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Association & Industry News
If your company hasn’t signed up to sponsor NRMCA's first virtual ConcreteWorks taking place October 7-8 there’s still time to show your support for the ready mixed concrete industry and have your corporate banner seen by the top producers in the nation. To make this the best experience possible with lasting results for your organization, we’ve shaped sponsorship opportunities that will give you sustained visibility and create connections during the event. Opportunities have been enhanced with digital marketing benefits that promote your products and services to registered ConcreteWorks' attendees, NRMCA members and the online community of industry professionals. There are many virtual sponsorship options to choose from and for everyone’s budget. View the available virtual conference sponsorship opportunities through our dedicated Virtual Sponsorship Prospectus. For more information, contact Jacques Jenkins at 703-706-4865 or jjenkins@nrmca.org. The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) has scheduled its next public webinar, The Role of Concrete in Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions of the U.S.'s Buildings and Pavements, for Thursday, August 20, at 11 a.m. Eastern time. During this presentation, results will be shown from an effort at the MIT CSHub to contextualize the role of concrete in life cycle greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reductions of the United States’ buildings and pavements. This webinar will be presented by CSHub Executive Director Jeremy Gregory. The CSHub is supported by the RMC Research & Education Foundation and the Portland Cement Association. The MIT CSHub webinar series offers information of general interest to members of the building, paving and construction communities as well as to educators, students, journalists and law and policy-makers interested in the environmental and economic impacts of decision-making concerning infrastructure. Videos of past webinars are archived to the CSHub YouTube channel. Webinars are free and open to the public and presentations are geared toward a lay audience. Click here to register for the August 20 webinar and here for more information. The estimated ready mixed concrete produced in May 2020 is 31.8 million cubic yards, 6.3% lower than that in May 2019. The estimated production in the U.S. for 2020 through May is 139 million cubic yards, 1% higher than that during the same period in 2019. Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. More detail is available here for NRMCA members under the link labeled Production Statistics. 
Buildings
NRMCA recently verified a system-level Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) program for CalPortland Company, a Glendora, CA-based Producer member. Mix designs from eight plants in its California division were verified as the company continues to build on its effort to disclose the environmental impacts of ready mixed concrete. The EPD was developed in consultation with and based on a software tool by Athena Sustainable Materials Institute. Athena’s Ready Mixed Concrete EPD Calculator is a web-based tool for instant, custom environmental footprint data on ready mixed concrete products. The software tool integrates LCA impacts with mix design criteria to generate EPDs when desired. The software's underlying life cycle data for each plant and EPD was reviewed and verified by Sustainable Solutions Corporation, a verifier in NRMCA’s EPD program. CalPortland can generate EPDs on-demand using the Athena tool. Its EPD public listing can be found here, which also includes other CalPortland verified EPDs for ready mix plants and cement products. To date, the North American ready mixed concrete industry, including material suppliers, have verified almost 60 EPDs with more than 25,000 products/mixes and is the leading material industry that reports environmental impacts. 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
Please join the NRMCA Government Affairs team for a live discussion with Representative Tom Reed (R-NY-23), presented by NRMCA's Political Action Committee, CONCRETEPAC, on Thursday, August 13, at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Rep. Reed is a champion of the ready mixed concrete industry with a deep understanding and appreciation for the values embraced by our industry and the importance of supporting the business community and America’s ready mix producers. NRMCA was fortunate enough to have Rep. Reed speak at its Government Affairs Committee meeting during NRMCA’s Annual Convention this past spring. He is a past sponsor of the Disaster Savings and Resilient Construction Act and is set to be a sponsor of the legislation this Congress as well. This Town Hall will be an informal conversation to get the inside scoop on legislative issues affecting your bottom line as well as the political issues that will play out in November's election. Click here to register. If you have any questions you wish to ask the congressman, please submit them in advance to Taylor Drzewicki at tdrzewicki@nrmca.org. Host a Member of Congress for your chance to be entered in a drawing to be featured on NRMCA’s website by Election Day! Giving a tour to your Member of Congress or state official is the perfect opportunity to highlight how the ready mixed concrete industry plays a vital part in our nation's prosperity and international competitiveness, and to share how the current economic and regulatory environments impact our unique industry. For your convenience, NRMCA will assist in coordinating with your Member of Congress’ office and answer any questions you may have prior to your tour. The winner will be announced Friday, November 6. Click here to sign up today. Have you already hosted a tour this year? Send in a photo so NRMCA can enter your company in the drawing. Send photos and questions to Taylor Drzewicki at tdrzewicki@nrmca.org. On Tuesday, NRMCA urged Congress to adopt reforms to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in the upcoming COVID-19 relief package. While the Small Business Administration loan programs like the PPP played a critical role in providing liquidity to America’s small businesses and ready mixed concrete producers, NRMCA asked Congress to make three key reforms:
You can read NRMCA’s letter here. NRMCA previously helped author a letter from the Highway Materials Group on PPP reform, and NRMCA, NSSGA and PCA stressed these reforms in their letter to Congress on future relief packages. In addition, NRMCA has joined the Main Street Coalition in advocating for fixes to the tax deductibility issues, as well as supporting less restrictive criteria for PPP second draws. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
SEO
Mark your calendars for October 5 - 9 for NRMCA’s National Mixer Driver Appreciation Week! NRMCA will be observing a week of appreciation for the ready mixed concrete industry’s front-line workers – our ready mixed concrete truck drivers. NRMCA encourages the industry to honor and celebrate its mixer drivers. Without their hard work, dedication and professionalism providing ready mixed concrete to the point of placement wouldn’t be possible. Please join us in recognizing and thanking these individuals for their exceptional ability to deliver the world’s most versatile building product. NRMCA is launching a Mixer Driver Appreciation Week website that includes an open thank you letter from NRMCA’s chairman and president, a template mixer driver thank you letter and merchandise for sale. The Mixer Driver Appreciation Week Store will includes polos, t-shirts, hats and beverage tumblers. The store will go live this coming Monday, August 10 and remain open through September 10. Orders will then be shipped by September 25 and arrive by October 2, just in time for Appreciation Week. Click here to access the store. NRMCA also thanks the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau for sponsoring NRMCA’s National Mixer Driver Appreciation Week. Without its support, this program and many others wouldn’t be possible. For more information, contact Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org or Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. 
Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. August 5 Online Course August 12 Online Course August 19 Online Course August 26 Online Course September 2 Oline Course September 9 Online Course September 15 Charlotte, NC October 5 - 6 Online Course October 7 - 8 Online October 20 - 22 Online Course November 10 - 12 New Orleans November 17 – 19 Online Course December 15 – 18 Phoenix December 15 Charlotte, NC 2021 January 26 – 29 Charlotte, NC February 10 – 12 Dallas March 23 – 26 Boston 
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Business Advancement
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Concrete 101 (CCSP I) will be offered online over a two-week period in late October. This annual introduction to concrete fundamentals is 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 executive functions 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 and staff contact information. The Workforce Development Committee thanks each NRMCA Producer member that took the time to participate in this year’s survey during July. A whopping one third of the respondents submitted data last week alone, thereby assuring a statistically valid number of samples. Calculations are underway and the report remains on schedule to be released in early October. For more information, please contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. NRMCA Member News
As part of its recent website redesign, NRMCA has updated its state affiliate programs page which lists each state affiliate with a direct link to its website. “We are seeing more of our state affiliate partners actively posting and sharing exciting information about our industry’s activities and it’s making a difference,” said Senior Director, Building Innovations, Doug O’Neill. “There is some great content being shared which promotes our industry and promotes the value and importance of what the concrete industry does on a daily basis.” Check out what state affiliates across the country are doing online, then Like and Share their posts. When an interesting project or subject comes up, post your own story and use hashtags to make your content more discoverable by LinkedIn members who follow or search for the hashtag you’ve used. Don’t use a hashtag where it may be better to @ mention. If you’re trying to tag a company or person, tagging them with the @ symbol followed by their name is a better way to get their attention. Confused yet? Not to worry! The NRMCA has put together a Social Media Task Force to help our industry get the most from our social media efforts. A few goals of the task force include increasing followers to our Build With Strength and Pave Ahead LinkedIn pages, developing key hashtags and providing members with a better understanding of how to get our message out and increase our online presence. If you are reading this and not already following @BuildWithStrength, @Pave Ahead, #buildwithstrength, #paveahead and #nrmca, log on to LinkedIn and make sure you are following the activity of the industry you represent. Need help? Both Gregg Lewis at glewis@nrmca.org and Doug O’Neill at doneill@nrmca.org are willing to help you get better connected, so contact them at your convenience. Engineering
The NRMCA Annual Concrete Technologist Training and Certification program (Short Course) will now be offered online from November 2-13. Interested persons are encouraged to register now! The number of available slots is limited. The Technical Short Course provides a fundamental understanding of concrete, aggregates and concrete making materials; requirements in industry codes and standards; and proportioning concrete mixtures. Attendees have the opportunity to obtain industry-recognized NRMCA certifications: NRMCA Level 2 and 3 Concrete Technologist certification. The NRMCA course is intended for quality, sales and other personnel with a technical role with ready mixed concrete companies and suppliers to the industry. New hires in these roles can also benefit from attending. A significant amount of technical content is covered that requires the attendees to have a basic concrete technology background and at least a high-school level of math. The course will be taught on the GoTo Webinar platform and course content will be available to registrants through the NRMCA learning site with login access. Some material will be mailed before the course. Tentatively, two 2-hour sessions are scheduled each day over six days of instruction. Click here for more information and to access a registration link. 
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