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Association & Industry News
Early bird registration is now open for NRMCA’s 2020 Annual Convention, scheduled for March 7-9 at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas. NRMCA’s Annual Convention is the venue to explore industry trends and network with your peers. The convention is co-located with the Portland Cement Association and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s 2020 Annual Conventions; special discount pricing is available to those who are members of all three associations. In addition, these events immediately precede the CONEXPO-CON/AGG Show and convention attendees receive significant discounts on show registration and seminar tickets when they register for the show at the same time via the link listed below. NRMCA has contracted a block of rooms at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas at a discounted rate of $319/night plus applicable taxes with a daily resort fee of $25/night plus applicable taxes. We encourage you to register for the convention and, once registered, you will be directed to make your hotel reservations. The reservations cutoff date is Tuesday, February 11, 2020, or whenever the room block sells out, whichever occurs first. The room block is reserved for attendees of the NRMCA 2020 Annual Convention. Click here to access the event registration link and more information on the convention itself. For more information, please contact Senior Director of Meetings Jessica Walgenbach at 703-706-4852. The estimated ready mixed concrete produced in August 2019 is 38 million cubic yards, 1.7% higher than that in August 2018. The estimated production in the U.S. for 2019 through August is 246 million cubic yards, 2.4% higher than that during the same period in 2018. Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. More detail is available to NRMCA members here. 
Buildings
A key theme of the conference was the “embodied carbon” of materials and BWS proudly displayed technologies that lower concrete’s footprint. A huge thanks goes to Amvic, CarbonCure and Thomas Concrete, which supported the BWS booth with their unique messages, and for logging long hours to answer attendee questions. BWS staff also attended education sessions to learn market activities and networked with various organizations to learn how concrete impacts their designs or construction activity. As part of the Build With Strength campaign, NRMCA promotes Strength Through Transparency for member and industry competitiveness in the green building marketplace and the trends toward product and company transparency. For more information, contact James Bogdan at jbogdan@nrmca.org or 412-420-4138.
Government Affairs
On November 20, NRMCA Government Affairs submitted comments to the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, a committee established by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to educate the public on climate change and the impact of extreme weather events. Despite having no authority to report legislation, the Select Committee has indicated that it will prepare a report with sector-specific findings and recommendations. While the comments are submitted exclusively on behalf of NRMCA, the NRMCA Government Affairs team worked closely with the Portland Cement Association, MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub and the North American Concrete Alliance (NACA) in formulating and submitting its comments to ensure that our facts and messaging were aligned. The comments enabled NRMCA to showcase the sustainability and resilience of concrete construction and advocate for stronger building standards. The policy recommendations reflect NRMCA’s existing legislative priorities, advocating for resilience and true life cycle assessments of building materials. In addition, the comments provided NRMCA an opportunity to continue to push back on the efforts of the wood industry to promote mass timber as a sustainable building material and support research and development of carbon capture and utilization technologies. Click here to read the comments. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. As Congress returned to Washington this week, there were only eight legislative days remaining in the 2019 calendar year. During that time, Congress needs to address the National Defense Authorization Act and extend funding for the government beyond its December 20 expiration, as well as hopefully address the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, extend flood insurance and agree to and pass a tax extenders package. On Monday, December 2, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that Congress would be in session an additional week before Christmas. At present, the House is in full impeachment mode, with hearings beginning this week in the House Judiciary Committee. Impeachment has taken up most of the oxygen in Washington and left precious little latitude for bipartisanship, let along working on policy. However, as Presidential approval climbs and impeachment dips in the polls, especially with independents, and rumblings of some Democrats souring on impeachment and others facing tough townhalls back home, the pressure to reorient to policy will increase. Speaker Pelosi is under great pressure from the left wing of her party to see the impeachment proceedings through while there is discussion of alternatives to impeachment, such as censure. Stay tuned. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
SEO
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 of Ready Mixed Concrete Delivery Professional. The 2020 Ready Mixed Concrete Truck Driver of the Year Award winner will be honored at an awards presentation ceremony at NRMCA’s Annual Convention in Las Vegas in March 2020. Please e-mail applications by Tuesday, December 31, to Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org. Click here to download the nomination form and for more information, including staff contact. 
Pavement
"I received a call from the owner of the parking lot in May looking for a curb and gutter contractor," Tews recently related to NRMCA Senior Director, Local Paving, Ken Justice. "He asked if I had any recommendations on someone to come in and replace the old curb and gutter. He wanted to put in new blacktop. I asked him if he would ever consider a concrete overlay. He asked me what I meant by that. I said you don't have to remove the blacktop you already have; you just pour right over the top. I asked if I could come down and meet with him. He said he is very interested." Justice said Tews then met with the owner and contractor at the parking lot, which serves a dental office, and explained the overlay process, with the owner expressing surprise that concrete could be placed over the existing blacktop. "We told him he would have his parking lot back in a week. We would do half first, then the other half. He said that he doesn't have to do a new impact study for the city. He also didn't need to hire an engineer to redesign the parking lot. This will save him a lot of money," Tews said. "We gave him a price and it came in less than if he replaced it with blacktop. He didn't need to haul all the old blacktop off the site, which was a big expense. The blacktop makes a great base." The concrete was placed at 4 -5 inches thick. Carew also removed an old concrete sidewalk in front of the building which was put in in 1980, giving the project a flesh new look. The mix was 4,500 psi with 3 lbs. Forta Ferro Fiber. The contractor placed the concrete at 4- 5 inch slump in two pours. The concrete slab is markedly brighter at night and gives the appearance of a white or a snow covered lot. "This project (seen here) was converted to concrete by just talking to the owner and letting him know there are other options out there," added Tews. "This project is a great success story for our industry. By us meeting with the owner and pointing out there are other options rather than just blacktop, we changed a 460 yard parking lot to concrete. The owner said that his customers keep coming in and saying how nice the new parking lot looks. He never thought that they would be getting so many compliments on a new parking lot. This will serve these business for many years to come." For more information, contact Ken Justice at kjustice@nrmca.org. 
Business Advancement
In an environment where RMC profit margins are weakening, it is critical to make sure your sales and customer service efforts are at the top of their game as well as support your sales strategy. NRMCA can help with industry-specific classes, including the annual Dispatcher Forum and the Certified Concrete Sales Professional (CCSP) classes. Why Your Dispatchers Should Attend NRMCA’s January Workshop - January’s slower pace gives experienced, as well as neophyte, schedulers and dispatchers the opportunity to hone their skills in a three-day workshop focused on the challenges they face every day, all day. With peers specifically in the ready mixed concrete industry from across the country, the group shares experiences and solutions while gaining cutting edge knowledge to help your order flow run seamlessly all year long. Build a better foundation: educate your inside sales and logistics staff at the once-a-year Dispatcher Training Forum, January 28-30 in Orlando, FL. Orlando is an easy city to fly in and out of for infrequent travelers. Additionally, the hotel’s services are very user-friendly for the occasional traveler. Click here for information, staff contact and registration options. Why Your Outside Sales Team Should Attend NRMCA’s CCSP Classes - The series of four classes are held throughout the year, with the third in the series, Fundamentals of RMC Accounting, Finance, and Business Law: CCSP Module III, Business Knowledge, slated for January 28-30, in Dallas. With margins so tight, no sales rep should let a penny slip by. This class stresses the importance of fully understanding costing a job, including how to use breakeven analysis, fundamentals, cash flow, fundamentals of contract law, collections and antitrust regulation. Each is critical for a producer to assure sales staff sell every cubic yard at the biggest, competitive margin. The class only runs once a year. CCSP III is a required class in the STEPS Sales and Promotion program. The curriculum stands alone; attendees do not have to attend CCSP I or II before taking CCSP III. Click here for more course information, staff contact and registration options. 2020 January 14 – 16, Des Moines, IA January 14 – 16, Nashville, TN January 21 – 24, Cincinnati *Sold Out January 27 – 31, Ontario, CA January 28 – 30, Orlando, FL January 28 – 30, Dallas February 25 – 28, Miami March 7 – 9, Las Vegas March 10 – 14, Las Vegas March 17 – 19, Dallas March 24 – 27, Boston April 28 – May 1, New Orleans September 27 – 29, Aurora, CO December 15 – 18, Phoenix 
Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. December 10, Hagerstown, MD December 10 – 13, Orlando, FL *Sold Out December 17 – 19, Dallas |
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Build With Strength (BWS) exhibited at the largest green construction conference, 
When Appleton, WI-based Carew Concrete & Supply's Vice President of Sales Mike Tews received a phone call a few months ago from the owner of a parking lot looking for a curb and gutter contractor, he set in motion a concrete overlay success story.