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Association & Industry News
With nearly 20 concrete Habitat for Humanity homes currently underway across the country, Habitat for Humanity International and NRMCA’s Build With Strength have announced the slate of new homes to be started in 2022. Locations include Springfield, MA; Niagara, NY; Tupelo, MS; Joliet, IL; Harrisburg, PA; Tacoma, WA; Tillamook, OR; Roanoke, VA, and NRMCA’s home base in Alexandria, VA. Something a bit different is unfolding at this year’s locations with the help of our friends at the Carolinas Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the Georgia Ready Mixed Concrete Association.
Engineering
The NRMCA Research Engineering and Standards (RES) Committee is scheduled to meet from 8 am to noon on Tuesday, March 15, at the NRMCA Annual Convention at the Marriott Rivercenter in San Antonio, TX. The committee is chaired by John Cook with Thomas Concrete. Albert Romanach with CEMEX serves as the vice chair. The committee will discuss development in the codes and standards pertinent to concrete; move to performance specifications and the impact of sustainability focus; quality initiatives; development of technical publications; NRMCA technical course offerings; plant certification and research supporting industry initiatives. The committee will receive a presentation from a Developing Industry Leaders group on a tool to estimate costs and revenue with managing returned concrete. The RES Committee at its last meeting selected Karthik Obla, NRMCA vice president of technical services, as the recipient of the Richard D. Gaynor award for personal contributions to the industry. The award will be presented at the Awards Luncheon at the Convention. For more information contact Colin Lobo at clobo@nrmca.org. NRMCA is still accepting registrations for its one-day course, Improving Concrete Quality, intended for concrete producers, ingredient material suppliers, engineers, and testing labs to be offered online between April 19 and 21. Improved concrete quality can benefit all stakeholders in a concrete construction project. This course will address the following topics:
SEO
Have you always wanted to know what was in the Performance Benchmarking Survey (PBS) and why you should participate? You’re in luck because on Thursday, March 24, at 3 p.m. Eastern time, Pierre Villere of Allen-Villere Partners will present on last year’s survey. The presentation of the 2021 PBS will walk you through the 2020 data and showcase the valuable insights that every PBS participant can glean from each year. Distribution of the PBS is limited to NRMCA members who participate in the survey, so this is your opportunity to see up close what you are missing and how you can use the data to improve your operations. Sign up for this insightful presentation here. You can participate in the PBS and other NRMCA surveys by visiting NRMCA’s Surveys and Benchmarking page. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. 
The estimated ready mixed concrete produced in December 2021 is 29.2 million cubic yards, 5.4% higher than that in December 2020. The estimated production in the U.S. for 2021 is 394 million cubic yards, approximately 4.2% higher than that in 2020. Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. More detail, including production in each state in 2021, is available here for NRMCA members under “Production Statistics”. 
Buildings
 Registration is now open for Learning Session 1 of the first ever Concrete Innovations Learning Center scheduled for Wednesday, April 6, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time. Sponsored by NRMCA in collaboration with Build With Strength and Pave Ahead, the Concrete Innovations Learning Center is designed to bring practitioners, researchers and policy makers together to exchange the latest ideas, knowledge and tools for sustainable concrete design, construction and manufacturing. Register for Learning Session 1, where topics will include:
There will be sessions scheduled each month throughout 2022. Visit www.concreteinnovations.com for upcoming sessions. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org or 847-922-7995.
NRMCA Director, Sustainability Initiatives, Katie Poss and Tien Peng, senior vice president of sustainability, codes and standards, will present at the virtual Net Zero Construction Conference tomorrow, March 10. The conference brings together the top leaders in sustainable construction to discuss the trends and technologies that are paving the way for a net zero future.
.jpg) Build With Strength Arizona in collaboration with the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT), the Insulating Concrete Forms Manufacturers Association (ICF-MA), the Arizona Rock Products Association (ARPA) and NRMCA recently hosted an insulated concrete forms (ICF) installation training event at EVIT in Mesa, AZ, near Phoenix. Other sponsors included Rock Solid Concrete, Nudura, Salt River Materials Group and Hercutech. The purpose of the training (seen here) was to enhance the construction infrastructure to build with ICFs which are steadily becoming the method of choice for all forms of construction due to speed and safe construction, operation maintenance and energy savings, resilience, sound control and building insurance discounts. These benefits are creating ICF project demand, and this training is delivering a knowledgeable contractor workforce that can augment its portfolio of construction services. Additionally, architects, engineers, concrete contractors and ready mix producers were in attendance and learned alongside the construction students of EVIT. Build With Strength has recently partnered with ICF-MA and launched ICF contractor training. The training is driven locally by NRMCA state affiliates and is targeted toward concrete contractors, framers, masons and other tradespersons who will learn the techniques to expand their construction services portfolio and be more competitive in today’s construction environment. As part of the Build With Strength campaign, NRMCA promotes sustainable concrete solutions for buildings. For more information, contact Derek Torres at dtorres@nrmca.org at 973-876-0938.
Government Affairs
Recently-introduced legislation proposes to stop collection of the federal gas tax for the remainder of 2022. Billed as an effort to fight inflation and provide relief at the pump, the legislation would halt the most significant funding stream of the already-troubled Highway Trust Fund, threatening transportation and infrastructure projects across the nation. Click here to tell Congress to oppose suspending the gas tax. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. 
Learning & Development
The FPI Group’s newly formed IT task group, the Digital Transformation and Process Improvement Task Group, is soliciting responses for its confidential IT survey. This survey will give NRMCA insight into the IT practices, capabilities and challenges of the ready mixed concrete industry. The results of the survey will be shared at the task group’s meeting at next week's NRMCA Annual Convention. Please note, however, that no company’s results will be shared with any party. Click here to participate. 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. March 15 - 18, San Antonio, TX March 22 - 24, Smyrna, TN March 22 - 25, Boston *Sold Out March 22, Pearl, MS April 4 - 8, Online Course April 5 - 6, Las Vegas, NV April 19 - 21, Smyrna, TN April 19 - 21, Online Course September 29 - October 3, Aurora, CO 
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