Improving Concrete Quality

Registration for this event is being handled by NRMCA.  Please contact NRMCA’s Education Department at 888-846-7622 x1166 with any questions. 

Purpose and Background

Improved concrete quality has far reaching benefits—in improved performance, reduced time and costs, a lower environmental footprint of concrete and an overall improvement in the quality of concrete construction. However, it is hard to find a course focused on the subject of improving concrete quality. Based on quality surveys and award submissions, it has been observed that the industry does not commonly track quantifiable quality indicators and, as a result, the return on quality investments is not well understood. Improving Concrete Quality, a book authored by one of the instructors, addresses these issues.  That book, as well as other NRMCA resources provides the basic content for the course.

What will you learn?

• How do you know if you have good quality? What should be your quality metric?

• How to become more profitable through better quality?

• What are all the key statistical calculations you need to know in concrete?

• How to control the mixing water content in concrete?

• How to deal with temperature and delivery time variations?

• What is the most effective way to ensure that your material ingredients are of good quality?

• How to improve batching accuracy, mixing uniformity?

• How to identify non standard testing and curing? How to improve testing quality?

• Tests a producer should do, internal audits and many more...

Who Should Attend?

This course will be of significant value to concrete producers that will come away with readily implementable steps to manage variability and attain a more consistent product, thereby seeing performance benefits and cost savings. Concrete ingredient material suppliers will benefit by understanding the needs of their customers and to develop information on variability that can help their quality systems.  The course will be of interest to contractors and testing laboratories. The course will help testing labs measure and improve testing quality. Design professionals can benefit from this course by recognizing the opportunity for improved quality in concrete construction and the evolution to performance-based specifications.

Text/Handouts – Publications Worth $350+

• NEW Improving Concrete Quality book

• Printout of the presentations

• NRMCA QC Manual Section 1

• Quality Management System for Ready Mixed Concrete Companies

• NRMCA Quality Award, Survey and Certification Information

• Variables that Influence Concrete Compressive Strength

• Code and Standards Requirements for Acceptance Testing – Presentation with notes and checklist

• NRMCA/ASCC Pre-Construction Checklist

• Related Technology in Practice topics

• Related Specification in Practice topics and P2P Presentation