Lignin supplier implements allocation plan for admixture customers

Sources: LignoTech USA, Rothschild, Wis.; CP staff

The world’s leading supplier of lignin-based products to concrete admixture producers has announced a critical supply imbalance that will impact North American accounts. LignoTech USA expects the condition to continue for the remainder of 2015 and is responding with an allocation plan for lignin.

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Builders, Contractors groups challenge proposed overtime requirements

Sources: Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

Associated Builders & Contractors, Associated General Contractors of America and the National Association of Home Builders are representing construction interests in a coalition opposing the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rulemaking to alter Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements with sharp salary threshold spikes.

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Cal Poly, Iowa State, N.C. State students lead NCMA Foundation competition

Source: National Concrete Masonry Association, Herndon, Va.

Dubbing their concept “FlipBlock,” Cal Poly State University students Alex Kiefer and Jacob vanDerRoovaart won the 2015 Student Unit Design Competition during NCMA’s Midyear Meeting in Montreal. The NCMA Foundation-sponsored event challenges architectural students with designing a “new” concrete masonry or hardscape unit that can be produced on a conventional block or big-board paver machine.

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Hardscape NA organizers finalize education, dealer sessions, exhibit agenda

Sources: Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute, Chantilly, Va.; Sellers Expositions, New Albany, Ind.

Hardscape North America (HNA), October 21-23 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, encompasses continuing education and networking sessions for product dealers and installers, new products showcase, signature awards program and nightly entertainment. Along with co-located Green Industry & Equipment Expo, it spans 750 exhibits in the center plus a 19-acre outdoor demonstration area. As HNA producer, the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute presents this year’s agenda as a “formula for a high return on investment.”

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Summit Materials bolts on LeGrand Johnson to Kilgore Cos. business

Sources: Summit Materials Inc., Denver; CP staff

Summit Materials has acquired LeGrand Johnson Construction Co., serving northern and central Utah, western Wyoming and southern Idaho through four ready mixed concrete, five sand & gravel and five asphalt plants. The Logan, Utah, operator becomes the 12th brand integrated with Kilgore Companies, an Intermountain platform—spanning upwards of 20 ready mixed and 20 aggregate sites, plus newer asphalt capacity—built since 2009.

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Index affirms strong underpinnings for nonresidential market

Sources: FMI Corp., Raleigh, N.C.; CP staff

Except for the hint of a slight decline indicated at mid-year, commercial, industrial and institutional building activity continues at a steady pace, according to the Nonresidential Construction Index Report (NRCI) for Q3 2015. Prepared by management consultant FMI, the index reflects sentiments of construction executives nationwide.

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Builders boost housing starts to pre-recession watermark

Source: National Association of Home Builders, Washington, D.C.

Led by a strong jump in single-family production, nationwide housing starts inched up 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.206 million units in July, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Department data. Single-family starts rose 12.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 782,000 units after an upwardly revised June reading, while multifamily work fell 17 percent to 424,000 units.

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Hardscape unit demand outpaces overall landscape product business

Source: Freedonia Group, Cleveland; CP staff

Landscaping product demand is forecast to grow 5.3 percent per year, from $5.3 billion in 2014 to $8.2 billion in 2019, as the market continues to recover from the effects of the 2007–2009 recession. Of four major categories profiled in Landscaping Products, a new five-year outlook from market researcher Freedonia Group, hardscape units—concrete or clay pavers, segmental retaining wall units— lead the pack with projected annual growth at 7.3 percent, from just over $2 billion in 2014 sales toward $2.9 billion in 2019.

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Trimble paving machine control speeds trains, cuts wasted mix volumes

Sources: Trimble Heavy Civil Construction Division, Dayton, Ohio; CP staff

The new Trimble PCS900 Paving Control System (Version 2.2) enables Gomaco Corp. and Guntert & Zimmerman-equipped contractors to precisely steer concrete placer/spreader machines and set slab elevation according to a 3D model. The resulting alignment eliminates labor requirements attending machine guidance through manual or slab edge string line methods, and accelerates concrete mix spread rate.

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Quality Concrete expands Atlantic Canada footprint in Lafarge agreement

Sources: The ChronicleHerald, Halifax, N.S.; Stevens Group, Dartmouth, N.S.; CP staff

A strategic partnership with Lafarge Canada will position Quality Concrete Ltd. with upwards of 20 ready mixed plants in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. A ChronicleHerald report with limited detail on the partnership structure notes that Lafarge will contribute nine ready mixed plants plus four aggregate operations to the business, and maintain its Brookfield, N.S., cement plant.

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