SEME Resources congratulates its client Couch Ready Mix USA on a century of service. While the company's history took a 100 years to accumulate, there was less than seven weeks to develop custom materials marking the milestone.

Company leaders decided to celebrate their centennial in March 2008, setting May 8th aside for a major community event. While company leaders planned their menu and entertainment, SEME was assigned the task of creating a 30-minute documentary along with a full color printed retrospective.

On camera interviews were conducted with 24 individuals while hundreds of classic photographs were scanned and animated for the project. Producer Anderson William's experience in deadline intensive television news proved to be vital in the project.

"Sometimes working in broadcast news I felt like I was on an assembly line," says Williams. "The rule was 'work fast and accurate' and that really came into play for this project. I did back to back interviews, moving the subjects in and out of our portable studio. That took sessions to finish. Afterwards, I had two dozen interviews spanning almost nine hours," he says.

The interviews were then transcribed and became the basis for the written version of the company history. "Logging the interviews word-for-word not only helped in the video editing, but made the writing for the printed history go much faster," says Williams.

The written history was laid out in an attractive commemorative style. Classic photos were masked and cropped to give the reader a sense of looking into a personal scrapbook. "The reaction from everyone who saw the video and the book has been positive. We're pleased to be able to help Couch Ready Mix USA communicate its long history to their local community and customers."

The company got its start in Alabama's Wiregrass Region when its founder paved Dothan's muddy wooden sidewalks with concrete in 1908. Today, Couch's coastal and inland divisions are a key part of the Ready Mix USA Family of Companies based in Birmingham, Alabama.