NRMCA e-news
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
NRMCA's celebration of the 100th anniversary of ready mixed concrete in the U.S. begins its September offerings with two more histories of Producer and Associate members - see below for their respective Web site links. This week's industry milestone: The first cable-stayed bridge with a concrete superstructure to be built in the U.S. was the Pasco-Kennewick Intercity bridge crossing the Columbia River in Washington State, which opened to traffic in 1978. The main spans were 407 ft (124 m), 981 ft (299 m), and 407 ft (124 m).
To have your company featured in this space in the coming weeks, please contact NRMCA's Kathleen Carr Smith at kcarrsmith@nrmca.org or 301-587-1400, ext. 1145.
Shelby Materials - This ready mixed concrete producer has been a family-owned company for 50 years. Its heritage stems from various companies founded and acquired by the Haehl and Wheeler families dating back to the mid 1940s. John D. Haehl, Sr., and Thomas J. Wheeler started in the crushed stone business in 1946 when they founded the Cave Stone Company in Norristown, IN. In 1951, Haehl and Wheeler were part of a group that purchased Barker Sand and Gravel, Inc. in Shelbyville, IN. After the purchase, the two opened a ready mixed concrete plant on the property and renamed the company Shelby Gravel, Inc. Read more.
An NRMCA Producer member since 1989
Lehigh Hanson - This longstanding Associate member is part of the HeidelbergCement Group. HeidelbergCement has been present in the U.S. since the acquisition of the Lehigh Cement Company in 1977. HeidelbergCement acquired its Canadian operations in 1993 and Hanson plc in 2007. Today, the Lehigh and Hanson businesses in North America are collectively known as Lehigh Hanson. Read more.
An NRMCA Associate member since 1940
PAVEMENTS
NRMCA Senior Director of Pavement Structures Brian Killingsworth, P.E., attended the American Public Works Association's (APWA) International Public Works Congress & Exposition held late last month in Chicago. The conference included numerous technical and professional development sessions as well as an extensive gathering of exhibitors that showcased the latest products, services and technologies specific to public works. Two of the educational sessions focused on the use of pervious concrete and roller compacted concrete (RCC) in municipal settings and were well attended by conference attendees.
In the first session, Freeman Anthony, P.E., project engineer with the city of Bellingham, WA, discussed how the city used pervious concrete for solving not only stormwater challenges, but also saving maintenance dollars over the long term. In the RCC session, Theron Tobolski of NRMCA Producer member Prairie Material shared how RCC pavement has been used in unique ways in both heavy duty and municipal applications in the upper Midwest. He also spoke about utilizing ribbon mixers for production of RCC and the quality benefits of using these mixers in the production process.
Killingsworth was present at the conference and spoke with many public works officials about the use of concrete in street and road applications. He also informed them about NRMCA’s Design Assistance Program. NRMCA will continue to seek these decision makers and educate them about concrete’s value proposition from both an environmental and economic perspective.
For more information about concrete street and local road technical assistance, contact Brian Killingsworth at bkillingsworth@nrmca.org or 830-438-2690.
PROMOTIONS
A member of the Board of Directors of the American Concrete Pumping Association, Gabriel Ojeda with Fritz-Pak, recently contacted NRMCA's Senior Director, National Resources, Doug O'Neill, expressing interest in offering ACPA members access to one of NRMCA's many promotion-oriented Webinars. Ojeda recognized that concrete pumpers have just as much to gain from talking about concrete and communicating its benefits as ready mix producers. O'Neill said the Pumping Association then sent an e-mail blast to its members inviting them to participate in NRMCA's Effectively Communicating Sustainability Webinar, and many took advantage of the opportunity.
One notable participant in the Webinar was a trade press journalist, Rebecca Wasieleski, editor of Concrete Contractor magazine. Ms. Wasieleski posted her own take about the Webinar on her Concrete Thoughts blog which not only highlights some of the issues discussed during the Webinar, but offers many valuable links to educational resources on concrete's sustainability (click here to read some of Ms. Wasieleski's articles). "Thanks to the efforts of the pumping association, not only were we able to reach out to many of its members, but we were also able to have an impact on a highly respected media outlet that took our message and expanded it exponentially," O'Neill said.
For more information, contact Doug O'Neill at doneill@nrmca.org. What started as a $600 million project for Google in Western Iowa has been expanded numerous times, with the latest estimates to top $1.5 billion. Concrete not only played a major role in the structure and interior floors, but was also chosen for service drives and parking lots, reports NRMCA Senior National Resource Director Jon Hansen. The data center houses some of the infrastructure behind Google search, Gmail, Google Maps and the Google+ social network. Google Data Center Operations Manager Chris Russell said, "As demand for our services grows, our operations need to grow as well."
In recent months, other Internet giants Amazon and Facebook have also announced a number of larger construction projects around the country, Hansen noted.
For more information, contact Jon Hansen at jhansen@nrmca.org.
Roller-Compacted Concrete (RCC) pavement is increasingly becoming a viable alternative to conventional asphalt paving and offers our industry tremendous growth opportunities. "Although RCC is not new, it has not historically been a part of the ready mix rroducer’s standard offering," said NRMCA Senior National Resource Director Phil Kresge. "In the past, RCC has been considered a product that could only be supplied by dedicated RCC contractors with specialized equipment. However, we know that RCC can easily be manufactured by any ready mix producer and can be placed by local concrete and asphalt contractors. Of course, all this comes with a learning curve."
In an effort to minimize that curve, NRMCA's Promotion Committee recently authorized the formation of a Roller-Compacted Concrete Task Force that will look into several areas of particular interest with regard to RCC and the ready mix producer. Among those interests are RCC specification, RCC placement guidelines and RCC maintenance guidelines. Kresge reports that the task force will also look into better understanding the ready mix industry’s perceptions of RCC as well as the dynamics of producer/contractor relationships with regard to RCC promotion.
The task force is open to all NRMCA members. Anyone interested in participating should contact Kresge at pkresge@mrmca.org.
NRMCA is looking for input from our Producer and Associate members on large general contractors who self-perform concrete work. Do you know of or work with such a company in your region? NRMCA's national resource directors would like to discuss with you how to bring value to them through NRMCA’s offerings.
If you can help, click here to find national resource director contact information. NRMCA national resource directors begin September with a bang, at least Webinar-wise, with three offerings coming your way next week. Each of the three topics - Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst Software, The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots and Effectively Communicating Sustainability - will be offered next week. Check the links below to learn more and to register online.
ENGINEERING
Each year, NRMCA's Engineering Department teaches its introduction to concrete fundamentals for those who need a broad overview of technical aspects as they relate to business and sales functions. This year, the workshop will be held October 1-3 at the RMC Research & Education Foundation Center in Silver Spring, MD. Attendees can take an exam October 4 that can be applied toward the Certified Concrete Sales Professional (CCSP) program. This class fills quickly. Additionally, the discount hotel cutoff date is Monday, September 16, so please register soon.
*Note that this class is a prerequisite for all STEPs track certifications except Sales and Marketing where it is a required course. Click here for registration options, more information and NRMCA staff contact.
NRMCA is offering its information-packed one-day course, Handling Concrete Specifications, Low Strength Problems and Mixture Submittals, intended for concrete producers, contractors, engineers and testing labs on Tuesday, December 3, in Sacramento, CA and Wednesday, December 4, in Glendora, CA. Dealing with concrete specifications, troubleshooting low strength problems and ensuring proper mixture submittals can be expensive and time consuming. This one-day course will get into code and specification requirements (ACI 318, 301, ASTM C94) governing ready mixed concrete, including exposure categories in the ACI Building Code 318-11. It will suggest specification revisions for all around benefits in performance and cost which is based on a specification guideline document. The guideline document is the result of review of numerous concrete specifications (Section 03300) belonging to large owners and has been reviewed and supported by NRMCA's Research Engineering and Standards Committee.
The course will cover the analysis of strength test results to identify causes for low strength problems and provide guidance to track compliance with specification requirements. Non-destructive testing techniques such as the Rebound Hammer, core testing, evaluating core test results for acceptance and assignment of responsibility will be discussed. The course also provides necessary details required for an efficient concrete mixture submittal following the ACI 318 Flowchart for Selection of Concrete Mixtures.
Course instructors are Luke Snell, P.E., FACI, FASCE, Western Technologies and Karthik Obla, Ph.D., P.E., vice president technical services at NRMCA. Producers, contractors, engineers and testing labs will find the discussions on investigating low strength problems and specifications very helpful to address issues that impact partnering, project cost and schedule. Upon successful completion of the course, attendees will earn 8 professional development hours, a certificate of completion and credits toward NRMCA’s STEPS program.
For more information, including registration links and staff contact, click here. SUSTAINABILITY
Last week in Sacramento an important piece of legislation passed into law with the signature of California Governor Jerry Brown. Assembly Bill 221, authored by Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), reinforces the environmental benefits of recycling reclaimed concrete materials when making new concrete. With bipartisan legislative support and the support of the California Construction and Industrial Materials Association (CalCIMA), California Construction and Trucking Association and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the law recognizes that reusing and recycling concrete can reduce our landfill waste stream, air pollution and greenhouse gas which reflects positively on our industry.
AB 221 builds upon and updates the provisions in the California Public Resources Code sections 16000-16004 regarding "recycled concrete". It recognizes the fact that global warming and sustainability issues have taken on greater importance and that the California Green Building Code has been adopted. The changes are intended to keep the codes current and to encourage recycling, re-use and conservation of reclaimed resources which are voluntary provisions.
These are the updates made by AB 221: • Facilitating recycling of concrete materials in concrete production reduces waste, truck trips and emissions while advancing sustainable practices in concrete manufacture;
• Recycling of aggregates from concrete conserves the natural resources of aggregates;
• Recycling of water conserves water resources;
• Recycling of returned fresh concrete maximizes the reuse of the natural resources of aggregates, water and cement, and conserves embodied energy from concrete production; and
• Using the term "returned fresh concrete," which means this term is now in statute, and parallels the use of this term in draft specification and code changes being worked on by Caltrans and ASTM.
NRMCA will develop model legislation based on the success of this effort for potential use in other states.
The exact language of the AB 221 legislation can be seen here. For more information, contact NRMCA's Tien Peng at TPeng@nrmca.org or 206-913-8535.
Last week, Tien Peng, NRMCA’s senior director of sustainability, codes and standards, presented a "Resilient Solutions Start with Community" workshop at the Kentucky Association of Mitigation Managers (KAMM) 2013 Annual Conference in Carrollton, KY. The "Back to Basics" themed program also featured sessions on FEMA’s efforts to enhance community resilience, and resilient concrete buildings and neighborhoods by local architect Jill Lewis Smith. Approximately 13 hazard mitigation professionals attended the session which utilized research conducted by the Center for Innovation and Engineering, Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at West Point.
KAMM was formed to promote natural hazard mitigation and management in Kentucky. Its members represent local floodplain coordinators, planning and zoning officials, engineers, surveyors, GIS specialists, hydrologists, public safety and emergency managers.
Peng also met with 15 code, emergency management and planning officials as a followup to the Disaster Resilient Construction Workshops held earlier this year. The meeting held in Louisville, KY, promoted local advocacy for resilient activities and featured new NRMCA resources, including the Workshop Report, Federal legislation, new FEMA documents and the LEED Resilient Construction Pilot Credit currently under development.
Peng was invited to speak at the KAMM event by Greg Smith of the Kentucky Concrete Pavement Association. Greg works closely with the Kentucky Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (KRMCA) and suggested the proposed topic. NRMCA encourages its members to participate in their local professional efforts, and offer topics and speakers for education programs. For those who feel comfortable presenting, NRMCA also has a number of prescribed presentations ranging from specifying sustainable concrete to LCA of concrete structures. For the most complex topics, NRMCA can also provide technical staff to present at local events.
For more information on sustainability initiatives, visit www.nrmca.org/sustainability. For more information, contact Tien Peng at 206-913-8535 or tpeng@nrmca.org.
The next installment of the International Concrete Sustainability Conference Online will take place on Thursday, September 19, from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern time and discuss coal ash material safety. This series of free monthly Webinars features world renowned speakers who presented at the International Concrete Sustainability Conference in May 2013. Click on the link below to register:
o Lisa Bradley, Ph.D., vice president and senior toxicologist / risk assessor, AECOM, USA
o Coal Ash Material Safety - A Health Risk-Based Evaluation of USGS Coal Ash Data from Five U.S. Power Plants, Lisa Bradley
Future topics and dates will be announced soon.
For more details about this Webinar series and to register online, visit www.nrmca.org/ICSCOnline. For more information about NRMCA’s International Concrete Sustainability Conference, visit www.concretesustainabilityconference.org or contact Lionel Lemay at LLemay@nrmca.org or 847-918-7101.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published in the Federal Register NRMCA’s application for an industry-wide exemption from the new Hours of Service 30-minute break provision (FR notice can be viewed here). FMCSA’s Federal Register notice requests comments on the exemption application by Thursday, September 19: It is very important to not only relay to FMCSA the burden the 30-minute break has on the industry, but also to show overwhelming and broad industry support for the exemption. To these points, NRMCA is urging individuals and companies to please submit comments to the Federal Register docket on the exemption application. While original and unique submissions are preferred, NRMCA has drafted template comments for your use (please click here to download).
Once your comments are finalized, they can be submitted electronically, by fax, mail or by hand (each detailed in the Federal Register notice). NRMCA suggests using the electronic delivery method to ensure that all comments are received by FMCSA, at the latest, close-of-business on September 19.
DIRECTIONS FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMITTAL: Please visit www.regulations.gov. In the field titled Search, enter FMCSA-2013-0317 and then click Search. Next to the listing titled Hours of Service of Drivers; Exemption Applications: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, click the button titled Comment Now! Then just follow the 3-step process to upload and finalize your comment submittal.
For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach, Gary Mullings or Kerri Leininger. Media articles on Congress, transportation infrastructure, regulation, taxes and other subjects, each of which relate to the ready mixed concrete industry, are updated each week by NRMCA's Government Affairs staff. To access the most recent compilation of articles for the Week of August 26 - 29, 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. EDUCATION &TRAINING
It is with great pleasure that the Educational Activities Committee announces that the 2013 Innovation in Training Award is awarded to CEMEX's "JOB-Safe." Middle Tennessee State University’s Concrete Industry Management faculty judged the entries for the committee; CIM Program Director Heather Brown, Ph.D., noted, "All of the submittals were top notch."
The judges wrote about the winner’s entry, "JOB-Safe was created from a driver’s idea and the company believed and supported him to share his message of job site safety for drivers and ultimately the contractor and community. A checklist and brochure was created to send to the construction site prior to the truck arriving. This would ensure all possible hazards would be avoided on the day of the pour. This brochure and concept can be replicated industry wide and it is truly innovative. Congratulations to Lance Morgan – the driver who was inspired to think outside the box – and the entire CEMEX team." The award will be presented at NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks awards luncheon, Monday, September 23, just outside Las Vegas at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. As the winning entry, "JOB Safe" will also be featured in an upcoming edition of NRMCA’s Concrete InFocus quarterly magazine.
For more information, contact NRMCA's Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. CALENDAR
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.
September 10, Webinar
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst Software
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
September 10, Webinar
The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
September 12, Webinar
Effectively Communicating Sustainability
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
September 19, Free Webinar
Coal Ash Material Safety—A Health Risk-Based Evaluation of USGS Coal Ash Data from Five US Power Plants
Email: Lionel Lemay, 847-918-7101
September 22-24, Las Vegas, NV
ConcreteWorks & Board of Directors' Meeting
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 25-26, Cambridge, MA
MIT CSHUB Showcase 2013
Email: Donna Hudson, donnaon@mit.edu
September 26, Webinar
Sustainable Design with Concrete
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
October 1, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete - Part 1 (*Part 2 on October 8)
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
October 1-4, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP I: Introduction to Concrete Fundamentals—Concrete 101
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
October 15, Webinar
Roller Compacted Concrete: Another Choice for Pavement
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 4, Silver Spring, MD
Concrete Technologist Traning & Certification "Short Course"
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
November 5, Webinar
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst Software
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 5, Webinar
The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 7, Webinar
Sustainable Design with Concrete
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 8, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
November 12-14, Silver Spring, MD
The Effective RMC Supervisor Course
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 19, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete - Part 1 (*Part 2 on November 26)
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 3, Webinar
Roller Compacted Concrete: Another Choice for Pavement
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 3-5, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP II: Customer Business Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 4-6, Orlando, FL
Environmental Professional Certification Course
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 10-13, Orlando, FL
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 23, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete - Part 1 (*Part 2 on December 30)
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
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