NRMCA e-news

Nominations are now open for the NRMCA Promoter of the Year Award, State Affiliate Promoter of the Year and  the Lifetime Achievement Award for Promotion. These awards will be presented at the association’s Annual Convention in Orlando, FL, March 1-3, 2014. 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 and nominees for the State Affiliate Promoter of the Year must be a current employee of the Affiliate and have worked in the industry for at least five years. You can help industry promotion champions get deserved recognition by nominating them for these  prestigious awards.

The most recent award winners are Steven Tripp, Chaney Enterprises (Promoter of the Year), Finley Messick, Kentucky Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (State Affiliate Promoter of the Year) and Peter Deem, retired from Holcim (Lifetime Achievement). The deadline for submitting nominations is Wednesday, December 31.

Concrete parking lot construction, both new projects and overlaying existing asphalt lots, represents the largest immediate results opportunity for increasing concrete production, states NRMCA Vice President, National Resources, Jon Hansen. "But it has been observed that many front line salespeople within ready mix producing and contractor companies do not know how to prospect, prepare a bid proposal, handle objections or close the deal," he said. "NRMCA’s 'Parking Lot Selling Boot Camp' is a 10-hour, hands-on program facilitated by NRMCA staff that will provide an opportunity to create action plans between an NRMCA member and ONE of the member’s KEY contractors."

What began in late 2013 when a Producer member requested assistance from NRMCA to help his salespeople find additional concrete sales in the lagging housing market, has now developed into a dedicated course offering, Hansen noted. This year alone, four more companies held Boot Camps at their facilities. Two more Boot Camps are already scheduled for 2015.

"Now is the time to think about Parking Lot Selling Boot Camp for your company," added Hansen. "Dates available for 2015 are quickly filling and preparation work needs to start at least a month prior to the date of the camp".

In the spare time he has between flipping parking lots to concrete, Silvi Concrete Director of Concrete Promotion/Sales Zach Rich is moonlighting as a professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology for the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) Program. CIM is designed to train and educate students in the concrete industry by exposing them to a multidisciplinary program which draws on management and technology to produce well-rounded and employable graduates. The program aims at producing graduates grounded in the basics of concrete's production techniques and its many construction applications.

"These kids are so lucky to have a professional like Zach mentoring them," said NRMCA Senior Director, National Resources, Doug O’Neill. "He’s giving them real world knowledge and an opportunity to learn firsthand how the concrete industry works."

Students are given the chance to visit Silvi's concrete and aggregate plants to spend a few days with someone whose job they’ve expressed interest in, such as sales, dispatch, technical service, among many others. O'Neill noted that Rich has made connections with industry experts to visit the classroom and give students a taste of what types of jobs await them within the concrete industry. Speakers have come into the classroom to talk about tilt-up construction, admixtures and working for a general contractor. Most recently, O’Neill was invited in to discuss concrete promotion as a career along with introducing them to NRMCA and all the many resources they might take advantage of once they join the industry.

"As hard as it is to believe, not one of Zach’s students expressed interest in becoming a concrete promoter, mainly because it never even crossed their minds that there was such a thing," O'Neill said. "Zach’s mission to expose these students to all aspects of the concrete industry, including associations like NRMCA, will certainly benefit them and our industry as well."

For more information, contact Doug O'Neill at doneill@nrmca.org.

The Manufacturers, Products & Services (MPS) Division of NRMCA is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Concrete Cares Award. In order to recognize the full scope of ready mixed concrete producers’ community service, the MPS Division will hand out two Concrete Cares Awards in 2015 – one for a producer member company producing fewer than 250,000 cyds annually and a second award for a producer member company producing over 250,000 cyds. The Concrete Cares Awards will be presented during the Annual Award Breakfast at NRMCA’s 2015 Annual Convention in Orlando, March 1-3, 2015. 

With ready mixed concrete plants in almost every community in America, NRMCA member companies are making a real difference. From Earth Day celebrations, to organized volunteering for Boys & Girls Clubs, local schools and recreation departments, to raising awareness for breast cancer screenings, ready mixed producers are at work every day in their communities. The Concrete Cares Award aims to recognize these efforts and shine a national spotlight on the positive impact ready mixed concrete companies have in hometowns across the nation. A donation in the name of the selected honorees will be made to the charity of their choice.

NRMCA's Concrete Technology Training and Certification program (Short Course) was attended by 39 industry personnel in early November. Attendees are commended for their participation in the extensive course on concrete technology. The exam results have been finalized with the following number of certifications awarded:

• NRMCA Field Testing Technician Grade II – 14

• NRMCA Concrete Technologist Level 2 – 26

• NRMCA Concrete Technologist Level 3 – 12

Congratulations to highest scorers -  Nicholas Bennett with Preferred Materials, FL, scored 100% on the Level 2 exam; and to Bruce Walton with Team Consultants, Dallas, who scored 91% on the Level 3 exam.

The next course offered is the Regional Short Course in Seattle on February 9-13, 2015. Industry personnel interested in attending this course are encouraged to register early as there is a space limitation for the number of attendees.

Click here for registration and other information on the next course or contact Karen Bean at kbean@nrmca.org.

NRMCA is now accepting applications for its 2014 Quality Survey. This is the third quality survey; the first survey was conducted in 2010. Only by measuring quality it is possible to improve it and 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.

The survey is sponsored by 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 form is January 31, 2015.  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 magazine, Concrete InFocus. 

The survey form can be downloaded here or is available by e-mail from NRMCA’s Shawnita Dickens at sdickens@nrmca.org. A company must be an NRMCA member in good standing to participate. Companies can enter as a company or a division.

For more information, contact Karthik Obla at 301-587-1400, ext. 1163 or kobla@nrmca.org.

Issue 77, the July/August 2014 edition of the Concrete Bridge Views newsletter is now online. Articles include:

• Fundamentals of Crack Control in Reinforced Concrete - Robert J. Frosch, PhD, PE, Purdue University. Crack control is an important issue for primarily two reasons: aesthetics and durability. Wide cracks detract from a structure visually as well as may unduly alarm the public that there are structural problems.
• Michigan’s Experience with Ductile ECC for Bridge Decks - Victor C. Li, University of Michigan. Increasingly, DOTs are expected to maintain bridge inventories in good conditions under a tight budget. Simultaneously, there is a sense of urgency to enhance mobility and sustainability of transportation infrastructure.
• Shrinkage Reducing Admixture Usage in Hawaii Bridge Decks - Gerobin Carnate, Hawaii DOT. Hawaii’s climate is considered ideal for concrete construction due to its mild temperatures and moderate humidity levels year round.
• Sustainable Bridges and Infrastructure (Part II) - Julie Buffenbarger, FACI, LEED AP, Lafarge. For several decades, researchers interested in the relationship between building materials, construction processes, and their environmental impacts have studied embodied energy in building materials.

In mid-September, OSHA published a final rule updating the injury and illness recordkeeping requirements to expand the list of severe injuries and illnesses that employers must report to OSHA. According to OSHA, "The final rule will allow OSHA to focus its efforts more effectively to prevent fatalities and severe work-related injuries and illnesses."

Starting January 1, 2015, all employers (facilities) with 11 or more employees must report:

• All work-related fatalities within 8 hours; and

• Within 24 hours, all work-related inpatient hospitalizations, all amputations and all losses of an eye.

You can report to OSHA by:

• Calling OSHA’s free and confidential number: 1-800-321-6742

• Calling your closest OSHA area office during normal business hours

• Using the new online form that will soon be available, found here.

• Only fatalities occurring within 30 days of the work-related incident must be reported to OSHA. For an inpatient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye, these incidents must be reported to OSHA only if they occur within 24 hours of the work-related incident.
• Establishments located in states under Federal OSHA jurisdiction must begin to comply with the new requirements on January 1, 2015. Establishments located in states that operate their own safety and health programs should check with their state plan for the implementation date of the new requirements.

Last week, NRMCA submitted comments in opposition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule aimed at limiting carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electricity power plants within the U.S. NRMCA’s comments mainly focused on the high economic costs associated with the rule and the rule’s lack of consideration for small businesses, such as ready mixed concrete producers. Specifically, the comments stated, "NRMCA projects significant downstream costs being associated with the proposal for electricity customers. When taking into consideration the energy cost increases stemming from the proposal, the cost of purchasing and mixing key ingredients for ready mixed concrete will be inevitably higher and will result in staggering and unnecessary overall price increases. Based on the reality of such a scenario, the ready mixed concrete industry estimates extraordinary overall cost increases for electricity consumers and goods and services customers. For the ready mixed concrete industry alone, this would be devastating and equally burdensome for customers of the industry, regardless of whether they are residential, commercial or government customers." 

NRMCA’s comments concluded with a couple rhetorical questions, "If EPA does not know how the rule will truly impact electric utility companies or their customers, or others in the downstream field, how can EPA truly know what, if any, benefits the rule holds, and if that relates to a reasonable justification for the rule’s finalization? The clear language in EPA’s proposal stating doubts about the rule’s impact on electric utility companies and their customers, contrary third party analysis, EPA’s reliance on "illustrative estimates," and the lack of consideration for small entities begs the question of how and why EPA can in good faith and conscience proceed with finalizing such a proposal without all the requisite and proper information?"

Comments on the proposal were due on December 1. EPA has suggested it plans to issue a final rule in mid-2015. To view the proposal please click here.

NRMCA's Ready Mixed Concrete Delivery Professional Driver of the Year Award acknowledges the significant contribution of ready mixed concrete truck drivers to the growth and success of individual companies and the ready mixed concrete industry. As a salute to these key members of the concrete production and delivery team, the award recognizes the driver’s career achievement, safety, professionalism, competence and customer service skills in a manner that will enhance the industry and public image of the career Ready Mixed Concrete Delivery Professional. The 2015 Ready Mixed Concrete Truck Driver of the Year Award winner will be honored at an awards presentation ceremony at NRMCA’s Annual Convention in Orlando, FL, in March 2015. All nomination applications are due no later than Wednesday, December 31.

The annual Dispatcher Training Forum will be held February 17-19, 2015, in Silver Spring, MD. 2015 is the year to make sure experienced as well as neophyte schedulers and dispatchers are primed to make the order flow seamless. Since their work pressure is building again, they must be terrific at juggling competing demands at a much faster pace. New dispatchers often perform unevenly while under fire, and even seasoned veterans can find it difficult to step back and change old habits. Put learning to work: attendees return ready to perform more efficiently in core skill areas, including:

• Putting Orders in Order: Mastering technical, practical and customer-service issues;

• Scheduling Success: Juggling priority customers, advance notices, callbacks, plant managers and sales reps, and a possible cement shortage;

• Technically Speaking: Knowing ASTM-C94 is vital to success;

• People Professionalism: Managing stress, phone skills and peers. Customers aren’t always right yet they must be served for theirs and a producer’s benefit; and 

• Details, details, details: Dealing with clean-ups, small load charges... the list goes on.

This class is highly interactive so your staff can try out new things in a safe environment, then "bring home the bacon" to your company.

With the support of resiliency champions Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), along with Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25), and Daniel Webster (R-FL-10), NRMCA, the Portland Cement Association and the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute hosted an education session for congressional staff this past Monday to inform them of the importance of community resilience in the face of increasing natural disasters. Industry experts and congressional allies, including Senate Environment and Public Works staff, discussed how common sense federal solutions, including promotion of resilient construction, can save lives and taxpayer dollars, especially in communities prone to natural disasters.

This event was part of NRMCA’s first DC Days, a series of Capitol Hill bipartisan dialogues among industry officials and lawmakers.

The third class in NRMCA's sales certification series, Fundamentals of RMC Accounting, Finance, and Business Law: CCSP Module III, Business Knowledge, will be held February 26-24, 2015, in Silver Spring, MD. The curriculum stands alone; attendees do NOT have to first attend CCSP I or II. Class content shows how to use break-even analysis, fundamentals, cash flow, fundamentals of contract law, collections and antitrust regulation. Each is critical to a producer to assure sales staff sell every cubic yard profitably. This class only runs once a year.

CCSP III is a required class in the STEPS Sales and Promotion program.

 

The NRMCA December Internet Spotlight, which is good through Tuesday, January 6, is the Concrete Overlays of Asphalt Parking Lots bundle set. This packaged bundle contains 25 copies of NRMCA’s Guide to Concrete Overlays of Asphalt Parking Lots: The purpose of this 64-page book is to provide information for decision makers and practitioners about selecting, designing and constructing successful concrete overlays on existing asphalt parking lot pavements.

Also, receive a FREE copy of the Concrete Overlays of Asphalt Parking Lots Flip Book: This flip book provides a primer to an industry promoter, concrete sales person and concrete contractor on the proven technology of using concrete to overlay and renew existing asphalt parking lots. Packed in 20 pages in a popular flip book format, the guide includes presenter notes and touches on: "How and Why" concrete overlays work; "Rules of Thumb" for evaluating an existing parking lot and determining concrete thickness, "Best Practices" for placing concrete overlays, and "Quick Case Studies" of successful projects.

Order online today and receive 30% off. Regular member price is $179, Internet Special $125.30, plus shipping. Use Discount Code: ISDEC14.

*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.

December 4, Free Webinar

Design Assistance Program and Joint Plan Assistance Program

Email: Amanda Hult, 303-953-2382

 

December 5, Free Webinar

Winning Initial Streets & Roads Projects in Counties & Municipalities

Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165

 

December 9, Webinar

Roller Compacted Concrete

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

December 9, Free Webinar

Streets & Roads Promotion for DOTs, Counties & Municipalities

Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165

 

December 9, New Orleans

Gulf Coast Region ConcreteWorks

Email: Nicole Maher, 1-888-846-7622, ext. 1158

 

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 10, Silver Spring, MD

Atlantic Region ConcreteWorks

Email: Nicole Maher, 1-888-846-7622, ext. 1158

 

December 12, Free Webinar

Streets & Roads Concrete Construction & Repair Basics

Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165

 

December 15, Webinar

The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

December 15, Webinar

Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

December 16, Webinar

Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete (Part I)

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

 

December 23, Webinar

Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete (Part II)

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

 

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

 

January 20-23, Des Moines, IA *Sold Out

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

January 22, Free Webinar

Streets & Roads Team Building & Situation Analysis

Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165

 

January 29, Free Webinar

Roller-Compacted Concrete for Streets & Roads

Email: Jacques Jenkins, 240-485-1165

 

February 9-13, Seattle

Regional Concrete Technologist Training and Certification Course "Short Course"

Email: Karen Bean, 240-485-1168

 

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

 

February 25, Atlanta

Improving Concrete Quality

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

March 18, Webinar

STEPS - A Long Term Career Tool for the RMC Industry

Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

 

March 24-27, Salt Lake City

Plant Manager Certification Course

Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152

 

March 31-April 2, Silver Spring, MD

CCSP Module IV: Professional Sales Skills Workshop - 24 hours

Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154

 

May, Location TBA

Concrete Durability Course

Email: Karen Bean, 240-485-1168