NRMCA e-news
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
NEWS LINKS
A 4.5-year, $260 billion funding proposal for surface transportation projects was scheduled to be released yesterday by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The bill also contains a provision that would permit trucks weighing up to 97,000 pounds on interstate highways. The committee is likely to pass the bill on Thursday. Source: The Associated Press, included in a January 31 news roundup distributed by the AGC SmartBrief e-newsletter. Read more. Keeping the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo means convincing the team to renew its lease to play at Ralph Wilson Stadium in suburban Orchard Park. But first Erie County engineers want to know how well the concrete at the stadium is holding up. The county plans to hire an architectural and engineering firm to assess how the stadium’s concrete has changed since it was last studied in 1996. Source: A January 27 article posted by the Buffalo News. Read more. PROMOTIONS
Recently, NRMCA Senior National Resource Directors Amy Miller, Doug O’Neill and Vance Pool attended a Webinar hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), entitled "High-Performance Parking Lot Lighting for Federal Facilities." The focus of the Webinar was to discuss the implementation of DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) which encourages the use of solid-state lighting (SSL), such as Light Emitting Diodes (LED), for exterior lighting. The Webinar provided attendees with an exterior SSL technology update, an overview of product and application-related support resources available from FEMP, and case studies of exterior SSL applications. One of the case studies included was the Leavenworth, KS, Wal-Mart project completed in 2009. This site is one of Wal-Mart’s pilot LED projects and was scrutinized by Wal-Mart management prior to the recent change in policy which now specifies LED lighting on all new construction projects (you may remember hearing about this project before, as it includes a concrete parking lot). Of great interest to our industry is the response from surveys of Wal-Mart customers and company representatives with regard to the performance of the LED’s on the concrete pavement vs. a similar asphalt parking lot. According to a DOE report, initial response from customers and Wal-Mart personnel indicate that the luminance of the LED-lit concrete parking lot was acceptable, even though it has significantly lower illuminance than a similar asphalt lot with a traditional 1000W metal halide lighting design. Additionally, the DOE reported, "Typical concrete has a higher reflectance value than asphalt, along with a smoother, more reflective texture. The higher reflectance values from concrete play as much of a role in the visibility and apparent brightness of the site as the lighting." "What better support could we ask, for what we’ve been saying for years," said Senior National Resource Director Phil Kresge. "Concrete’s lighter color provides better reflectivity and therefore should be taken into consideration when designing exterior light plans!" Kresge's fellow Senior National Resource Director Jon Hansen added, "I believe this third-party information from DOE can be interpreted as an endorsement and our industry should take this opportunity to leverage it with the design community." The DOE report can be found here. Please take a moment to download and review this document, particularly sections 4.1, 5.1 and 6.1. Also download NRMCA’s Promotion Facts Brochure, "Luminance, Illuminance and Concrete Pavement" here. For more information, contact your regional national resource director. One day after Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary, a team of concrete industry professionals showed up in force at a local USGBC Chapter event in the Granite State. Jon Kuell, executive director of the Northern New England Concrete Promotion Association, Ray Shannon with Lehigh Cement, Tim Latham with Kingston Red-T-Mix and NRMCA Northeast Senior National Resource Director Doug O’Neill attended a recent event at a newly built LEED Silver Hampton Inn & Suites in Exeter. The presentation was an overview of all that went into completing this four story, 111 room, 73,000 square foot hotel. The design team even used a white colored material for the roof in order to obtain the LEED Credit for Reducing the Heat Island Effect (Roof). What was amazing to the concrete representatives in the crowd was the total lack of thought regarding the parking lot, O'Neill said. This LEED Silver hopeful site used asphalt for the parking lot thus forfeiting the opportunity to take advantage of the LEED Credit for Reducing the Heat Island Effect (Non-Roof) by using a light colored material like concrete. When asked about this obvious oversight, the design team representative admitted that she never considered using concrete. She then listed off several common misperceptions designers in the Northeast seem to have about concrete, including that it costs too much and that concrete can’t handle the New England weather. The concrete team was well equipped to address those concerns and is looking forward to being asked back for a future concrete-related presentation. For more information, contact Doug O’Neill at doneill@nrmca.org. When Federal Express in Bedford Park, IL, decided to add a 1.1 million square foot parking area to its distribution center parking lot, it chose concrete as the ideal material to deliver long life with lower maintenance costs. Contractor Scurto Cement Construction and ready mixed concrete producer Prairie Materials teamed up to provide a solution that saved FedEx 50 cents per square foot on just the initial installation - click here (PDF) for more information on this outstanding paving project success. This is the first in the new Concrete Paving Project Success Series which will regularly feature noteworthy paving projects contributed by NRMCA members and partners. The projects will be archived here on ConcretePromotion.org along with success stories previously posted. To contribute a paving success story to the series, contact your regional NRMCA national resource director or Glenn Ochsenreiter at glenn@NRMCA.org or 240-485-1140. NRMCA's national resource directors have two Webinars scheduled for February, so be sure to click on each link for more information or contact NRMCA's Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org.
ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS
The hotel reservation deadline for the 2012 NRMCA Annual Convention has been extended to Friday, February 10. The NRMCA room block is limited so please make your reservations soon. To make your hotel reservations, please contact the Savannah Marriott Riverfront Hotel at 912-233-7722 or 800-285-0398. Please state that you are with "NRCNRCA" or "National Ready Mixed Concrete" to receive the discounted room rate of $155.00/per night plus applicable taxes. Included in your room rate is complimentary internet access in your guestroom. Please assist the association in meeting our hotel room requirements by making your reservations now. Hotel contracts require NRMCA to be financially liable for unused sleeping rooms. The sleeping room rate covers the cost of meeting space, upkeep and utilities of the hotel. Staying at the convention hotel also provides you with the benefit of after-hours networking and easy accessibility to meetings and sessions. Please help NRMCA avoid these unnecessary penalties and keep registration fees low by booking your sleeping room at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront. For more information, contact the NRMCA Meetings Department at meetings@nrmca.org or 888-846-7622, ext. 1152. ENGINEERING
The 91st meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) was held in late January in Washington, DC, with about 1,100 transportation professionals in attendance and more than 4,000 papers were presented. What follows is an update of the sessions and meetings attended by NRMCA:
The theme for the 2013 TRB meeting is Deploying Transportation Infrastructure: Doing this faster, cheaper and better. TRB 2013 is likely to feature workshops on Cracking; and Ensuring Good Quality Concrete. For more information, contact NRMCA's Karthik Obla at kobla@nrmca.org. NRMCA is offering its one-day course, Handling Concrete Specifications, Low Strength Problems and Mixture Submittals, intended for concrete producers, contractors, engineers and testing labs on Wednesday, May 23, in Nashua, NH. 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 the new ACI Building Code 318-08 exposure categories. It will suggest specification revisions for all around benefits in performance and cost 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 the NRMCA 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 like 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 an NRMCA staff engineer. 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 and staff contact, click here. OPERATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY & HR
The annual NRMCA Safety Contest is a safety performance and incentive/award program aimed to foster safe practices at ready mixed concrete plants across the nation. In November 2008, the NRMCA Safety Task Group updated the "Excellence in Safety Awards Program" to a 3-tier system and began basing the winning facilities off of the latest OSHA/Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Incident Rate available for the ready mixed concrete industry. Starting in 2009, only those plants with an incident rate below the national average receive awards. The latest BLS data (as of June 1, 2010) shows the ready mixed concrete industry with an incident rate of 5.2. Using the model of the Olympic Games, the 3-tiers of "Excellence in Safety Awards" were designated as Gold, Silver and Bronze: Over the past few years, the program has grown to become NRMCA’s most popular award recognition program. The NRMCA Safety Contest and NRMCA Safety Benchmarking Program entry forms were combined and computerized to enhance both programs. The data are analyzed and used to establish industry benchmarks for safe operations. Concrete Producer magazine cosponsors the NRMCA Safety Contest. Click here to access a link to download a copy of the application form. The entry deadline is Monday, April 16. For more information, contact NRMCA's Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org. The industry’s premier driver training program is now online and totally self-directed so a supervisor or company trainer is not needed. Instead, NRMCA's Concrete Delivery Professional (CDP) Certification Program is led by a voice-over instructor whose words are seen in subtitles to support drivers with reading or hearing difficulties. Its design allows mixer drivers access through NRMCA’s Web site at any time, using any internet connection.
Each lesson is just 20 minutes long so a learning module can fit in between loads or can be spontaneously accessed on slow or bad weather days at the plant. Lessons also have a stop/start feature, making CDP participation adaptable to a driver’s ever-changing work schedule. For more support, CDP-Online directly coordinates with an optional textbook. Exams are online as well, so the requirement for a third-party proctor has been eliminated, saving your company time and money. Finally, the price has not increased since its initial launch yet the material and delivery system are state-of-the-art. With producers’ need to have cost-effective skill reinforcement for their remaining driving pool, CDP Online gives your frontline representatives the advantage of being the most efficient, skilled and productive driving force representing your business. For information, contact NRMCA’s Shawnita Dickens 1-888-84-NRMCA, ext. 1154 or by e-mail, sdickens@nrmca.org. 
SUSTAINABILITY
NRMCA Senior Director of Sustainability, Codes and Standards Tien Peng will deliver a series of professional seminars in Kentucky and Indiana on Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and the research activities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH) that address the dual use aspect of concrete. The seminars, organized by the Kentucky Ready-Mixed Concrete Association, are scheduled for: February 13 - Downtown Marriott, Louisville, KY The one-hour presentation will include a brief overview of LCAs, how material selection contributes to meeting our carbon constrained future and recent reports from the MIT CSH. It will reveal the second year results from developing comprehensive strategies for new technologies, designs and policies associated with the future use of concrete buildings and pavements. Environmental and cost impacts and the potential for huge improvements will be discussed on various building types. For more information, contact Tien Peng at 206-913-8535 or tpeng@nrmca.org. The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub was established by the RMC Research & Education Foundation Foundation and the Portland Cement Association in 2009. Additional information about the work taking place at MIT may be found here. NRMCA’s Brian Killingsworth and Amanda Hult presented at the Nebraska Concrete Paving Association’s 33rd Annual Concrete Paving Workshop last week in Lincoln. The workshop was well attended by industry professionals as well as representatives from local and state governmental agencies. The two-day workshop hosted presentations on a wide variety of topics from general concrete pavement types and applications to specific concrete paving project case studies. The Paving Awards Banquet showcased paving projects placed throughout the state for excellence in design and construction. If you are interested in having an NRMCA technical engineer present at your workshop, please contact Amanda Hult at ahult@nrmca.org or 720-648-0323 or Brian Killingsworth at bkillingsworth@nrmca.org or 210-5084923. GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
To read government affairs-related stories that relate to the ready mixed concrete industry for the week of January 23-27, 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 Internet Spotlight, good through Friday, February 3, is the Concrete Floors and Moisture book. This book discusses sources of moisture, drying of concrete, methods of measuring moisture, construction practices, specifications and responsibilities for successful floor projects. This edition incorporates a brief discussion of terrazzo issues, additional references on drying times of lightweight concrete, an extended discussion of issues with ASTM F1869 moisture emission testing, and updates to the sources of supplies and standards. Order online today from and receive 50% off. Internet Special $20, plus shipping. Please use Discount Code ISJAN12 to receive the online discount. CALENDAR
February 6, Webinar February 14, Free Webinar |
|