The industry entered 2014 with limited tailwind. Last year’s cement shipments and concrete output fell a few points from 2012, and prolonged, catastrophic winter weather hampered construction through the end of March. Before the snow melted, a) good market indicators supporting overdue plant and fleet investment were evident; b) one global and two domestic transactions surfaced, altering the top U.S. and Canadian concrete, cement and aggregate producer ranks; c) ready mixed and manufactured-concrete producers embraced new protocols for the LEED v4 era of green building; and, d) mobile device-suited information technology offerings surfaced, inviting the use of big data analytics to lower concrete production and delivery costs.
Read MoreMonth: December 2014
Custom gantry places 97-ton County Materials bridge beams steps from traffic
Sources: Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, Downers Grove; Edward Kraemer & Sons Inc., Plain, Wis.; Concrete Products staff
A Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (Interstate 90) contractor has completed the first phase of prestressed concrete erection for the $95 million Fox River Bridge expansion—24 bulb tee girders, 90-in. deep, 150- to 168.5-ft. long—proving how a proprietary hoisting scheme can replace conventional crane picks without disrupting immediately adjacent highway traffic.
Read MoreEastern Concrete grows New York City presence in Diamond plant, fleet deal
Sources: U.S. Concrete Inc., Euless, Texas; CP staff
U.S. Concrete has expanded its metro New York-New Jersey ready mixed and aggregate business, Eastern Concrete Materials, acquiring the production assets of Staten Island’s Diamond Concrete, Inc. The one-plant, 24-mixer truck deal extends the Eastern Concrete footprint to the New York City borough’s east side, where commercial and residential building are projected to increase in the coming years.
Read MoreLafarge joins heavyweight investors in Solidia Technologies funding round
Sources: Solidia Technologies, Piscataway, N.J.; CP staff
One of the top players in technology-targeted venture capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) leads a third or Series C Round of funding for Solidia Technologies, whose integrated cement and concrete production and curing processes lower net carbon dioxide emissions up to 70 percent when measured against portland cement alternatives.
Read MoreACI Council’s SCC Forum dovetails 2015 World of Concrete
Source: ACI Foundation, Farmington Hills, Mich.
The ACI Foundation’s Strategic Development Council (SDC) is sponsoring a February 2 presentation and project recognition forum on self-consolidating concrete, sharing best practices and success stories from industry experts, engineers, contractors and owners. The 1–4:30 p.m. event will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center a day ahead of the 2015 World of Concrete opening.
Read MoreLoyal, upbeat employees propel Ozinga Bros. to Top Workplace ranks
Sources: Ozinga Bros, Inc., Mokena, Ill.; CP staff
Results from a survey gauging staff sentiments on daily work activities, impressions of management and company direction earned one of the Midwest’s premier ready mixed producers inclusion in the Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces for 2014.
Read MoreU.S. Concrete builds Texas volumetric mixer fleet with Mobile-Crete
Sources: U.S. Concrete Inc, Euless, Texas; CP staff
Two months after entering the Texas market for volumetric mixer-delivered concrete through a deal for Custom-Crete, U.S. Concrete subsidiary Redi-Mix LLC has bolted on the fleet and sites of Scofield Construction Services, LLC and Mobile-Crete of South Texas, LLC, collectively doing business as Mobile-Crete.
Read MoreEnergy, commercial sectors spur mid-sized contractors’ 2015 optimism
Sources: GE Capital, Americas; CP staff
Surveying construction executives of firms ranging from $10 million–$1 billion in annual revenue, equipment finance giant GE Capital finds 75 percent of respondents “extremely” or “somewhat” confident in their local economies, and 65 percent indicating the same for the U.S. Respondents see energy-related construction the strongest sector in the next 12 months, followed by office, transportation and residential.
Read MoreNRMCA, ABC challenge EPA Clean Power Plan claims, costs, feasibility
Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.; Associated Builder & Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff
As the public comment period closed for the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units” rule, NRMCA and Associated Builders & Contractors joined a host of business interests raising concerns of the proposal’s effect on power costs and limited benefits, especially on claims of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction.
Read MoreICC adds cost justification, cloud collaboration to code development
Source: International Code Council, Country Club Hills, Ill.
Leading to the 2018 International Building Code and International Residential Code, the 2015/2016/2017 Code Development Cycle will be the first full interval to use cdpACCESS, ICC’s cloud-based system for code change proposals and public comment submittals, floor modification submissions and online voting.
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