Sources: Forest Business Network, Missoula, Mont.; CP staff
Organizers of the Mass Timber Conference, March 22-24 at the Portland (Ore.) Marriott Downtown Waterfront Hotel, have lined up 45-plus presenters from North America, Europe and Australia to address current opportunities and obstacles for cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail-laminated timber, glulam panels, and laminated veneer lumber.
Read MoreSources: Martin Marietta Materials, Raleigh, N.C.; CP staff
The acquisition of two Colorado operators has positioned Martin Marietta to grow its Front Range stone, sand & gravel, concrete and asphalt production workforce by about 400 and strengthen a long-term stake in the state’s southern market— owing to a gain of nearly 1 billion tons of aggregate reserves accompanying the deals.
Read MoreSources: Informa Exhibitions US, Irving, Texas; CP staff
World of Concrete 2016 exceeded expectations across the board, logging the largest attendee and exhibitor counts in seven years, Informa Exhibitions confirms. This year’s staging, February 2-5 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, drew just over 60,000 registered professionals, up from 55,800 last year, and featured more than 1,532 manufacturers, suppliers and service providers exhibiting across 744,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor space, a gain of 67,000 sq. ft.
Read MoreSource: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
A Chamber of Commerce report, “Regulatory Indifference Hurts Vulnerable Communities,” looks at the significant negative impacts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new air toxics standard, or Brick MACT rule, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s proposed revisions to the silica permissible exposure limit (PEL) on American brick makers. Concurrent compliance measures will cost producers millions, authors contend, and devastate a threatened industry in which 75 percent of companies are small businesses.
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Sources: StockpileReports, Redmond, Wash.; CP staff
The developer of a digital image-based, inventory management portal is extending its capabilities from aggregate to concrete operations. First time exhibitor Stockpile Reports outlined at World of Concrete 2016 a subscription service with which producers can readily calculate and log aggregate bunker and bin volume with Apple device-captured images and by drone.
Read MoreSources: BASF Admixture Systems, Cleveland; CP staff
MasterFiber MAC Matrix, a 2.1-in. long polypropylene macrofiber BASF Admixture Systems developed for secondary reinforcement of precast and cast-in-place structures, meets the performance requirements of a new ASTM C13 Committee on Concrete Pipe standard: C1818 Specification for Rigid Synthetic Fiber Reinforced Concrete Culvert, Storm Drain, and Sewer Pipe.
Read MoreSources: Quikrete Companies, Atlanta; CP staff
Quikrete continues to build out a professional-grade, bagged product line, unveiling at World of Concrete 2016 a dry mix for structural bridge, parking deck, tunnel, dam, wall and floor repairs. Shipped in 80-lb. bags, Form and Pour is a high-flow, high-strength concrete ideally placed by pump. Its mix design includes micro silica, plastic shrinkage-reducing and air-entraining agents, portland cement, plus 3/8-in. or smaller aggregate.
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Source: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.; CP staff
At a briefing timed with the opening of World of Concrete 2016 in Las Vegas, Portland Cement Association Chief Economist Ed Sullivan offered critical energy and housing market footnotes to his latest U.S. cement consumption forecast. Released in November, it projects year-over-year gains of 5 percent, at best, in 2016, and 5.7 percent for 2017. At those levels, U.S. portland and masonry cement shipments will climb from 92 million metric tons (mt) in 2015 to 96.4 million mt and 102 million mt this year and next.
Read MoreSources: W.R. Grace & Co., Columbia, Md.; GCP Applied Technologies Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; CP staff
Nearly a year after management outlined a proposed split into two public companies, W.R. Grace completed the separation of its namesake business from a new entity, GCP Applied Technologies. The latter was officially formed February 3 in a distribution of GCP stock, at 1:1 ratio, to W.R. Grace shareholders. GCP Applied Technologies’ two global businesses, concrete admixture mainstay Grace Construction Products and Darex Packaging, have 2,800-plus employees in locations on six continents, and serve customers in more than 110 countries.
Read MoreSources: CP staff; Vulcan Materials Co., Birmingham, Ala.
Vulcan Materials has published North America’s first self-declared Environmental Product Declaration for aggregates. The document provides data for four primarily concrete-grade fine and coarse aggregates, plus eight other grades best suited to base, drainage and asphalt from the producer’s Pleasanton, Calif., quarry.
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