NRMCA e-news
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
PROMOTIONS
The NRMCA Pervious Concrete Promotion Subcommittee will meet Friday, October 10, in conjunction with the Annual Pervious Concrete Roast, hosted by Bunyan Springs, Inc., in Sloan, NV. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. at the Roast/Test site on 4310 Roark Ave. The subcommittee meeting is open to all NRMCA members and invited guests. Topics of discussion will include progress in the overhaul of existing pervious concrete maintenance guidelines and owner education literature, development of further pervious concrete freeze/thaw research with test panels and a report on RFP for development of the new pervious concrete guidebook.
For more information or to RSVP, contact Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org.
ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS
This week, NRMCA concludes its weekly highlight of a company that chose to exhibit at the 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, Trimble Construction Logistics is the 11th and final company in the series.
Trimble Construction Logistics, a division of Trimble Navigation Limited, provides real-time vehicle telematics with location and event history, driver-safety monitoring, voice and text communications, business intelligence and analytics, vehicle diagnostics for maintenance and fuel tracking, as well as performance reporting solutions specifically designed for the construction materials industry. Solutions provide the information necessary to help users make intelligent business decisions that improve business processes while decreasing operational costs and increasing fleet efficiency. For more information, visit www.trimble.com/TCL or e-mail TCLsales@trimble.com.
NRMCA thanks Trimble for its continued support of ConcreteWorks through its position as an association Super Sponsor and exhibitor. Trimble will be located in Booth 212.
The Fall 2014 edition of NRMCA's quarterly magazine, Concrete InFocus, is now available online. This latest issue includes a number of timely and informative articles available only online, among them Enviroscene in which longtime ready mix industry environmental expert and NRMCA member Doug Ruhlin discusses why you should be conducting frequent environmental inspections.
ENGINEERING
NRMCA is set to introduce a new one-day course, Improving Concrete Quality, intended for concrete producers, ingredient material suppliers, engineers, testing labs and contractors. The course will be offered on Wednesday, October 15, in Silver Spring, MD. Improving Concrete Quality, a new book authored by one of the instructors, and other NRMCA resources provide the basic content for the course.
All stakeholders in concrete construction benefit from improved concrete quality. This course will delve into quantifying tangible and intangible benefits due to improved quality. It will discuss variability associated with concrete ingredient materials, manufacturing and testing – means to measure and thereby improve concrete quality. Basic statistical concepts will be presented to measure and monitor quality and to recognize when action is needed. Other key topics include recognizing abnormal material variation, tracking and improving batching accuracy, including mixing water, internal testing, identifying non standard testing and initial curing, essential elements of a quality management system, internal audits and tests a concrete producer should do.
Course instructors are Kevin MacDonald, Ph.D., FACI, Beton Consulting Engineers LLC, NRMCA's Karthik Obla, Ph.D., P.E., and Colin Lobo, Ph.D., P.E. Producers will learn readily implementable steps to manage variability and attain a more consistent product; ingredient suppliers will learn how material variation affects concrete variation; engineers will learn the opportunity for improving quality through specifications and testing lab professionals will learn to measure and improve testing quality. Upon successful completion of the course, attendees will earn 8 professional development hours, a certificate of completion and credits toward NRMCA’s STEPS program.
Click here for more information. With the industry recovering, NRMCA will offer its "CCSP I-Concrete 101" twice in October: the Silver Spring (metro Washington DC) will be held October 7-10 and again from October 20-23 in Centennial, CO (metro-Denver) in partnership with the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association (CRMCA). "Concrete 101" is a solid introduction to concrete fundamentals for those who need a broad overview of technical and operations essentials. The curriculum is appropriate for sales reps, dispatchers, administrative/home office and mid-level staff as well as those in an executive function whose jobs do not relate to concrete per se, but who should have knowledge of the industry. This class is NOT appropriate for technical ready mixed concrete personnel.
For those working toward their NRMCA STEPS® CCPf certification in Sales and Marketing Track, this is a required class. For others working toward CCPf certification in other STEPS tracks, the class is the qualifying prerequisite or an elective.
Click here for more information, including registration options and staff contact in Silver Spring, MD. Click here for more information, including registration options and staff contact at CRMCA in Centennial.
NRMCA is now accepting applications for its 2014 Quality Survey. This is the third quality survey to be conducted; the first took place in 2010. Only by measuring quality it is possible to improve it; this survey provides a means for companies to do so. The survey has a measurement section which can be used to quantify the benefits of improved quality. Several survey questions establish industry benchmarks for frequency of testing, quality control personnel, quality documentation and equipment monitoring. Producers responding to the survey will be able to compare their systems to these industry benchmarks and improve their processes if necessary.
The survey is sponsored by the NRMCA’s Research Engineering and Standards Committee. Survey participants are asked to respond to a multiple-choice application form on a spreadsheet. The deadline for receiving the completed survey forms is Wednesday, December 31. Survey responses of individual companies will be kept confidential while summarized survey responses will be shared with all the survey participants. A report of the survey results will be published in NRMCA’s quarterly Concrete InFocus magazine. A company must be an NRMCA member in good standing to participate. Companies can enter as a company or a division.
The survey form can be downloaded here or is available by e-mail from NRMCA’s Shawnita Dickens at sdickens@nrmca.org. For more information, contact Karthik Obla at 301-587-1400, ext. 1163 or kobla@nrmca.org.
OPERATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY & HR
The next NRMCA Plant Manager Certification workshop is scheduled for December 9-12 in Phoenix. This class is already one-third full and typically sells out, so please register soon. For those who must pass the course to meet the Army Corps of Engineers' contract spec requirement, NRMCA encourages you to plan well ahead because the next class is not until March in Salt Lake City.
According to NRMCA’s Industry Data Survey, Operations and Production account for approximately 90%+ of producers’ expenses. Therefore, with a producer’s bottom line at stake, it has never been more important for your crew to be at the top of its game when it comes to efficiency and productivity. Whether your operations staff now manages more plants, is new to plant management and batching or has unplanned down time, the curriculum intensely covers product knowledge, plant safety, environmental regulations, plant operations and ready mixed industry business principles. It’s a must to support your profit margin.
Click here for more information, registration options and staff contact.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
The NRMCA September Internet Spotlight, good through Tuesday, September 30, are the NRMCA promotion brochures. NRMCA promotion brochures help you support your business by promoting specific concrete applications and benefits. Designed to inform specifiers, engineers, architects, contractors and their clients, each features four, 8.5"x11" pages of important information, supported by detailed charts and attractive photos. There is also room on the back for a label with your contact information. Make them part of your promotion efforts.
Order any of the promotion brochures online today and receive 30% off. Use Discount Code: SEPT14. You may also call NRMCA's Jacques Jenkins at jjenkins@nrmca.org to order.
CALENDAR
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.
September 19, Webinar
Designing Concrete Parking Lots the Right Way!
Email: Amy Miller, 904-264-8850
September 21-23, Indianapolis
NRMCA's ConcreteWorks & Board of Directors' Meeting
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 29, Free Webinar
Roller-Compacted Concrete for Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
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 6, Webinar
Pathway to Resilience - A Guide to Developing a Community Action Plan
Email: Tien Peng, 206-913-8535
October 7, Webinar
Sustainable Design with Concrete
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
October 7-10, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module I, "Concrete 101" - Technical/Product Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
October 8, Webinar
Green-Star Auditor Certification
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
October 14, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Elected Official Advocacy
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
October 15, Silver Spring, MD
Improving Concrete Quality
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
October 17, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Promotion & Advocacy Overview
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
October 22, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Team Building & Situation Analysis
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
October 23, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Promotion for DOTs, Counties & Municipalities
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
November 3-7, Silver Spring, MD
Annual Concrete Technologist Training and Certification Course "Short Course"
Email: Karen Bean, 240-485-1168
November 5, Webinar
STEPS - A Long Term Career Tool for the RMC Industry
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 7, Webinar
Designing Concrete Parking Lots the Right Way!
Email: Amy Miller, 904-264-8850
November 11, Free Webinar
Roller-Compacted Concrete for Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
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
November 20, Webinar
Sustainable Design with Concrete
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 5, Free Webinar
Winning Initial Streets & Roads Projects in Counties & Municipalities
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
December 9-12, Phoenix
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
December 10, Denver
Handling Concrete Specifications
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
2015
January 15, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Elected Official Advocacy
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
January 16, Free Webinar
Streets & Roads Promotion & Advocacy Overview
Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165
February 17-19, 2015, Silver Spring, MD
Dispatcher Training Forum
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
February 24-26, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module III: Business Skills Basics for Profit - General Business Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
March 18, Webinar
STEPS - A Long Term Career Tool for the RMC Industry
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
March 31-April 2, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module IV: Professional Sales Skills Workshop - 24 hours
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
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