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The TILT-UP Industry’s BIGGEST Event Yet

Español | Translation Sponsored by TCA

The Tilt-Up Concrete Association International Tilt-Up Convention and Expo, presented by HD Supply Construction & Industrial White Cap and Meadow Burke in 2018, brings together the industry’s top professionals for three days of tours, awards, education, demonstrations, technology, networking, entertainment and much more. With Dallas as the 2018 host city, it comes to no surprise that this year’s event was the biggest yet, attracting nearly 700 registered attendees.

The event kicked off with a tour of some of the most impressive and complicated tilt-up projects throughout Dallas/Fort Worth. The Tilt-Up Buildings Tour, sponsored by CMC Construction Services and Owens Corning, featured a wide variety of building types to showcase the innumerable ways tilt-up can enhance a building’s structural and aesthetic design. From a luxury theater, to a college, to the campus of DFW’s newest master-planned community, the tour provided attendees with an up-close look at a myriad of innovative construction and decorative applications, safety advantages, engineering considerations, and substantial cost-saving measures.

“The Tilt-Up Buildings Tour is an invaluable part of convention,” stated Julia Gibson, marketing manager at CMC Construction Services. “It provides an opportunity to share best practices and showcase a wide variety of notable projects with decision makers and influencers from around the world. A collaborative spirit is fostered between all entities: The engineering firm, general contractor, concrete contractor, erector, architect and supplier collectively shared their experience in a personal, hands-on forum.”

Day one concluded with the 2018 Tilt-Up Awards Gala, complete with live music from CMA of Texas Songwriter of the Year, Thom Shepherd. The event, sponsored by Nox-Crete Products Group, honored those organizations, people and projects that have successfully illustrated the variety, beauty and flexibility of tilt-up construction. This year the TCA announced the Alphonse Engelman Safety Awards, 38 Achievement Awards, 10 Excellence in Achievement Awards, 5 distinguished Professional Awards, and inducted Kim Corwin, FTCA into the College of Fellows.

“We are very humbled to have been recognized by our peers in the tilt-up industry as the “Tilt-up Contractor of the Year,” said Len Overbeek, co-founder of Tilt Wall Ontario and 2018 TCA Contractor of the Year recipient. “Attending the TCA convention and Awards Gala each year has inspired us to become who we are today,” said Overbeek. “We believe anybody involved in the tilt-up industry, whether contractors, engineers, architects or suppliers, owe it to themselves and the industry to be a part of this great event each year. Sharing problems, ideas and solutions with peers has constantly challenged the tilt-up industry to new growth, and we are proud to be a part of that. We are already looking forward to next year’s event in Atlanta!”

This year’s education program, as always, was designed to provide attendees with valuable education that can be applied directly to their next tilt-up job. The program ranged from Tilt-Up 101, connecting those new to the industry or the construction method, to more advanced topics and case studies on the architectural capabilities, engineering and construction of tilt-up. “We had two Assistant Superintendents participate in the Tilt-Up 101 classes and certification,” said Jon Cadorin, VP of Construction Services for Buzz Oates Construction, Inc. in Sacramento, California. “The feedback from both of them was very positive and they gave high remarks for the education matter. We plan to send more employees to future events for this same purpose.”

“The TCA does a great job of bringing the most fascinating projects to the forefront,” said Karen Hand, engineer and president at Needham DBS. “It’s so inspiring to hear how creative and innovative our community of architects and engineers can be. They face overwhelming challenges and come up with amazing solutions,” said Hand. “Case studies like these make the meetings extremely worthwhile no matter how many years you have in the industry.”

Following a full day of education, day two wrapped up at the Argos USA Ready Mix Plant for the 2018 Outdoor Demonstrations, sponsored by HD Supply Construction & Industrial White Cap.

Two years ago, in Denver, the TCA asked leading suppliers of tilt-up tools, accessories and services to demonstrate the most common and costly mistakes made on jobsites at the 2016 outdoor demonstrations. This year’s outdoor demonstrations expanded upon that theme adding innovative solutions to the mix. This move was inspired by the extraordinary success of Tilt-Up Future Think held last spring in Dallas where a series of talks focused on emerging technologies and ideas with promising applicability for the tilt-up concrete construction industry were presented. The event consisted of 12 stations, each presenting a single topic.

“It was such a valuable experience to work with everyone involved in these stations,” said Chase Carter of TAS Commercial Concrete, who was the project manager for the outdoor demonstration. “It opened our eyes to other technologies and techniques used in different geographic locations across the US.”

Bringing together the latest reinforcement and cement technology, a live demonstration featuring a panel lift also took place during the evening. The panel, designed by Pinnacle Structural Engineers, consisted of traditional steel reinforcement bars limited to 48-in. centers horizontally and vertically while the rest of the panel was reinforced with TSMR. The effort was discussed during the first Early Bird Roundtable of the event moderated by Luke Pinkerton of Helix and Don Grieve of Pinnacle Structural Engineers. The 4.5-in. think panel was lifted by TAS Commercial Concrete to demonstrate the fast set and 3-d reinforcement technology.

“We definitely broke some new ground with the reinforcement technology in the demo panel,” stated Carter. “I can’t wait to see where this will take us in the future.”

In addition to the tours, awards program, education and demonstrations, the Tilt-Up Convention and Expo brought together the leading suppliers and manufacturers in today’s tilt-up industry. With nearly 70 exhibiting companies, this year’s exhibit hall was in line with the ongoing theme of this year’s event – Big.

The products and services showcased in the exhibit hall not only offer attendees hands on experience, they provide resources to save time and money and improve the look of their next project. These products assist in the advanced technological, design and construction capabilities that are available today.

“As the Tilt-Up Contractor of the Year, I would like to thank all of the industry suppliers and supporters who exhibit at the annual convention,” said Overbeek. “It’s always good to see the new innovations and products that make our industry great! As contractors, we can definitely say that our buying decisions are influenced each year by the exhibitors who are there,” said Overbeek. “We like to support those that support us and the industry.”

“I personally had the objective to network and discuss some specific areas of our buildings that we want to improve. The available resources at the event surpassed my expectations,” said Cadorin. “I met many people who gave me great input on what I was looking for. Since the event, I have carried on conversations with many of the vendors. We will likely do business with them on a few of our upcoming projects. The relationships I formed and the solutions they are offering will save us money and give us a better product. A total win!!”

“I thought we had a great lineup of exhibitors,” said Gary Fischer with Woodland Tilt-Up from Jupiter, Florida. “It was good to see guys like Trimble, GluDown, and especially Helix, as well as Connect-EZ, products we want to start utilizing. Also helpful to us are the reveal guys like Loveday, Victory Bear, Sylvan, etc. as we have a challenge with the adhesives products based on the type of materials we are using combined with the humidity of our area, and those guys were very helpful. As always, it’s good to see guys like Meadow Burke, Whitecap, etc. and we appreciate what they do for our industry.”

For a list of exhibiting companies, more information on this year’s convention, as well as upcoming events, please visit www.tilt-up.org/events. On behalf of the TCA staff and board of directors, thank you to everyone who was a part of the 2018 convention, and we look forward to seeing you next year in Atlanta, Sept. 26-28, for the 2019 Tilt-Up Convention and Expo!

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TILT-UP TODAY, a publication of the Tilt-Up Concrete Association, is THE source for Tilt-Up industry news, market intelligence, business strategies, technical solutions, product information, and other resources for professionals in the Tilt-Up industry. A subscription to TILT-UP TODAY is included in a TCA membership. Subscriptions for potential TCA members are also available. If you would like to receive a complimentary subscription to the publication, please contact the TCA.