This year’s TCA Annual Convention will feature presentations on wind/storm resistance, seismic detailing, multi-story construction, converting projects to Tilt-Up and other topics to help you seek out new business.
Thursday's lineup includes (click on each link to see more details):
- Marketing in a Down Economy
- Converting Tilt-Up for the School Market
- Tilt-Up by Storm
- Erection and Bracing Strategies
- New Code Changes Under the 2009 IBC
- Supplementary Cementitious Materials
- Tilt-Up Concrete Panels as Shear Walls in Seismic Regions
- Small Footprint Tilt-Up for Small Footprint Users
Friday's agenda will feature:
- Tilt-Up, It’s a System
- Margins: A Cut Above The Rest
- Top 10 Tips and Tricks
- BIM Project Case Study
- Controlling Temperatures: Insulation and Thermal Mass
- Tilt-Up Innovation
- Safety Culture – Everyone’s Choice
- Tilt-Werks: Start to Finish BIM Tilt-Up Design
- Tekla: BIM Engineering and Detailing
Thursday
Marketing in a Down Economy
In today’s market, many are looking for a quick fix to their sales woes. Unfortunately, there are no magic answers. The right solution depends on such a myriad of variables including your goal, target audience(s), budget, message, past activities and much more. History validates that those who continue to invest in their marketing and sales presence in a downturn fair much better when the economy rebounds. Marketing is a leadership function in an organization and the recession gives organizations an opportunity to redefine how they market and how they approach the marketplace. A consistent marketing effort coupled with the proven marketing techniques will position you for success.
Converting Tilt-Up for the School Market
A quick survey of school construction around the country will show you that the brick/block solutions of the past decades are being upgraded in many regions to higher performing and more cost effective solutions offered with Tilt-Up construction. Still, the project challenge is often taking the base design of steel studs and brick or cmu/brick and providing the total package in Tilt-Up. Design firms have completed their work but a lot of conversion must take place. One industry-leading Tilt-Up contractor is making big waves in the school and hospital industries as they demonstrate how effective this solution for conversion can be and how realistic and advantageous it is for the owner.
Tilt-Up by Storm
Key to the theme of this year’s Convention, Tilt-Up withstanding the extreme forces of ravaging storms is the focal point of this presentation. What are the merits of Tilt-Up structures when facing gale-force winds, storm surges and other forces of nature? Led by an engineer with broad experience designing Tilt-Up projects for the extreme wind forces of the southeastern U.S., this presentation will provide a foundation for discussion of the merits and will answer many of the questions derived from considering the optimum solution balancing economy with performance. Durability and security are key benefits for Tilt-Up structures and these only increase as the wind speed climbs.
Erection and Bracing Strategies
Selecting the appropriate crane size and understanding bracing strategies should begin during the initial panel-building design. Understanding the panel erection and bracing process is paramount to the design process. This presentation will discuss crane types, rigging configurations, and bracing options from a designer’s and contractor’s perspective. Understanding the relationship between panel sizing and crane costs is critical in maintaining the maximum profitability to any Tilt-Up project. The presentation will discuss “panel sizing” design, selection of the crane, rigging and bracing.
To aid the contractors, a costing model detailing the panel erection costing for various options will be presented. Attendees will see multi-story and complex rigging situations and configurations with emphases on working safely.
New Code Changes Under the 2009 IBC
Design engineers often don’t crack open (or even order a copy) of the new code until they have a job being submitted under it. With the tighter and tighter deadlines, there is a tendency to work project to project and have limited time to look ahead. Besides simply listing the more significant changes that affect the Tilt-Up engineer, this presentation will provide significant background on some of them. Attendees will come away with an understanding of how their Tilt-Up engineering practice will change under the new building code. In just three months after this Convention, new projects will have to be in compliance.
Supplementary Cementitious Materials
The topic of sustainability is on everyone’s mind these days and supplementary cementitious materials can add in the quest for a sustainable project. There is a huge misunderstanding in not only the Tilt-Up industry, but also the concrete industry as a whole about these materials. Many people (including designers) think these supplementary materials are not appropriate for use in Tilt-Up but that could not be further from the truth. Attendees will learn about the different properties of the materials are, how they work in the mixes and both the advantages and disadvantages of these products.
Tilt-Up Concrete Panels as Shear Walls in Seismic Regions
Tilt-Up buildings today are typically designed as a site cast precast concrete bearing wall structural system for the seismic force-resisting system. Depending on the seismic design category and height of the building, the structural engineer has up to three options available when selecting the type of bearing wall structural system to use for the project. These options include ordinary precast shear walls, intermediate precast shear walls and special reinforced concrete shear walls as described in ASCE 7-05. The selection of the seismic force-resisting system impacts the overall cost of the project. During this presentation, the requirements and limitations of each type of shear wall category will be reviewed. An example will be presented showing the differences in the design for the three types of precast shear walls and how those differences will affect the project cost.
Small Footprint Tilt-Up for Small Footprint Users
Tilt-Up professionals are all always looking for new customers to serve and new ways to serve existing customers. The small footprint market represents a significant opportunity for the Tilt-Up industry on both of these dimensions. Whether it is a new 4,000-square-foot Starbucks or a 7,000-square-foot McDonald's, Tilt-Up is not only a viable option, but a winning option. This presentation will highlight how a creative approach to Tilt-Up construction and a marketing strategy directed toward non-conventional targets can create success.
Roof Diaphragms: Panelized Hybrid Wood/Steel Systems
One of the most economical roof structures used today, particularly in western regions and high seismic zones, is a system that combines steel joists and girders with a wood diaphragm. This so-called “hybrid” system offers efficiencies not only from a material standpoint, but also by facilitating a panelized construction method. Whether you’re a practicing engineer, contractor, or designer, if you’re working on a project that utilizes this system, you’re sure to learn something from this presentation that will help make your next project a success. We’ll cover the basic elements of the system, how it’s constructed and the economies it provides. Then we’ll look a little closer at the code and design requirements that affect each of the elements. Finally, we’ll discuss some of the larger building design considerations this roof system can impact, and that you’ll want to consider from the beginning.
Friday
Tilt-Up, It’s a System
This seminar offers the popular topic seen at the last few World of Concrete programs. It covers Tilt-Up as a system, not just a wall enclosure. When Tilt-Up is approached as a building system, including footings, structure, roof, construction time and other aspects, much efficiency can be incorporated to make it an increasingly economical choice compared to alternative building systems. This systems approach to Tilt-Up Construction identifies areas and components that contribute to Tilt-Up’s advantages while sensitizing the impact to schedule, durability, and other intangibles. By comparing Tilt-Up to some of the most common competitive system, a better understanding of the importance of this approach is gained.
Margins: A Cut Above The Rest
Designated seminar for the many suppliers and manufacturers that rely on the connectivity of the TCA for benefit to their products, this will describe the current trend of seeking price reductions in acquisition but then leveraging profits both short and long term through lower margins and net price to the customer or consumer. Are we waging a battle that puts us in a defensive position to win the war? In the end, the true market value is service, a quality component that cannot be sacrificed by constant margin trimming. This seminar will focus on value as the relative worth utility or importance degree of excellence, compared to price.
Top 10 Tips and Tricks
It is safe to say that at any moment, a contractor may face a situation that calls for creative thinking and problem solving to answer the challenge of a project component. Tilt-Up projects feature some of the most frequent creative solutions found in the construction industry. This session will continue the popular topic that has been a feature at past Conventions and offer some of the newest solutions that two leading TCA contractors have found. These are not always solutions to unique and complex problems, they are often solutions that drive economy and speed to further the advantage that Tilt-Up offers.
BIM Project Case Study
BIM is not just for large construction jobs. Today’s Tilt-Up contractors can benefit from the use of these tools. This presentation will dispel the misconception that BIM, or even 3D modeling, is overkill for Tilt-Up projects. By detailing the process in steps, this presentation will show how easy it is to use BIM while also highlighting how BIM can make Tilt-Up contractors more productive, even on smaller jobs. BIM can assist on Tilt-Up projects with estimating, planning, detailing and coordination of jobs.
Controlling Temperatures: Insulation and Thermal Mass
Recent building code changes are driving the need for higher R-values for today’s buildings. Insulated sandwich wall panels offer the solution to meet this need with a variety of insulation options. Hard wall design inside and outside allows the concrete to do what it does best, absorb and store energy. Further, in cold storage facilities, the concrete allows for the absorption of energy by eliminating temperature swing and providing a mass performance R-value above the straight line component R-value. The higher performance walls create lower HVAC demands. Placing insulation integrally between two layers of concrete eliminates moisture issues and prevents mold and mildew growth for better performance and better quality of life. This presentation will discuss how to get the most out of insulation and concrete.
Tilt-Up Innovation
To remain relevant every industry must innovate…the Tilt-Up industry is no exception. Improvements and refinements to current practices must be continually adapted and encouraged to keep the industry vibrant, to remain competitive and to open new markets. The “Tilt-Up Innovation” session will bring engineers and contractors up-to-date with the recent introduction of a competitive concrete and structural metal stud system that offers a light-weight advancement to the Tilt-Up industry. This load-bearing system gives contractors opportunities to apply to the skills and technologies of traditional Tilt-Up in new markets. Engineers will be able to discuss structural design considerations of this composite system and contractors will have the opportunity to discuss costs, as well as, forming and erecting details.
Safety Culture – Everyone’s Choice
All of the hard work that was put into your safety program has paid off, incidents are down, injuries and down in frequency and severity, your workforce is now comprised of the best and brightest. The safety program is running on cruise control…or is it? Assuming that your program is going to maintain itself without periodic evaluation, assessment and adjustments is just waiting for the wrong evolution to happen. Without nurturing positive safety evolution, the most likely catalyst for your program will be the Big Bang. Creationism, or buying a canned program and adapting your company to the “book” is not the most effective way to manage your safety program. A better way is to adapt the program to your needs. How to foster safety evolution and not the big bang starts with an assessment of where your company is at in the evolution process, establishing goals, setting timelines, and constant reviews to make adjustments. Attend this presentation to learn how these terms relate to your firm’s safety program and what it might mean for your company’s future.
Tilt-Werks: Start to Finish BIM Tilt-Up Design
BIM and Tilt-Up design go hand-in-hand. This presentation will introduce Tilt-Werks® as the only completely integrated start-to-finish system for creating a Tilt-Up building model and performing the Tilt-Up wall panel design. Tilt-Werks can also be used as a sub-modeling application for a larger BIM model. We’ll show how many of the common Tilt-Up design procedures can be performed simultaneously using Tilt-Werks. Instead of multiple entries of the same information into different programs, this data is entered only once into Tilt-Werks. The model is then used to produce the calculations and automatically generate the drawings needed to complete the project as well as provide the structural engineer new ways to optimize the design. Output includes reinforcing calculation reports, wall/panel drawings, panel reinforcing design drawings, material takeoffs and much more.
Tekla: BIM Engineering and Detailing
Featuring some of the most creative Tilt-Up projects in recent years, the use of BIM technology as a primary solution and communication tool will be brought to life in this work session. Combining CAD speed with high-resolution 3-D modeling, Tekla’s product has been employed by a broad spectrum of professionals in the Tilt-Up industry and has become the primary tool selected by worldwide experts.