NRMCA e-news
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
BUILDINGS
The National Concrete Bridge Council (NCBC) is a council of allied industry organizations, of which NRMCA is a member, that is dedicated to promote quality in concrete bridge construction; gather and disseminate information on design, construction, and condition of concrete bridges; establish communication with federal and state departments of transportation, city and county public works departments, and consulting engineers; and provide information on behalf of the concrete industries to codes and standards groups. Twice a year representatives from NCBC meet with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to discuss a range of concrete bridge related topics consisting of technology deployment, technical assistance, research activities and the long-term bridge program. NRMCA Vice President, Pavement Structures, Brian Killingsworth attends these meetings on behalf of the ready mix industry to highlight our various concrete certification programs, research initiatives and training efforts.
Last month, the NCBC-FHWA joint meeting was held at the Portland Cement Association offices in Skokie, IL. Highlights at this meeting included a discussion regarding how the National Bridge Inspection (NBI) Standard is being revised by FHWA as a result of MAP-21. The FHWA develops and implements procedures to conduct reviews of state compliance with the NBIS. The NBIS was last changed in 2004. Currently, the FHWA is responding to comments from 12 states regarding the proposed procedural changes to the NBIS and should have a final completed by December 2014. Other topics covered at the meeting included a post-tensioned (P-T) grouting guidance and training manual that has been completed and is currently available online at the FHWA site, an updated NBI training inspection course to include P-T delivered by the National Highway Institute (NHI) and a P-T box beam design manual that will be available in August 2014. Other bridge related design topics also included a refined analysis reference manual that will be available in September 2014, the availability of the girder stability during construction class taught by NHI Class, as well as an LRFD superstructure design course. For more information about NCBC and their allied organizations see its Web site contact NRMCA’s Brian Killingsworth at bkillingsworth@nrmca.org or 830-438-2690.
PROMOTIONS
Concrete promotion and sales professionals are invited to join their peers from across North America at NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks at the J.W. Marriott in Indianapolis from September 21-23. ConcreteWorks has a full promotion/sales track as one of four content tracks at the event. Click here for the ConcreteWorks Web site and here for the PDF brochure which includes session descriptions for all the tracks. Please note that the last day for the ConcreteWorks early-bird registration is Friday, August 29.
The promotion/sales track focuses on practical information and best practices presented by industry participants to help attendees improve their effectiveness in delivering concrete paving projects. Conference attendees are also invited to participate in the NRMCA Promotion Committee Meeting on Sunday, September 21, from 4 to 6 p.m.
For more information about the Promotion/Sales track, contact Glenn Ochsenreiter at glenn@nrmca.org or 240-485-1140. Attendees who would like to make a five to 15 minute presentation in the "What Works" session should contact Jon Hansen at jhansen@nrmca.org or 515-266-1058.
The NRMCA Pervious Concrete Promotion Subcommittee will hold its next conference call on Thursday, August 28, at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Topics of discussion will include progress on the proposed Pervious Concrete Guidelines for Specifiers and Designers and revisions to the NRMCA Maintenance Guidelines for Pervious Concrete. Additional focus will be given to the development of new, pervious concrete-related articles for the NRMCA’s Concrete In Practice (CIP) series.
The Pervious Concrete Promotion Subcommittee is open to all NRMCA members and invited guests. Anyone interested in participating in the conference should contact NRMCA Senior Director, National Resources, Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org for call-in information and materials.
ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS
This week, NRMCA continues to highlight one of the companies that has chosen to exhibit at this fall's annual ConcreteWorks conference in Indianapolis. The conference is one of the industry's best opportunities for ready mix producers to interact with companies that provide goods and services to the concrete industry. This week, Jonel Engineering is the sixth company in the series.
For more than 50 years, Jonel Engineering has been a leading provider of batching control systems and operations management software designed specifically for ready mix, precast, masonry and aggregate producers. Its goal is to provide the most innovative technology in the industry in order to help producers improve production and operating efficiency. Longtime NRMCA Associate member Jonel Engineering will be located in booth 112. Please join us the morning of Tuesday, September 23, for the 3rd Annual Walk for Wellness to support the RMC Research & Education Foundation. The Walk will again take place in conjunction with NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks Conference and Fall Board of Directors’ Meeting, this year in Indianapolis. Please join us in spreading awareness of how wellness is an important element of daily life, including at the workplace. Your participation is a tremendous opportunity to also support this initiative and the Foundation at the same time. Registration will be $25 per walker and will be complimentary for drivers participating in the 9th Annual Truck Mixer Driver Championship.
Sponsorships for the event are also available and are a great opportunity to support the event, the Foundation and advertise your company all at the same time. The sponsorship form is available here; one half of the cost of each sponsorship is tax deductible as a contribution to the Foundation. Thank you to BASF Corp. for its pre-walk coffee sponsorship.
For more information and to register for the Walk, please click here. Should you have additional questions, please contact Jennifer LeFevre at 240-485-1151 or at jlefevre@rmc-foundation.org.
ENGINEERING
ACI Committee 318 met this past week in Charleston, SC, for the final process in completing the reorganized ACI 318 Building Code for Structural Concrete. This meeting was to complete the review and committee’s responses to public comments, which amounted to about 800 comments and other minor revisions to the document. This was the final step in the development process to publishing the Code, which is expected to be available in print at the ACI Fall Convention in Washington, DC, in October. Publication of ACI 318 meets the schedule for it to be referenced in the next version of the International Building Code (IBC) that is expected to be approved later this year.
A new ACI Committee 318 will be established for the next Code cycle (typically 6 years). The committee will be chaired by Jack Moehle, University of California, Berkeley. The gavel was passed to the new chair by outgoing chair Randall Poston with WDP & Associates. The reorganized Code represents a significant effort by the committee that included more than 15,000 pages of balloting and resolutions. While originally anticipated as just a reorganization of ACI 318-11, the new Code does have several technical changes. To help users of the Code, a transition map will be provided to identify provisions in 318-14 to the equivalent provisions in 318-11 (NRMCA's Colin Lobo serves on ACI Committee 318).
For more information, contact Colin Lobo at clobo@nrmca.org. A report published by Purdue University in collaboration with the Joint Transportation Research Program is available: An Overview of Joint Deterioration in Concrete Pavement – Mechanisms, Solution Properties, and Sealers. The research was supported in part by Pooled Fund Study TPF-5(224) and industry groups. The research was conducted to address the increased observance of premature deterioration of joints in concrete pavement in regions with freezing weather. The research evaluates the increased degree of saturation of joints with the use of deicing salts and their influence on freeze-thaw damage. Pavement cores from several regions were evaluated in laboratory tests and the effect of sealers was evaluated to minimize distress to pavements. The research proposes a test to assess chloride solution ingress during temperature cycling to develop strategies to reduce joint deterioration.
Click here for the report. The next NRMCA Concrete Durability Course has obtained the required number of registrants and will be held September 8-10 at the office of the Florida Concrete Products Association (FCPA) in Orlando. The course is taught by Michael Thomas, University of New Brunswick; Kevin Folliard, University of Texas at Austin and NRMCA Engineering Staff. The course provides a fundamental understanding of the nature of cement and concrete as they relate to durability of concrete. Topics will cover cracking, alkali aggregate reactions, sulfate attack, corrosion of reinforcing steel, freeze-thaw durability and other aspects. A group exercise will be facilitated to walk attendees through ConcreteWorks software that can be used to develop concrete mixtures for durability and to evaluate the potential for temperature-related cracking.
The course also discusses the durability provisions in the Building Code - ACI 318-11 and how specifications can be structured to address durability. Comprehensive reference material is provided as course notes that are an excellent resource to concrete producers and associated technical personnel. The course concludes with a comprehensive exam on the subject matter covered. Those with the NRMCA Level 3 Certification obtain the NRMCA Concrete Technologist Level 4 Certification when passing this exam. However, it is not essential to have attended the NRMCA Technical Short Course to attend the Durability Course. The course provides required learning units toward the technical track of the NRMCA STEPS certification program. Please register now if you wish to attend. Click here to access registration links, more information and staff contact. SUSTAINABILITY
The new reporting requirements in LEED v4 will likely change the way companies do business and companies that take the initiative to understand the requirements and obtain the necessary documentation will gain a competitive advantage. To help concrete producers understand these new requirements, NRMCA is offering a 90-minute free Webinar titled "New Radical Material and Resources Reporting Criteria in LEED v4" on Wednesday, August 20, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. This Webinar will provide an overview of the new MR Disclosure and Optimization credits and the reports required by product manufacturers, including EPDs, CSRs and HPDs and what they mean for the concrete industry. It will also help participants understand the new LEED v4 requirements that emphasize material transparency, how your business can prepare for the transition, and describe the NRMCA programs and resources available to help concrete producers meet these new reporting requirements.
Click here for more details and registration information or contact Tien Peng at tpeng@nrmca.org or 206-913-8535.
NRMCA will be delivering its disaster resilience message in two events this month. On Sunday, August 17, NRMCA will engage public works officials at the annual APWA (American Public Works Association) 2014 International Public Works Congress & Exposition in Toronto. NRMCA Vice President, Sustainability, Tien Peng will be presenting "Resilience is the New Sustainability" to professionals from all over the world during the technical development sessions. Click here for more conference details.
Later, in partnership with the Arkansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association, NRMCA will present a workshop titled "Adopting Disaster Resilient Construction at the Local Level" in Little Rock on Thursday, August 28 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Community leaders, builders, contractors, planners, risk managers, engineers, architects, owners, developers, producers, municipal and public works officials are welcome to attend.
Along with other speakers from Holcim Inc. and the newly formed Council of ICF Industries (CICFI), the workshop will educate decision makers at the local level on the importance of disaster resilient construction to enhance community continuity in the face of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes and floods. Topics covered during the seminar include local disaster risk assessment and mitigation, resilient construction methods, FORTIFIED design and construction programs, building code requirements, safe rooms and storm shelters, flood resistant construction and fire resistance. Click here for additional details.
Concrete has long been recognized as the material of choice for resisting high winds, flying debris and storm surge associated with hurricanes and tornadoes. With the increased attention to climate change adaptation, concrete systems are essential in fortifying a community’s economic vitality, the safety of its citizens while supporting long-term sustainability.
NRMCA encourages its members to participate in local professional groups, such as APWA, AIA, ASCE or USGBC local chapters, and offer topics and speakers for education programs. For more information on these professional development opportunities, contact Tien Peng at 206-913-8535 or tpeng@nrmca.org.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
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 August 1 - 8, 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 Elizabeth Fox at efox@nrmca.org.
EDUCATION &TRAINING
On Wednesday, August 20, NRMCA will conduct a 90-minute Webinar called, "Recruiting & Hiring Top Performing Ready Mix Sales Reps." As reported by NRMCA members, hiring the right people to grow your business is the #1 challenge of every ready mix sales manager. Learn how to spot potential top sales performers and how to identify the warning signs of a possible "wrong hire".
What you will learn:
• Interviewing Basics – how to conduct a sales interview;
• Ready Mix Top performer indicators and warning signs;
• The "20 Power Questions" – why making s successful hire is about asking the right questions; and
• Closing the Deal.
This Webinar is part of an ongoing series for sales managers to support themselves and their staffs' efforts during the economic recovery. The next Webinar will be Wednesday, November 19. As the year winds down, we will look at sales performance assessment and staff reviews. Click here to register for this Webinar and here to learn about other ready mixed concrete sales-related Webinars.
Each module of NRMCA's Certified Concrete Sales Professional (CCSP) series will be held in Silver Spring, MD (metro Washington, DC), beginning in October and ending in March 2015. A discounted fee is extended for those who register for all four classes and to companies who send three or more people to one class. The schedule is as follows:
• Module 1: Concrete 101, October 7-9
• Module 2: Understand the Contractor's Business, December 16-18
• Module 3: RMC Business Knowledge, February 24-26, 2015
• Module 4: Professional Sales Skills and Promotion, March 31-April 2, 2015
Each class stands alone so it does NOT have to be taken consecutively or collectively. The well-respected, updated content is a valid way to refresh sales skills that emphasize the industry’s aggressive stance toward winning business. Additionally, these are the required courses in the STEPS® Sales and Promotion certification program, where those in the field earn the industry's most prestigious capstone certification, the CCPf.
Click here for more information or contact NRMCA's Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org or 240-485-1152.
Educational Activities Committee (EAC) Chairwoman Vicki Tyminski extends a warm invitation to all attendees at NRMCA's 2014 ConcreteWorks to join the Fall EAC meeting on Saturday, September 20, from 4 - 6 p.m. at the JW Marriott Indianapolis. As the industry recovers, more producers are evaluating what industry-based training would best serve their staff and companies. Hear about new safety training materials, a technical class and industry career planning support. Please join us for a frank discussion about what your company could use to keep employees performing at a national standard. That includes foreseeable publications, classes, Webinars and out-of-box ideas: creative input is most welcome.
For more information, contact staff EAC liaison Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org or 240-485-1164.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
The NRMCA August Internet Spotlight, good through Tuesday, September 2, is the Concrete In Practice (CIP) Bundle – CIP100. This bundle package contains 20 sets, of each CIP 1-43. 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.
Order online today and receive 20% off. Regular member price for this package is $230, Internet Special is $184, plus shipping. Use Discount Code AUG14.
CALENDAR
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.
August 14, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Team Building & Situation Analysis
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
August 18, Nashville, TN
Regional ConcreteWorks Lower Atlantic Region
Email: Nicole Maher, 1-888-846-7622, ext. 1158
August 19, Webinar
Roller Compacted Concrete: Another Choice for Pavement
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
August 20, Free Webinar
New Radical Material and Resources Reporting Criteria in LEEDv4
Email: Tien Peng, 206-913-8535
August 20, Webinar
Recruiting & Hiring Top Performing Ready Mix Sales Reps
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
August 21, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Promotion for DOTs, Counties & Municipalities
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
August 26, Kansas City, MO
Regional ConcreteWorks South Central Region
Email: Nicole Maher, 1-888-846-7622, ext. 1158
September 8-10, Orlando, FL
Concrete Durability Course
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 9, Webinar
Designing and Specifying Pervious Concrete Part 1 (Part 2 is September 16)
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 12, Free Webinar
Winning Initial Streets & Roads Projects in Counties & Municipalities
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
September 12, Webinar
Designing Concrete Parking Lots the Right Way!
Email: Amy Miller, 904-264-8850
September 21-23, Indianapolis, IN
NRMCA's ConcreteWorks & Board of Directors' Meeting
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 30, Webinar
Roller Compacted Concrete: Another Choice for Pavement
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 30, Webinar
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst Program
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
October 7-10, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module I, "Concrete 101" - Technical/Product Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
October 14, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Elected Official Advocacy
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
October 15, Silver Spring, MD
Improving Concrete Quality
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
November 3-7, Silver Spring, MD
Annual Concrete Technologist Training and Certification Course "Short Course"
Email: Karen Bean, 240-485-1168
November 7, Webinar
Designing Concrete Parking Lots the Right Way!
Email: Amy Miller, 904-264-8850
November 18-20, Silver Spring, MD
The Effective RMC Supervisor - Silver Spring, MD
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 19, Webinar
Sales Performance Assessments and Review for Ready Mix Sales Managers
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 2-5, Austin, TX
CCSP Module I, "Concrete 101" - Technical/Product Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 3-5, Phoenix
Environmental Professional Certification Course
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
December 9-12, Phoenix
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
December 16-18, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module II: Customer Business Knowledge - Understanding the Concrete Contractor's Business
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
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