NRMCA e-news

Archive | Subscribe | Printer Friendly | www.nrmca.org

Pavement

NRMCA Joins North Dakota Producer Member at Local Paving Seminar

Scott Olin, president of NRMCA Producer member Dickenson Ready Mix in Dickenson, ND, recently hosted a three-hour concrete pavement seminar at Dickenson State University. Ken Justice, senior director, local paving, along with Dave Sethre, marketing director of the North Dakota Ready Mixed Concrete Association, presented on topics that included the advantages of concrete parking lots, the free NRMCA design assistance program, concrete overlays for roads and parking lots, and the use of fiber reinforcement as a steel replacement in pavements. More than 30 engineers, architects, DOT engineers and contractors (seen below) attended the seminar.

The following day, the Justice/Sethre team repeated the seminar for more than 20 engineers and architects at a hotel in Bismark, ND. Justice expects several requests for design assistance and additional project follow-up based on post-seminar responses.

For more information, contact Ken Justice at kjustice@nrmca.org.

NRMCA Participates in Eighth Annual Concrete Day at Colorado Capitol

NRMCA Vice President, Local Paving, Don Clem recently joined a host of industry colleagues in Denver at the annual Concrete Day at the Capitol. The eighth annual "Concrete Day at the Capitol," as declared by a proclamation from Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, was a resounding success, Clem said. More than 500 legislators and staffers were fed a complete barbeque lunch grilled on site. The luncheon provided an opportunity for concrete industry representatives to visit with lawmakers regarding the importance of the concrete industry to Colorado’s economy. The event attracted 15 senators and 36 representatives for a total of 51 legislators, representing just over 50% of the entire legislature.

"The weather for the eighth annual event was absolutely perfect! We were very pleased with our member turnout, which ensured an informative experience for lawmakers," said Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association (CRMCA) Executive Director Todd Ohlheiser. "And we barely beat a quick spring snowstorm (five inches of snow) which moved into the region about 5 p.m.!"

The event was sponsored by CRMCA, the American Concrete Paving Association Colorado/Wyoming Chapter and the American Concrete Pipe Association to recognize the hard work of the Colorado legislature and its staffs.

For more information, contact Todd Ohlheiser at todd@coloradocca.org or Don Clem at dclem@nrmca.org.

Oklahoma Lawmakers Consider Resilient, Durable Construction Legislation

Oklahoma state lawmakers have an opportunity to make their communities safer by enacting House Bill 1720, legislation that provides a discount on homeowners’ insurance for those who build their homes with tornado-resistant construction techniques, like concrete. The legislation would join the efforts of other extreme weather-prone states, including Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and North Carolina, which encourage resilient construction with a tax credit and/or an insurance rebate.

Learn More...

Michigan Concrete Association Hosts Pervious Concrete Summit

The Michigan Concrete Association (MCA) recently hosted a Pervious Concrete Summit for its ready mix producer and contractor members. The focus of the summit was to address the most important issues facing the pervious concrete industry today and to develop a strategic plan for MCA to move forward, reports NRMCA Vice President, Local Paving, Phil Kresge.

Learn More...

Association & Industry News

Ready Mixed Concrete Production Statistics Updated Through February 2017

The estimated ready mixed concrete produced in February 2017 is 22.1 million cubic yards, same as in February 2016. The estimated production through February 2017 is 42.1 million cubic yards, 1.3% higher than that during the same period in 2016.

Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. NRMCA members can view additional details here.

Government Affairs

NRMCA Advocacy News Roundup Updated Through April 28

Media articles on Congress, transportation infrastructure, regulation, taxes and other subjects, each of which relate to the ready mixed concrete industry, are updated each week by NRMCA's Government Affairs staff. To access the most recent compilation of articles for April 24 - 28, 2017, please click here.

If you would like to receive this weekly updated link in a separate e-mail, or if you have questions or comments about the roundup, contact NRMCA’s Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.

Buildings

Green Building Council Announces Top 10 List States for LEED

USGBC has announced its annual list of the Top 10 States for LEED in 2016, recognizing them for leading the way in sustainable building design, construction and transformation. Together, these states certified 309.12 million gross square feet of space and are at the forefront of the evolving green building movement. This per capita list is based on 2010 Census data and includes commercial and institutional green building projects that were certified last year. Why is this important? As a member of the NRMCA, if you are pursuing or bidding on construction projects in these states, you will most likely come across a LEED project, specifically the new LEED v4. Although this Top 10 list looks backward, it informs concrete producers of the likelihood for bidding on future building projects. Also, it provides opportunities to engage local USGC chapters to network and identify upcoming projects.

According to NRMCA's Concrete’s Contribution to LEED v4, concrete can influence 74 of the 110 points available. With the advent of product transparency in rating systems such as LEED and other green building standards, demand for third-party validated reports such as environmental product declarations (EPD), responsible sourcing reports and health product declarations (HPD) has increased. NRMCA has developed a series of tools and guides to help members meet these new requirements.

As part of the Build with Strength campaign, NRMCA promotes Strength Through Transparency for member and industry competitiveness in the green building marketplace and the trends toward product and company transparency.

For more information, contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138.

OES

OSHA Rescinds "Union Walk-Around" Guidance

Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) withdrew controversial guidance detailed in an interpretation letter from 2013. Specifically, the interpretation letter, known as the Fairfax Memo (named after the former OSHA administrator) outlined that nonunionized workplace employees could designate a non-employee "person affiliated with a union or a community organization to act on their behalf as a walkaround representative" during an OSHA workplace inspection.

Learn More...

Entry Forms Now Available for 2017 Environmental Excellence Awards

NRMCA’s Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards competition offers producers national recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment and maintaining sound management practice in their operations. The program salutes companies that have not only met, but surpassed governmental compliance measures and demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence through plant and staff investment. NRMCA member companies producing ready mixed concrete from a fixed plant location in the U.S., its territories or Canada is eligible to enter. Awards will be determined upon individual plant merits. Winning entrants will be honored at the Awards Luncheon at NRMCA‘s ConcreteWorks this October in Dallas and also be featured in a 2017 edition of NRMCA’s Concrete InFocus magazine as well as Concrete Products magazine.

Entries and photos must be e-mailed to Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org by Friday, July 28. Click here for more information, staff contact and to download the entry form.

Engineering

NRMCA Attends, Reports on National Concrete Consortium Meeting

The National Concrete Consortium (NCC) includes member state highway agencies and industry personnel that meet twice a year to cover a range of technical topics related to transportation infrastructure. This 20th anniversary meeting in Salt Lake City this past week was attended by 180 individuals. The meetings are organized by the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center. Some highlights of the presentations include:

• FHWA sustainable pavement program and the initiatives of the FHWA Mobile Concrete Lab;

• Updates from states on precast pavements in California, polyester concrete for overlays and requirements of concrete for pavement patches for early opening to traffic;

• Shrinkage of concrete and various methods to predict and minimize cracking, and the benefits of using internal curing of concrete;

• Roller Compacted Concrete for low volume roads with heavy truck traffic – testing by the accelerated loading facility in Louisiana; a concept for continuously fiber reinforced concrete pavement;

• A look at the future of the availability of fly ash and some initiatives by the supplier industry to improve the reliability of supply;

• NRMCA Executive Vice President, Engineering, Colin Lobo presented on the overview on alkali aggregate reactivity (AAR) as covered in ASTM C1778 and AASHTO R 80 (previously provisional standard PP 65); followed by state reports from Pennsylvania, Texas and Nebraska on their respective directions on addressing AAR in specifications; and

• An overview of the new AASHTO provisional standard PP 84 on performance-engineered mixtures for concrete pavements and an update on a state-pooled fund study to shadow and develop reliability on this guide specification on future projects.

Presentations from this meeting will be soon available here. For more information, contact Colin Lobo at clobo@nrmca.org.

NRMCA Now Accepting Entries for Excellence in Quality Awards

NRMCA is now accepting applications for its popular Excellence in Quality Award contest. This year we have a new section which will help establish industry quality benchmarks. A company must be a NRMCA producer member in good standing to participate. Companies can enter as a company or a division. Applicants are asked to respond to a multiple-choice type application form that generates their scores. Companies or divisions that achieve a score of 75% or greater will be recognized at NRMCA's ConcreteWorks, scheduled from October 1-3 in Dallas. The deadline for receiving completed award applications is June 30.

There are several advantages to participating in this award program:

It provides recognition to the companies that maintain high quality standards.
The award criteria can serve as an excellent quality improvement tool for companies.
Companies have used the award criteria for conducting internal quality audits.
Companies who apply will be provided with industry average quality benchmark data

Click here to access the link for the Excel file. Before starting the survey, please download the file to your computer and save it using a different file name (company/division name). Then e-mail the completed Excel file and required attachments to Karen Bean at kbean@nrmca.org. For more information, contact Vice President, Technical Services, Karthik Obla 1-888-846-7622, x1163 or kobla@nrmca.org.

PCA Organizes Professors Workshop for Late July

The Portland Cement Association (PCA) and industry partners, including NRMCA, have organized an annual workshop for faculty in engineering, architecture and construction management to provide them with tools and resources to teach the latest developments in concrete materials, design and construction of pavements, bridges and buildings. The 2017 Professors’ Workshop is scheduled for July 24-28 at the PCA Campus in Skokie, IL. Industry groups often sponsor professors from local universities to attend this workshop.

Click here for more information.

Calendar

A Look Ahead

*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.

June 6 – 8, Atlanta

Concrete Durability Course