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The secret lies in limiting commodity creep by developing value differentiators. Customer value research showed that getting customer trucks loaded up and back on the road fast was more important than having beautifully processed stockpiles of rock. So the company developed a system called 'Granite Express' that automatically loads trucks like an ATM machine: the truck driver swipes his card, pulls the truck in, and a machine loads the truck for him - and that's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It used to take 24 minutes to get loaded up but that's come down to 7 minutes with the new system. In California, a trucking minute is worth about US$1.20, so 17 minutes saved is well worthwhile. Granite Rock doubled its market share. |