For more than a decade, a British building materials firm has owned the former France Stone Co., a quarrying company that was one of Toledo's oldest businesses.

It was joined in the market last year by the American division of an Irish conglomerate that bought the former S.E. Johnson Cos. of Maumee, including various Stoneco quarries in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

The entry of Hanson PLC in 1991 and CRH PLC's Oldcastle Materials Inc. into the local market has not escaped the notice of Andy Myers, business representative for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18. The union represents workers in the industry, including about 300 at various northwest Ohio quarries.

He said large corporations are starting to buy up one and two-quarry operators such as Oldcastle Materials' acquisition this year of the Wyandot Dolomite Inc. quarry in Carey, Ohio. "The industry is really starting to change," he said.

Still, foreign concerns do not have a lock on rock locally, nor is consolidation new to the quarrying industry, some in the industry said.

The need to invest in automation to improve efficiencies, along with a lack of family members to take over businesses, prompted some recent sales, they added.

Another of northwest Ohio's largest players, privately held National Lime & Stone Co. of Findlay, was formed in 1903 by the consolidation of three small companies in Carey. Like Hanson and Old Castle, National Lime & Stone continues to make acquisitions to increase market share, said Jim Kinsler, executive vice president.

"Our industry is pretty susceptible to economies of scale," Mr. Kinsler said. "Volume is everything."

Much of the limestone and other rock quarried locally is used for construction projects including roads, as are local sand and gravel. Some also is used to make glass, steel, fertilizer, and other products.

Limestone even is used as a filler in toothpaste and other items, said Ron Tipton, vice president and general manager of Sylvania Township's Hanson Aggregates Northwest, part of Hanson PLC.

Ohio is the third-largest producer of limestone and fifth-largest producer of construction sand and gravel nationwide, according to the most recent statistics from the Ohio Aggregates & Industrial Minerals Association. It says the state's quarrying industry overall employs nearly 5,400 people, and average wages are more than $40,000 a year.

Oldcastle Materials first entered Ohio with its 2000 acquisition of Thornville's Shelly Co., a name that continues to be used for some of the company's operations in the state. Subsequent acquisitions of northwest Ohio limestone quarries were made in part to feed asphalt plants in eastern Ohio, where the material isn't found, said Dan Montgomery, Shelly's president.

Because of zoning and permit restrictions on stone quarries, it's much easier for companies to acquire operations than to start fresh, some in the industry said. Meanwhile, housing developments are encroaching on stone reserves, said Pat Jacomet, executive director of the Ohio association.

"Zoning is really at the root of the consolidation," said Mr. Jacomet, adding that Ohio still has many small operators.

Said Mr. Kinsler of National Lime & Stone: "You can go out and acquire a small family-owned quarry business and essentially be producing in the area about instantly."

Contact Julie M. McKinnon at:

jmckinnon@theblade.com

or 419-724-6087.

First Published July 20, 2004, 9:42 a.m.