Sources: U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division; CP staff Argos USA has entered a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) resolving a DOJ Antitrust Division charge of conspiring to fix prices, rig bids and allocate sales for ready mixed concrete in Savannah and neighboring markets under U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia jurisdiction.
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Chaney digs deeper in Virginia with GreenRock Materials deal
Sources: Chaney Enterprises, Gambrills, Md.; CP staff Chaney Enterprises has acquired Richmond, Va.-based GreenRock Materials, spanning five ready mixed concrete plants in the state capital region, a three-plant portable production division, plus affiliated companies Mid-Atlantic Concrete Pumping, Stony Creek Sand & Gravel and NSL Transport.
Read MoreNRMCA recognizes Quality Awards recipients
Source: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va. NRMCA has named 20 members in the 2020 Excellence in Quality Awards program, which honors ready mixed concrete producers who have demonstrated that they follow and exceed quality management principles over a broad range of activities—from commitment to quality, materials management, managing production facilities and product quality control while maintaining a high…
Read MoreSurvey finds increasing equilibrium in mixer driver recruitment, demand
Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va.; CP staff
The NRMCA Mixer Driver Recruitment & Retention Survey shows an improved, year-over-year outlook for ready mixed concrete producers to maintain a healthy delivery professional pool. In 2019, 47 percent of respondents turned away orders due to lack of mixer truck drivers, down from 60 percent in 2018. The number of producers citing mixer driver vacancies dropped from 95 percent to 87 percent over the same window.
Read MoreSoftware, IoT devices complete ready mixed dispatch-plant-truck link
Sources: Complete Load Solutions, Chicago; CP staff
A Chicago-based technology developer aims to eliminate load-out errors and maximize ready mixed concrete plant production through a patent-backed program and Internet of Things device platform enabling full realization of communications links between ready mixed concrete dispatch software, batch software, and mixer trucks.
Read MoreNRMCA mobilizes salute to concrete delivery professionals
Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va.; CP staff
National Mixer Driver Appreciation Week, October 5-9, will afford ready mixed concrete producers and their allies an opportunity to acknowledge the hard work, dedication and customer service of delivery professionals across the industry. NRMCA announced the event in conjunction with a rescheduling of this year’s National Mixer Truck Driver Championship to September 2021. The competition is a major draw of the ConcreteWorks Conference and Expo, originally set for September 25-27 in Colorado but moved to October 7-8 in virtual format.
Read MoreReport questions 90-minute discharge window in ASTM C94
Sources: Ready Mixed Concrete Research & Education Foundation, Alexandria, Va.; CP staff
Findings in a new RMC Research & Education Foundation report, “Impact of Extended Time to Discharge on Concrete Durability and Performance,” support reexamination of the 90-minute delivery threshold in ASTM C94, Standard Specification for Ready Mixed Concrete.
Read MoreReady mixed producer safety performance reaches new watermark
Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va.; CP staff
The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association is recognizing 975 of the nearly 1,500 producer member plants entered into the 2019 Excellence in Safety Awards Program. The record number of plants spans Gold (918 recipients), Silver (five) and Bronze (52) categories defined by Occupational Safety and Health Administration and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics incident rate (IR) thresholds.
Read MoreQC ahead of dispatch in technology adoption; chats beckon
Source: BCMI Corp., Bellingham, Wash.
An analysis of ready mixed producers’ leveraging of the mobile device ecosystem that has evolved since the iPhone’s 2007 debut tracks widely adopted changes in functions like quality control, gradual reshaping of dispatch methods through cloud-based platforms, and advanced chat systems fostering productive team member collaboration. BCMI Principal Craig Yeack makes his case for “Industry is perfectly poised to deploy a mobile workforce” here.
Read MoreReady mixed producers assist artificial intelligence-fed quality control
Sources: Giatec Scientific Inc., Ottawa; CP staff
Central Concrete Supply Co. of California, Maschmeyer Concrete Company of Florida and Stoneway Concrete of Seattle have provided mix data used to train an artificial intelligence program, Roxi, to detect possible errors in batch proportions and slab or structure maturity calibrations.
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