Concrete Connection A publication of Easi-Set ® Worldwide Winter/Spring 2012

Chris-Hill Adds J-J Hooks to Keep Highways SaferIn late December 2011, Chris –Hill Construction of Memphis, TN, became Easi-Set’s thirty-ninth J-J Hooks producer. The company, under the leadership of Craig Christenbury & John Hill, has been in business since 1965. Today the company is a licensed general contractor and sub-contractor serving the transportation, municipal, and utility markets throughout Tennessee, Arkansas, & Mississippi. The company specializes in bridge construction, pilings of all types, shoring & retaining walls, waste water treatment plants, drainage, demolition, and also provides temporary barrier under a rental agreement. The company will manufacture J-J Hooks precast barrier in 20-foot and 10-foot lengths. Notable projects include the Thousand Oaks Bridge over Nonconnah Creek, the Jackson Ave. Viaduct in Memphis, and the McLemore Bridge. Production training, under the direction of our Ricky Groves, is currently scheduled for late in the second quarter of 2012 at their Memphis facility. — Moffette Tharpe

Easi-Set Buildings Pass Level 5 Ballistics TestIn July 2011, Easi-Set passed a Level 5 ballistics test of its standard 3-inch thick building panel. MGA Research Corporation, an independent testing laboratory, in Manassas, VA conducted the UL 752 test. In the Level 5 test, a 150 grain 7.62 NATO round is fired at a 12-inch x 12-inch test sample from a distance of 15-feet. The test requires 6 shots to be fired at the samples, which are at several different temperatures. Passing this test allows Producers to certify a higher level of bullet resistance (were formerly certified for Level 3) for the Easi-Set Buildings. It is anticipated that these tests will be repeated for a 4-inch thick panel. — Jeremy Smith

Béton Provincial Now Offers SoftSound In January of this year, Béton Provincial became a SoftSound licensed producer. This company intends to produce SoftSound in their Trois Riviers precast facility near Quebec City located in the Canadian Province of Quebec. In addition to applying for approval of SoftSound as a product, the company is also required to seek plant approval from the Ministry of

Transportation of Quebec (MTQ), to produce noise walls for use on Provincial highways. Currently, Quebec is introducing sound-absorbing noise walls near major metropolitan areas.Béton Provincial, a family-owned business founded in the 1960’s, supplies ready-mixed concrete, asphalt paving materials, crushed stone & aggregates, and concrete pipe & infrastructure components from facilities located throughout Quebec. Some of the infrastructure products include retaining wall, water management products, 3-sided bridges, and other structural products. — Moffette Tharpe

Ad Ventures Agency MakeoverOn November 1, 2011, Ad Ventures made a strategic switch back to its original corporate name, Midland Advertising and Design.

Incorporated in 1980, the agency has served all the co-op and corporate advertising, public relations, graphic design, websites, and marketing needs of Easi-Set licensees, as well as other clients. The name change was made to brand the agency with a more traditional image and to increase its appeal to national clientele.Another component in the progression of the agency has been the arrival of Dale Neal as manager. He has accrued over thirty years of experience in the advertising, marketing and graphics industries. For eighteen years he was focused on business-to-business marketing within several highly regarded advertising agencies in Utah and Florida, including four years as a managing partner and eight years as a Creative Director. In 1999, Dale made the move to Virginia, which allowed the opportunity to learn the business of consumer marketing and e-commerce while working with two nationally recognized catalog companies.The agency offers a wide array of services and connections within the marketing and graphics industries. All Easi-Set producers are encouraged to contact the agency for advice (gratis) or to engage the agency’s services. — Moffette Tharpe

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Producer News Easi-Set News

Winter/Spring 2012 Concrete Connections (3)(2) Concrete Connections Winter/Spring 2012

Building Producers Seminar 2011

The 27th Building Producers Seminar, held in historic Fredericksburg, VA, was hosted by Smith-Midland Corporation. Owners, production, and sales staff travelled from all corners of

North America to attend this annual Easi-Set Seminar on October 27-29th. Wanting to always keep the content fresh and interesting, this year’s Seminar included an expanded Awards Ceremony as well as several new sessions, which addressed best practices for project flow, developing a sales and marketing plan, and details of an Easi-Span Building installation with a precast floor. Other sessions covered were an expanded “Members Only” tab on the Building website, as well as details related to standardizing submittal packages. Also, the Building Producers shared their success stories, which, as always, was an informative and important part of the Seminar.During the opening Awards Banquet, Service Awards were presented and several producers were recognized for noteworthy accomplishments. Smith-Midland Corp. was recognized for selling the most buildings, Norwalk Concrete Industries sold the most restrooms, Lonestar Prestress won the “Big Foot” award by selling an Easi-Span Building with the largest footprint (24’ x 120’), Shea Concrete Products achieved the largest increase over the previous year in the number of buildings sold, Brick Tavern Concrete received the “Quick-Draw” award for the fastest Easi-Set Building installation (36 minutes), Modern Precast had the “Best Photograph” of an Easi-Set or Easi-Span Building with an impressive restroom complex in Pennsylvania, and Norwalk captured the “Most Complicated Building Project” award by conquering a major project for

delivering a Building that exceeded 149,000 lbs. across two states.Smith-Midland’s plant tour on Friday began with a “sit down” buffet lunch in their new break room. The tour was widely hailed by the attendees as the “best one ever.” On Friday evening the attendees gathered at the Riverside Dinner Theatre in Fredericksburg, enjoyed a

delicious meal, and were entertained by the Tony award-winning show, Dreamgirls, a story based loosely on “The Supremes” early days. It was a magnificent evening.Information on the 2012 Building Producers Seminar will be coming soon. Watch for it on our Seminar website, www.easisetseminar.com. Updated details will be posted as they become available. — Jeremy Smith

StructureCast Building Production Re-TrainingIn early January, Easi-Set made a re-training visit to StructureCast’s facility in Bakersfield, CA, and found they were focused on improving the quality of Building production and smoothing out all phases of the flow through their plant from initial sales order to actual installation. Their production Manager, Scott Davis, is concentrating primarily on standardizing production methods in order to increase efficiency. StructureCast’s new salesperson, Dean Bagg, brings extensive sales experience in building sales, and he is seeing an increase in transportable building demand. Dean is enthusiastic about their sales prospects for 2012 and intends to make it their best sales year ever for Easi-Set Buildings. — Ricky Groves

Virginia’s First Beach Prism InstallationAfter spending several years “working through” the Commonwealth of Virginia’s permitting process, Smith-Midland Corp. prevailed and recently received a permit to install their first Beach Prisms on the Chesapeake Bay shoreline in Virginia. Bob and Chris White, of Heathsville, VA, lost much of their bay front property when Tropical Storm Ernesto roared through on September 1, 2006. After an exhaustive internet search for a solution to their erosion problem, they found Beach Prisms! In October 2011, Smith-Midland installed 22, 4-feet high by 10-feet long Beach Prisms. The Whites expect that the installation will either slow the rate of erosion, stop the erosion altogether, or reverse the erosion by replenishing sand in front of and behind the Beach Prisms. — Jeremy Smith

Electrical and Finishing of Building interior

Waste Water Treatment Plant in Paso Robles, California

Restroom Building FloorGabled Restroom Wall, Barn Board Finish

Smith-Midland is Back on GSA Schedule 56 & Lonestar Seeks Approval Recently Smith-Midland Corporation was re-awarded a GSA Schedule 56 contract. As we have discussed during our annual Building Producer Seminars, Schedule 56 is used for building purchases, FSC 54 is the sub-category for Pre-Engineered/Pre-Fabricated buildings, while SIN (sub-category) number 361 10A is for Storage buildings and 361 10H is for Restrooms.

One of Smith-Midland’s first tasks is to prepare and “up load” the building descriptions onto the GSA Advantage site, which is used by government contracting officers for purchasing. This step requires that Smith-Midland add a GSA Advantage link to a newly-created, GSA-specific landing page in their company website. Their second equally important task is to prepare and implement a GSA Marketing and Sales Plan.Recently Lonestar Prestress Mfg., Houston, TX, submitted their proposal seeking a Schedule 56 contract award. In preparation for the anticipated award, the company has begun to implement a “call plan” directed toward government contracting officers who purchase buildings. — Moffette Tharpe

Best Picture Winner

Smith-Midland Plant Tour

Effective Sales Workshop Awards Dinner

Top - Norwalk, Most Restrooms AwardBottom - Hy-Grade, 30 Years of Service Award

The Wide-Wide World of EASI-SET® Licensed ProducersUNITEd STATESArkAnsAs

Peterson Concrete Tank Co.N. Little Rock; J-J Hooks®

CAliforniAStructureCastBakersfield; Buildings

ColorAdoSEMA Precast, Inc.Englewood; J-J Hooks®

floridAFlorida Rock and SandPrestress Precast Co. Inc.Florida City; J-J Hooks®

J.E. Hill PrecastLeesburg; J-J Hooks®, Buildings, Farm Products

Leesburg Concrete Co., Inc.Leesburg; SlenderWall

Seminole Precast Mfg., Inc.DeBary; J-J Hooks®

GeorGiASeminole Precast Mfg., Inc.Macon; J-J Hooks®

The Industrial Co.Savannah; J-J Hooks®

illinoisUtility Concrete ProductsMorris; J-J Hooks®

indiAnAIndependent Concrete PipeIndianapolis; J-J Hooks®

Indiana Barrier Wall, LLCFt. Wayne; J-J Hooks®

kentuCkyIndependent Concrete PipeLouisville; J-J Hooks®

Oldcastle Precast, Inc.Lexington; J-J Hooks®

MAssAChusettsShea Concrete ProductsWilmington; Buildings, J-J Hooks®

MiChiGAnKerkstra PrecastGrandville; J-J Hooks®

MississippiJackson Precast, Inc.Jackson; SlenderWall®

nevAdARockway PrecastN. Las Vegas; Buildings

new JerseyJersey Precast Corp.Trenton; J-J Hooks®

new yorkBrick Tavern Concrete ProductsHudson; Buildings

Champion Materials, Inc.Carthage; J-J Hooks®

Fort Miller Co., Inc.Schuylerville; J-J Hooks®

Kistner Concrete ProductsE. Pembroke; J-J Hooks®

L.C. Whitford Materials Co., Inc.Wellsville; J-J Hooks®

Roman Stone Const. Co.Bay Shore; J-J Hooks®

north CArolinAHanson Precast ConcreteDunn; J-J Hooks®

Smith-Carolina Corp.Reidsville; J-J Hooks®, Buildings, Farm Products, Beach Prisms™

ohioNorwalk Concrete Ind.Norwalk; J-J Hooks®, Buildings

oklAhoMAGNC Concrete Products, Inc.Catoosa; J-J Hooks®

pennsylvAniAEagle Concrete Products, Inc.Somerset, PA; J-J Hooks®

Faddis Concrete ProductsKutztown, New Castle*, Downingtown; J-J Hooks®

* Sublicensed by Eagle Concrete Products

Modern Precast ConcreteEaston; Buildings

tennesseeChris-Hill ConstructionMemphis; J-J Hooks®

texAsLonestar Prestress Mfg., Inc.Houston; Buildings

Tricon PrecastHouston; J-J Hooks®

Valley Prestress (Williams Bros.)Houston; J-J Hooks®

W.W. Webber, Inc.Houston; J-J Hooks®

verMontSd Ireland Concrete Const. Corp.Williston; J-J Hooks®

virGiniASmith-Midland® Corp. Midland; J-J Hooks®, Beach Prisms™, SlenderWall®, Buildings, SoftSound, Farm Products

west virGiniAEastern Vault CompanyPrinceton; J-J Hooks®

CANAdAnovA sCotiA

The Shaw GroupLantz; J-J Hooks®

ontArioC J Pink, LtdLondon; J-J Hooks®

Hy-Grade Precast ConcreteSt. Catharines; Buildings, J-J Hooks®

QuebeCBétons Préfabriqués du Lac Inc.Alma; SlenderWall®

Béton Provincial LteeQuebec City; Beach Prisms™ , SoftSound

Lecuyer et Fils LteeSt. Remi; Buildings

MExICOOptiCretos, S.A. de C.V.Monterrey; SlenderWall®

AUSTRALIAAustralian Road BarriersVictoria; J-J Hooks®

BELGIUMOude Firma deClercq EdGent; J-J Hooks®

NEW ZEALANdB.S. developments, Ltd.Auckland; J-J Hooks®

Concrete Connection is published quarterly for the benefit of our licensed producers, their staff, our suppliers, team members,and selected interested parties. It is available in both print and electronic form. Moffette Tharpe, Editor Easi-Set®, J-J Hooks®, and SlenderWall® are registered trademarks of Easi-Set Worldwide.© 2012 Easi-Set® Worldwide . PO Box 400 . 5119 Catlett Road . Midland, VA 22728 . (540) 439-8911 . www.EasiSet.com

EASI-SET STAFF: Moffette Tharpe - Managing DirectorJeremy Smith - Deputy DirectorBrian Stock - National Sales ManagerRicky Groves - Technical Services DirectorAnne Smith - Administrative Manager

New Building Brochure ReleasedRecently, Easi-Set announced the release of a new, 16-page, Easi-Set/Easi-Span/Restroom brochure. The brochure will be introduced in Easi-Set’s booth at The Precast Show 2012 in Orlando, FL. This comprehensive brochure will enable the Building Producers to display the full range of the Easi-Set precast concrete buildings and restrooms ranging from the 10-foot x 12-foot plant-assembled Easi-Set to the 50-foot x 250-foot site assembled Easi-Span Building. — Jeremy Smith

New Easi-Set Building Logo IntroducedPreviewed during the 27th Annual Building Producers Seminar in October 2011, the Easi-Set Building now has its own brand image. The new logo, incorporating the Easi-Span

roof profile, was “rolled out” during the first quarter of 2012 on all national advertising, collateral material and the Building website. It was created as part of the continuing effort to build a recognizable national brand for the benefit of all Easi-Set Building producers. — Dale Neal

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