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Association & Industry News
The estimated ready mixed concrete produced in March 2021 is 33.0 million cubic yards, 16% higher than that in March 2020. The estimated production in the U.S. through March is 78.7 million cubic yards, approximately 2% higher than that during the same period in 2020. Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. More detail, including production by state for the first quarter of 2021, is available here for NRMCA members under Production Statistics. Concrete Products magazine is highlighting the RMC Research & Education Foundation’s 30th Anniversary with an article by Foundation Executive Director Julie Garbini. The piece, Value Tested, is in the magazine’s special World of Concrete edition, noting the Foundation’s major milestones, its record of results and ways to get involved. Click here to read the article. For more information about the RMC Research & Education Foundation, please visit www.rmc-foundation.org or contact Executive Director Julie Garbini or Senior Director Jennifer LeFevre. NRMCA represents a broad range of ready mixed concrete companies across the United States. The Association’s success is a direct result of the skills and expertise of its professional staff working in conjunction with its Board of Directors. The Nominating Committee encourages nominations from diverse backgrounds to ensure the Board is reflective of the Association’s membership. The basic requirements, in addition to their willingness to be an active and engaged participant, stipulate that each candidate must be committed to promoting NRMCA programs and working in the best interest of its membership and the industry as a whole while operating in accordance with NRMCA’s Strategic Plan and Vision 2030 objectives. Employees of NRMCA Producer members in good standing are eligible to serve. Click here to review the NRMCA Board Job Description. To nominate a candidate, please complete and submit this form to Heather Houck at hhouck@nrmca.org. Self-nominations are accepted. The deadline for nominations is Friday, July 23. NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2021 will take place in person September 30 – October 4 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL (metro Orlando). The Exhibitor Prospectus for this year’s event is now available. Exhibit space costs can be found in the prospectus. Reserve your space in the expo hall by completing the Exhibitor Application and returning it to NRMCA along with the required payment. Please note that the cost of the exhibit space does NOT include attendee registration. Exhibitor attendees can register online when registration opens the week of June 14. The application process utilizes a priority point formula for the assignment of exhibit space. Applications and payment received prior to July 8 will be part of the priority assignment process. Past exhibitors in NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks will be assigned first by priority number. New exhibitors will then be assigned in the order in which they were received. Applications received on or after July 8 will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis by exhibition management. Registration and hotel reservation information will be available soon. NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2021 will be co-located with the Portland Cement Associations (PCA) Fall Conference, also taking place September 30 – October 1. For more information, please contact Senior Director of Meetings Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org. The latest edition of NRMCA’s quarterly magazine, Concrete InFocus, is now available online. This Summer 2021 edition includes the magazine's trio of regular columnists, Jon Hansen, Phil Kresge and Doug Ruhlin, who offer their respective words of industry wisdom, along with a leadoff column by NRMCA Chairman of the Board Abbott Lawrence who discusses his goals for NRMCA during his one-year term. Feature articles include the latest installment of the Developing Industry Leaders series, James Bogdan’s take on CSC Certification, two entries in NRMCA’s Safety First series and last but certainly not least, two member-written articles, one by Lehigh Cement on the greening of the cement and ready mixed concrete industries and a Producer member’s transition toward paperless deliveries. Would you like to receive a hard copy of the magazine? If so, contact Amanda Muller at amuller@nrmca.org. Questions about editorial content? Please contact Frank Cavaliere at fcavaliere@nrmca.org. Thinking of advertising? Questions should be addressed to Bryan Zeig at bzeig@naylor.com. To date, responses represent just 10% of the mixer driver pool; typically, it’s 30%. When over 60% of producers report a mixer driver shortage, this data can support your strategic planning. Specifically, two regions are in dire straits: South Central states (AR, KS, LA, MO, OK, TX) and Pacific Southwest (AZ, CA, HI, NV). Representing almost 40% of U.S. concrete production, their response is a meager 15%. Survey responses are anonymous, so we cannot tell if your firm participated. As a result: The average time to complete it is 14 minutes. Deadline for submittal is Friday, July 2. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. 
Engineering
The Center for Infrastructure Renewal (CIR) at Texas A&M University is holding a webinar titled Future of Emerging SCMs on Tuesday, June 15, from noon to 1 p.m. Central time. This webinar will feature a presentation by Anol Mukhopadhyay on durability-based concrete mix design followed by a panel discussion with Richard Szecsy, Ivan Diaz, Lisa Lukefahr and Anol Mukhopadhyay on the current fly ash shortage. The panel will provide insight into the current problem and discuss a comprehensive performance-based approach to provide an effective solution. Click here for more information and to register. The Portland Cement Association's (PCA) popular reference on cement and concrete is now available. The 17th edition of Design and Control of Concrete Mixtures reflects the latest advances in concrete technology and the many developments since the last edition published in 2016. This edition highlights concrete’s contribution to sustainability and includes two new chapters on imperfections in concrete and innovations in concrete technology. The revision provides guidance on current standards of ASTM International, ACI and AASHTO. The book is available in print and electronic versions that can be purchased separately or as a combo with both versions. Orders can be placed here or through the PCA customer service department at 800-868-6733. SEO
Get ready for the National Mixer Driver Appreciation Week, taking place August 2 - 6. To help celebrate our industry’s drivers please visit the Appreciation Week Store. The store includes polos, t-shirts, hats, beverage tumblers, first-aid kits, safety glasses, masks and portable power banks. The store will remain open through next Tuesday, June 15; orders will then be shipped by July 15 and arrive by August 1, just in time for Appreciation Week. Click here to access the store and here to learn more about Appreciation Week. For more information, contact Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org or Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. Registration for NRMCA’s fall in-person Safety Course to take place October 18 - 20 in Orlando, FL, is now open. 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 the new silica rule, electrical safety, machine guarding, fall protection, hazard communication, confined spaces, personal protective equipment, emergency action plans, maintenance shop safety, chute handling, fleet safety, pre-trip inspections and much more. Click here for location details and registration information. For more information, contact Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org or Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. Registration is open for this year’s in-person Environmental Certification Course being held in Orlando, FL, November 30 – December 2. Course attendees will be educated on industry-specific environmental issues that affect ready mixed concrete production, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Discharge Permits, Stormwater Management, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Solids Management, Hazardous Materials, Dust Control, Recycling, Spill Prevention Plans, Air Quality Management, Noise Management, Environmental Auditing and much more. Those who should attend include plant managers, environmental managers, compliance managers, executives or anyone with fiscal and/or environmental responsibilities who should know the details concerning a company’s responsibilities when it comes to EPA regulations, the Clean Water Act, Discharge Permits, Stormwater Management and numerous other critical environmental matters. Click here to register or for more information. You may also contact Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org or Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. 
Buildings
Derek Logan has joined NRMCA as project manager, structures and sustainability. His main responsibilities include design assistance support for the Build With Strength Concrete Design Center. Before Joining NRMCA, Mr. Logan worked in commercial construction managing a diverse set of projects. He has also worked in residential construction managing home renovations. His day-to-day responsibilities included project buyouts, estimating, writing purchase orders and contracts, and managing sub-contractors. Mr. Logan attended Bowling Green State University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in construction management. He will be working from his home office in Clyde, OH, and can be reached at dlogan@nrmca.org or 419-650-8054. The Cleveland facility of Rockport Ready Mix, Rockport, OH, has been added to the NRMCA industry average environmental product declaration (IW-EPD). Citing market interest and green building criteria to pursue retroactive participation, Rockport can now utilize the IW-EPD and the online participant directory to demonstrate compliance with green building inquires. Requests from architects, engineers, LEED consultants and general contractors pertaining to reporting environmental impact of building materials are on the rise. The IW-EPD and participating companies and plants can be found here. The retroactive process requires collecting 12 months of plant operations data across many categories such as material purchases and transportation distances, on-site energy consumption, fleet fuel use, water use and other environmental data such as air emissions, water effluents and waste generation. Afterward, NRMCA’s consultant, Athena, adds the data to the previously collected dataset which came from approximately 150 companies and 2,000 plant participants across the United States. The trend in reporting company and product environmental, social and governance practices is growing and, with environmental impact criteria being discovered in green building construction documents and specifications, procurement decisions are leaning beyond price and performance. Raw material suppliers that demonstrate a lower embodied carbon for their customers can provide them increasing business opportunities in the future. Integral to 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 support, training, sustainability strategy planning or program development, contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138.
News Links
A May 30 opinion piece posted on The Colorado Sun website states that building with non-combustible materials is one of the best ways to mitigate damage from natural disasters such as fires. The article, written by Keith Meier, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Teller County, highlights the critical work being done by Build With Strength, NRMCA and the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association in building nine homes in Teller County where, most recently, 11 homes were either destroyed or heavily damaged by wildfires. 
Pavement
NRMCA, through its Pave Ahead program, has completed the first three webinars of its 2021 Concrete pavement webinar series, drawing over 440 attendees. The webinars focus on technical topics related to design, construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of concrete pavements and will conclude with a webinar on controlled low strength material also known as flowable fill. Webinars in this series will offer AIA Elective Learning Units through the AIA continuing education system, Professional Development Hours or Continuing Education Units. The intended audience for this series includes architects, engineers, contractors, developers, owners and product manufacturers. Instructors for all webinars will include NRMCA local paving experts. The webinar schedule is below and individual registration links can be accessed at paveahead.com/education/. Each webinar will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern time.
Registration for free, on-demand recordings of the 2020 Pave Ahead webinar series can be accessed here for the following topics:
For more information, contact Brian Killingsworth at bkillingsworth@nrmca.org. Government Affairs
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this week will consider legislation to reauthorize federal surface transportation programs. Last Friday, Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) released the INVEST in America Act which would reauthorize the federal surface transportation programs for five years and provide nearly $547 billion in funding over that period, including $343 billion for roads and bridges, $109 billion for transit and $95 billion for passenger and freight rail. On Monday, June 7, the T&I Committee released a revised bill (press release here, text here) and is set to consider the legislation beginning on June 9. Committee members can file amendments by noon on Tuesday, and the committee will consider amendments during the markup. The bill includes nearly 1500 member-designated projects (earmarks), totaling $5.7 billion of the total bill. The bill (section-by-section here, fact sheet here) is largely based on the 2020 bill of the same name, which passed the committee after a partisan, two-day markup and was combined with nearly $1 trillion in additional spending before being considered on the floor of the House and passing by a largely party-line vote last year. The package was never considered by the Senate. A robust, bipartisan surface reauthorization that addresses the Highway Trust Fund shortfall is a top priority for NRMCA and our allies and we continue to urge Congress and the T&I Committee to formulate and pass a surface reauthorization bill in this manner. As the committee considers this legislation, NRMCA is working with partners to oppose several provisions in the bill, including an expansion of Buy America procurement requirements, increases in minimum truck insurance and other policies that could impact the ready mixed concrete industry. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed its bill, which is limited to the highway portions of the federal transportation programs, unanimously out of committee. That bill proposes to reauthorize the programs with $300 billion over five years. Other Senate committees, including the Banking, Commerce and Finance, have yet to act on surface reauthorization. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. 
Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. Thursday, June 10, Free Online Webinar June 15 – 17, Smyrna, TN Thursday, June 17, Free Online Webinar June 21 - 24, Online Course Thursday, June 24, Free Online Webinar August 3 - 5, Smyrna, TN September 29 - October 3, Kissimmee, FL October 18 - 20, Orlando, FL November 9 – 11, Dallas November 30 – December 2, Orlando, FL 
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