Terex Roadbuilding paver service technician and applications specialist, Bill Rieken, marks 35 years working with the Terex asphalt equipment line. Throughout his long career with Terex, Rieken has held several critical positions, including engineering, sales, marketing and service support.
For most of his career, Rieken has specialized on the Terex asphalt paving equipment line, which includes traditional and Remix Anti-Segregation System pavers, the MS series of material transfer devices and the RoadMix paver and material transfer vehicle. A mechanical engineer by trade, Rieken started his career in 1977 as a design engineer for the asphalt plant division of the Terex Cedarapids legacy brand. A year later, he took the position of product engineer for the original BSF paver series. He worked in Research and Development in the 1980s on the first Greyhound paver series, Remix pavers and MS mat smoothness and pick-up machines. In addition to his research and development and marketing work for the paving equipment line, he was involved with asphalt rollers, milling machines and, for a brief time, worked as a Terex asphalt mobile equipment district manager.
Long a proponent of the variable pitch delivery auger reblending concept of the Terex Remix and RoadMix pavers and material transfer vehicles, Rieken has also worked in paver marketing to promote these machines to state department of transportation officials. “With the current state of the economy, contractors must lay the highest quality mat possible,” says Rieken. “The aggressive reblending capabilities of Terex Remix and RoadMix paving equipment eliminate material and thermal segregation, which increases mat quality.”
Rieken’s time with the company has always involved travel to customer jobsites. In the field, he gathers customer feedback on paver performance and operator needs and relays this to the Terex paver design team in Oklahoma City for product improvement projects. Additionally, Rieken assists customers withtroubleshooting paving equipment and gives operators tips on improving mat quality. “I help educate customers on proper machine set-up, so they get the most from the paver,” he says.
When not in the field with customers, he’s found in the classroom, training equipment operators and service technicians. He teaches customers basic and advanced techniques for paver and screed set-up, equipment service, and combatting segregation to improve mat quality. Over the years, Rieken has helped to streamline and simplify paver training sessions offered through Terex Roadbuilding University by focusing on paver components, so technicians can work on any series of Terex paver.
In his off-time, Rieken can be found at the Go-Kart racetrack his family owns in Delaware, Iowa, or at Rieken’s Racing, his family-owned Go-Kart retail and service shop in Marion, Iowa. Karting since he was 14, Rieken is a three-time Grand National Karting champion. A Vietnam War veteran, Rieken lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with his family.
Rieken mentions that being a principal of the family-owned Go-Kart shop makes him a better Terex employee and more responsive to paving equipment customers. “I can see both sides of the business and put myself in anyone’s shoes, from the screed operator to the company owner,” he says. It’s his love for the paving business that keeps Rieken enthusiastic about his service position. “I work with high tech paving equipment every day,” he adds. “It’s a challenge, and there’s always something to learn. I like that.”