Beatrice Public Schools is bringing a new vocational field to the elementary schools each month during the school year. Bill A. of Beatrice Ready Mixed is teaching a Concrete 101 Introduction course to all three of Beatrice’s public schools. The course will be provided to 2nd-5th grade students during their after school program.

The program briefly covers how Beatrice Concrete manufactures the product, what raw materials are included, and a hands-on truck demonstration for all the students. Tyler E. demonstrated the functions of a ready mix truck and fielded questions from the students.

Beatrice was proud to be able to be a part of this educational event.

NEBCO Ready Mixed Concrete Companies recently collaborated on a street paving job for a new development in Ashland. Ready Mixed Concrete, Husker Concrete and Beatrice Ready Mixed plants worked together to produce 860 cubic yards of concrete in 5 hours for the project.

The project required a great deal of communicating between the companies to ensure that all the concrete was inside the job specifications, as well as coordinating with dispatch to ensure the correct amount of concrete was delivered for the job.

Dan Z. of Beatrice Ready Mixed competed in the 2018 NRMCA National Mixer Driver Championship at Gaylord National Resort near metro Washington, DC. After winning the Nebraska mixer driver championship, he was able to advance to the nationals and competed against a field of 87 drivers from across the United States.

The drivers took a written exam, did a walk around visual vehicle inspection, and a driving skills test. Some of the challenges in the test included a tennis ball drive-through challenge, parallel park challenge, on target challenge, scale box challenge and backing stop challenge. They also had a chute a hoop challenge, shooting a basketball into the chute to make a point. A break an egg challenge, swinging the chute over an egg and getting as close as possible without breaking it. A bowling challenge, where a bowling ball is attached to the final chute of a mixer truck, while the truck drives backwards and tries to knock down the pins in one pass. Reaction time was also tested with a computer program that records how quickly a driver reacts to the changes on a screen.

Dan finished outside the top 5 but had an great experience. Dan won the 2018 championship for Nebraska in June.

Lincoln Electric System is nearing completion of Phase 1 on their new Operations Center located on 117 acres in Southeast Lincoln. Beatrice Concrete has supplied over 20,000 cubic yards of concrete for the first phase of the project which included the new operations building, fleet building and new DEC thermal building that will handle all of the heating, cooling and water for the campus. Nearly 5,000 yards of concrete has been used for footings, 10,000 yards for paving, and 7,000 yards was used for interior finished floors.

The new LES Operations Center also created other projects near the area including sub stations and power poles, which called for 2,000 yards of concrete. Lincoln Ready Mixed also supplied 3,000 yards of concrete paving for Rokeby road adjacent to the site.

Beatrice Concrete recently hosted a brisket and brat barbeque at the LES facility for 100 employees and construction workers involved with the project. Phase 2 of the project begins in October and will include LES office buildings. The project began in June of 2017 and Hausmann Construction is the General Contractor for the project. The LES project is the largest single project ever supplied by Beatrice Concrete.

Overland Ready Mixed is moving it’s Geneva plant operations to Strang, NE. The new plant is erected, floors have been poured and the walls for the office are currently being framed. The next phase of the project is to erect the building around the plant.

Plans call for the project to be completed by November 30 and the plant should be operational by January 1, 2019. The Strang plant will feature a new dry batch plant that can handle 200 yards per hour. The Geneva 1995 Con-E-Co LoPro Plant will be refurbished and moved to Silver Creek to replace a 1976 manual batch plant.

The new plant used 1,500 tons of recycled crushed concrete for the base. The concrete was crushed by Constructors. Ayars & Ayars is the general contractor for the project.

The Nebraska Wesleyan University gets its first new academic building constructed in University Place in more than three decades. The building will be called the Duane W. Acklie Hall of Science, named after the former Crete Carrier CEO and Lincoln philanthropist who was a longtime Nebraska Wesleyan Supporter. Ready Mixed Concrete supplied 2,870 yards of concrete floors, parking lots and footings. S&K Concrete did the floors and parking lots, and Sampson did the footings. This project started in July 2017 and is estimated to open for students in 2019.

The Lincoln Children’s Zoo is in the middle of the largest expansion in its history. The $16 million, 10-acre expansion will create more interaction, more contact and more family memories than ever before. In 2019, the Zoo will open with four new amazing areas – a world-class giraffe feeding experience, an up-close tiger encounter, an indoor adventure where children will climb with monkeys and a plaza with a splash stream. The project includes product supplied from U-MIX Products Company, Apollo Steel, Reimers Kaufman, and Ready Mixed Concrete Company. Ready Mixed Concrete has supplied 4,600 cubic yards of concrete to the job while Reimers Kaufman has supplied 35,000 masonry units, along with PROMIX mortar from U-MIX. Apollo Steel has supplied 106 ton of steel for the project.

Overland Ready Mixed completed a 2,300 yard pour on June 5 in Aurora, NE. The main pour was set to be completed in one day with the only remaining parts of the project being sidewalks and driveways. The large pour was supplied from both the Aurora and Central City plants to accommodate the one day pour. The contractor for the project was Diamond Engineering.

The Nebraska Trucking Association announced the winners of the 2018 Nebraska Truck Driving Championship, held June 8-9 in Grand Island, Nebraska. Our very own, Dan Z. (Beatrice Concrete-Crete) won 1st Place in the Mixer Truck competition. In addition to Dan taking 1st place, Scott N. (Kearney Crete & Block) took 3rd place in the Truck and Pup division. Roy “Eddie” F. (Beatrice Concrete-Hwy 2 Palmyra), Bobby L. (Kearney Ready Mixed), and Jack H. (Kearney Ready Mixed) also competed in the Mixer Truck Competition.

This annual event offers Nebraska’s best professional truck drivers a chance to demonstrate knowledge, talent and skills in a competition highlighting what it takes to be a safe driver on today’s streets and highways. Over 100 drivers participated in this year’s championships in eleven classes. Additional awards were presented based upon scores in: written examination, personal interview, pre-trip inspection and driving test. Team awards are also given to the company with three or more drivers competing with the highest overall score.

Nebraska Trucking and the Championships have a long tradition of a positive working relationship with the Nebraska State Patrol Carrier Enforcement troopers.

Dan now qualifies for Nationals that will be held in Gaylord National Harbor, MD. September 29-October 1, 2018.