ORGANIZATIONS – NOVEMBER 2017

Ashley Smith, president and chief operating officer of Virginia’s Smith-Midland Corp., has been appointed 2017-18 National Precast Concrete Association chairman—a post his father and company co-founder, Rodney Smith, held in 1980. Ashley Smith has been involved with NPCA on various product committees and task forces throughout his career and served on the board since 2011. His one-year term began last month at NPCA’s 52nd Annual Convention in Atlanta. Smith-Midland was founded in 1960 and has been an NPCA member since 1971.



Ashley Smith

The convention also saw the election of Chairman-Elect Mike Hoffman of Lindsay Precast Inc., Canal Fulton, Ohio; Secretary/Treasurer Jon Ohmes of Champion Precast Inc., Troy, Mo.; and, Directors Wes Dees of Seaman Corp., Wooster, Ohio; Jeff Malcolm of Norwalk Concrete Industries, Norwalk, Ohio; Joel Sheets of Tindall Corp., Spartanburg, S.C.; and, Mark Wieser of Wieser Concrete Products, Portage, Wis.

Additionally, NPCA announced its top annual honors in Atlanta: Andy Wieser, president of Wieser Concrete Products in Maiden Rock, Wis., received the Robert E. Yoakum Award, recognizing his service a 2015-2016 NPCA chairman; support for raising quality standards through the NPCA Plant Certification Program; and, mentoring producer members across the country. Leo Feuerstein, secretary/treasurer of Western Precast Concrete in El Paso, Texas, was presented with the Douglas G. Hoskin Award for membership development, recognizing sponsorship of new members and outreach to them during their first year with NPCA.

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Research Engineering and Standards Committee has named recipients of the 2017 Excellence in Quality Awards, recognizing member producers who have demonstrated they follow and exceed quality management principles over a broad range of activities—from commitment to quality, materials management, managing production facilities, product quality control and maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. Producers enter the program as individual entities or plants within larger operators, or as company divisions, and respond to a multiple-choice type application form generating their scores. A minimum score of 75 percent with supporting validation qualifies for an Excellence in Quality Award, presented in three categories of plant/division output:

Category A (annual production > 1 million yd.): Argos USA – Florida; Argos USA –DFW; Argos USA RMX – Area 1 North Carolina; CalPortland – Arizona Division; Cemex – Northern California Region and Florida Region; Cemstone Products Co.; Central Concrete Supply Co.; Concrete Supply Co.; GCC Ready Mix USA; Irving Materials, Inc. – North Division; Martin Marietta – Southwest Division; Maschmeyer Concrete Company of Florida; Preferred Materials Inc.; Thomas Concrete – Georgia Division; Titan America LLC – Florida Business Unit and Mid-Atlantic Business Unit; and, Vulcan Materials Co. – Mideast Region NOVA/DC Concrete.

Category B (250,000–1 million yd.): Anderson Concrete Corp.; Argos USA RMX – Area 2 South Carolina; Bayou Concrete; Buckeye Ready-Mix; CalPortland – Nevada Region, Oregon/SW Washington, Southern California Ready Mix Division and Washington Division; Chandler Concrete Co.; Chaney Enterprises; Dolese Bros Co. – Oklahoma City Metro; Eastern Concrete Materials; Irving Materials, Inc. – Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee and Western Kentucky/Southwestern Indiana regions; River Bend Materials, Oregon/West Division; S&W Ready Mix Concrete; Superior Concrete Materials; and, Thomas Concrete of SC – Upstate, Coastal, Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., divisions.

Category C (< 250,000 yd.): CalPortland – Central Coast Division; Conewago Ready Mix; and, Dolese Bros Co – Tulsa, Okla., Division.

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Luke McHugh

Separately, NRMCA has appointed Luke McHugh as senior director, Local Paving, for the Northeast Region. Based near Philadelphia, he is a civil engineer registered in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Florida, Maryland and New Jersey with two-plus decades’ experience providing consulting engineering services on airport airside and landside projects. He will work with NRMCA partners and members to deliver successful local concrete paving projects and implement strategies that increase the use of various forms of ready mixed concrete in parking areas, local streets and roads.

“[Luke’s] addition to the Local Paving team will help NRMCA ensure that states around the Great Lakes region and into the Northeast U.S. have the support they need to be successful with concrete paving projects,” says NRMCA President Robert Garbini. “Owners and developers are placing more emphasis on life-cycle cost, durability and reducing annual maintenance costs, and concrete pavements help them achieve these objectives.”

Additionally, NRMCA has formed a partnership with the new Utah Ready Mixed Concrete Association (URMCA), citing it as the latest example of national, regional and state leaders working toward the common goal of making ready mixed concrete the building material of choice across all sectors of the built environment. “We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership with our colleagues in Utah,” says NRMCA President Robert Garbini. “Only by working closely and effectively with local, state and regional associations can we maximize share in an increasingly competitive building materials market.”

URMCA formed through the efforts of Metro Ready Mix, Geneva Rock, Staker Parson and Altaview Concrete, plus Ash Grove Cement, Lafarge and Mountain Cement. “We will promote throughout the state by marketing ready mix applications to architects, engineers, contractors, departments of transportation, economic development partnerships, state legislators and private developers,” notes URMCA Chairman Jay Ritchie (Geneva Rock), joined on the charter-officer slate by Vice-Chair Scott Reynolds (Altaview Concrete) and Secretary/Treasurer Matt Wood (Ash Grove). “We’ll also provide technical resources such as training seminars, workshops, certifications and recognition ceremonies relating to all ready mixed concrete applications.”

Ritchie stresses the need for URMCA members to coordinate activities for lobbyists in their efforts to educate state legislators and regulatory agencies that affect ready mixed production. Members will also seek to build coalitions with other material producers and allied industry groups while striving to elevate and maximize promotion of ready mixed concrete.

The American Concrete Institute has announced an annual $500,000 commitment enabling the ACI Foundation to increase student fellowship and scholarship awards, fund more research projects and support new industry technologies. “The Foundation relies on funding from the American Concrete Institute, ACI members, current partners, and new future partners to maximize industry impact,” says Director Ann Daugherty. “Through its investment in people, ideas, and research, [it] strives to enhance ACI’s vision of effectively meeting the needs of a changing world. This additional funding will allow the ACI Foundation to have a much greater impact.”

Established in 1989, the Foundation is a wholly owned and operated nonprofit subsidiary of ACI that promotes progress, innovation, and collaboration. Over the last two years, it has distributed 34 student scholarships and fellowships, funded eight new research projects, and invested in initiatives to advance the implementation of new technology.

Separately, ACI has appointed Editorial Boards for its two technical periodicals: Jason Weiss serves as editor-in-chief of ACI Materials Journal, with board members Zachary Grasley, Maria Juenger, Kamal Khayat and Michael Thomas. Robert Frosch serves as editor-in-chief of ACI Structural Journal, with board members Catherine French, Michael Kreger, David Sanders and James Wight.

“The formation of the Editorial Boards will further support advancement of concrete technology and construction worldwide,” says ACI President Khaled Awad. “By selecting and publishing the most current research with the greatest impact on concrete design and construction, ACI Editorial Boards will provide access to professionals around the world to the latest information on concrete and its uses.”

Santa Ana, Calif., hardscape installer System Pavers has been named to the Remodeling Big50, recognizing what the magazine views as “companies that have set exceptionally high standards for professionalism and integrity through exemplary business practices, craftsmanship, and impact in their community or the industry at large … Uniting the 2017 inductees are high standards and a determination to excel. They are taking the opportunity to build or adopt new efficiencies into their systems and processes—ensuring that they are poised to meet their sales, production, and customer-service goals and continue to thrive.”