As The Drum Turns…

The Salisbury Plant was recently notified that it has earned the prestigious Green Star Certification from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA), one of only 45 plants recognized nationally thus far.

The Green Star designation is earned after a rigorous review of the plant’s environmental management systems to ensure there is a formal and structured program in place to minimize/reduce possible pollution and to make the most efficient use of natural resources such as water and air and must include a process for continual monitoring and continuous improvement.

Processes and programs examined include the effective handling of process water and storm water discharges; water conservation, reuse and recycling; airborne process and fugitive emissions; vehicular emissions; fuel consumption; managing returned concrete; fuel and chemical use and community issues such as noise and aesthetic conditions.

The Salisbury employees along with Environmental Manager James Woody have all worked very hard to earn this recognition and are to be congratulated for this accomplishment.

It has long been a focus of our company to provide quality products to our customers in a responsible way. This means paying close attention to the way we produce our products and ensuring that we take the necessary and required steps to preserve our environment.

Producing a quality product has always been a focus from selecting the highest quality raw materials, employing the most qualified people and establishing processes and programs that ensure our products are reliable and meet or exceed the expectations of our customers.

Protecting and preserving our environment while producing our products has also been a focus. We meet and often exceed the regulatory requirements for protecting the natural resources required to make our product and minimizing the impact of our processes on our surroundings.

While we view these as our basic responsibilities of conducting business, it is always gratifying when our efforts are recognized by external organizations.

 2009 Environmental Excellence Awards

Our Salisbury plant along with the Madison plant recently received the 2009 Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards for their outstanding contributions to protect the environment and maintain sound environmental management practices in their operation. 

The awards were announced at the recent Concrete Works conference held in Indianapolis with over 300 people in attendance.  Madison was recognized as an Honorable Mention winner in Category A for plants producing < 25, 000 cu yds while Salisbury was a winner in Category B for plants producing 25,000 – 50,000 cu yds. 

The plants were 2 of only 24 plants recognized for these awards nationally.

NRMCA Producer Excellence in Quality Award

For the third time in 4 years the company received this award that recognizes producers from across the country who maintain some of the highest quality standards in the industry.

With results measured in seven categories including Management Commitment, Customer Focus, Human Resources, Production Facilities and Equipment, Materials Management and Testing, Specification Review and Mix Design and Measurement Analysis, awards are given to entries that score 75% or higher.

We were one of only two companies to receive this honor in Category B (production between 250,000 and 1million cu yds) and one of only eleven companies to be recognized nationally. Many thanks to Eric Misenheimer, Corporate Technical Services Manager for coordinating the application process and for helping us establish the standards to achieve such high recognition.

All of these awards are the result of the collective efforts of many people and are further proof that we have some of the best people in the ready mixed concrete business.

Fresh off his 2nd place finish at the CRMCA Driver Championship held in Charlotte, Josh Hogan of Randleman represented the company at the NRMCA’s 4th annual National Driver Championship held in Indianapolis Oct 17 – 19.

With his wife Lisa, son Josh Jr and daughter Rebecca cheering him on, Josh competed against 33 other drivers from producers in 19 states across the country. This year marked the first time a female mixer driver competed as a winner of the state competition in Arkansas.

The competition was very spirited as these drivers represent the best of the best within our industry. The event

Josh gets ready to drive the challenge course

involved three parts, each of which earned the participants points toward the overall championship.

The timed pre-trip inspection requires the drivers to find staged deficiencies while the timed written test measures the drivers knowledge about truck safety, product quality, truck maintenance and environmental responsibilities.

The most popular event was the skills driving course which was held in the infield of the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500 race.

The course required the participants to go through 8 different stations that measure the driving skill in situations ranging from parallel parking to backing and pulling forward to see how close they could come to a stationary object without hitting it.

Although he did not place in the top 3, Josh represented the company well and showed why he is considered one of the best in the country. Congratulations on a job well done.

Josh, his wife Lisa, son Josh Jr and daughter Rebecca at the awards banquetJosh is recognized with the other drivers

Josh is recognized with the other drivers