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Association & Industry News
NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2022 will take place September 29 – October 3 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, CO (metro Denver). The event will be co-located with the Portland Cement Association's (PCA) Fall Conference, taking place September 29 – September 30. Early bird registration is now open; please register as soon as possible to take advantage of the special pricing discount of more than $100 off the regular registration fees. Booth space sales have also begun for this year’s event. Exhibit space rules and costs can be found within the Exhibit pages of the registration website. Reserve your space in the expo hall by downloading and completing the Exhibitor Space Application and Contract and returning it to NRMCA along with the required payment. The 16th Annual National Mixer Driver Championship will be held in conjunction with NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2022 on Saturday, October 1, at the Gaylord resort complex. Visit the Driver Championship page of the registration website for more information. Please note that drivers are now required to register for the event online (see related item under the SEO section of this E-NEWS). For more information, please contact Senior Director of Meetings Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org. Click here to access registration, hotel reservation information, the exhibitor prospectus and more. The estimated ready mixed concrete produced in March 2022 is 34.2 million cubic yards, 3.3% higher than that in March 2021. The estimated production in the U.S. through March is 83 million cubic yards, approximately 6% higher than that during the same period in 2021. Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. More detail, including production in the states for Q1, is available here for NRMCA members under Production Statistics. 
NRMCA participated in the 2022 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Meeting in Boston on June 8. The meeting included discussions on whether to amend standards presented as part of NFPA's Fall 2021 and Annual 2022 revision cycles. NRMCA Vice President, Fire Codes and Standards, Shamim Rashid-Sumar voiced support for the proposed new Annex B to NFPA 285, Standard Fire Test Method for Evaluation of Fire Propagation Characteristics of Exterior Wall Assemblies Containing Combustible Components. Annex B is the Guide for Extensions of Results from Assemblies that Meet NFPA 285 Test Requirements and serves as a guidance document for recent changes to the International Building Code (IBC). These changes, which will appear in the 2024 edition of the code, will permit extensions of existing test data in demonstrating compliance with requirements for limiting fire spread in exterior walls containing combustible materials. Ms. Rashid-Sumar is a principal voting member of several NFPA technical committees, including the Technical Committee on Fire Tests, which oversees NFPA 285. NFPA technical committees and panels serve as the principal consensus bodies responsible for developing and updating all NFPA codes and standards. However, NFPA encourages public input before standards are finalized. Interested parties may view more on how the NFPA standards development process works here. For more information on fire codes and standards advocacy efforts, contact Shamim Rashid-Sumar at ssumar@nrmca.org. NRMCA is now offering Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) verifications at a fraction of the previous cost. This service is available to NRMCA members and non-member companies at a reduced cost; under the new fee structure, NRMCA members can have EPDs for up to three ready mixed concrete plants verified for a flat fee of $1,250 ($2,000 for non-members) or up to 10 plants for a flat fee of $2,500 ($4,500 for non-members), with negotiated fees for 11 or more plants. Additional plants that are verified within 6 months, or changes to verified EPDs at any time that the EPD is valid, are billed at an hourly rate of $300/hour ($450/hour for non-members), based on the time required by the third-party verifier. Under the previous fee structure, similar volumes of work cost between $3,500 and over $8,000. EPDs published by NRMCA and information about the program are available on the NRMCA EPD webpage. For more information, contact Matthew Lemay at mlemay@nrmca.org.
Engineering
NRMCA is still accepting applications for the annual Excellence in Quality Award contest. A company must be an 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 September 29 - October 3 in Aurora, CO (metro Denver). The deadline for receiving completed award applications is Thursday, June 30. There are several advantages to participating in this award program: 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 at kobla@nrmca.org. SEO
Driver registration is now open for NRMCA's 16th National Mixer Driver Championship. This year’s event will be conducted on Saturday, October 1, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, CO. We encourage companies to register drivers early; please use the online driver registration webpage and select the Driver Attendee registration type. In addition, here are the official Driver Rules & Procedures and Driver Schedule of Events. The deadline for registering drivers is Friday, August 12. Please note that new this year drivers will be required to register for the event online; NRMCA no longer offers the fax/email-back option. Also, as in the past, driver supervisors will need to register separately and NOT as driver guests. Driver supervisors will register using the Driver Supervisor registration type. Thank you to those already registered:
Finally, in helping to ensure a successful event this year, we encourage everyone to please review this year’s opportunities for sponsorship. For more information, contact Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org or Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org. The survey collection period closes in two weeks; to date, the response rate is down 65%. The data currently represents just 12% of the mixer driver pool when it is normally 30%. While down all over the country, states that are way under represented are Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada; they represent almost 15% of U.S. concrete production but their collective response is a meager 5%. Please ask the appropriate person on your staff to complete the survey and help enable NRMCA to give you meaningful driver data for your workforce planning. Click here to participate; the deadline for submittal is Friday, July 1. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. Registration continues for NRMCA’s Fall in-person Safety Course scheduled for October 18 - 20 in Charlotte, NC. 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, much more. Click here for location details and registration information. Staff contacts are Gary Mullings and Kevin Walgenbach. There is still some space available for this year’s in-person Environmental Certification Course being held in Orlando, FL, from November 29 through December 1. 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 that 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. The staff contacts are Gary Mullings and Kevin Walgenbach. 
Buildings
Build With Strength, NRMCA Member and Industry Groups Showcase Concrete Innovations on National Mall
NRMCA Executive Vice President, Strategy, Gregg Lewis, AIA, and Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Gordon along with Concrete Design Center team members Derek Torres and Derek Logan were joined by ICF-MA members BuildBlock, Nudura and FoxBlocks as they promoted the advantages of ICF for low-cost housing solutions. Malachy Joyce, NRMCA’s new content creator and communications manager, joined the staff on-site and debuted NRMCA’s new TikTok channel while highlighting some of the event’s lighter moments. On Friday, June 10, the booth welcomed HUD Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman who was impressed by the technology and requested an opportunity to visit an area project featuring ICF construction. NRMCA is now working with Ms. Todman’s office to schedule a visit to a local Habitat for Humanity project utilizing energy efficient and resilient ICF construction. Special thanks to ICF manufacturer BuildBlock Building Systems and President/CEO Brian Corder for donating the ICF block and helping design, coordinate and construct the booth for the showcase. Build With Strength and NRMCA also thank Virgilio Barrera for coordinating the delivery of the Holcim mixer truck on the Mall. Please contact Gregg Lewis at glewis@nrmca.org on how to host a similar booth or display at your next convention, tradeshow or event. One of the biggest impediments to implementing more resilient designs in the United Kingdom is the lack of a cohesive government strategy, reports NRMCA Senior Vice President, Codes and Standards, Scott Campbell who recently discussed the issue in his recurring column in Engineered Systems magazine. The United Kingdom recently moved toward adopting a new National Resilience Strategy that identifies not only what the national government should be doing, but also provides guidance for local governments and designers. Of particular interest is the fact that British officials are looking at the entire life cycle and setting priorities in advance of deciding whether further investments are warranted. The column is part of an ongoing series where Dr. Campbell lays out various aspects of security and resilience for a technical, but not specialist, audience and advances the concept of resilience as envisioned by NRMCA. Build With Strength is a coalition led by NRMCA that promotes concrete building systems through communications, project promotion, education and advocacy. To learn more, contact Scott Campbell at scampbell@nrmca.org or 502-552-5034.
Learning & Development
With the importance of staffing in today’s environment, the NRMCA Workforce Development Committee asks Association members to volunteer for one of its three working task groups: Retention, Talent Acquisition and Staff Development/Training. These groups often create specific projects and make recommendations to NRMCA that drive industry change and innovation while also providing participants a ready mixed concrete-specific professional peer group. If interested in moving the industry forward, please e-mail Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. August 1 - 2, Centennial, CO September 14, Little Rock, AR September 29 - October 3, Aurora, CO October 18 - 20, Charlotte, NC November 8 - 10, Louisville, KY November 15 - 17, Phoenix November 29 - December 1, Orlando, FL December 13 - 16, Kansas City, MO 
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This past weekend, the 2022 Innovative Housing Showcase, co-hosted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), took place on the National Mall in Washington, DC, between the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol. Several innovative housing solutions were highlighted as considerations for low-cost housing in the U.S. market, including full-scale mockups of modular homes, portable or “tiny home” units and even an opportunity to see an example of a wall constructed using 3D printing technology. The 
