By all accounts, concrete is a good business these days. Construction and building materials industries are largely considered essential. Work continues despite the current circumstances, though often adjusted to meet new safety requirements and economic conditions. But even without the impact of Covid-19 on life and business, the concrete industry faces unique challenges:
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Milwaukee-based Scott Campbell, Ph.D., P.E. is the newest National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Building Promotion team member. As senior vice president of Structures and Codes, he will join colleagues in advancing industry interests through model codes and technical standards, and support state and local advocacy efforts. He will work closely with engineers and architects, code advocates, and legislative specialists to offer technically correct code-related solutions that maintain public safety and increase building resilience. Campbell holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He moves to NRMCA from Portland Cement Association, where he served as director of Code Technology.
Read MoreLafargeHolcim has acquired Tarrant Concrete Co., which operates three ready mixed plants on two sites, and builds on a Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex platform created under Holcim (US). With 90 employees and annual sales hovering $40 million, Tarrant Concrete becomes the first bolt-on transaction in domestic ready mixed production since the Aggregate Industries U.S. and Holcim (US) businesses, along with Lafarge North America, were brought under LafargeHolcim Ltd. in the 2015 Lafarge Group and Holcim Ltd. merger.
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Sources: Lafarge North America, Chicago; CP staff
LafargeHolcim has teamed with South Bend, Ind.-based Shaffner Heaney Associates to extend Ductal ultra-high performance concrete—with 18,000 psi design and 25,000 psi ultimate strengths—to the thin cladding and rainscreen market. Long the domain of metal panels and, more recently, fiber cement, rainscreen cladding systems typically comprise galvanized bracket- or channel-mounted 0.5- to 1-in. thick panels, insulation and water barrier.
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An agreement between LafargeHolcim and Phoenix-based HercuTech Inc. positions Lafarge North America, Holcim (US) and Aggregate Industries to market and support production of HercuTech, a plant-fabricated, high performance insulated concrete wall system suited to residential and light commercial applications.
Read MoreSources: Summit Materials Inc., Denver; CP staff
In a July 17 transaction with LafargeHolcim Ltd., Summit Materials acquired Lafarge North America’s Davenport, Iowa cement plant, along with a West Des Moines, Iowa, and six Mississippi River terminals. The companies announced the deal just ahead of an early-May U.S. Federal Trade Commission order stipulating plant and terminal sale within 10 days of the Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Ltd. merger, consummated July 8.
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A marketing agreement will see the Besser Co. sales organization promote the Rosetta Hardscapes product line to domestic and international prospects, augmenting the latter company’s sales efforts. The variety of Rosetta units and plant equipment offerings, Besser officials note, will appeal to producers throughout manufactured and ready mixed concrete.
Read MoreMeeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Portland Cement Association Board of Directors elected Lafarge North America CEO John Stull as 2014-15 chairman, succeeding Cary Cohrs (American Cement Co.), and Cemex USA President Karl Watson, Jr., vice-chairman.
Read MoreSources: McInnis Cement, Montreal; Lafarge North America, Chicago; CP staff
Responding to Lafarge North America charges of “enormous subsidies” behind a $1 billion greenfield cement plant and marine terminal in eastern Quebec, McInnis Cement contends: “The project has no subsidies [and] is being financed based on the merits of the business, with all debt and equity investors involved doing so on a commercial basis alone.”
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Lafarge North America is the lead sponsor for Designing for Disaster, part of a year-long National Building Museum exhibition spotlighting the evolving science of disaster mitigation, plus tools and strategies for building safer, stronger and more resilient communities.
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