Not even a sound.

Evans has never heard a click, clack, bang or boom from the 150-ton machines that crawl around less than an eighth of a mile from her house.

Tucked away on a quiet country road on the outskirts of the city of Alachua, lies one of the plants for the world’s biggest producer of mining and construction equipment.

Just past downtown Alachua, headed east on County Road 235, the two-lane highway winds through the countryside past the homes and businesses sprinkled along the roadside, in no particular order.

A thick row of trees on the right side of the road breaks to meet up with a chain-link fence and a blue and white sign that reads: SANDVIK. A quick right and then straight ahead and neatly placed on its own concrete slab, trimmed with manicured grass and the short stubby bushes that you might find at any corporate building across America, sits a machine that represents more than three decades of history.

This compilation of precision parts and white-painted steel sits parked and fully erect. On the right side of the machine, a short post, bolted to the concrete, displays a badge with the brief history of this 50,000-pound drilling rig. But this machine has another story to tell. It’s story of uncertainty, struggle, success and a list of machines that have mined the most exotic materials in every corner of the globe.

The year was 1973, as the mayor of Alachua, Jean Calderwood, recalls a group of businessmen had just finished selling their homes in Pennsylvania and relocated their families to the Sunshine State. They started their business, Driltech Inc., in Gainesville with just an industrial warehouse for storage and a small apartment that served as the office.

At the time, Calderwood was working for the company as an administrative manager. She recalls cramped quarters in the apartment. The machine parts were stored in closets, bathtubs and anywhere that would accommodate a few extra pieces.

Shortly thereafter, the company began gaining prominence in the mining industry. The success necessitated building a facility to construct the large rigs, and once again, the businessmen set out to find a location.

At the time, the city of Gainesville didn’t have an incentive plan to help the company build.

But determined to build in the area, the men approached the City of Alachua.

After their failed attempt with Gainesville, the men caught a break and were greeted with a warm welcome from the City of Alachua.

Not only were they welcome to build their facility, Calderwood recalls that the city also issued bonds to help out with some of the funding issues.

The company grew and became a success.

As Calderwood thought back through the decade and a half that she worked for the company, she remembered one simple fact that contributed to their success:

“When you bought the rig, you bought the company,” she said. “From what I see, that is still the same philosophy today.”

In 1998, a company with the same corporate philosophy and community involvement bought the facility on County Road 235.

Sandvik, the global industrial group that purchased the facility, touts 47,000 employees in 130 countries. The Sandvik global network includes everything from the metal alloys used in disposable razors to medical prosthetics to everything in between.

On June 21, more than 200 employees and their families celebrated on the front lawn of the plant. In the surrounding weeks, more than 16,000 Sandvik employees around the globe would be celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the mining and construction business area.

On the lawn, under a large white tent, the employees and their families ate, laughed and swapped stories filled with colleague comradery.

In an adjacent lot, children repelled down a rock wall, and David Schmidt, the production manager, sat in a dunk tank as kids cheerfully threw softballs at the bull’s-eye.

The parents laughed and jokingly taunted their co-worker on the wet future that would quickly become a reality.

Under the white tent, Pete Lankester, the site manager for the Alachua facility, sat at one of the tables and observed the festivities. Proudly clad in his blue and white Sandvik jersey that, on the back, displayed the company’s intents in bold letters, “Team spirit in Action.”

While children laughingly played in the background, and the smell of sweet lemonade and salty hamburgers lingered in the air, he leaned forward and echoed similar words that the group of businessmen adapted as their creed more than 30 years ago.

“The questions I keep in mind are: Is it a safe place to work, do we build a quality product and can people come to work and enjoy themselves,” he said. “You know, I think they do.”

Despite the recent slowdown in the U.S. economy, the company has increased capacity by 10 percent this year, he said.

The Alachua facility is part of the mining and construction business area within Sandvik which has increased its turnover by 230 percent in the last 5 years alone. This dedication to the industry is why customers use Sandvik for their mining equipment. The Sandvik global network includes everything from the metal alloys used in disposable razors to medical prosthetics to everything in between and the Alachua plant plays a part in the cycle of mined materials to customer usability.

This year, the company will be hiring to help support the improved capacity and Lankester is looking to boost that even further to 20 percent by next year.

He believes that the increased business is just a byproduct of a philosophy that he explained:

“The community is a family, so, that’s why today you see the mayor, the police chief, and the city commissioner,” he said. “We enjoy a very cordial relationship and that’s something that we work very, very hard at maintaining."