Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992 TAG: 9203020196
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Boxley, a fourth-generation president of a chain of seven quarries named for his great-grandfather, W.W. Boxley, is leading an environmental improvement program in the company's 100th anniversary year.
Now 33, he moved into the company's top operating post abruptly to succeed his father, Abney S. "Buck" Boxley, who died of a heart attack four years ago.
Frank Boxley, an uncle who has his own underground utility line business, is board chairman but no other family member is active in the daily operation of the Roanoke rock quarrying company.
The Emporia quarry had been operated by his family for more than 60 years. It was too far away and its sale "left a lot tighter organization," Boxley said.
In an industry often criticized for its quarries' impact on their neighborhoods, the Boxley firm is working for protection of the nearby environment. Laws are tougher but Boxley has a practical philosophy about rock quarries.
"If we put ourselves in their shoes, the neighbors shouldn't have to put up with dust and noise," he said. Instead of looking at cleanup programs as a regulation or something "we have to do it," Boxley said. "To me it's more a part of doing business."
He doesn't criticize the regulators as do some business managers. "We don't like to be in the position of adversaries. We'd rather be a part of the process that creates the regulations. We'd like to do a little better every year instead of fighting it."
Have the lawmakers and the regulators gone too far? "I don't think so," Boxley said.
Seven of his employees work only on compliance with government regulations and a total of 30 administrators deal with some form of regulations.
The rock quarrying business generally follows the pace of road building and general construction, two slow fields in the recession. Boxley's business is up about 5 percent this year, Boxley said, but 1991 sales of rock and sand were down by 13 percent, less than the state industry average.
In "a very cyclical industry, we think we've hit bottom and it should be better by fall," he said. Boxley expects more work from the federal highway bill and he's still optimistic that the General Assembly will provide highway funds.
The market for existing quarries is limited, he said, "but we'd like to be a little bit bigger."
In the new environmental sensitivity, Boxley said a quarry company planning to expand must look for much more land to buffer its operations from their neighbors. Earlier, companies bought only the land they needed; today they need 500 acres or more for a quarry, he said.
"We're working harder to live with our neighbors," Boxly said.
The firm recently surveyed the community near its Blue Ridge quarry on U.S. 460 and also polled more than 260 customers. The customers gave the company 87 percent approval and suggested the company help improve their knowledge of quarry products, plant loading and business hours. They commended employees' courtesy, professionalism and response to customer inquiries.
Digging rock out of the ground is a part of the natural resource business, Boxley said. "We process it so it makes sense to take care of it and use it in the best way."
That environmental interest is carried out in the company's anniversary present to the Science Museum of Western Virginia. For its centennial, the Boxley company has awarded a grant of $21,000 to the museum to be used to develop a traveling exhibit and planetarium star show and gallery. The theme of the exhibit is to be "the rich natural resources of Western Virginia."
Also, the company has received the Good Neighbor Citation from the National Stone Association for community involvement, the trade group's second highest recognition. The firm also holds awards from the national group and from the Virginia Aggregates Association for beautification and community service programs. Among its projects were donation of land and stone for a Lynchburg fire station and giving a locomotive to the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
W.W. BOXLEY CO.\ IN PROFILE\ Business: The company produces crushed stone for roads, foundations, shorelines and railway ballast and sand for concrete and block.\ History: W.W. Boxley Co. was founded in 1892 by Wiilliam Wise Boxley as a railroad construction firm, operating in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. The company moved to Roanoke in 1906. Abney S. Boxley III, president, is the fourth generation to head the company.\ Financial: The privately held company, owned mostly by the Boxley family, does not report its sales or earnings. Its volume ranks in the top five among the approximately 200 quarries in the state.\ Employees: 200\ Customers: 833\ Facilities: Seven quarries operating at Blue Ridge, Lynchburg, Concord, Piney River, Stuarts Draft and Martinsville in Virginia and in Lewisburg, W.Va.; headquarters in an eight-story office structure, the Boxley Building, in downtown Roanoke.
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB