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Atlas Copco celebrating milestone anniversary
Atlas Copco CEO Ronnie Leten marked the company’s 140th anniversary by ringing the opening bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York’s Times Square earlier this year. The bell ringing signified the beginning of the day’s trading and the start of a yearlong anniversary celebration for Atlas Copco. Maureen Ellis, an employee celebrating more than 40 years with Atlas Copco in the United States, joined Leten at the event, along with select customers and other company management and stakeholders. Keep Reading
Non-residential building segment showing continued progress
The Dodge Momentum Index measuring the first report for nonresidential building projects in planning rose 5.9 percent in March, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. The increase lifted the index to 109.4, marking the fourth gain in a row following the modest retreat that took place from August through November last year. The four straight gains suggest owners and developers now perceive the climate for construction to be improving, as shown by the rising amount of commercial and institutional building projects reaching the planning stage, McGraw-Hill Construction says. The March increase was evenly split between commercial and institutional components. Large projects that boosted the commercial segment of the planning pipeline in March included a $200 million Maui Outlet Mall in Kihei, Hawaii; a $135 million headquarters for New Balance in Brighton Mass.; and a $75 million headquarters for British Petroleum in Houston. The institutional segment was bolstered in March by the inclusion of several new amusement-related projects. The largest of these developments is the $400 million MGM/AEG Arena in Las Vegas. Keep Reading
Construction put-in-place exceeding 2012 levels
The forecast for total construction-put-in-place for 2013 continues to show an increase of 8 percent over 2012 levels with an expected expenditure topping $900 billion, according to FMI's first quarter construction outlook. Residential building is showing the most promise, with a 23 percent rise in single-family buildings. Also, commercial, lodging and office construction are starting to pick up. U.S. shale regions are particularly seeing a lot of construction activity, according to FMI. These regions are in need of housing, as well as the construction of roads, rail and pipelines to move the product from the fields to refining and distribution sites. Residential construction single-family housing put-in-place grew 19 percent in 2012, and FMI expects another 23 percent growth to reach $161 billion by the end of 2013. Multifamily construction improved 47 percent in 2012, with FMI looking for another 31 percent in 2013. Keep Reading
Q&A with NSSGA’s Gus Edwards (Part 2 of 2)
Gus Edwards steadily climbed the ranks over 16 years between the National Stone Association (NSA) and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), starting as NSA's vice president of public affairs upon joining in 1997 and continuing in roles as vice president for communications and community relations, and executive vice president after NSA and the National Aggregates Association merged in 2000. Now, more than four months into his tenure as NSSGA president and CEO, Edwards recently found time to reflect on alternatives to funding surface transportation, the association's 10-year-old alliance with MSHA and his thoughts on creating a separate office for aggregates within MSHA. P&Q: What more could NSSGA do to rally the public behind surface transportation funding? GE: NSSGA is diligently working with our coalition partners to increase widespread support for surface transportation. Our two Rally for Roads, of which NSSGA was a prime sponsor, are an example of what we should encourage at the local level. Almost every state has a transportation coalition that can hold rallies.… Keep Reading
Expansion at Superior leads to increased production
Superior Industries has completed an expansion project at its conveyor components factory in Morris, Minn. The 10-month expansion project involved three stages of demolition, construction and machine installation. Crews demolished 30,000 sq. ft. of old space and added 60,000 new sq. ft. Superior reports a 60 percent increase in component production capacity with the debut of new idler, pulley and conveyor accessory production. Superior says the additional space is allowing it to improve production floor design, which ultimately speeds idlers and pulleys through the factory and improves lead times. "The new space allows double-digit capacity increases for both our conveyor idler and pulley production processes," says Paul Schmidgall, Superior's vice president of manufacturing. Keep Reading
Phil water tanks now available through Trinity Mining
Trinity Mining & Construction Equipment Inc. has entered a licensing agreement with Philippi-Hagenbuch Inc. that allows Trinity to manufacture and sell Trinity-branded water tanks based on Philippi-Hagenbuch designs and technology. Phil will continue to design and engineer its water tanks yet offer them through Trinity, which will sell and manufacture Trinity branded water tanks tailored to its customers' requests. Philippi-Hagenbuch will continue to manufacture and sell HiVol-branded water tanks. Keep Reading
Bosch Rexroth opens hydraulics manufacturing campus
Bosch Rexroth formally marked the start of production at its newly expanded hydraulics manufacturing campus March 20 in Fountain Inn, S.C., with a special event that included Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.). Haley joined Bosch Rexroth Americas President Berend Bracht and executives from Robert Bosch LLC for the grand opening. Bosch Rexroth is investing $80 million over five years to expand production in the new campus and convert an existing 260,000-sq.-ft. industrial warehouse into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that will initially produce the Rexroth A10VO hydraulic pump. With the addition of the new building, Bosch Rexroth has doubled its production capabilities at the location, making the Fountain Inn campus its largest hydraulics-manufacturing site in the Americas. To date, five assembly lines and multiple state-of-the-art machining centers have been installed for the production of the A10VO, along with one line for vane motor assembly. Keep Reading
Nye elected NSSGA chairman
Ward Nye, president and CEO of Martin Marietta Materials, has officially been elected the 2013-14 chairman of the board for NSSGA. Nye's election came during the NSSGA board of directors meeting at the association’s annual convention in San Antonio on March 19. Nye began his term at that time. “Ward Nye’s chairmanship comes at a critical time for the association and the aggregates industry," says Gus Edwards, NSSGA president and CEO. "This year will be fraught with challenges, but if anyone has the wherewithal to convert them to opportunities, it’s Ward." Nye made a few remarks March 19 during the board meeting. “We must build new bridges to our constituencies in order to carry out the mission of the association to advance the interests of the aggregates industry before the federal government, to achieve a safer and more healthful workplace, and to support sustainable communities," he said. Nye emphasized building bridges on policy issues with like-minded groups, coalitions, state associations and state governors in pressing for a long-term highway bill and dismissing… Keep Reading
Q&A with NSSGA’s Gus Edwards (Part 1 of 2)
Gus Edwards steadily climbed the ranks over 16 years between the National Stone Association (NSA) and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), starting as NSA's vice president of public affairs upon joining in 1997 and continuing in roles as vice president for communications and community relations, and executive vice president after NSA and the National Aggregates Association merged in 2000. Now, in part one of a two-part interview, Edwards shares his thoughts on recent legislative developments and the future of surface transportation funding. P&Q: How have your first few months as NSSGA president and CEO been? What was your reaction when the position suddenly became open, and later when you were approached about filling it? GE: I was, of course, highly honored and humbled to be asked to succeed Joy Pinniger. This is a great industry filled with remarkable people and some of the best-managed companies in this country, so it’s a privilege to serve them. I like to think there’s been a fairly seamless transition between my… Keep Reading
