KANSAS CITY AND CHICAGO, September 8, 2019 -- Superior Bowen, Kansas City’s largest sitework and road contractor, announced an investment in XBE, the leading science and technology platform for horizontal construction optimization. After experiencing XBE’s platform firsthand as an early customer, Superior Bowen will expand its role with XBE to guide further platform development and grow the company’s customer base.
“Back in June 2017, we heard about a team in Chicago working on a new software platform to optimize logistics for asphalt paving companies,” said Matt Bowen, COO, Superior Bowen. “At the time, we weren’t sure how many trucks we hired each day, let alone how many we utilized. Given our 70+ years of trucking frustrations, we called to learn more. The day after that initial conversation, XBE's Founder, Sean Devine, met us at our office, and two years later, we optimize our entire daily operation using the XBE platform.”
XBE started as a technology-enabled dump truck brokerage and is now a comprehensive, closed-loop software platform for the planning, execution, analysis and continuous improvement of horizontal construction jobs. By integrating the end-to-end process within a single platform, XBE has unlocked the value of planning and analysis by reducing the uncertainty of operational execution.
“You can’t improve something without first getting it under control,” said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. “And for that reason, we started at the bottom with dump trucks — the hard-to-manage thorn in the side of horizontal construction that connects the quarries, plants and crews. Once we could effectively handle the dispatch-to-payment process without compromise, things got interesting. We’ve been innovating solutions to the industry’s largest profitability levers ever since.”
The evolution of XBE’s platform is the result of its clear vision and active collaboration with its earliest customers, including Superior Bowen and Gallagher Asphalt. Working closely with these and other customers gave XBE a valuable daily drip of insight and feedback. This steady iteration built a platform that addresses big opportunities while also making the daily lives of team members more effective and efficient. Today, the XBE platform is relied on by thousands of personnel on job sites, at the plants and quarries, in the trucks, and back at the office.
“We’ve always felt that we had a tight handle on our trucking,” said Dan Gallagher, COO of Gallagher Asphalt, also based in Chicago. “Now that we’re half a season into working with XBE, we can see how much better we can be, and we can do something about it. XBE has given us the visibility to discover opportunities, the tools to plan quickly and at the right level of detail, and the ability to execute whatever strategy we choose. The XBE team has been very aggressive with providing updates to the platform. It’s not just where XBE is today, but where they are heading that excites us the most.”
Leading the way as an early customer, Superior Bowen helped guide the evolution of XBE’s platform by adopting new functionality first, and providing input to help guide ongoing development.
“If you want to make something strong, you need to depend on it, and that’s what we did,” Bowen said. “There were some harrowing early days, but that’s what created the opportunity that we’re seizing. After two years, the XBE platform is incredibly capable, and we’re betting this is just the beginning.”
As part of the investment, XBE has acquired Superior Bowen’s interest in two paving chemistry companies, Green Paving Solutions and Manchester Pavement Solutions. Through these two entities, the company produces several additives including; liquid anti-strips, cold patch additives, asphalt release agents, warm mix additives and compaction aids, rejuvenators and performance grade modifiers. These additions will expand XBE’s portfolio of science and technology capabilities as it positions itself to provide advanced solutions to the industry’s most vexing problems.
In addition, two former Superior Bowen employees have joined the XBE team — Brett Stanton as Chief Operations Officer, and Grant Wollenhaupt as Chief Commercial Officer. They bring recognized industry expertise, deep contractor relationships, and experience in the selection and adoption of the XBE platform.
About Superior Bowen
Founded in 1948, Superior Bowen is one of the largest asphalt paving and sitework contractors in the Midwest. Our construction and site prep experts have experience in a wide range of development projects, including solving a variety of location or terrain challenges. Customers rely on Superior Bowen to manage all aspects of project site development. Through decades of proven performance, Superior Bowen has built a reputation of reliability, which gives customers a certainty of outcome and a standard of quality that consistently exceeds specifications.
About XBE
Founded in 2017 and based in Chicago, XBE is the leading science and technology platform for horizontal construction optimization. XBE offers management system software, material science, and trucking capacity solutions to contractors and municipalities of all sizes. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.
Contact
Sean Devine, Founder and CEO
sean-devine@x-b-e.com
(810) 844-3757