of aggregates are consumed within 50 miles of the extraction point. A plant that cannot load the right spec today cannot make it up from the next county.
Source: NSSGA, Our Economic Impact
OEE
~70%
of aggregates companies in BCG's 2025 survey do not track overall equipment effectiveness comprehensively. Reliability is named as the primary operational constraint.
Source: BCG, Crushing It: How Aggregates Leaders Will Win the Next Era (2025)
Roads
94%
of the materials used to build US interstate highways are natural aggregates — crushed stone, sand and gravel — according to USGS figures published by NSSGA.
Common problems
None of these show up as a single alarm. They show up in oversize at the primary, recirculating load, liner life, and a stop that lands mid-shift.
Fragmentation that is too coarse raises primary load, energy use, and wear before the plant ever gets a chance to balance the circuit. Blast design, geology, and crusher feed are still often reviewed as separate conversations.
See: Aggregates Blast Fragmentation OptimizationScreens limit throughput while cones run outside force and power limits. Mismatched deck media recirculates product that should have been finished. Wear and energy rise before anyone names the bottleneck.
See: Aggregates Crusher Circuit OptimizationBCG reports aging plants, downtime and inconsistent maintenance as the constraint. Nearly 70% of surveyed producers do not track OEE in full. Bucket teeth, liners, and other wear parts then fail mid-shift instead of on a planned change-out.
See: Aggregates Wear-Part Predictive MaintenanceUse cases
Each is a specific starting point — this blast, this crusher circuit, this wear-part fleet — and a next conversation if it is worth your time.
Recommend blast design adjustments from quarry blast records and crusher history so blast engineers can plan fragmentation around what the primary circuit needs.
See the full use case
Recommend crusher rotor speed and gap settings from plant production and gradation history so operators can balance throughput, energy and product size for the feed in use.
See the full use case
Estimate wear-part replacement timing for quarry loaders and excavators from equipment usage and maintenance history so teams can plan before failure risk rises.
See the full use caseFAQ
A practical look at what INSUS needs, where it fits and what your team can expect.
The work that fits starts from data a quarry and plant already produce: blast and crusher-feed records for fragmentation, crushing and screening settings for circuit balance, and equipment usage and maintenance history for wear-part timing. Closed-loop crusher control and automatic blast redesign are not promises we will make.
Usually not. Most plants already log crusher power, amps, hours, some vibration, belt scales, tickets and lab results. If a signal is missing or a scale has been drifting, that comes before any model.
No. The person who knows this rock, this screen cloth and this customer spec stays responsible. The aim is to stop the circuit being run from habit after the experienced operator has left, and to flag wear before the unplanned stop.
No. BCG found most producers do not even track OEE comprehensively, and definitions vary by site. We will not invent a percentage. The first question is what you already measure and where the plant actually loses tonnes.
Whatever describes the problem you want to solve: blast and fragmentation records, historian or PLC tags, crusher settings, screen media changes, production files, and maintenance work orders for wear parts. You do not need every source on day one.
Yes. The approach is built around the systems you already run. Integration is defined during the assessment. Statutory safety and environmental reporting remain yours.
Yes. One blast pattern, one primary–secondary line, or one wear-part fleet is usually the practical start. Measure that, then decide whether to widen.
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