NRMCA e-news
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
NEWS LINKS
As partisan sniping continues in discussion of a new surface transportation bill, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has floated the idea of extending current funding for six months if the conference committee can't reach agreement on a long-term bill. "If we get up to June 30th, I am not interested in some 30-day extension," he said, adding that he wanted to "move this thing out of the political realm that it appears to be in at this moment."
Source: June 8 story by the Reuters news service, as included in the June 8 AGC SmartBrief e-newsletter. Read more.
For a while it appeared that 2012 would be the year the U.S. economy picks up momentum, but those hopes are now all but dashed, and the outlook for the future is darkening, according to The Economist magazine. Automatic spending cuts and tax increases equal to 5% of gross domestic product a year kick in at the end of 2012. "This all gives firms a powerful incentive to postpone hiring and investment until the resolution is known," the magazine notes.
Source: A June 9 article in The Economist magazine, as included in the June 11 AGC SmartBrief e-newsletter. Read more.
The combination of the threat of wildfires and the building of houses in or near forests, rural areas or remote mountain sites has caused at least one homebuilder to capitalize on the versatility of concrete. The owner of one home said some visitors have to be told those good looking logs are concrete rather than wood.
Source: The Salt Lake City Deseret News for June 8. Read more.
When we last left the subject of poticrete a couple of months ago, it was New York City that found a use for crushed toilets as part of the recycled aggregates that was used in ready mixed concrete. Now, public works officials in the state of Washington have developed a specification that required the inclusion of recycled aggregate in concrete and that spec lead them to crushed ceramic toilets.
Source: June 7 article by Equipment World magazine, as included in the June 11 AGC SmartBrief e-newsletter. Read more.
*Correction - A NewsLinks item in last week's E-NEWS concerning the use of fly ash incorrectly stated that Hall County was in Kentucky. The location was Nebraska. E-NEWS regrets the error.
PROMOTIONS
If you don’t believe that promotion is a long-term effort, just talk to Jim Murray from NRMCA producer member Rowe Materials in Fredericksburg, VA. Murray is chairman of the Northern Virginia Concrete Advisory Council’s Paving Committee. In January of 2011, Murray joined Hessam Nabavi, director of industry services for the Virginia Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (VRMCA) in hosting a presentation for a large Spotsylvania County developer. Nabavi had invited NRMCA Senior Director of National Resources Phil Kresge to make a presentation on pervious concrete to the developer’s real estate team. While there was an expressed interest from the developer, there was no immediate adoption of pervious concrete for any projects in their pipeline.
With a mix of patience and persistence, Murray remained in contact with the developer and continued to promote the benefits of pervious concrete for stormwater management and sustainable development. He is now happy to report that the developer has included pervious concrete in its plans for a commercial/residential mixed-use project in Fredericksburg. Though total square footage for the project is not yet available, it is known that an 8,000 square foot pervious concrete parking lot has been incorporated into the plans.
It has been said that good things come to those who wait, but 90 percent of being successful is just showing up. Murray credits the presentation by Kresge as having planted the seed for the switch to pervious concrete. But he also reminds others of the need to continually nurture the promotion effort.
For more information, contact Phil Kresge at pkresge@nrmca.org.
NRMCA members should be on the lookout for Family Dollar projects, advises Southeast Senior National Resource Director Amy Miller. The prototype released in January included the requirement of ACI 330 R-08 as the reference and inclusion of concrete for design in parking lots. Family Dollar construction continues to forge aggressively in this economy and as a current darling of Wall Street. New store projects can be developed by Family Dollar or private developers. Either way, the same prototype will be used which instructs the ACI 330 concrete design section to the engineer of record.
For more information, contact Amy Miller at amiller@nrmca.org.
NRMCA's national resource directors have one more Webinar scheduled for June, this one on Streets and Local Roads promotion. Click on the link below to learn more or contact NRMCA's Jessica Walgenbach at jwalgenbach@nrmca.org.
ASSOCIATION & INDUSTRY NEWS
NRMCA vice chairman and Chaney Enterprises President and CEO Bill Childs will be honored as Southern Maryland's CEO of the Year at the 12th annual College of Southern Maryland Corporate Center's Leading Edge Awards ceremony on Wednesday, June 13. Click here to read more.
Past Promotion Director and President of the Oklahoma Ready Mixed Concrete Association Ben Fuller died June 7 at the age of 75. The cause was cancer, according to his former employer and NRMCA producer member Dolese Bros. The Oklahoman newspaper published an obituary on June 10.
ENGINEERING
NRMCA is still accepting applications for its 2012 Excellence in Quality Award competition. Open to NRMCA producer members, the award provides a basis to recognize those companies that strive for continuous improvement through their quality initiatives. It provides reasonable goals for those concrete producers interested in elevating their own quality management systems.
A company must be an NRMCA producer member in good standing to participate. Companies can enter as a company or a division. Applicants are asked to respond to a multiple-choice type application form that generates their score, which will then be judged. Companies or divisions that achieve a score of 75% or greater will be recognized at NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks Conference & Expo, scheduled for September 15-18 just outside Washington, DC. The deadline for receiving completed award applications is Saturday, June 30.
There are several advantages to participating in this award program:
1. It provides recognition to the companies that maintain high quality standards.
2. The award criteria can serve as an excellent quality improvement tool for companies.
3. Companies have used the award criteria for conducting internal quality audits.
The 2012 award application form features some changes from the previous years, based on quality-related discussions by NRMCA’s Research, Engineering and Standards Committee.
Click here for more information from NRMCA’s Web site, along with a link to download the award submission form and a listing of past award winners. Completed award forms should be e-mailed in the original Excel format along with required supporting documentation to Karen Bean at kbean@nrmca.org.
SUSTAINABILITY
The US Green Building Council (USGBC) announced last week it is postponing plans to ballot the next version of LEED until as late as June 2013. The reorganization and weighting of the credit structure of the proposed LEED 2012 rating system are the most extensive in LEED’s 12-year history. Because of this, there has been growing concern from building industry professionals that the proposed changes to the rating system were: 1) too dramatic in a weak real estate market; 2) needed refinement to the new approaches to the Material & Resources category; and 3) required tools that would not be widely available by the time the new systems was slated to launch in November 2012.
The strong push for transparency and avoidance of chemicals of concern has produced unprecedented assaults from the chemical industry which joined forces with the mainstream forest products industry in seeking to limit the federal government’s use of the rating system. No longer tied to a particular year, the USGBC is also revising its naming system, so the new version will be called "LEED v4" instead of "LEED 2012."
For more information, contact Tien Peng at tpeng@nrmca.org or 206-913-8535.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
To read government affairs-related stories that relate to the ready mixed concrete industry for the week of June 4 - 8, 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 June Internet Spotlight, good through Friday, June 29, is the Hot Weather Package. Now that the hot weather is here, help front line staff brush up on tips to help make the job go easier and get better results, with CIP information sheets and a short, valuable driver training video. This package includes the driver training DVD "How to Keep It Cool," tips for placing concrete during hot weather and CIP-12 "Hot Weather Concreting" (Pkg. of 50).
Order online today and receive 25% off the regular member price of $80: Internet Special is $60, plus shipping. Please use Discount Code ISJUNE12 to receive the online discount.
CALENDAR
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site.
June 25-28, Online Course
Concrete's Role in Sustainable Development
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
June 28, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
July 3, Webinar
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst Software
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
July 3, Webinar (Part 2 on July 10)
Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
July 10, Webinar
The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
July 10, Webinar (Part 2)
Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
July 16-19, Online Course
Building Green with Concrete
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
July 23, Sacramento, CA
Concrete Safety Course
Email: Karen Bean, 888-84-NRMCA, x1168
July 26, Webinar
ACI 330 R-08 – The Gold Standard of Concrete Parking Lot Design
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
July 26, Acme, MI
Slabs: We've Got You Covered
Contact: Concrete Foundations Association's Ed Sauter, esauter@cfawalls.org
August 6-9, Online Course
Pervious Concrete—A Stormwater Solution
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
August 9, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
August 14, Webinar
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst Software
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
August 14, Webinar (Part 2 on August 21)
Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
August 14-17, Silver Spring, MD
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
August 21, Webinar
The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
August 21, Webinar (Part 2)
Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
August 27-30, Online Course
Design of Concrete Pavements
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
September 4, Webinar
Introduction to Concrete Pavement Analyst Software
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 4, Webinar (Part 2 on September 11)
Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 11, Webinar
The Quantifiable Advantages of Concrete Parking Lots
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 11, Webinar (Part 2)
Designing & Specifying Pervious Concrete
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 16-19, Metro Washington, DC
2012 NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks & Board of Directors Meeting
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
September 20, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
October 2-5, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module I: Concrete 101
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
November 1, Webinar
Streets and Local Roads
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
November 5-9, Silver Spring, MD
Technical Short Course
Email: Karen Bean, 888-84-NRMCA, x1168
November 13-15, Silver Spring, MD
Effective RMC Supervisor Certification
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 4-6, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module II: Customer Business Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 4-6, Orlando, FL
Environmental Professional Certification Course for the Ready Mixed Concrete Industry
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
December 11-14, Denver
Plant Manager Certification Course
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
December 12-13, Doha, Qatar
International Concrete Technology Forum
Email: Lionel Lemay, 847-918-7101
2013
February 19-21, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module III: General Business Knowledge
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
March 3-5, San Antonio, TX
NRMCA Annual Convention
Email: Jessica Walgenbach, 888-84-NRMCA, x1152
March 19-21, Silver Spring, MD
CCSP Module IV: Sales Fundamentals
Email: Shawnita Dickens, 888-84-NRMCA, x1154
May 6-8, San Francisco
International Concrete Sustainability Conference
Email: Lionel Lemay, 847-918-7101
May 12-15, Chicago
Fifth North American Conference on Design and Use of Self-Consolidating Concrete
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