National Concrete Masonry Association's 2014 Board of Directors

The National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) elected officers to the NCMA Board of Directors. Dale Puskas of Basalite Concrete Products was elected NCMA chairman of the board. As chairman, Puskas will continue the many initiatives the association is currently pursuing.

"Some of my primary goals are maintaining and growing market share against competitive systems, improving the recent decline in membership due to the economic downturn and the perceived value of associations in general, advocating for government regulations and establishing organizational succession planning as new leaders begin to emerge in our industry," Puskas said.

Joseph Bowen of Mutual Materials was elected as chair-elect of the board, while Charles Newsome moves into a past-chair officer.

The following members also will serve as members of the 2014 NCMA Board of Directors:

Region I

Barry A. Diller • Nitterhouse Masonry Products, LLC

Greg McElwee • Cinder & Concrete Block Corporation

Brendan Quinn • Ernest Maier, Inc.

Jason Schmitz • York Building Products Company



Region II

Michael S. Carlson • CEMEX

Tim Ortman • Oldcastle Architectural, Inc.

Kent Trump • Titan Block

Kevin L. Vogler • Block USA



Region III

Robert V. Goldman • County Materials Corporation|

Carol T. Lee • Lee Brick & Block

Bruce Loris • Oberfields LLC

Kent Waide • Ruby Concrete Company



Region IV

R. G. Atwood • Featherlite Building Products

Peter J. Browning • Salina Concrete Products, Inc.

Patrick Sauter • King's Material, Inc.

Darryl Winegar • Midwest Block & Brick, Inc.



Region V

Brian Austin • Amcor, An Oldcastle Company

Phil Bonnell • Basalite Concrete Products, LLC

Wade Ficklin • Oldcastle Architectural West

Thomas Finch • RCP Block & Brick, Inc.



Region VI

Gary Belisle • Oldcastle Architectural Canada

Bobby Correia • RINOX, Inc.

Bruce Dick • Expocrete Concrete Prod. Limited, An Oldcastle Company

Tony Neves • Brampton Brick Limited



Appointed Director

James Hammer • Westblock Systems



AMD Board Representative

Marshall L. Brown • ACM Chemistries, Inc.

Paul Croushore • LANXESS Corporation

Kevin Curtis • Besser Company

William McHugh • Grace Construction Produts



Market Segment Committee Chairs

Timothy A. Bott • Allan Block Corporation

Rocky S. Jenkins • CEMEX

David Mariner • Boral Stone Products

Subcontractors Develop Future Leaders Via FASA Video

Many construction businesses are looking for strong leaders who can deliver accelerating results as their companies recover from the recession and maintain that momentum through a generational transition in the future. Many young people entering the work force, however, are discouraged with finding jobs in those sectors hit hardest by the recession, including the construction industry.

Faced with this dilemma, construction subcontractors are using a new video-on-demand, “Preparing for a Changing Work Force,” available from the Foundation of the American Subcontractors Association, to learn how their businesses can compensate for this demographic convergence and develop their future leaders and managers.

In the video-on-demand, presenter Jim Schug, principal, FMI, Tampa, Fla., explains how companies can identify and grow the potential of non-traditional resources and how to build an infrastructure and corporate culture that nurtures innovation and creative thinking.

“Preparing for a Changing Work Force” (Item #8068) is $65 for ASA members and $95 for nonmembers. This and other on-demand videos are available through FASA’s Contractors’ Knowledge Depot.

Donate to the MCAA Online Auction

Click the link to learn more!
http://www.masoncontractors.org/2014/03/03/donate-to-the-mcaas-annual-online-auction/

ASTM International Symposium on Masonry Scheduled for June

The ASTM International symposium Masonry 2014 will be held June 24 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ASTM International is an international standards development and delivery system provider. ASTM International Committees C01 on Cement, C07 on Lime, C12 on Mortars and Grouts for Unit Masonry and C15 on Manufactured Masonry Units are co-sponsoring the event.

The objective of Masonry 2014 is to gather and disseminate the latest information on all aspects of the innovations in masonry materials, design, specification, construction, maintenance and rehabilitation. It will emphasize the application of ASTM standards to those areas, and their coordination with building codes, project specifications and international standards. The technical program will include more than 15 papers that cover a broad range of the masonry industry topics, including:

• Descriptions of new test methods for masonry systems and their components
• Case studies
• Current work in developing new ASTM Standards and building codes
• Innovative approaches to masonry mortar materials and units
• Exploration of the properties of masonry products.

Online registration opens approximately eight weeks before the symposium and closes June 18. There is no attendance fee for ASTM members, presenters and students with a valid ID. The fee for non-ASTM members is $25 online and $50 onsite.

For registration and additional information, visit www.astm.org/C07Masonry2014.

Additional technical information is available from symposium chairman Mike Tate, Graymont Dolime Inc., Genoa, Ohio (419-855-8662; mtate@graymont.com).


 

Building Envelope Company Keene Expands Facilities

Keene Building Products’ has acquired a new facility located in Euclid, Ohio. The industrial complex’s 11 acres provide room for Keene to create a new laboratory for research and development, along with a prototype production line for small filament products.

The manufacturing for Keene will be moved in during the next 18 months. Additionally, an application lab will incorporate all of the products in the Keene family of companies, including epoxy coatings from Cansto Coatings, cement and gypsum materials from Dependable.

The acreage allows room for expansion and the creation of a rail spur to manufacture products in one location. Future plans include a new 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

“I grew up close to this area and my family has a long history in Euclid,” says Jim Keene. “This is an opportunity to revitalize a small portion of this nice community. We selected Euclid because of its proximity to transportation lines and its local support for industry.”

Keene Building Products is the manufacturer of three-dimensional filament products for the building envelope and noise control markets. Dependable is a manufacturer of professional grade floor products for repair, restoration and new construction.

Cansto Coatings is an 83-year-old Cleveland company that makes specialty coatings for flooring and industrial applications. Plans for the facility could mean as many as 75 jobs for the community.

For further information, call 877.514.5336, or email info@keenebuilding.com.

Mason Contractors: Silica Comments in and Public Hearings Approaching

By Stephen A. Borg

As we have covered previously in this column, one of the biggest issues facing the masonry industry – and the construction industry as a whole – is the proposed new rule being pursued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to further reduce the permissible amount of workers’ exposure to crystalline silica. 

As a part of MCAA’s game plan to combat this misguided and infeasible rule, the association joined with 25 other associations who represent almost every facet of the construction industry to create the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC). Over many months, numerous briefings, weekly conference calls, and massive efforts by MCAA and our Coalition partners, we finalized our Coalition comments and officially submitted them to the OSHA on Feb. 11.

While our comments were detailed and extensive, the overarching theme and summary of our comments is as follows:

“Given the lack of scientific explanation justifying the new exposure limits, the many contradictions between the rule and the realities faced in the construction industry, and the fact that agency officials made significant errors in the basic data the rule is based on, we are urging the administration to withdraw this proposed rule. We strongly urge agency officials to work with us and employee groups to craft a silica measure that will build upon the work all of us have done to reduce silica-related deaths by 93 percent during the past three decades.”

On top of these efforts, MCAA and all of our coalition partners also individually submitted our own individual comments to OSHA, and MCAA has requested a time block to testify at the public hearings scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., beginning March 18, 2014. We truly appreciate all of the MCAA members throughout the country who took the time to become educated on this drastic proposed rule and submitted comments of their own to OSHA. 

While the comment period to submit comments to OSHA has officially closed, it is imperative that each of you continues to educate yourselves on this rule, participates in combating the rule at every opportunity, and voices your concerns to your Members of Congress in both the House of Representatives and Senate. The more we can raise our unified voices and show how impactful this rule would be to our businesses, our industry, and our economy, the more we can have an impact on the final rule or the hopeful withdraw of the rule all together.

MCAA will continue this fight by participating in the public hearings in Washington, D.C., and voicing our concerns with the overall rule. The more information we can have on the overall impact of this rule on your businesses and real world examples, the better we will be able to tell our story to back up our overall opinions of the infeasibility of this rule.

Please take the time to visit the docket for the rule at www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=OSHA-2010-0034. Read the proposed rule and official comments that have been submitted, become educated, and make your voice heard. Our comments and public testimony will hopefully have a great impact on this rule, but our fight is only just beginning. We are only as strong as the involvement from you, our members.

Stephen A. Borg is vice president of The Keelen Group, www.keelengroup.com.

Good News for Masons: Construction Industry Adds 15,000 Jobs in February

Construction employers added 15,000 workers to payrolls in February despite harsh winter working conditions, raising industry employment to the highest level since June 2009, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. However, association officials noted that as the industry adds jobs many firms report they are already having a hard time finding skilled workers.

“The rate of construction hiring has outpaced job growth in the overall economy for the past year,” says Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “During that time, all construction segments have added workers.” 

Construction employment totaled 5,941,000 in February, the highest total in 4.5 years and an increase of 152,000 or 2.6 percent from a year earlier, whereas total nonfarm employment rose by 1.6 percent over that span, Simonson noted.  Among industry segments, residential construction employers led the way with the addition of 1,700 workers in February and 101,200 (4.8 percent) over 12 months. Nonresidential construction added 12,700 employees since January and 50,600 (1.4 percent) since February 2013.

“While demand for construction employees is rising at a healthy clip, workers are still leaving the industry faster than they are being hired, a dynamic that may result in widespread worker shortages in the near future,” Simonson warns. “In the past four years, nearly a million experienced workers have left the industry for jobs in other sectors, retirement or school. They are no longer available for immediate recall to construction jobs.”

The unemployment rate for workers actively looking for jobs and last employed in construction declined from 15.7 percent a year earlier to 12.8 percent last month - the lowest February rate since 2008. Simonson noted that the unemployment rate for construction workers had fallen by more than half since February 2010, when it reached 27.1 percent. During that time, the number of unemployed workers who last worked in construction declined by 1.34 million, but industry employment increased by only 438,000.

“Because persistently severe winter weather delayed many projects in the past few months, contractors are likely to be posting ‘help wanted’ signs on even more jobsites this spring,” Simonson adds. “Multifamily, manufacturing, and oil and gas-related facilities will generate particularly strong demand for workers. Contractors in many regions and specialties may have trouble finding the employees they’ll need.”

Association officials noted that two-thirds of construction firms responding to a recent survey reported having a hard time finding enough qualified workers to fill vacant positions.  They urged federal, state and local officials to enact measures outlined in the association’s recently released Workforce Development Plan that will make it easier for schools, firms and local construction associations to establish training programs.

“Unless we find a way to get more students to consider and train for careers in construction, many firms will get to a point where they don’t have enough workers to keep pace with demand,” says Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s CEO. “The last thing the hard-hit construction industry needs is to be unable to take advantage of increasing demand because of the decreasing supply of available workers.”