National Gypsum Donates $1 Million to Advance STEAM Education

AISI Publishes Design Examples to Illustrate Updated Provisions in AISI S100

Spackle by Dave Coverly

NIBS and Fannie Mae Publish Disaster Mitigation Plan

Dow Facility Starts Commercial Operation in Texas

Simpson Strong-Tie Opens Warehouse, Training and Distribution Hubs

JLG University Delivers New Experience

NIBS and Fannie Mae Publish Disaster Mitigation Plan

The National Institute of Building Sciences and Fannie Mae have developed the Resilience Incentivization Road Map 2.0 on mitigation investment to help people in America prepare for and respond to natural disasters.

As disasters grow more frequent and destructive, preparing our infrastructure and communities for extreme weather is critical to protect lives and reduce economic losses. On a national average, natural hazard mitigation saves $4 to $11 in avoided future losses for each $1 invested, as found by the NIBS Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves study.

“Climate resilience will be key to sustainable homeownership as the impacts of climate change increase,” said Tim Judge, head of modeling and chief climate officer with Fannie Mae. “The road map provides tangible recommendations that the collective stakeholders can take to promote resilient investment that U.S. housing certainly needs.”

The Resilience Incentivization Road Map 2.0 was recently unveiled at the NIBS Building Innovation conference in Washington, D.C. The report was supported by the NIBS Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council’s Committee on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate. It explores the investment opportunities by lenders, insurers, developers, owners and the government.

“We looked at the motivations, barriers and innovative ideas from each stakeholder group,” said Dr. Jiqiu Yuan, vice president of engineering with NIBS. “The Resilience Incentivization Road Map provides recommendations that would form the basis for real-world applications to create value for all stakeholders. Working together, we are looking for ways to move the needle, accelerate resilience investment and create a more resilient economy.”

NIBS has extensively studied natural hazard mitigation since 2005.

The Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves report offers a benefit-cost look at pre-disaster mitigation activities.

For example, hazard mitigation grants made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Economic Development Administration and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development save $6 for every $1 spent. Furthermore, adopting the latest in building code requirements saves $11 per $1 invested, and the benefits of building retrofits translate into a $4 savings for every $1 investment.

In 2020, CFIRE published “A Roadmap to Resilience Incentivization,” calling for public and private incentives to owners of buildings and other infrastructure to facilitate the upgrade of existing infrastructure and better design of new infrastructure.

Dow Facility Starts Commercial Operation in Texas

Dow announced this fall the start-up of a new MDI distillation and pre-polymers facility at its world-scale manufacturing site in Freeport, Texas. This investment optimizes Dow’s existing asset infrastructure and advances Dow’s leading positions in attractive applications in automotive, construction, consumer and industrial markets.

The new Freeport MDI facility, which replaces Dow’s North America capacity in La Porte, Texas, will supply an additional 30 percent of product to Dow’s customers. In coordination with the start-up of the new MDI facility, Dow shut down its polyurethane assets at the La Porte site.

“Our customers are looking for a cost-competitive and reliable supply of key upstream polyurethane raw materials to support their growth,” said Jane Palmieri, president of Dow’s Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure operating segment. “The back integration at the Freeport site enhances operational flexibility and reliability and delivers a more sustainable production process, ensuring that we are best positioned to support our customer needs and downstream growth.”

The new facility in Freeport delivers a more sustainable production process by:

• Lowering Dow’s annual greenhouse gas emissions from operations – the equivalent of removing 6,000 cars off the road each year.
• Decreasing the amount of freshwater intake.
• Reducing the percentage of wastewater discharged annually.

The company’s extensive polyurethane franchise upgrades key polyurethane components and systems to produce rigid, semi-rigid and flexible foams, as well as coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers and composites. These products are used in various applications, ranging from industrial and infrastructure solutions to consumer comfort solutions, such as flooring, furniture, bedding and footwear, to automotive solutions for vehicle interiors and energy-efficient insulation materials.

Simpson Strong-Tie Opens Warehouse, Training and Distribution Hubs

Simpson Strong-Tie staged ribbon-cutting ceremonies in September at three new warehouse, distribution and training centers in Denver; Salt Lake City; and Kent, Wash. Part of a strategic investment to increase the Simpson Strong-Tie U.S. distribution footprint, the new facilities will significantly expand the range of products available for next-day delivery across the Northwest.

The new distribution hubs include warehousing facilities, office space, training centers and newly designed, two-story demonstration rooms to host contractors and lumber and building material suppliers for project and product training classes. The new facilities are expected to create 50-plus new jobs as Simpson Strong-Tie deploys additional resources to optimize its U.S. supply chain and ensure reliable product availability with faster and more timely delivery.

As supply chain woes have continued to impact building product and material availability for construction projects, Simpson Strong-Tie is investing heavily to grow their already-robust U.S. manufacturing and distribution presence. The simultaneous grand openings come on the heels of a ground-breaking in Columbus, Ohio, to build an expanded manufacturing and distribution center there. That project is expected to create an additional 120 jobs.

JLG University Delivers New Experience

JLG Industries Inc. has updated its JLG University learning platform to enhance the way it delivers JLG’s world-class training programs; through a more modern, industry-leading experience. JLG University offers ANSI-required safety training courses for machine operators, service technicians and supervisors. It also has a robust Train-the-Trainer program, which qualifies instructors nationwide to train operators.

Training opportunities available through JLG University help develop safety and confidence in job site crews while making sure on-site supervisors and equipment users are compliant with the most up-to-date industry standards and regulations. “As the access industry continues to experience exponential growth, the need for quality, expert-led training is more important than ever,” said Rick Smith, the company’s director of product training. “That’s why we’re making significant investments in our training offerings, combining JLG University and AccessReady into one, all-encompassing, all-new JLG University platform.”

The all-new university offers users access to a robust library of training content and videos as well as learning paths for continued growth. Smith says that as part of the site’s upgrades, training managers also have improved ways to manage and track their employees’ training, including the ability to assign specific courses, view students’ progress through the programs, download completion certificates and access new digital operator IDs. For instructors in the Training Network, their user experience now will include more resources and teaching aids, the ability to efficiently purchase and assign courses, and access to new business-creation tools.

“This newly launched platform enables us to deliver our world-class training to our customers through a truly industry-leading experience, helping them to grow their skills and increase the knowledge they need to excel in an evolving construction industry,” Smith added.

With this new site, the training team now can collect customer feedback and use those insights to improve the training experience over time. “With this system, we have the ability to be agile in our improvements and training offerings based on the needs of our customers,” Smith finished. “It’s an exciting step into the next generation of learning.”

National Gypsum Donates $1 Million to Advance STEAM Education

National Gypsum has donated $1 million to be shared by a total of 34 schools and nonprofit organizations where the company’s associates live and work throughout the United States and Canada. This year’s donations are intended to primarily support education and the next generation of students focused on science, technology, engineering, art and math areas of learning.

For the past three years, associates company-wide have actively participated in the selection of local schools and nonprofit organizations that receive financial donations through the NGC Giving initiative. Associates from Gold Bond Building Products LLC; Gold Bond Canada Ltd.; PermaBASE Building Products LLC; ProForm Finishing Products LLC; and Unifix Inc. nominated this year’s recipients. As part of its ongoing commitment to local communities where the company has operations, National Gypsum has donated $3 million in conjunction with the NGC Giving campaign since 2021.

The selected organizations have made a deep impact on students’ lives and education. They provide a range of STEAM-related education initiatives, including tutoring services to underserved students, learning enrichment activities and training programs for future STEAM professionals.

“At National Gypsum, we’re dedicated to Building Products for a Better Future,” said Thomas C. Nelson, chairman, president and CEO of National Gypsum Company. “That requires building better futures for our associates, customers and communities. I’m grateful that National Gypsum has the opportunity to support and empower such important organizations in the communities where we conduct business.”

AISI Publishes Design Examples to Illustrate Updated Provisions in AISI S100

The American Iron and Steel Institute has published AISI D102-23, “Illustrative Examples for Provisions in AISI S100-16 (2020) w/S3-22.” The document provides a set of 22 design examples that illustrate updated provisions included in AISI S100-16(2020) w/S3-22, North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members, 2016 Edition (Reaffirmed 2020) with Supplement Three, 2022 Edition.

“Supplement Three includes many significant changes and additions to the North American Specification,” said Jay Larson, P.E., F.ASCE, managing director of AISI’s Construction Technical Program. “AISI created these design examples to assist engineers in understanding those changes, to aid programmers in including them in updates to their software and to demonstrate to designers how to incorporate them into future projects.” He noted that the Smath Studio software required to access the design examples is free of charge to use.

The changes in Supplement Three will be included in the next edition of AISI S100, which is expected to be published in 2024 and adopted in the 2027 edition of the ICC model building codes. The list of the changes in Supplement Three is included in the Preface to AISI S100-16(2020) w/S3-22, which can be downloaded free of charge from the AISI Design Resources section or directly at https://ow.ly/hI1s50PF9ti.