Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/114208
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT BY STEVEN PROKOPY THE TOUGH GET GOING William F. "Bill" Childs, IV, is 2013 National Ready Mixed Concrete Association Chairman Member companies of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association find themselves in a unique position for the third year in a row, showing incremental growth and more stable market conditions, primarily the result of smart budgeting and streamlining. As a result, these eager companies are primed and ready to jump when projects begin cropping up as the economy improves and the construction industry catches up. If Portland Cement Association Chief Economist Ed Sullivan's most recent forecast—delivered at this year's World of Concrete—is accurate, cement and its downstream end users won't have long to wait to see major growth in the foreseeable future, perhaps as soon as this fall. NRMCA Chairman William F. "Bill" Childs, President & CEO, Chaney Enterprises, finds Sullivan's predictions encouraging, and reemphasizes that association members are ready to pull the trigger on whatever construction work demands their product. "The industry was showing signs of recovery as we concluded 2012 and entered into 2013," he says. "Frankly, from a business perspective, we are cautiously optimistic that this increase in business will continue for four or five years at a level above the current increase. "The fact that people don't recognize is how devastated our industry was. Going back to a year like 2006, when we were somewhere around 458 million yards of concrete delivered; we then dropped to a level of 250 million yards, which is a decline of 40-plus percent. In many industries, it would have proven absolutely devastating; some of our members will probably tell you that it was; however, the vast majority survived because of the drive, determination and commitment of the people that are in the industry. "This decline forced us to look for innovative ways to conduct our business and for new markets to sell our products and services into. It's a testament to the industry that the one thing that we kept steadily going was NRMCA. The membership identified the work of the organization as being significant and important. Not only did we gain members during an era that met the conditions of a depression—not just a great recession—we kept the organization intact and actually 24 | MARCH 2013 voted to increase dues to make sure it continued doing its most valuable work. Not only did the work get done, but it seemed to be an inspired performance by seasoned professionals. It burns me up to hear them referred to as 'staff.'" Childs says the industry could not be more prepared, with both product and information, for an economic boom in the construction industry. "The key question Bill Childs is when this boom will come," he explains. "I've seen information from economists saying that the production and demand for ready-mixed concrete will increase over the next 10 years. This information is encouraging to all of us, especially when you look at the pent-up demand for both housing and commercial development. Additionally, we have a wide-open new market in concrete paving, which is a tremendous opportunity." MARKET EXPANSION In the spirit of looking for new markets to tap, while the more traditional ones continue to struggle to improve, Childs points to several that have always been there but, in his estimation, were never capitalized upon until recently, when "necessity becomes the mother of invention." "The one that has provided the most dramatic and significant opportunity has been concrete paving, primarily in the area of streets, local roads and parking lots, including overlay of existing pavements with concrete in these arenas," he says. "Fortu- nately, it's coinciding with some fantastic scientific information that is coming out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Concrete Sustainability Hub, which has been under way for more than two years. The information delivered from Hub research is adding scientific veracity to what we believed, but now we can prove it. It's having a dramatic, positive impact in that segment of our industry." Concrete frame construction is another area Childs points to as an important source of new work for the industry, with its economic and engineering advantages over the more popular frames for highrise buildings. In addition, he believes the insulated concrete form (ICF) segment is resurging after a boom in the late 1990s. "As energy savings and a commitment to the environment grow more important, we're seeing dramatically renewed interest in ICF construction and its advantages with geothermal heating, radiant heating, etc.," he adds. "Although the industry has gone through terrible economic times over the last five years, some areas of the country are pulling out of the recession or depression faster or slower, but most can say that things were better in 2012, entering 2013, than they were in 2009–11. As we move out of the trough of these times, all of our core segments are coming back, as well as these three that we think have tremendous potential because of the economic benefit they give the end user." SECOND TERM, SECOND CHANCE With the cement industry dodging EPA regulations late last year that had threatened to shut down a major portion of powderproducing plants across the country, Childs considers what changes and challenges will come during President Obama's second term now that re-election is no longer part of his agenda. Compounding NRMCA's uncertainty about the next four years are the departure of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson—seen as a good thing by construction materials supporters in Washington, D.C.— and resignation of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "We've been successful at addressing the regulations and concerns of the Environmental Protection Agency, as it began to focus on our industry eight to WWW.CONCRETEPRODUCTS.COM