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CRH Canada Excellence Awards
Commercial and Operational Excellence Awards
Silver – Dufferin Concrete Chemical Efficiency Analysis
Team members: Bill Gong, Peter Moylan, Andrei Muresan, Chris McColl, Sohaib Abbasi, Emmanuel Samuel, Junhee Park, Ronnie Sebolino and Gerald Kernohan
Our North American ready- mix plants face challenges in terms of consistent supply and quality of raw materials, including cement and chemicals, as well as regarding the consistency of concrete mix performance,
including air and slump extension, drying shrinkage, cracking, adaption of construction method, and mix stability. To better address these challenges, Dufferin Concrete developed a methodology and
Bronze – Demix Béton
Nordix -10C, Cold Weather Concrete
Technology
Team members: Sylvain Bossé, Isabelle Dupré and Sébastien Pitre
Since 2008, Demix had developed four Nordix branded concrete solutions, which are specifically adapted for the pouring of concrete in colder weather conditions: Nordix 5C, Nordix 1C, Nordix -3C and Nordix
-7C. Thanks to this innovation, customers had access to a product that could perform in ambient temperatures as low as -7 Celsius while delivering the same concrete pour results, setting times and
tool to evaluate admixtures and optimize concrete mix designs based on their performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. We are the first to define “chemical efficiency” by the type of admixture based on its function to contribute positively on CRH concrete performance in terms of volume and cost.
The new tool can be used to optimize mix design and produce more consistent concrete performance by using chemicals, cement, and aggregate from multiple sources to resolve production and supply challenges. This program was successfully
implemented in Canada and the Northwest Region, resulting in substantial savings and optimized concrete mixes. This program achieved great savings both in Canada and in the Nortwest Region. It has resulted in a significant improvement in mix design, which increases material compatibility and the overall quality of concrete products to further reduce cost.
early compressive strengths as in a 23 Celsius temperature environment.
In 2019, the team pushed this technology one step further, developing a fourth option, a Nordix solution that can perform in as low as -10 Celsius weather conditions, thereby increasing market demand for this specialty product. All Nordix solutions meet CSA specifications and are harmless to rebar and steel reinforcement. This fourth option represented about 5% of Nordix product sales in 2019 and resulted in a net increase in overall
Nordix product sales.
In response to customer enthusiasm for the brand and the continued expansion of its options at even lower temperatures, Demix is currently working on a solution that could be perform at up to -15 Celsius.
26 | THE CONVEYOR | December 2020