Now in its 14th year, NRMCA's Developing Industry’s Leaders (DIL) program is a premier career development tool. Participants are given the opportunity to advance their leadership skills and network with peers while being mentored by NRMCA’s senior staff. The DIL agenda differs from other leadership programs in that it exposes participants to our industry’s big issues from an all-encompassing, nationwide perspective.

Once selected, this year’s cohort group is expected to work over the summer via conference calls and Webinars and are required to attend ConcreteWorks in Dallas, September 28 - October 3. The program will start with a half-day launch workshop where they will also be placed in their small working research team. Over the fall and winter, the team works on their issues further. At the 2018 NRMCA Annual Convention, they will present their findings to NRMCA’s membership. Once done, DILs are expected to make a long-term commitment to move their team’s initiative(s) forward by joining, and attending, the appropriate NRMCA committee meetings twice a year. During their second year, the year’s DIL cohort group re-forms over the summer for a two-day networking and leadership workshop, exclusively developed for them. Finally, DILs may attend NRMCA’s semi-annual Board of Directors meetings to watch senior level executives deliberate and make strategic decisions that impact the industry, both short and long term.

 

Participation in the DIL program is a long-term commitment for a maximum of 24 annually-selected candidates. Applications are due before Thursday, June 15.

 

NRMCA Senior Director, Local Paving, Ken Justice and Dave Sethre, marketing director of the North Dakota Ready Mixed Concrete Association, recently met with Fargo, ND, engineer Tom Knakmuhs, PE, to discuss the city’s pavement rehabilitation program. The city reconstructs or rehabilitates an average of 15 road miles annually, with approximately 40% being concrete. It primarily uses concrete on the heavily traveled roadways as well as alleyways. All the design work is done in-house, so city officials are anxious to keep up with the latest trends in concrete design and construction, Justice reports.

 

Fargo has requested seminars in concrete pavement design, fiber reinforcement in lieu of steel, and other pertinent topics. Sethre will be coordinating the seminars in the next few months, with assistance from the NRMCA.

 

NRMCA’s Local Paving Team will once again exhibit the benefits of concrete parking lots at the International Conference of Shopping Centers (ICSC) RECon convention May 22-24 in Las Vegas, reports Jon Hansen, senior vice president of local paving.

"The ICSC RECon convention has proven to be a very successful show for NRMCA to attend and be able to meet and interact with shopping center owners, managers and facilities people," Hansen said. "We would encourage any NRMCA members that have shopping center owners or management in their regions to stop by our booth N1543 in the North Hall and see the advantages of concrete parking lots for new construction or concrete overlays for existing locations."

Concrete industry leader Doug Guerrero will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) degree by California State University - Chico during its commencement on Sunday, May 21 to recognize Mr. Guerrero’s service to the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program and its students, as well as his leadership on the University Foundation Board of Governors. Mr. Guerrero was instrumental in establishing the first Concrete Industry Management (CIM) degree program in the Western U.S. in the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management (ECC)—making Chico State home to one of only four CIM programs in the country.

 

Mr. Guerrero cofounded the CIM program and, in 2005, was elected chair of the Chico CIM Patrons—a philanthropic group of individuals and organizations that have donated more than $3.6 million to support the program. Mr. Guerrero also serves on the CIM National Steering Committee, which provides scholarship and programming support to the four universities with concrete industry programs. In addition to Chico State, those universities are Middle Tennessee State University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Texas State University. Together, the local CIM Patrons and national CIM program have supported CSU - Chico by funding student scholarships, supporting faculty salaries, helping renovate the ECC Concrete Lab and hosting annual networking events that have resulted in a 100 percent job-placement rate for CIM graduates.

 

Mr. Guerrero is a former Navy lieutenant and holds an executive MBA from St. Mary’s College of California and a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Before retiring to Chico in 2007, he held executive positions at some of the largest cement and concrete companies in the world, including CEMEX, RMC, Lone Star Industries Inc., and Kaiser Cement Corporation.

As a leading Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Program Operator for the concrete industry, NRMCA recently published an EPD for the CalPortland Company. The EPD reports environmental information for Type IL blended hydraulic cement produced by CalPortland at its Oro Grande, CA, facility. Type IL is general-use cement which includes a ground limestone content that is higher than a typical Type I cement. The life-cycle assessment (LCA) report and EPD was developed by Athena Sustainable Materials Institute and verified by Sustainable Solutions Corporation. To date, the ready mixed concrete industry, including material suppliers, have 21 verified EPDs with a total of 7,869 products, by far the largest total of any building product category.  

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.

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 May 1 - 5, 2017, please click here.

This past Friday, President Trump signed a $1.1 omnibus spending bill, approved by Congress earlier in the week, which included several NRMCA-advocated initiatives advancing the ready mixed concrete industry. The bill, which will fund the federal government through September, adds a number of NRMCA legislative victories, emphasizing the importance of our buildings program and resilient construction. It also increases federal investment in our nation’s highway funding and provides permanent relief to truckers of burdensome Hours of Service regulations.

The bill included many resilient construction provisions designed to mitigate the negative impact brought on by natural disasters and extreme weather events, which can save lives, reduce destruction to property, and enable faster economic recovery – including a definition of resilient construction techniques championed by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO). Resilient construction is defined as construction methods that allow a structure to resist the hazards of a major disaster and continue to provide its primary functions once the disaster has occurred. The Department of Housing and Urban Development was also instructed to study ways to make buildings more resilient.

In addition, NRMCA requested a provision to be included for the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) to partner with other research institutions with expertise in disaster mitigation and to recommend best practices for resilient planning and construction. Recognizing that some resilient construction techniques exceed minimal building code standards, the bill also calls for NIST to partner with other research institutions – like the Concrete Sustainability Hub at MIT – and study best practices for resilient planning and construction. The Federal Emergency Management Administration is also asked to adopt uniform national guidelines for the design and construction of safe rooms and to incorporate safe rooms into federal buildings.

In addition to resilient construction provisions, the spending bill will increase federal highway investment to $43.3 billion in FY 2017 – the full amount authorized by 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.  It also will provide $12.4 billion for the public transportation program which exceeds the amount called for under the FAST Act, but this amount will help make up for $124 million shortfall between FY 2016 authorized and appropriated levels for the transit Capital Investment Grants Program. NRMCA sent a letter supporting the spending bill and also signed onto a Transportation Construction Coalition support letter.

Included in the spending bill are provisions that provide permanent regulatory relief for truck drivers from two overly burdensome additions to the Hours of Service Restart Rule. This will restore the Hours of Service standards to what they were before the Obama Administration imposed two unjustified restrictions on America’s 3.5 million professional truck drivers – restrictions that were later found to be baseless by a Department of Transportation study.  NRMCA supported an Hours of Service coalition led by the hard work of the American Trucking Association (ATA). NRMCA will continue to partner with ATA and the Owner Operator Independent Driver Association on similar trucking and HOS matters.

Both the resilient construction and the transportation provisions are wins for the ready mixed concrete industry in establishing a standard and definition for resilient construction and in relieving the industry of burdensome regulations.

Earlier this week, former NRMCA Board Chairman Bill Childs represented NRMCA and ready mixed concrete in a briefing for Senate staffers about the concrete and cement industry. The goal of the briefing was to inform and educate Senate staffers about the various types of concrete and related products. As one of the only company CEOs on the panel, Childs (CEO of NRMCA Producer member Chaney Enterprises in Gambrils, MD) described plant operations, the applications of a ready mixed concrete company and how concrete is batched. After giving an overview of the industry, he stressed the vital importance of sustained federal investment in transportation and infrastructure. Citing statistics from his home state of Maryland, Childs made the case for the need for national infrastructure investment as a matter of local and global competitiveness.

In addition, Childs (seated at far left of table) spoke to the burdensome nature of many Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, particularly on fuel emissions standards. He pointed out the emissions equipment required by EPA has increased the cost of each vehicle operated by Chaney Enterprises by over $40,000 and reduced nearly a ton from every payload.

 

Throughout the briefing, Childs provided a strong and clear voice for NRMCA and the ready mixed concrete industry. The NRMCA Government Affairs team would like to extend a special thanks to him and Becky McCollum for representing NRMCA and the ready mixed concrete industry.

Last week, representatives from EYC Companies, Amvic Building System and Build With Strength, an NRMCA-led coalition of engineers, architects, fire service professionals, and industry experts, gathered for a multi-family executive roundtable and site tour event of 17 South, a 220-unit apartment complex under construction in Charleston, SC, that utilizes the latest innovations in concrete construction.

Built with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) and concrete, 17 South makes use of cutting-edge technology, demonstrating the value in utilizing what is quickly becoming the building material of choice for multi-family residential, academic and commercial buildings due to its strength, energy-efficiency, lower lifecycle costs and ease of use. ICF "is a type of permanent concrete formwork that creates the external wall envelope of a building." Typically, it is standard reinforced concrete sandwiched between two faces of high performance, foam plastic insulating material.  Its unique, lightweight structure allows crews to construct buildings more quickly and easily than conventional methods, without compromising the integrity of the structure.

"ICF is faster than building with wood, [and] concrete doesn’t combust as wood does, that’s the truth," said Eric Coleman, a developer with EYC Companies in a video released in August 2016. "When you stack foam against concrete, it’s the most insulated envelope... it’s a far better product for an exterior envelope of a building than any wood wall."

Wednesday’s roundtable and tour was organized in part to serve as an information opportunity for developers interested in learning about the benefits of building multi-family residential buildings with ICFs. In addition to being easy to work with due to its simple design, ICF can be constructed in the winter without the need for insulating blankets or a heating source. It is also highly energy-efficient thanks to insulating properties within the wall structure, and it is inherently resistant to tornadoes, hurricanes, fire, rot and rusting. It also has noise-cancelling properties, costs the same as other materials and has a proven history around the world.

NRMCA’s Annual Safety Award acknowledges the significant contribution that safe work practices gives to the growth and success of individual companies and the ready mixed concrete industry as a whole. The NRMCA Annual Safety Award is presented to an individual or company whose actions represent the very highest in the advancement of safety in the ready mixed concrete industry. The award program is generously sponsored by the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau (TMMB). The award may be presented to an individual whose single action or long-time commitment to safety and health in the ready mixed concrete industry exemplifies superior performance in the field of safety. Examples of the award winner could be a ready mixed concrete truck driver whose actions were life saving. Other examples could include plant managers, safety managers and company officials who have outstanding long-time dedication to safety and health in the ready mixed concrete industry. Other examples would be an individual’s involvement in community safety activities.

This award may also recognize a corporation, coalition or organization that was unrelenting in its pursuit of safety for the industry. Nominees may have created and implemented a life-saving and or injury-preventing safety solution. Examples of the award winner could be a ready mixed concrete producer company, a ready mixed concrete state association or an industry related equipment or material supplier.

Criteria for selection of the individual or company may include evidence of the following:

• Reduction of accidents/incidents;
• Demonstration of leadership in safety;
• Identification, evaluation and control of hazards;
• Development of safety-conscious policies & procedures;
• Active promotion of safety in the workplace;
• Innovation and enthusiasm in marketing safety;
• Collaborative and proactive work toward improving safety;
• Placing a high personal value on safety; and
• Mentoring of others in safety.

Entries should include a detailed explanation for why the individual or company should be considered for the award. The explanation should focus on highlighting the criteria listed above. Submissions should include necessary supporting documents, a high-resolution electronic image of the nominee (if an individual or a high resolution company logo) and any other relevant images.

 

Registration for NRMCA’s Fall 2017 Safety Course is now open; please note that this course has a limited number of seats and will sell out very soon. The course will take place October 17-19 in Denver. This 2.5-day course teaches participants about OSHA safety compliance, beginning with why safety is so important and details the reasons why an effective safety program actually saves money through loss prevention and control. Participants learn about electrical safety, machine guarding, fall protection, hazard communication, confined spaces, personal protective equipment, fire fighting and evacuation, maintenance shop safety, chute handling, fleet safety, pre-trip inspection and more.

NRMCA Senior Vice President, Local Paving, Julie Buffenbarger recently teamed with NRMCA Producer member Buckeye Ready Mix’s Kevin Hill, a recent boot camp attendee, and Ohio Concrete’s Lisa Weaver Moon to present concrete pavement strategies to key city officials from Delaware, OH. Attendees reviewed the sustainability of concrete pavements, equivalency of pavement design, maintenance cycles of pavements and the life cycle cost effectiveness of concrete vs. asphalt. Delaware is reviewing its specifications on city streets, the use of concrete overlays and design for its upcoming fire station.

 

June 6 – 8, Atlanta

Concrete Durability Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

June 13 – 16, Bismarck, ND

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

October 10 – 13, Silver Spring, MD

CCSP Module I: Concrete 101

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

October 17 – 19, Denver

Safety Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

November 6 – 10, Silver Spring, MD

Annual Technical Short Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

November 2, Salt Lake City

Handling Concrete Specifications

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

November 28 – 30, Orlando, FL

Environmental Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

December 5 – 7, Silver Spring, MD

CCSP Module II: Customer Business Knowledge

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

December 12 – 15, Orlando, FL

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

January 9 – 11, Orlando, FL

Dispatcher Training Forum

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

January 16 – 19, Silver Spring, MD

CCSP Module III: General Business Knowledge

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

January 16 – 19, Minneapolis

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

January 23 – 25, Orlando, FL

RMC Effective Supervisor Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

February 20 – 23, Albuquerque, NM

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

March 26 – 30, Location Tentative: Louisville, KY

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

March 27 – 29, Silver Spring, MD

CCSP Module IV: Professional Sales Skills

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

Last fall, Dave Gray, market manager for NRMCA Producer member GCC of America, decided to focus his concrete parking lot overlay marketing efforts locally, reports NRMCA Vice President, Local Paving, Don Clem. Gray made an initial call on the city of Thornton, CO, his hometown, to discuss a concrete overlay for an upcoming golf course parking lot project. The city had an interest in trying concrete resurfacing, so it identified a smaller city park, Brookshire Park, which was in need of repair. Gray then asked Clem to join him in preparing a Design Assistance Program proposal (DAP) and a life cycle cost analysis (LCCA), and Leonard Velasquez, owner of SLV Quality Concrete, to prepare a cost estimate for the concrete overlay. After several meetings with the city, engineers decided to specify a concrete overlay for the Brookshire Park project.

 

 

Last week, when the weather finally broke, the 26,600 square foot parking lot overlay was constructed. SLV Quality Concrete employed a 3D laser screed to provide the precise grades necessary to improve the drainage pattern of the parking area. NRMCA member Brannan Companies provided a 4,000 psi concrete mix, which included macro fibers (4 lbs/cy), for the 3-inch thick pavement. Joints were cut on 5-foot centers, with early entry saws. NRMCA and GCC of America sponsored two open houses to showcase the project to metro area agencies. Representatives from Thornton, Denver, Westminster, Greeley, Federal Heights, and several ready mixed concrete companies and local contractors attended the open houses to see firsthand how a concrete overlay is built. Many attendees have already requested copies of the DAP and LCCA for Brookshire.