Sakrete enters professional aisle with higher psi, faster-setting mixes

Sources: Sakrete, Atlanta; CP staff

Sakrete arrived at World of Concrete 2019 poised for launch of its Pro-Mix series, formulated and packaged with an eye to construction supply house channels and department of transportation projects. Distribution of the professional grade mixes is scheduled for the first quarter, beginning in the Southeast. Four products chartering the Pro-Mix program are: 

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Aggregate and Concrete Executives group names officers, directors

Sources: Aggregate and Concrete Executives; CP staff

Kentucky Crushed Stone Association Executive Director Nick Rodgers, Arkansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association Executive Director Rita Madison and Georgia Construction Aggregate Association Executive Director Jeff Wansley have been elected 2019-2020 Aggregate and Concrete Executives (ACE) chairman, vice chairman and secretary/treasurer, respectively. Joining them as ACE directors for the same term will be counterparts Peter Vlahos (immediate past chairman), Pennsylvania Aggregates and Concrete Association; Randy Olsen, Iowa Limestone Producers Association; Doug Needham, Michigan Aggregates Association; Alan Sparkman, Tennessee Concrete Association; Jay Stem, North Carolina Aggregates Association; Tom Evans, Maryland Ready Mix Concrete Association; and, Todd Ohlheiser, Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

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Unions’ share of U.S. workforce falls farther

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; CP staff

The 14.7 million wage and salary workers who were members of unions in 2018 represented 10.5 percent of the U.S. workforce, down 0.2 percent year-over-year, a Bureau of Labor Statistics report confirms. The figure underscores a sustained union membership rate decline since 1983, the first year for which comparable worker data are available. BLS calculated a rank-and-file of 17.7 million workers that year, or 20.1 percent of the wage and salary workforce. 

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Hanskat chairs ACI Foundation Strategic Development Council

Source: American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich.

American Shotcrete Association Executive Director Charles Hanskat has been elected 2019 chair of the ACI Foundation Strategic Development Council, a broad-based group of material interests and downstream allies dedicated to accelerating technology transfer and commercialization in concrete practice. Hanskat has been involved in the design, construction, and evaluation of environmental concrete and shotcrete structures for 40-plus years. He is active in ACI Technical Activities, 301 Specifications, 506 Shotcrete, and 350 Environmental Structures Committees, plus the SDC Technology Management Committee, Technology Transfer Advisory Group, Strategic Repair Research Council, and Vision 2020 Initiative. 

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Concrete highway pavement volume approaches 60 million sq. yd.

Sources: American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA), Rosemont, Ill.; CP staff

ACPA sees 2019 concrete highway pavement volume rising to 56.2 million sq. yd., up 7 percent from 2018 and representing the largest such watermark since 2012. “Looking back at the past two years, 2017 was challenging for paving volume, but 2018 projected volumes indicate a strong rebound,” ACPA CEO Gerald Voigt observed at a World of Concrete 2019 briefing. 

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Laser scan data crunching speeds slab flatness/levelness measurements

Sources: ClearEdge3D Inc., Manassas, Va.; CP staff

Software unveiled at World of Concrete 2019 generates floor flatness and levelness figures from laser scan data, and visualizes wet or hardening concrete slabs’ high or low areas with elevation or deviation heatmaps, contours and grids. The new Rithm for Autodesk Navisworks version promptly delivers analysis reports compliant with ASTM E1155, Standard Test Method for Determining FF Floor Flatness and FL Floor Levelness Numbers. In contrast to the multiple-day process typical of current FF/FL measurement practice, developers cite the program’s capacity to reveal E1155 numbers in under 15 minutes.  

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Wells reaches West, Southwest in Rocky Mountain Prestress asset deal

Sources: Wells Concrete, Minnesota; CP staff

Wells Concrete has become one of the top five precast/prestressed producers in the U.S. after acquiring key business assets of Denver-based Rocky Mountain Prestress (RMP). The transaction extends its Upper Midwest footprint in structural and architectural precast to markets from Canada to New Mexico and Wisconsin to Colorado.

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Hazard mitigation study paints outsized ROI for I-Codes compliance

Sources: National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

A new National Institute of Building Sciences report highlights the significant savings realized from implementing mitigation strategies in terms of safety, property loss prevention, and day-to-day life disruption. The project team behind the Interim Report on the Value of Mitigation weighs the benefits of designing homes and buildings to meet the 2018 International Residential and International Building Codes versus the prior generation of codes reflecting 1990s-era practice and National Flood Insurance Program requirements. 

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Valuables-geared storage structure cast to museum-grade integrity

IMAGE

Art, fashion and collections storage company UOVO has announced the opening of their fourth facility, UOVO: Brooklyn. Located in the thriving arts community of Bushwick, the 150,000-sq.-ft. concrete building will offer specialized climate-controlled storage designed to meet or exceed the standards of the world’s leading museums. Scheduled to open in fall 2019, it will be the largest and highest quality art storage facility in Brooklyn.

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