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Association & Industry News
On behalf of the entire NRMCA team, we’d like welcome and recognize our new and rejoining Producer members for the month of February. We’d also like to offer a warm welcome to our new and rejoining Associate members across our three membership divisions. We appreciate your continued support to our members and the ready mix industry and look forward to serving you through all of 2024. Producer members: Quality Ready Mix – Bozeman, MT Associate members: Semix Industry Pazarlama Dis Ticaret A.S. – Turkey For more information on how to get more from your NRMCA membership, contact Senior Director, Membership Engagement, Amanda Muller at 703-706-4838 or amuller@nrmca.org. The Concrete Advancement Foundation and NRMCA have published the February 2024 Survey of Insurance Costs for Multifamily Buildings Constructed with Wood-frame and Concrete. The report refreshes the survey of insurance costs for multifamily buildings commissioned in 2017, quantifying the expected differences in costs to insure a building constructed of combustible versus noncombustible construction. 
Buildings
On February 22, NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Frank Mruk (seen here) presented Resiliency and Sustainability in the Built Environment at the Empowering Communities Through Resilient and Sustainable Design Symposium in Knoxville, TN, held by Tennessee Regional Design and Construction. Innovation in concrete and emerging trends in construction were themes which emerged from the full day of seven educational sessions. Other speakers included master of ceremonies John Ritch (Tremco), Alan Sparkman (Tennessee Concrete Association), Wyatt Ross (CMTA), Ryan Bedford (Bedford Development), Mark Green (KB Walker), Michael Space (Smith Seckman Reid) and Kenny Stanfield (Sherman Carter Barnhart Architects). The Build With Strength program is a leader in supporting sustainable communities and innovation in the Tennessee regional architecture/engineering/construction ecosystem. For more information, contact Frank Mruk at fmruk@nrmca.org.
The Build With Strength (BWS) Building Innovations team of Brandon Wray and Patrick Matsche recently attended the Structural Engineers Association of Utah’s 12th Annual Education Conference held at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, UT. Each day, the two-day conference drew more than 400 of the region’s top structural engineers. Partnering with the Utah Ready Mixed Concrete Association (URMCA), BWS presented Resilient and Sustainable Concrete Construction and Fundamentals and Essentials of Quality Concrete. Sustainable construction, lead by a focus on resiliency, is driving new construction techniques in the Intermountain West region of the U.S. Structural engineering firms inquired about the many programs offered by NRMCA. BWS offers additional content and professional development hours to architects and structural engineers; for additional information, please go to www.buildwithstrength.com. “Thanks to the concrete industry, our conference is a leading source of construction education content in the State of Utah,” said Nicole Eckelson, executive director of the Seattle Engineers Association's Utah chapter.. URMCA Executive Director Brad Stevenson is seen here at center with Patrick Matsche at left and Brandon Wray. For more information, contact Patrick Matsche at pmatsche@nrmca.org or Brandon Wray at bwray@nrmca.org. Last week, NRMCA presented on sustainability, embodied carbon, and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) at the Nebraska Concrete & Aggregate Association's annual convention in Kearney, NE. NRMCA. Manager, Codes and Sustainability Programs, Matthew Lemay spoke before more than 60 concrete and aggregates producers from Nebraska. EPDs are becoming an increasingly significant part of the construction landscape in Nebraska, driven primarily by federal Buy Clean policies, and the technology and logistics sectors. They allow producers to quantify the carbon emissions of each concrete mix and are used by customers to make low-carbon purchasing choices. Green building continues to gain importance for owners throughout the U.S. and is no longer limited to a coastal states or urban markets. EPDs help position concrete as the low-carbon green building material of choice. For more information, contact Matthew Lemay at mlemay@nrmca.org. NRMCA Spotlight
Last year, NRMCA went to Producer member Chaney Enterprises offices in Gambrills, MD, to film a promotion video for its newly launched CDL Training Program: the opening of a CDL driver training school. NRNCA Content Creator/Communications Manager Malachy Joyce spent two days filming with Chaney CEO Hall Chaney, Training Manager Donna Kopf and several others to produce a video that showcased the newly launched program. Begun in 2022, Chaney’s driver training school has already delivered countless success stories, including that of Concrete Delivery Professional Gustavo Cordero (seen here), who was a newly graduated CDP with no prior driving experience before the training program who ended up winning Chaney’s annual driver rodeo shortly after graduating. Instruction included 2,000 hours of on-the-job training and 320 hours of classroom instruction for incoming students; a program that enabled allows newly skilled drivers to seemlessly enter the concrete workforce. NRMCA thanks Chaney Enterprises, Hall Chaney, Donna Kopf, Theodore Fortune, Andre Carroll, Peter Heath, Gustavo Cordero, Tyrie Bracher and NRMCA Chief Communications Officer Gregg Lewis for helping to produce the video. NRMCA encourages more video collaborations and features with its member companies. Contact Gregg Lewis for more information. 
NRMCA recently verified three system-level Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for the following concrete producers:
For more information on the EPD verification program, view the main EPD webpage or contact Matthew Lemay at mlemay@nrmca.org. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), Public Buildings Service (PBS), Office of Acquisition Management (OAM) is holding a Virtual Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Industry Exchange. The webinar is open to the public and will be held Thursday, March 21, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time. Register here. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org. 
Government Affairs
On Friday, February 23, NRMCA Producer member Delta Industries hosted Rep. Mike Ezell (R-MS) for a tour of its Gulfport, MS, facility. Rep. Ezell and his staff saw first hand the operations of a ready mixed concrete plant, meet and interact with Delta Industries employees, and hear about the importance of the industry in building strong communities. Building relationships with Members of Congress lays the foundation for advocating for policies important to the ready mixed concrete industry. Rep. Ezell (seen here, standing, meeting Delta employees during the tour) is serving his first term in Congress and sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. NRMCA thanks Delta President and CEO Lance Bonner, Executive Vice President and COO Les Howell, and company employees for their hospitality and for the professionalism on display during last week’s plant tour. Mississippi Concrete Association Executive Director Joel Waters play a key role in coordinating the tour. If you would like to host a Member of Congress for a plant tour, NRMCA can help by contacting congressional offices, planning the tour and helping companies know what to expect when hosting a facility tour. For more information, please contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. NRMCA joined a host of business and industry organizations urging Congress to pass legislation forming a fiscal commission to identify and propose a comprehensive package of solutions to America’s fiscal crisis. You can review the letter proposing the commission here. The NRMCA staff contact is Andrew Tyrrell. SEO
NRMCA's 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 survey is a per-plant contest open to facilities operated by NRMCA member companies in good standing in 2023. Companies with more than one division are encouraged to distribute entry blanks to individuals responsible for keeping safety records at each plant location. Entries must be e-mailed to safetycontest@nrmca.org by Friday, April 5. Click here for more information and to download the entry form. The staff contact is Gary Mullings.
Pavement
In conjunction with the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), the NRMCA Pave Ahead team has developed two pavement thickness design quick reference guides, both of which are available at www.paveahead.com/resources. The first, Concrete Parking Lots – A Quick Reference Guide, provides a table based on the recommendations of American Concrete Institute’s ACI PRC-330-21: Commercial Concrete Parking Lots and Site Paving Design and Construction. It also includes a pavement thickness comparison between concrete and flexible pavement designs. The second, Industrial/Trucking Facility Concrete Pavement Thickness Design Quick Reference Guide, provides the same for heavy duty applications such as warehouses, distribution centers, and intermodal facilities, with tables based on those included in ACI 330.2R-17: Guide for the Design and Construction of Concrete Site Paving for Industrial and Trucking Facilities. The guides were developed by members of the NRMCA/ASCC Joint Pavement Committee. Special thanks go to Myron Hillock, Somero Industries, who spearheaded the effort along with NRMCA Senior Vice President, Local Paving, Phil Kresge. For more information, contact Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org. 
The 2024 NRMCA 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. This year’s form includes new question on mixer drum composition, idle time and types of fuel being used. The survey is used to establish industry benchmarking norms and procedures. Information gathered from the annual Fleet Benchmarking Survey is published in a full report in Concrete InFocus magazine each autumn. A shorter Executive Summary of the survey is also made available to all. The deadline for e-mailing entries to fleetbenchmark@nrmca.org is Friday, April 19. Click here for more information and to download the entry form. The staff contact is Gary Mullings. 
Business Advancement
The IT Task Group, part of NRMCA’s Business Advancement Committee, is soliciting responses to its confidential IT Survey. By participating you help provide the task group with insight into the industry’s IT practices, capabilities and challenges and allow it to ensure that it's focusing on your needs and priorities. The results of the survey will be shared at the Task Group’s meeting at NRMCA’s Annual Convention in Tampa and be available afterward to all participants. Please note that no company’s individual 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 registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's website. March 5 - 7, Nashville, TN March 18 - 21, Tampa, FL March 26 - 28, Denver *Sold Out April 9 - 12, Omaha, NE April 16 - 18, Nashville, TN April 22 - 23, Los Angeles April 23 - 25, Orlando, FL April 30 - May 2, Mendota Heights, MN *Sold Out April 30 - May 2, Waldorf, MD May 8 - 10, Milwaukee September 9 - 13, Baltimore September 10 - 12, Sacramento, CA October 10 - 14, Aurora, CO December 10 - 13, Charleston, SC 
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