For the Team

Workforce safety, input and growth potential carry the  day at new Knife River Prestress Division flagship BY DON MARSH A new high-bay structure a stone’s throw from the Washington-Idaho border is poised to emerge this decade as the most productive precast, prestressed concrete facility on the West Coast. With nearly 200,000 square feet under roof on a 45-acre site, the…

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Decorative Design

15th Annual Decorative Concrete International Awards program. Open to both ASCC members and non-members, the competition honors outstanding decorative concrete projects in 19 categories ranging from Cementitious Overlays to Architectural Cast-in-Place. Submitted entries were judged equally on aesthetics, craftsmanship, functionality, creativity and safety by a panel of industry professionals. The 2023 awards were presented during ASCC’s annual convention in Grand…

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Contractors reinforce arguments against White House PLA Mandate

The Associated General Contractors of America followed up challenges noted here last month to a Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council rule requiring Project Labor Agreements (PLA) on federal construction contracts exceeding $35 million. By offering perspectives on competition, federal labor and procurement statutes, and taxpayer dollar stewardship, the group exposes the dubious nature of what its counsel calls the PLA…

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Enterprising to the Core

WBE Tec-Crete Transit-Mix holds its own in the Big Apple A work ethic cultivated by a range of duties—filling sand bags to office work—for her father’s New York City ready-mix business, F&M Transit Mix in Jamaica, Queens, more than paid off for Linda Gisonda in adult life. Indeed, she is the sole proprietor of a two-plant operation filling mixer trucks…

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Opponents craft compelling arguments against Project Labor Agreement rule

If major construction project permitting, workforce and procurement challenges were not enough, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council has injected additional complications by making good on a White House directive requiring Project Labor Agreements on 100-plus contracts annually where federal funds exceed $35 million. Administration officials argue that PLAs promote economy and efficiency by eliminating the risk of delay associated with…

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Credible carbon credits seed SCM capacity

This year closes with strong cement and concrete market indicators, especially considering investor enthusiasm for publicly held clinker capacity. Consider activity among New York Stock Exchange-traded operators since Labor Day: Summit Materials announced a cash and stock deal for Argos North America Corp., its $3.2 billion valuation reflecting cement production and distribution assets in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and West…

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California producers’ carbon volley

Two years of major gestures surrounding greenhouse gas emissions in cement and concrete production or procurement solidify California’s reputation for incubating policy. In October 2021, the California State Senate passed SB 596, charting a regulatory course for Golden State cement producers to attain net-zero carbon operations by 2045. The California Nevada Cement Association concurrently published an SB 596 action plan,…

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Powerful Protection

The T Security Wall from Highland, Mich.-based Advance Concrete Products Co. affords robust perimeter protection for the United States’ first fully digital, plug-and-play, transmission-voltage substation. One Energy Enterprises Inc. built the facility at its Findlay, Ohio headquarters as a proof of concept for a new digital station architecture. Along with physical security attributable to precast concrete elements, the substation is…

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Pole Power

Where engineering efficiency and cement optimization go, spun prestressed power transmission and distribution (T&D) poles have few rivals in concrete production: The centrifugal forces that low-slump mixes encounter in hollow cylindrical molds, bearing on horizontal racks and spinning at up to 300 rpm, drive inordinate cement particle hydration and packing. Robust bonding of reinforcing cage and prestressing strand steel to…

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Valmont Utility: A credible conduit

Cement and concrete interests will be challenged to find a better manifestation of traditional and low-carbon era value propositions than our cover story subject, Valmont Utility’s superlative spun prestressed transmission and distribution (T&D) pole plant (pages 38-41). Beyond elevating the industry and its customers, the Bristol, Ind. operation conveys the right message about concrete at an ideal point:  Market development.…

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