May 2020 – Page 2 – Concrete Products

Spancrete elevates three company veterans to executive leadership team

May 19, 2020 Concrete News

Source: Spancrete, Waukesha, Wis.

Precast/prestressed concrete building solutions and hollow core machinery specialist Spancrete has promoted Scott Bertschinger to executive vice president, Kimberly Wacker to senior vice president and Todd Backus to senior vice president and chief financial officer. All will be based at Waukesha headquarters, near Milwaukee; report to principal and CEO John Nagy; and, have responsibilities encompassing Valders, Wis., Crystal Lake, Ill., and Sebring, Fla. concrete operations, plus Waukesha machinery production.

Wells Concrete occupies new Rocky Mountain flagship

May 19, 2020 Concrete News

Sources: Wells Concrete, Albany, Minn.; CP staff

Sited on 65 acres in Brighton, Colo. and the focal point of a $45 million investment, Wells Concrete’s new office and production facility brings under one modern roof the former Rocky Mountain Prestress architectural and structural precast lines housed on separate, nearly adjacent sites bordering downtown Denver. Staff relocation and other transition measures have commenced ahead of Memorial Day.

Knife River’s Leftwich leads Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association

May 19, 2020 Concrete News

Source: Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association, Round Rock

Josh Leftwich will join Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association in mid-June as president and chief executive officer. He succeeds David Perkins, who has been named vice president of Government Affairs and Communications for Lehigh Hanson Inc., Irving, Texas.

Final FMCSA driver hours rule remains friendly to construction materials hauling

May 18, 2020 Concrete News

Sources: U.S. Department of Transportation; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va.; CP staff

A final U.S. DOT rule updating Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours of service (HOS) terms increases flexibility for the 30-minute break provision by requiring a work pause after eight hours of consecutive driving and allowing it to be satisfied by a driver using on-duty, not driving status, rather than off-duty status. Effective in August, the rule also changes the short-haul exception available to certain commercial drivers by lengthening their maximum on duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extending the distance limit within which they can operate from 100 to 150 air miles.

PRACTICAL, ATTRACTIVE SOLUTIONS

May 16, 2020September 23, 2020 Concrete News

The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Spotlights Building, Transportation Structure Design Excellence

A state-of-the-art television studio, a memorial to civil rights, and a museum for a national landmark are among the winning projects in the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s 2020 PCI Design Awards program. Judges awarded 25 projects and five honorable mentions for design excellence in building and transportation categories.

SWEET SUCCESS

May 16, 2020 Concrete News

Gate Precast turns to 3D-printed forms for ‘sugar crystal’ façade

A towering mixed-use structure with a unique façade in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood has not only changed the New York City skyline, but has shown the transformative possibilities of 3D-printed concrete formwork. Thanks to a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Gate Precast Co. was able to bring the intricate design of One South First’s “sugar crystal” exterior to life as well as provide a major step forward for architectural precast.

PCI Foundation challenge gives new meaning to fast track stadium design

May 16, 2020 Concrete News

What might a future high school football stadium look like? That was the premise of Project Precast 2020, a PCI Foundation design competition, staged alongside Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Convention and Precast Show 2020 activities last month in Fort Worth, Texas. The competition entailed five university student teams, each comprised of one architecture, one engineering and one construction management degree candidate. Teams participated under sponsorship and guidance of Sika Corp. and PCI members Clark Pacific, West Sacramento, Calif.; Consulting Engineers Group, Mt. Prospect, Ill.; Coreslab Structures; Metromont Corp., Greenville, S.C.; and, Tindall Corp., Spartanburg, S.C. The Clark Pacific team prevailed and took a $3,000 prize.

MANUFACTURERS – APRIL 2020

May 16, 2020 Concrete News

St. Louis-based Afinitas has appointed Dan Hodel as senior automation engineer, reporting to Dave Stoller, vice president of Global Engineering. He brings nearly 20 years’ experience with Johnson Gas of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; as a concrete curing division combustion engineer, he oversaw design, technical support, sales and marketing for pipe, prestressed, precast, block, paver and roof tile applications. Hodel also worked as an automation engineer for Advance Interface Solutions and process engineer for Eli Lilly.

ORGANIZATIONS – APRIL 2020

May 16, 2020 Concrete News

Associated Builders and Contractors has named Matthew Abeles to the newly created role of vice president of Construction Technology and Innovation, spearheading integration of both concepts into all aspects of the group’s strategic initiatives, particularly total human health, world-class safety and workforce development. Abeles has advised and raised capital for construction technology companies, and positioned himself as a leader in the field. He co-founded BuiltWorlds in 2014, a Chicago-based media company, event producer and digital network for construction, real estate, finance and development leaders. He was responsible for outreach to established and emerging players in the construction and real estate sectors, promoting next-generation technologies and addressing influential audiences about the future of the industry.

PRODUCERS – APRIL 2020

May 16, 2020 Concrete News

Texas-based U.S. Concrete, Inc. has closed on a $142 million deal for Coram Materials Corp., significantly expanding its East Coast aggregates portfolio. “Coram’s 50 million tons of reserves, located in the quickly depleting Long Island sand market, increases the vertical integration of our New York operations, strengthens our competitive position and advances the continuation of our strategy of expanding into higher margin aggregates businesses,” says (retiring) Chairman William Sandbrook. Following successful integration of Vancouver-based Polaris Materials, acquired in 2018, he adds, U.S. Concrete continues “to seek opportunities of coupling the pull through capabilities of our large regional ready-mixed concrete operations with attractive aggregate assets.”