Asphalt with Finesse
Interview with Mathias Glemser, Technical Director of Gerst & Juchem Asphaltbau GmbH & Co.KG
In the Southern Palatinate, Gerst & Juchem Asphaltbau is the last small company in a market dominated by corporations. The company from Edenkoben combines asphalt production and processing under one roof and serves customers from the highway department to the private builder. Mathias Glemser, Technical Director, explains how to compete against the big players with passion and pragmatism.
Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Glemser, how did Gerst & Juchem come into existence?
Mathias Glemser: Exactly 25 years ago, the company Juchem, a construction company from Hunsrück with its own quarries, purchased an asphalt mixing plant in Landau to distribute its high-quality aggregates. In order to market the produced asphalt, the asphalt construction company Gerst & Juchem was founded in close cooperation with the local Gerst corporate group. I myself am a civil engineer, 56 years old, have been working as a senior site manager for 20 years, and have been the Technical Director at Gerst & Juchem for over five years now. Out of our 40 employees, only 13 actually work in the asphalt crews, the rest are in the construction crews and in the office. With this compact team, we make about 14 million EUR in sales annually.
Wirtschaftsforum: Who are your main customers?
Mathias Glemser: Our main customers are the Autobahn GmbH and the state mobility agencies in Speyer, Worms, and Kaiserslautern. Additionally, neighboring cities such as Landau/Pfalz, Neustadt/Weinstraße, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Karlsruhe, as well as the surrounding communities, are included. The radius of action is about 100 km because the asphalt eventually gets cold despite the thermally insulated vehicles. 25% of our offers go to public contracting entities – these are mostly large projects. The remaining 75% consist of smaller jobs, from company premises to bicycle paths.
Wirtschaftsforum: How do you compete against the large corporations?
Mathias Glemser: We operate in an unbureaucratic and measured manner. If a customer's subsoil is not optimally prepared, we inspect it beforehand and clarify with them days before the planned execution, what preliminary work they still need to provide to ensure successful asphalt installation. Others might just go ahead and initiate the costly machine transports and bring the mixed material to the construction site, only to find that no asphalt laying is possible. The resulting downtime costs and unavoidable material disposal would then be charged to the customer. We cannot afford this because we want to work for the customer again. The market has been dominated for many years by large, well-known corporations. We are actually one of the last medium-sized asphalt construction companies in the region. Due to our pragmatic approach, local companies often prefer to work with us, especially on smaller projects.
Wirtschaftsforum: How has the business changed?
Mathias Glemser: Formerly, there were pure asphalt tenders. Today, they are combined civil engineering measures – earthworks, gravel, curbstones, and paving, it all belongs together. Therefore, we have set up our own construction teams for these preliminary works, which also carry out traffic safety measures. On highways, we have subcontractors perform the traffic safety – that's too demanding for us, with all the protective walls that we do not have in large quantities.
Wirtschaftsforum: How sustainable is asphalt construction today?
Mathias Glemser: Most of the material can be recycled. Milled surfaces are taken to the mixing plant and processed. A lot of recycled material can be used in the lower base layer, but somewhat less in the upper wearing layer, because high-quality aggregates from our own production are used there to achieve the desired brightening of the roadway and optimal grip of the new surface. In the past, up to the beginning of the 1970s, tar was used as a binder, which is toxic. The current binder 'Bitumen', simply put the adhesive between the individual sand and aggregate grains, is absolutely safe.
Wirtschaftsforum: What role does digitalization play?
Mathias Glemser: A decisive one. All offers are processed digitally and sent exclusively via the established and securely protected procurement platforms of all major clients. Invoicing with our clients is now almost completely digital as well. In costing, young colleagues are already working with AI support, which makes price suggestions from a database. I personally feel too old for it, but it works surprisingly well!
Wirtschaftsforum: What is the situation with young professionals?
Mathias Glemser: We have an ideal mix. The younger ones master the digital technology perfectly, but they lack the experience. The older ones know the material and can immediately tell if the result is correct. This combination works excellently.
Wirtschaftsforum: How does the economic situation affect?
Mathias Glemser: We feel the changes clearly. This year there was a situation where the Autobahn GmbH suddenly could no longer issue new projects – although this was revised after three weeks, such uncertainties are difficult. In asphalt construction itself, we are still stable, but in high-rise construction, we feel the decline. Many external facilities for industrial buildings are being cut, so we are focusing more on the public sector.
Wirtschaftsforum: Is there a project that particularly stays in your memory?
Mathias Glemser: The tunnel chain at the B10 near Annweiler was spectacular. A different technology is applied in the tunnel because the semitrailers there cannot tip over. We had a special experience with the fire alarm system. One day it was turned off a bit too late by the tunnel operator and suddenly registered too high temperatures and steam due to the hot asphalt. Immediately, the sprinklers went off and our workers were completely drenched. This involuntary and unexpected cleaning of personnel and equipment, however, has a positive conclusion: the sprinkler systems and ventilators for smoke extraction installed for everyone's safety work flawlessly in the tunnels. Currently, we are active on a section of the A65 highway between Karlsruhe and Landau near Wörth until the end of November 2025.