Summer Fun in the Sun

The Beloit Snappers Minor League Baseball Team is an Advanced-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins in the High-A Central League. Construction of the new ABC Supply Stadium is currently underway, with the goal of opening the new park later this summer.

The Beloit Snappers Minor League Baseball Team is an Advanced-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins in the High-A Central League. Construction of the new ABC Supply Stadium is currently underway, with the goal of opening the new park later this summer.

Wednesday, June 22 officially marks the first day of summer, though with the warm weather, end of the school year, and summer camps and activities already underway, it sure feels like summer.

Thinking back on summers from my childhood, I remember softball games, swimming pools, sleepovers in tents in my neighbor’s backyard, picnics, fishing, ice cream, and bike rides, with the rule that I had to be home by the time the streetlights came on. There’s nothing more embarrassing than your dad standing on the front porch yelling your name because you DIDN’T beat the streetlight. When I was in elementary school, my dad used to take a week’s vacation every summer and we’d have a really fun staycation – visiting Santa’s Village (where I now visit with my own kid), Brookfield Zoo, the Museum of Science and Industry, and visiting the beach in Chicago (my mom and dad are quick to share the story of me losing my very first diamond ring in the sand; 30 years later and I am still hearing about it).

And, of course, there were the trips to Wisconsin where our friends had a lake house. We spent our days on the boat, wave runners, and beach, and our nights making s’mores, catching fireflies, and staying up way too late around the campfire. These were always my favorite weekends.

As I got older there were local festivals with my friends, concerts, baseball games, beach days, hikes, and too many nights driving around just for something to do.

This summer, I’m looking forward to making some memories with my favorite three-year-old. He is at a great age for just about everything, with the added bonus of still being young enough to pass out for a nap in the afternoon (when mom can grab a quick snooze, too).

There are some great things to do in the area. A couple of our favorites are Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Summerfield Zoo in Belvidere, Palmer Park Wading Pool in Janesville, The Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, Fridays in the Park in downtown Beloit, The Beloit Saturday Farmers Market, and we’re looking forward to the opening of the new ABC Supply Baseball Stadium in Beloit, for which Mid-States provided more than 220 precast pieces to build the risers. Check out some aerial photos of the installation here.

Designed to stand the test of time

The Quin Apartments is located at the northeast corner of Florida Street and South 2nd Street in Walker’s Point of Milwaukee, Wisc. In addition to apartments, The Quin has a 1,200-square-foot retail space on the ground floor. Precast on this project includes about 20,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 47 beams and 37 columns.

Precast concrete buildings are designed for durability, robustness, and continuity.

As 100-year lifecycles become the rule, rather than the exception, precast concrete structures can accommodate change easily and economically with the appropriate choice of interior systems and access floors for connectivity. An open floor plate allows a flexible interior that can accommodate a variety of tenant scenarios. Column-free space allows additional flexibility in floor plans and layouts. Shallow floor thicknesses with fewer beams provide unobstructed ceiling cavities for mechanical and electrical systems.

Precast concrete can incorporate a variety of colors, textures, and finishes, making every project a custom design. Precast concrete can be adapted to a wide variety of project designs, types, and needs. It can also provide the continuous insulation, continuous air barrier, and vapor barrier all in the same system. In addition to a beautiful structure, a precast concrete building is resilient, able to withstand even the worst weather conditions, like hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, wildfires, and earthquakes. It also meets all FEMA P-361 criteria for safe rooms, which must provide a near-absolute protection from wind and wind-blown objects in the most serious windstorms, like tornados.

Precast concrete is ideal for offices, schools for all ages, student housing, retail, prisons, government buildings, sports arenas and stadiums, warehouses, senior housing, and more. As all these types of buildings receive daily wear and tear, and many can house thousands of people at any given time, these structures must last through years of constant use. Precast concrete buildings can be designed for 100-year service life with minimal upkeep.

Precast concrete buildings are designed to stand the test of time.

Precast Chalk Talk: Episode 23

Seventy-five years ago, on Monday, May 13, 1946, Mid-States Concrete Products Co. was founded by Charles V. Harker.

Harry S. Truman was president. Perry Como’s Prisoner of Love was the number one song in the United States and A Night in Casablanca was one of the most viewed movies released that year. Minimum wage was $0.40 and you could buy a gallon of gas for $0.21. A visit to the grocery store for a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, and a loaf of bread would cost you less than $1.50. The economy was strong, interest rates were good, and the business had a new precast concrete floor and roof slab that would revolutionize commercial construction.

Mid-States began with production of Flexicore™, a hollow core floor and roof slab that has expanded and changed many times over the years.  Initially a 12” wide mildly reinforced precast element, it became a 24” wide product in the 60s with the advent of prestressing technology and steel strand reinforcing. Today the company manufactures 48” wide hollow core floor and roof slabs in multiple thicknesses – 8”, 10”, 12”, and 16” – capable of clear spanning more than 55 feet.

While the hollow core slab was the beginning, today the company engineers, manufactures, and constructs complex precast building systems combining architectural and structural prestressed/precast insulated wall panels (1960, 1965, 2005), precast beams, columns (1986), and other structural commercial building system components.

In January 2007, the company rebranded under the name Mid-States Concrete Industries and in 2013, in response to changing energy codes, Mid-States joined the AltusGroup now offering CarbonCast™ continuously insulated wall panels. As it has over its lifetime, Mid-States in 2017 innovatively began offering Graphic Concrete™, a technology which provides owners and architects the ability to impart durable patterns and images onto any precast concrete surface using patented technology from Finland.

Now in its third generation of family ownership, Harker’s son, Charles H. Harker is CEO, and has been with Mid-States since graduating college, and his grandson, C. Hagen Harker is president. The company is a leader in safety, not only in the precast industry but across all industries achieving OSHA Sharp status in 2017.

“I just remember, we’d have family dinner every night and we didn’t talk a lot of business, but I was interested in what he (Charles V. Harker) had to say and I grew up liking it; it was second nature,” said Charles.

Like every company that has been around this long, Mid-States Concrete Industries has seen its share of ups and downs. During the last 75 years, with the nature of this business being cyclical and seasonal, Mid-States had some rough times, but it’s been a good business overall.

“[Charles V. Harker] started the business with no money and he talked a couple local businessmen into investing,” Charles said. “Everyone loved Charlie Harker. He just was trustworthy. He was a man of his word. That was number one - his word was good as gold, so people trusted him. They invested with him and subsequently as business grew, he bought out the initial investors.”

The Harkers attribute this good business to the people that have been part of this team, as well as longstanding Customers. Decisions have always been made based on what’s good for our people, and what’s good for our Customers.

“We recognize we have to be there for our Customers,” Hagen said. “Seventy-five years don’t really mean a hill of beans without all the great people that work here at Mid-States that make it a family, make it the kind of place we have today, plus, most importantly, all the work we do for our Customers.”

The leadership of Mid-States also makes sure to focus on planning ahead. While having a plan for today is great and all, it is even more important to focus on managing the business for five years, 10 years, 20 years, and beyond.

“We don’t get too high when things are great, and we don’t get too low when things are bad, but we’re consistently optimistic that things will go well,” Charles said. “We try to find the right people at the right place, and we make it work.”

Watch the Precast Chalk Talk >>