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Association & Industry News
Buildings
 Last week, NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Mruk presented virtually at the Green Cement & Concrete Innovation Europe 2025 event held in London. The event featured over 35 speakers and had more than 200 senior decision makers in attendance with presentations by Cynthia Imesch, Concrete Sustainability Council; Laurel McEwen, Climate Earth; Luke Olly, Aggregate Industries; Ira Brückner and Sergio Tortelli, Heidelberg Materials; Richard Kershaw, CEMEX; Sara Neff, Lendlease and many others. Topics presented included:
NRMCA/Build With Strength Senior Director, Building Innovations, Patrick Matsche recently attended the American Concrete Institute Intermountain Chapter/Utah Ready Mixed Concrete Association (URMCA) annual Concrete Education Conference held at the Davis Conference Center in Layton. The conference drew over 450 of the region’s top industry influencers, structural engineers, builders, architects, designers and NRMCA member companies. Partnering with URMCA, Matsche (seen here at right with URMCA's Brad Stevenson) presented Current Technologies Available to Decarbonize Concrete.
Build With Strength and NRMCA collaborated with the Carolina Ready Mixed Concrete Association (CRMCA) on CRMCA's first symposium featuring architects, engineers, contractors and decision makers who partcipated in a series of panel discussions regarding the future and impact of low carbon concrete and performance-based specifications in the construction industry. Build With Strength’s Michael Wymant and Derek Torres attended the symposium held in Greenville, SC, on February 25 to show support and educate everyone on the services and resources offered by Build With Strength and NRMCA. 
SEO
 NRMCA’s Think First monthly safety initiatives feature different industry-specific safety items relevant to seasons, current topics or industry concerns. The initiatives are meant to be shared, used as training tools, printed, posted or distributed, all of which are encouraged. This month’s issue, seen here, is titled, Hand Signals for Directing Mixer Trucks. Click here to view this month’s and all previous issues. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. The NRMCA Safety Contest & Benchmarking Survey has for years been a safety performance and incentive/award program aimed to foster safe practices at ready mixed concrete plants across the nation. The contest and survey is a per-plant contest open to facilities operated by NRMCA member companies in good standing in 2024. Companies with more than one division are encouraged to distribute entry blanks to individuals responsible for keeping safety records at each plant location. The deadline for e-mailing entries to Mitchell Freed, CPA, at mfreed@tfcpas.com is Friday, April 4. Click here and scroll down to the entry for this survey and then download the entry form. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach or Mr. Freed. 
The 2025 Fleet Benchmarking Survey is filled out by industry fleet managers and/or financial managers early each year, based on data gathered from the previous calendar year’s performance. The survey is used to establish industry benchmarking norms and procedures; information gathered is published in a full report in Concrete InFocus magazine each autumn. The deadline for e-mailing entries to Mitchell Freed, CPA, at mfreed@tfcpas.com is Friday, April 18. Click here and scroll down to the Fleet Benchmarking section and download the entry form. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach or Mr. Freed.
Pavement
NRMCA Senior Director, Local Paving, Greg Halsted led a Just-In-Time-Training (JITT) session on concrete pavements at the request of Highmark Concrete Contractors on February 26 in Shoreline, WA. Some 18 participants (some shown here) representing the prime contractor, subcontractors, testing agencies, project management and owners attended the event. JITT is a formal class for the joint training of contractor and contracting agency employees who are associated with the construction or rehabilitation of concrete pavements. While Halsted’s presentation covered the recommended practices for proper placement, curing and jointing of concrete pavements, the format also allowed for ample time for attendees to address concerns and challenges that came to their minds. The JITT was a requirement in the specifications for the city of Shoreline’s 145th Street and I-5 interchange project scheduled to be completed later this summer. Based on the technical nature of questions asked and the interactive discussions that followed, Halsted believed attendees learned a great deal about the proper construction of concrete pavements. "Such training events are excellent opportunities to educate, discuss and promote the durability and sustainability of concrete pavements to those responsible for their construction, and to spotlight the assistance and support available to them through the NRMCA Pave Ahead initiative," he added. For more information, contact Greg Halsted at ghalsted@nrmca.org. 
NRMCA Senior Vice President, Local Paving, Phil Kresge and Ohio Concrete Association (OCA) Northeast Promotion Director Bob Krulik recently met with representatives from the Akron, OH, office of GPD Group. The meeting was initiated as a result of NRMCA’s Design Assistance Program (DAP) having recently reviewed several GPD geotechnical reports related to identified NRMCA National Account projects. Kresge and Krulik discussed concrete pavement design using ACI 325 and 330 recommendations. Krulik also reviewed the OCA Engineering Services Center’s pavement design and materials engineering services while Kresge introduced NRMCA’s PavementDesigner.org platform. GPD Group provides integrated architecture, engineering, planning and management services to public and private sector clients throughout the United States. For more information, contact Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org. 
Learning & Development
NRMCA’s Supervisors Course will be offered during the upcoming Spring Semester. This course provides learners with essential skills, methodologies and strategies to improve their leadership and management abilities. Ready mix professionals currently in supervisory positions; those aspiring to take on supervisory roles at their company or any learner looking to make a positive impact on their workplace are welcomed to enroll in this course.
Calendar
*Please click here to access your 2025 NRMCA Course Calendar where you can learn more and register for one or more educational offerings. You may also click here for a list of conferences and events which contains relevant links to each of the events and NRMCA staff members listed below. October 10 - 14, Orlando, FL 
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