A Brooklyn, N.Y. startup using robotics and automation to optimize rebar fabrication has raised $3 million in seed funding to expand its team and further develop its technology. Toggle’s goal is to double steel shop labor productivity and increase cage production five-fold over traditional assembly methods.
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Following a successful pilot of order loading and tracking at the FEC Quarry outside Miami, Cemex USA is rolling out a major extension of its Go mobile technology platform, launched in 2017 for concrete accounts with an eye to digital transformation of the heavy building materials business. Measured against current methods, the Go Quarry Link app enables customers to receive aggregate orders with greater efficiency and provides real-time truck monitoring plus better product visibility and loadout processes.
Read MoreData from the past 12 months culled by onboard Drive Cam technology developer Lytx finds truck drivers encountering the highest rate of collisions on Thursdays and, in year-over-year terms, reducing rates of drowsy driving but increasing instances of cell phone use and failure to wear seat belts.
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Kentucky-based Continental Mixers Solutions, LLC has closed on the concrete mixer division of Kimble Manufacturing Co., and executed a transition plan to continue uninterrupted production of the brand’s rear discharge trucks. Continental Mixer announced the Kimble deal last month, just ahead of showcasing its expanded truck portfolio at the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s National Mixer Driver Championship and ConcreteWorks…
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Kentucky-based Continental Mixers Solutions, LLC has closed on the concrete mixer division of Kimble Manufacturing Co., and executed a transition plan to continue uninterrupted production of the brand’s rear discharge trucks.
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A program unveiled at the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s ConcreteWorks 2019 conference is dedicated to reinforcing a culture of safety across all facets of the industry and ensure workers end their day at the plant the same way they started it—alive and healthy. ThinkFirst emphasizes thoughtful and strategic actions throughout the order production and delivery cycle, program developers note, and will lead to a decrease in injuries, illnesses and fatalities while increasing worker retention and positive workplace morale.
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Maschmeyer Concrete Company of Florida delivery professional Luis Martinez took the 2019 National Mixer Truck Driver Championship, staged last month during the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association ConcreteWorks 2019 conference in Kissimmee, Fla. He received a $5,000 check from NRMCA affiliate, the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau, which was among 22 sponsors of an event whose record 96-driver pool tackled eight-station driving course and six-point ability challenges, plus written exam. Based in Orlando, Martinez has been driving for Maschmeyer Concrete for five years and was 2017 Florida Concrete & Products Association State Safety & Skills Competition runner up.
Read MorePresident Donald Trump signed the Water Infrastructure Funding Transfer Act last month, authorizing states to steer up to 5 percent of their Clean Water State Revolving Fund federal grant dollars to their Drinking Water State Revolving Fund through October 2020. Transferred funds may be used to provide financial support in the form of forgiveness of principal, negative interest loans or grants. New provisions are in addition to the existing transfer authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
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The 26-member Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC) has formally requested the Occupational Safety and Health Administration revise the Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica – Specified Exposure Control Methods standard (silica rule), thereby expanding compliance options and recognizing sub-threshold dust levels typical of masonry sawing and mortar mixing.
Read MoreBy Pierre Villere
As this column was going to press in early November, the U.S. stock markets were breaking records and reaching all-time highs. Many in the economics and investing community were holding their breaths as we tip-toed through third-quarter earnings season for America’s publicly traded companies, big and small. The high-level concern going into earnings season was that the slowing U.S. economy would unleash a spate of poor reports, and the stock market would confirm what many bears had predicted: the slowdown is here. Well, it didn’t happen.
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