Mike Ireland, President and CEO-Portland Cement Association (PCA) is National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech)‘s newest Board Member on the CP Tech Center Executive Board of Directors. Previously, Ireland served for 12 years as associate executive director for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Throughout his career, Ireland has capitalized on his industrial education degree from Brigham Young University through involvement in all aspects of association management, including executive leadership, marketing and communications, workforce development, philanthropy and fundraising, membership, and chapter management.
P&Q Magazine VIDEO: “PCA’s Ireland discusses the state of the cement industry”
PCA President & CEO Mike Ireland discusses the health of the cement industry, the challenges producers currently face, how consumption is faring and more.
A VIDEO with Ireland was posted in a late April “Pit & Quarry” online 125-year-old Magazine (Launched in 1916). Ireland pointed to workforce development as critical in fulfilling the sustainable infrastructure vision of Biden’s “American Jobs Plan”. For the VIDEO, please click on image above, or go to: www.pitandquarry.com/sponsored-pcas-ireland-discusses-the-state-of-the-cement-industry/?utm_source=CP+Tech+Center&utm_campaign=d641337b0d-RESOURCES+Newsletter+March–April+2021_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_07a32343e1-d641337b0d-169971045
CP Tech Board webpage: https://cptechcenter.org/executive-board-of-directors/?utm_source=CP+Tech+Center&utm_campaign=d641337b0d-RESOURCES+Newsletter+March–April+2021_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_07a32343e1-d641337b0d-169971045
CP Tech Center reminds all to take advantage of the numerous free training materials:
Webinar and Video Library
many Manuals
resources pages on: concrete recycling, concrete mixture proportioning, PEM, internal curing, concrete overlays, geotextiles, real-time smoothness, and pavement preservation.
APRIL & MAY TRAVELS – Virtual & In-Person
WEBINARS: “Concrete Pavement Technology Tuesday”
The CP Tech Tuesday webinars began only 1 year ago, yet attendance regularly tops 500 participants! COVID forcing the concrete paving community to work online more has undoubtedly played a role. Nevertheless, continuing excellent attendance has demonstrated webinars a powerful tool for helping move research advancements into everyday practice. Thus, in conjunction with the American Concrete Pavement Association‘s “Research, Technology, and Innovation (RT&I) Committee“, the CP Tech Center has begun a new webinar program “Introducing new or evolving technologies with RT&I”: The new program’s intriguing kickoff began:
March 5
Dan Zollinger explained an inexpensive development he thinks has potential to become the most impactful concrete paving advancement in 80 years—climate-sensitive, real-time curing control. Omar Swei continued the webinar by inviting contractors to join a study investigating why highway paving has been the only construction industry found not to have improved in productivity over time. Is this due to measurement error? Or is it due to requirements unduly inhibiting productivity growth? Or. . .?
APRIL 1
Peter Taylor, Director-CP Tech Center spoke about the “Evolution of Durability” at a special session of the virtual American Concrete Institute (ACI) Convention. To honor Dr. Shiraz Tayabji, the session convened prominent concrete pavement researchers and practitioners to speak on the concrete materials, design, rehabilitation, and performance areas to which Dr. Tayabji has especially contributed.
April 6
Webinar Understanding the Value of Competition: Jeremy Gregory and Leif Wathne showed how de facto paving materials monopolies lead to agencies paying more for both concrete and asphalt than they should…
CP Tech Webinars & Videos webpage: https://cptechcenter.org/webinars-and-videos/?utm_source=CP+Tech+Center&utm_campaign=d641337b0d-RESOURCES+Newsletter+March–April+2021_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_07a32343e1-d641337b0d-169971045
April 13 through 15
A second virtual SPRING National Concrete Consortium (NC²) Meeting facilitated by the CP Tech Center, again attracted a record number of registrants from state agencies (211), FHWA (42), industry (174), and academia (28). Participants were from 43 states and 9 countries! For the SPRING NCC webpage, please go to: https://intrans.iastate.edu/events/spring-2021-national-concrete-consortium/?utm_source=CP+Tech+Center&utm_campaign=d641337b0d-RESOURCES+Newsletter+March–April+2021_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_07a32343e1-d641337b0d-169971045
April 20: IN-PERSON!
Locally, the CP Tech Center sponsored its annual concrete competition for engineers-in-the-making enrolled in Iowa State University’s “Design of Portland Cement Concrete” course taught by Kejin Wang. This year’s judges, including Peter Taylor and John Adam, Program Manager-CP Tech, worked together (in person!) to identify winning teams for the following categories:
(1) highest strength, (2) best/lowest cost, (3) aesthetics, and (4) overall 1st place
April 22
Peter Taylor participated in a meeting for the Utah DOT that focused on the goal of crack-free bridge decks.
The CP Tech Center’s transition back to more pre-COVID-like work has begun,
but the plan is to continue to take advantage of the many forms of online communication
COVID forced upon us all that this past year has demonstrated particularly effective.
INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN:
With the goal of fixing highways, rebuilding bridges, and upgrading airports, the infrastructure aspects of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, now under discussion by Congress, interest agencies and the paving industry alike. Both want to know how many “bucks” they will be responsible to steward. Of course, taxpayers’ key concern is getting the most “bang” from the bill’s proposed $4 trillion bucks. How can agencies and the concrete paving industry prepare to address that concern?
For agencies, a recent webinar on the “Value of Competition” organized by the CP Tech Center demonstrates that a programmatic vs. single-project perspective will foster not only a local asphalt but also a local concrete paving industry to ultimately
(1) pay the least for both pavements
(2) pave the most lane miles per highway dollar
(3) spur innovation in both industries for higher quality pavements overall
Regarding industry, Gordon Smith, Associate Director-CP Tech Center, takes Iowa’s concrete paving story as a case study in his presentation on “Evolution in the Art and Science of Concrete Paving”. Smith suggests Iowa’s sustained capitalization on innovation in bases, plants, mixes and mixing, pavers, placing, processes, and products has grounded the state’s concrete paving progress for now over a century—and therefore are key to concrete suppliers and contractors today stewarding well however much of Biden’s infrastructure plan they may be allotted. LINKS:
WEBINAR RESOURCE PAGE: https://cptechcenter.org/webinars-and-videos/?utm_source=CP+Tech+Center&utm_campaign=d641337b0d-RESOURCES+Newsletter+March–April+2021_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_07a32343e1-d641337b0d-169971045#featured
EVOLUTION: https://cptechcenter.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4bf55bc365dca0e5c928442da&id=aa0f71b8c2&e=2945805a7f
Regardless of our role, let’s prepare now to give American taxpayers the most “bang” for their infrastructure “buck”—to also benefit, over the long run,each and every member of our personnel and, as a result, our entire organization.