According to several Las Vegas sources, contractors who visit World of Concrete gamble only when they think the odds are in their favor. But when compared to other Las Vegas visitors, contractors tip well when they receive excellent service.

At World of Concrete 2014 in Las Vegas, we’re hoping to learn from these attributes as we try to support a proven concrete construction technique. If we plead our case well, placing contractors will learn that self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a proven production material that increases margins and quality of the final product.

Make Monday at WOC an SCC Day

Want to learn more about SCC? Rich Szecsy will be present a World of Concrete seminar on self-consolidating concrete on Monday Jan. 20. His presentation is part of the WOC Education Program’s Production Track. The track includes seminars on mix designs, self-consolidating concrete, and chemical admixtures. To register, visit here.

SCC has many operational casting advantages for many types of placement conditions. Yet contractor acceptance for its use in cast-in-place construction has been slow in North America. The Strategic Development Council’s (SDC) Industry Critical Technology Committee on Self-Consolidating Concrete has been urging key industry leaders to speed up acceptance of SCC in construction. The committee has adopted a goal of “15 by 15” to convince designers, contractors, and producers to increase SCC’s market share in commercial construction to 15% of all ready-mixed concrete placed by 2015.

SDC’s pitch will be made during World of Concrete from 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 20. The topic of this networking event is How Producers Supply and Contractors Build with SCC.

Chairman Bill Phelan has assembled an impressive agenda, featuring contractors who will showcase how they’ve benefited by using SCC. The forum will be a peer-to-peer setting with stimulating discussions on using SCC on a wide range of projects.

Focusing on contractors

While there have been many impressive symposiums and conferences on SCC, most have been research-focused, so few contractors have attended. That’s why SDC’s effort at WOC is so important. Contractors learn best from their own ranks.

The tentative lineup includes:

  • How SCC Performance Characteristics Aid Concrete Construction - Rich Szecsy, president, Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association.
  • Why Contractors are Benefiting from the New SCC Form Pressure Guidelines - Dr. Kamal Khayat, director of the Center for Transportation Infrastructure and Safety and the Center for Infrastructure Engineering Studies.
  • Successful SCC Projects in Florida - Jeremy Minnillo, director of quality control and technical services, Preferred Materials.
  • A Concrete Contractor’s Success Using SCC - Daniel Wayne, project manager, Wayne Bros.
  • Using SCC on the Lake Mead Tunnel Project - James Grayson, quality manager, Vegas Tunnel Construction.
  • Using SCC for Architectural Concrete Across North America - Steven Zimmerman, principal,Reginald D. Hough Associates
  • Utilizing Rheomentry to Design SCC for Tall Slanted Columns - Lloyd Keller, Director of Quality Assurance and R&D, EllisDon Corp.

To learn more about this education session, visit the events page at www.worldofconcrete.com.