NRMCA e-news
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
NEWS LINKS
Research at Texas Tech University and elsewhere has shown that only masonry or reinforced concrete walls can protect against lethal flying debris that might be encountered during a tornado with wind speeds up to 130 mph. Masonry veneer provides better protection than non-masonry materials, but vertically reinforced masonry walls and total masonry construction, which is standard around the world, with the exception of the United States, is even better. That is why public schools are often built with total masonry construction consisting of reinforced concrete block interior walls and masonry exterior walls. They are built that way to protect our most valuable asset, our children.
Source: An article on the Web site of the Austin American-Statesman. Read more.
Newer brick and block homes in the New York City neighborhood of Belle Harbor withstood super storm Sandy's wrath while older, postwar homes constructed mainly of wood sustained significant damage. Solid houses, shorn of lawns and porches that give places like Belle Harbor their beachy feel, began appearing 15 years ago. On a 35-block stretch, dozens have gone up, replacing frame houses sold as tear-downs as real-estate prices leapt and wealthier buyers moved in. Old-timers often couldn’t imagine why anyone would build such fortresses. One reason has hit home now.
Source: November 27 article in The Wall Street Journal. Read more.
The construction of homes was not the only construction related concern as parts of New York City confront rebuilding after Sandy (see above item). Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that the boardwalk in the Rockaways would be rebuilt — but without hardwood, and perhaps not before next summer. The mayor's remarks were met with muted reactions from some residents and business owners from the affected neighborhoods in Queens, who were more preoccupied with restoring their own lives.
Source: AggregateResearch.com for December 3. Read more.
FMI has released its Third Quarter Engineering and Technical Professional Services Update. The Design Index has been slowly rising since April. As of September, the index is in the black. Gross revenues for the top 19 publicly traded design firms exceeded $30.6 billion, with combined earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization topping $1.9 billion. Only one firm had a negative EBITDA, and only three reported negative income for Q3 2012. The median debt to cash ratio is positive at $282 million in debt to $398 million in cash. However, the mean ratio still lags, with debt exceeding cash at $726 million in debt compared to $630 in cash and short-term investments. Click here for the report.
PROMOTIONS
Recently, Walmart announced that the fifth project in its pilot project series, located in Pompano Beach, FL, will have a concrete parking lot, reports NRMCA Senior National Resource Director Amy Miller. The pilot project series is a collaborative effort between NRMCA and Walmart designed to evaluate the benefit of having concrete bid as primary in the parking lots of selected projects. Commenting on the Pompano project, a Walmart official stated, "The project was rebid as there were some corrections warranted in the original bid numbers, but those were revised to present apples to apples and concrete was still favorable."
"This project is a testament to the competitive nature of concrete on the front-end when cross-sections of competing projects are equivalent," Miller said. "Most owners, like Walmart, recognize the benefit of reduced long-term maintenance costs by incorporating concrete, but in the face of the current economy put more value on reducing up-front costs to keep cash assets close at hand."
For more information, contact Amy Miller at amiller@nrmca.org.
Senior Director of National Resources Phil Kresge recently met with representatives of the Public Works Department at the Naval Support Facility in Dahlgren, VA. The meeting was facilitated by James Murray, Rowe Materials/Chaney Enterprises, and hosted by Hessam Nabavi, Virginia Ready-Mixed Concrete Association. Kresge’s presentation, Pervious Concrete: Concrete Solutions for Stormwater Runoff, was well received by the group and included a lively question/answer session.
With several projects currently under design, there is considerable interest to incorporate pervious concrete for stormwater management. Following the presentation, Kresge, Murray and Nabavi visited one of the potential project sites on base. Kresge offered NRMCA’s Design Assistance Program (DAP) services for pavement design guidance on the project.
The Naval Support Facility – Dahlgren covers 4,000 acres in King George County, VA. Stormwater management is essential due to its proximity to Machodoc Creek and the Potomac River, which bound the base on two sides. Kresge explained that pervious concrete is a perfect solution to stormwater runoff concerns on the base, highlighting its ability to meet the stormwater requirements of Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) 2007.
For more information, contact Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org.
When it came time to repair the 12-year-old asphalt parking lot and material staging area at the nation’s largest insulating concrete forms (ICF) company, a concrete overlay was the solution, reports NRMCA Senior National Resource Director Jon Hansen. LiteForm Technologies, located in South Sioux City, NE, placed concrete on top of the existing asphalt and everyone is thrilled with the results.
"The old asphalt was so uneven, we had to drive our forklifts very slow when loading pallets of material outside for fear of them tipping and dumping the load. Now on the new concrete it is so smooth we are can speed up our loading process," said Chris Stamm of LiteForm. "And the lighting, what a difference," added his colleague Dave Hall. "We did not change our lot lighting, but the customer parking area is now so much brighter in addition to the materials area where we are often loading material in early morning or late evening darkness."
Liteform Technologies was started in 1986 by Pat Boeshart and is now a world leader in ICF products. For more information, visit www.liteform.com. Here are Before and After photos of the project. For more information on concrete overlays of asphalt parking lots, contact Jon Hansen at jhansen@nrmca.org.
Although the initial bid for restoring a 56,000 square foot parking lot for Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (RTR) High School, in Tyler, MN, was asphalt mill and 2-inch resurfacing, local promotion efforts led to a different outcome. The original bid was in May 2012, but exceeded district policy for an internal letting award. The project had to be re-bid and publicly advertised. PCA-North Central Pavement Engineer April Stier’s well-timed contact to the district superintendent introduced the idea of a concrete overlay. Stier drew attention to the ongoing maintenance and repair costs associated with asphalt pavements. This coupled with safety advantages of better lighting, convinced the superintendent and school board to consider concrete.
Although higher in price, the RTR School Board selected the concrete overlay option because of its durability and reduced ownership cost. The parking lot was paved with 3.5-inches of concrete after sweeping and air blasting the existing asphalt. The RTR School District plans to consider longer lasting, low maintenance concrete for future pavement projects.
Source: Portland Cement Association's Executive Report e-newsletter for December 3.
Nominations are now open for the NRMCA Promoter of the Year Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Promotion. Both awards will be presented at the association’s annual convention in San Antonio, TX, March 3-5, 2013. Nominees for Promoter of the Year must be current employees of NRMCA producer members. Nominees for the Lifetime Achievement Award must be former employees of NRMCA member companies who are retired or deceased.
You can help industry promotion champions get deserved recognition by nominating them for these prestigious awards. The most recent award winners are Larry Gibbes of Argos USA (Promoter of the Year) and Peter Deem, retired from Holcim (Lifetime Achievement). The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, December 21.
More information and nomination forms are available here or by contacting NRMCA's Glenn Ochsenreiter at 1-888-846-7622, ext. 1140 or by e-mail, glenn@nrmca.org.
Two of NRMCA's most popular - and informative - promotion-focused Webinars are featured in December. The first is on ACI 330 and why it's widely considered the gold standard when it comes to parking lot design and the next is NRMCA's Concrete Pavement Analyst software. Two related Webinars designed to help your company take advantage of this market. To learn more and to access online registration links, see the links below or contact NRMCA's Jacques Jenkins at jjenkins@nrmca.org.
ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS
NRMCA has just compiled a valuable member-only publication that provides summaries and data from each of its five most popular industry benchmarking surveys: the Industry Data Survey, Fleet Benchmarking Survey, Safety Benchmarking Survey, Annual Compensation Survey and Supplementary Cementitious Materials Use Survey. Relevant staff contacts are listed along with descriptions of each survey on the Table of Contents page.
Members may access the link for the Compilation of 2012 NRMCA Benchmark Surveys from the NRMCA Web site. For more information, contact Kathleen Carr-Smith at kcarrsmith@nrmca.org.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
A host of publications have reported on the fiscal cliff, transportation, infrastructure, regulation, heath care, taxes and other subjects, each of which relate to the ready mixed concrete industry. To access these articles for the week of November 26 - 30, please click here.
If you would like to receive this weekly updated link in a separate e-mail, or if you have questions or comments about the roundup, contact NRMCA’s Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
NRMCA's December Internet Spotlight, good through Tuesday, January 9, is the ever popular Concrete In Practice (CIP) full set – both English and Spanish versions available. This package contains 20 collated sets of each CIP 1-42. Concrete in Practice sheets are short one-page discussions on various concrete topics. Written in a "What? Why? and How?" scheme, they are intended to provide information in a non-technical format. The CIP topics are researched and written by members of NRMCA's Research Engineering and Standards Committee.
CALENDAR
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.
December 6, Las Vegas
Rocky Mountain Regional Work Plan Meeting
Email: Nicole Maher, 888-84-NRMCA, x1158
December 7, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 - The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
December 11-14, Denver
Plant Manager Certification Course *Sold Out
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 12, Silver Spring, MD
Atlantic Regional Work Plan Meeting
Email: Nicole Maher, 888-84-NRMCA, x1158
December 12-13, Doha, Qatar
International Concrete Technology Forum
Email: Lionel Lemay, 847-918-7101
December 18, Webinar
Green-Star Auditor Certification
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
December 18, Webinar *New Date
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst (CPA) Software
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
December 18, Webinar *New Date
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete Part II
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
2013
January 8, Webinar
Roller Compacted Concrete: Your Third Choice for Pavement
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
January 15, Webinar
The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
January 28-31, Online Course
Design of Concrete Pavements
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
February 5, Webinar
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst (CPA) Software
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
February 5, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete Part I
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
February 12, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete Part II
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
February 18-22, Sacramento, CA
Technical Short Course
Email: Karen Bean, 888-84-NRMCA, x1168
February 19-21, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module III: General Business Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
February 20, Cleveland
Adopting Disaster Resilient Construction at the Local Level
Email: Tien Peng, 206-913-8535
February 21, Webinar
Soils 101
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
February 25, Webinar
Controlling Moisture in Concrete Slabs
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
February 28, Orlando, FL
Adopting Disaster Resilient Construction at the Local Level
Email: Tien Peng, 206-913-8535
March 3-5, San Antonio, TX
NRMCA Annual Convention
Email: Nicole Maher, 888-84-NRMCA, x1158
March 5, Webinar
Roller Compacted Concrete: Your Third Choice for Pavement
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
March 7, Webinar
RCC: Intro to Design and Construction
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
March 11-14, Online Course
Building Green with Concrete
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
March 12, Webinar
The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
March 19, Webinar
Concrete Pavement Jointing Plans
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
March 19, Webinar
Green-Star Auditor Certification
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 888-84-NRMCA, x1165
March 19-21, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module IV: Sales Fundamentals
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
March 20, Charlotte, NC
Handling Concrete Specifications, Low Strength Problems & Mixture Submittals
Email: Karen Bean, 888-84-NRMCA, x1168
April 4, Baton Rouge, LA
Handling Concrete Specifications, Low Strength Problems & Mixture Submittals
Email: Karen Bean, 888-84-NRMCA, x1168
April 8-11, Online Course
LCA of Concrete Structures
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
May 6-8, San Francisco
International Concrete Sustainability Conference
Email: Lionel Lemay, 847-918-7101
May 12-15, Chicago
Fifth North American Conference on Design and Use of Self-Consolidating Concrete
May 20-23 Online Course
Pervious Concrete: A Stormwater Solution
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
June 11, Webinar
Concrete Overlays for Streets and Local Roads and Parking Lots
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
June 25, Webinar
Controlling Moisture in Concrete Slabs
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
August 11-15, Montreal
ISARC 2013: 30th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, Mining & Petroleum Industries
Email: Chantal Murphy, 514-939-2710, ext. 1309
August 27, Webinar
Concrete Pavement Jointing Plans
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
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