Evergreen holds 2nd concrete training program
Training program focused on concrete applications.
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The Evergreen Marketing Group held its second training program focused on concrete applications in early September. The class attracted more than 25 distributor sales people from around the US to the group’s training center in Farmers Branch, Texas.
“Concrete products and applications has been a long-term focus for the group,” said Evergreen Training Manager Wade McCone. “We knew with the addition of new Preferred Suppliers such as Kraft and Marshalltown along with long-time Preferred Suppliers like Wacker Neuson, Mar-Mac Wire, Simpson Strong-Tie, Trimble Navigation and Husqvarna we had the right team to build a solid class.”
McCone said that the goal was to structure the class to cover many of the key applications that go into a concrete pour and to provide a high-degree of hands on for the students.
“Because Evergreen has its own training facility, we had the wherewithal to pull it off and make it real world,” said McCone. “We selected an area of our parking lot and excavated a 15’ x 19’ section for the pour.”
“Once the excavation was completed we put the students to work,” he said. “They began by running compaction equipment and setting slope and pitch of the site using Wacker Neuson and Trimble Spectra equipment. Once they completed this job they moved onto drilling dowel holes, setting dowels and prepping the rebar for placement using rebar chairs, tie wire and baskets.”
McCone noted that the site was prepped and ready to go when the concrete truck arrived. During the pouring process, Evergreen students were in the hole spreading the wet concrete and using vibrators to make sure there were no voids. Once the concrete had been poured, students moved onto the strike off phase and eventually the finish work.
“We split the class into two groups so the distributors were also able to learn about wall form applications,” said McCone. “Student were able to rotate between the pour and wall form applications.”
Evergreen member Darragh Company provided the expertise for the wall form training McCone said.
“We owe a big thanks to Joshua DeVore and Evergreen Member Darragh Company for providing vertical wall forms and accessories,” said McCone. “Josh did a great job teaching the Evergreen students about these products and applications and outlining the opportunities they present. One of the great things about Evergreen is the willingness of Members like Darragh Company to share their expertise with other members of the group.”
The second day of the class focused on concrete repair applications and concrete grinding and polishing applications. Simpson Strong-Tie conducted the training using their Fox Industries concrete repair products. In addition, Husqvarna Construction Products conducted a hands-on session on concrete grinding and polishing.
McCone said that plans are already underway for more concrete application schools in 2016. Based on the group’s experience in the first two classes, he said that the next class would look to expand into applications like concrete chemicals, grouts and perhaps into advanced finishing applications.
“We see the concrete applications area as whole new initiative for our hands-on product and application training program,” said McCone. “Our facility coupled with our strong focus on hands-on training gives Evergreen a great opportunity to support our Preferred Suppliers in the concrete accessories arena.”
“The foundation for growth is built on a product and application training,” he said. “Evergreen is uniquely positioned to deliver on this opportunity.”
One class participant wholeheartedly agrees: “I found that the most valuable aspect of the two days was the ability to use the tools and equipment in a real world situation,” he said.
For more information, contact Kevin Higginbotham at 1-800-859-8733.
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