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Association & Industry News
Last week’s NRMCA Annual Convention 2024 in Tampa, FL, marked the end of an era with the retirement of NRMCA Executive Vice President, Operations and Compliance, Gary Mullings. For the last 50 years, Mullings has been a constant staple of the Association and ready mixed concrete industry. His imprint has been far-reaching and responsible for much of the industry's growth and heightened profile. Mullings was celebrated through several standing ovations at committee meetings, member tributes, toasts, awards and gifts. At the Safety, Environmental and Operations (SEO) Committee meeting and the Board of Directors’ meeting, videos were shown to highlight his time in the industry and how much he has meant to so many, for so many years. The videos can be accessed here and here.
Buildings
The next Concrete Innovations session, Architecture and Sustainability, will be held Wednesday, April 17, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time. Architects play a significant role in reducing the environmental impacts of building projects. The concept of sustainability is complex and architects lead teams of designers, engineers and contractors to design and build more sustainable projects. This session will provide case studies on state-of-the-art buildings that are at the leading edge of sustainability, including energy efficiency and resilience, while lowering embodied carbon footprint. The session will also discuss decorative concrete and other carbon sequestering products. Topics and speakers include:
Click here to register. Visit www.concreteinnovations.com for upcoming sessions. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org or 847-922-7995. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced potentially more than $1.2 billion in funding for four Portland Cement Association (PCA) member companies to launch decarbonization projects. The funding is from the Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
“This funding is a welcome acknowledgement from the government that America’s cement manufacturers are taking ambitious and significant steps toward reaching carbon neutrality,” said Mike Ireland, PCA president and CEO. “This will move the needle closer to achieving what industry considers the ‘heavyweight’ of carbon solutions: Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS). Once established nationwide, CCUS will greatly accelerate cement manufacturers’ charge toward net zero.”
This week, NRMCA Senior Director, Buildings Innovation, Frank Mruk (shown here with Shark Tanks’ Barbara Corcoran @ TEDxNYIT) as the first featured profile in a new American Institute of Architects' (AIA) series on instagram. The series, Get To Know AIAri, began with AIA past president Mruk and contained the following profile: Current Firm: NRMCA The Build With Strength program is a leader in supporting cutting edge concrete architecture and innovation. For more information, contact Frank Mruk at fmruk@nrmca.org. 
NRMCA recently verified seven system-level Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for the following concrete producers in the month of March:
• Dauphinais Concrete – public access to the EPD is available on the NRMCA webpage as NRMCAEPD: 20130 Dauphinais Concrete. This EPD reports the impacts for ready mixed concrete from three plants in Massachusetts More than 90 local design professionals and students learned about the contributions insulating concrete forms (ICFs) can make by improving the energy performance and reducing the environmental impact of school construction at Design Columbus, a recently held trade show hosted by Columbus State Community College in Ohio. The annual program and trade show attracts professionals from throughout the area who are interested in learning about innovative construction approaches, reports NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Donn Thompson. Kenny Stanfield, a principal with the architectural firm of Sherman Carter Barnhart in Lexington, KY, provided a detailed presentation of the strategies his firm used to cost effectively reduce the operating impacts of multiple ICF school projects throughout Kentucky. Sherman Carter Barnhart is recognized as a national leader in sustainable, energy efficient and zero energy design strategies. It consistently designs concrete schools, resulting in a baseline energy reduction of 75% compared to traditional school construction in the state. Thompson introduced the program with an overview of the features and benefits of various ready mixed concrete systems used successfully to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of schools. NRMCA partnered with Ohio Concrete and ACI on an exhibit at the event and served as a technical resource for the more than 400 architects and engineers in attendance. For more information, contact Donn Thompson at dthompson@nrmca.org.
SEO
The Safety Contest & Benchmarking Survey has for years been a safety performance and incentive/award program aimed to foster safe practices at ready mixed concrete plants across the nation. The survey is a per-plant contest open to facilities operated by NRMCA member companies in good standing in 2023. Companies with more than one division are encouraged to distribute entry blanks to individuals responsible for keeping safety records at each plant location. Entries must be e-mailed to safetycontest@nrmca.org by April 5. Click here for more information and to access a link for the entry form. The staff contact is Kevin Walgenbach. The 2024 Fleet Benchmarking Survey is filled out by industry fleet managers and/or financial managers early each year, based on data gathered from the previous calendar year’s performance. This year’s form includes new question on mixer drum composition, idle time and types of fuel being used. The survey is used to establish industry benchmarking norms and procedures. Information gathered is published in a full report in Concrete InFocus magazine each autumn; a shorter Executive Summary of the survey is also made available to all. Entries must be e-mailed to fleetbenchmark@nrmca.org by Friday, April 19. Click here for more information and to download the entry form. The staff contact is Kevin Walgenbach. 
Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's website. April 9 - 12, Omaha, NE *Sold Out April 16 - 18, Nashville, TN April 22 - 23, Los Angeles April 23 - 25, Orlando, FL *Sold Out April 23, Greenwood Village, CO April 30 - May 2, Mendota Heights, MN *Sold Out April 30 - May 2, Waldorf, MD May 8 - 10, Milwaukee September 9 - 13, Baltimore September 10 - 12, Sacramento, CA October 10 - 14, Aurora, CO October 15 - 18, Denver December 3 - 5, Orlando, FL December 10 - 13, Charleston, SC December 10 - 12, Denver 
Pavement
NRMCA Senior Director, Local Paving, Amanda Hult will join Florida Concrete & Products' (FCPA) Amy Wedel for a discussion on concrete’s resiliency and designs using ACI 330 and PavementDesigner.org in Jacksonville on Tuesday, April 23. The event, titled Concrete Exposure Day, is organized by FCPA’s Region 2 and Florida State College of Jacksonville and will be held at the school's downtown campus. Attendees will also hear from Florida Department of Transportation representatives on concrete projects they have built and will be constructing in the future. The classroom portion will be followed by a career fair that is open to students and the community. Proceeds from the event will go toward the FSCJ Building Construction Program. PDHs will be provided for the classroom portion. For more information about the event, sponsorship opportunities or to get involved, contact Amanda Hult. Click here to register. NRMCA Senior Vice President, Local Paving, Phil Kresge recently attended the Professional Trail Builders Association (PTBA) Sustainable Trails Conference in Lanier Islands, GA. Kresge manned the Pave Ahead exhibit booth in the conference’s Trails Expo. The Guide to Concrete Trails, published by the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center with funding provided by the Concrete Advancement Foundation, was featured along with NRMCA’s Design Assistance Program (DAP). More than 400 designers, specifiers and builders attended the 2-day conference. Kresge’s interaction with several project representatives has the potential to result in a significant number of miles of concrete greenway and urban trails. Additionally, many of the booth visitors utilized the available QR code to download the guide. For more information, contact Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org. 
Engineering
The Winter 2024 newsletter of the National Concrete Consortium includes the following items: • Toward Performance-Engineered Curing: The Winter 2024 NC² Moving Advancements into Practice (MAP) Brief from the NC² Resource Library reviews the current state of membrane-forming curing compounds for concrete pavement, provides recommendations for improving curing and discusses emerging technologies to allow performance-engineered curing. 
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