Ask any manufacturer to pinpoint which trends are affecting business these days, and he’s sure to channel his inner James Carville: “It’s the economy, stupid!” This persistent grey cloud has a lot of people thinking fast, but for some of the leading companies specializing in prefabricated structures, working with a sense of urgency is more than trendy, it’s preferable.
Quick and clean “We like accelerated bridge construction,” said Eugene Sobecki, national sales manager for ACROW Corporation of America, who explained that if the costs will accept it, accelerated bridge construction (ABC) improves safety for the workers and the public, and is less impactful. Such mitigation is essential for a company like ACROW, which specializes in detour and bypass bridging in busy, urban areas.
But whether the project is in a big city or a small town, it always starts with the money, and since ACROW does the vast majority of its work in the public arena, the actions of the federal government are particularly consequential.
“We’re seeing some ARRA funded projects right now, but they are a lot less than the [repaving],” Sobecki said. “I read all the reports about how the states are getting this money, but being on the ground, as far as what we see, we’re seeing very little. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next six months.”
Sobecki isn’t alone in doubting the efficacy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Kenzie MacPherson, president of Big R Bridge, believes the money for infrastructure was oversold to the public. Like ACROW, MacPherson’s company does the majority of its work in the public sector, but this emphasis is more recent for Big R. MacPherson said that he began noticing a shift to the public sector about one year ago, and at that time his work in public/private sectors was split evenly.
As for other prevalent industry trends, MacPherson underlined accelerated construction techniques and practices, calling ABC the most influential trend affecting his business. He mentioned as emergent also the packaging of services with products. One of the newer products in Big R’s stable is the Tunable Bridge, which can be launched over a highway without shutting the highway down, and compared with a standard option, it can produce savings in the neighborhood of 25 percent, according to MacPherson. The Tunable Bridge is notable also for its aesthetic appeal; a point of focus for engineers that McPherson said is burgeoning of late.
Another interesting theme that both MacPherson and Sobecki mentioned was the efforts made by both companies to educate departments of transportation (DOTs) and consultants about what the manufacturers know and how they can help solve problems. Sometimes, DOTs are open to add new options to their circles, but as MacPherson mentioned, there’s a lot more room for innovative thinking.
A company that’s pushing innovation is Splice Sleeve North America, Inc., which after more than 30 years specializing in prefabricated buildings, is a relative newcomer to the bridge and road industry. Routinely used for parking decks, stadiums, hotels, industrial and air traffic control towers, the NMB Splice Sleeve product is a mechanical coupler for splicing reinforcing bars, which uses a cylindrical shaped steel sleeve filled with a portland cement based non-shrink high early strength grout. Reinforcing bars to be spliced are inserted into the sleeve to meet approximately at the center of the sleeve, and the interior of the sleeve is then filled with grout.
“NMB Splice-Sleeves connect individual rebars across joints between precast to create a monolithic moment resistant structure, just as if it had been cast in place. It thus combines CIP’s moment frame efficiency with all of precast’s virtues of speed, quality, safety, and reduced site costs,” said Jim Schroder, spokesperson for Splice Sleeve, who added that the push toward rapid bridge construction is a fueling force to the company’s work. As of now, about 30 percent of Splice Sleeve’s business is in bridges and roads, but according to Stan Kunoki, vice president and general manager, the acceptance varies from state to state. For example, Kunoki said that a state like California is more conservative due to earthquakes, while Utah is the most aggressive when it comes to Splice Sleeve products.
ACROW Corporation of America www.acrowusa.com
Big R Bridge www.bigrbridge.com
Splice Sleeve North America, Inc. www.splicesleeve.com
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