Mid-States Wall Panels Erected for Industrial Project in Beloit

When it comes to industrial projects, Mid-States Concrete Industries’ precast products offer a positive impact to the construction process.

Our organization was proud to partner with Corporate Contractors Inc. (CCI) on the construction of a 500,000-square-foot speculative industrial warehouse intended for a future tenant, owned by Phoenix Investors, a Milwaukee-based real estate agency.

For this Beloit project, located in the Gateway Business Park, Mid-States Concrete manufactured and installed more than 200 precast wall panels, and four pieces of hollowcore plank.

”We chose precast because it’s kind of the industry standard when it comes to these speculative [buildings],” said Aaron Combs, Project Manager for CCI. “… We chose Mid-States because of our longstanding partnership with Mid-States on these types of projects.”

While CCI considered both steel and tilt-up for the project, precast concrete offered the flexibility and time savings CCI needed for the timeline of the project. The wall panels were erected in roughly 12 days in July 2022.

”We started this project in March and turned it over to the owner in December,” Combs said. “Precast is able to meet our schedule, which provided savings to the client in the overall cost of the project.”

Combs added using precast helped the project run smoothly the whole way through the process. He said Mid-States knocked the shop drawings and the submittal process out of the park and simplified things. Because of that smooth process, CCI and Mid-States were able to spend time coordinating the jobsite up front, making it easier for the team to accept the panels in the field.

When it came to installation, Combs was impressed with the communication from the project management team at Mid-States, in terms of goals set each day and any impacts to those goals. He also commended the installation team for being on time every day, working hard, keeping a clean jobsite, and communicating well with the CCI team.

”At the end of the day, we’ve got a really good product and a happy client and it’s because of partners like you guys,” Combs said.

Mid-States Concrete Industries President Hagen Harker documented two visits to the jobsite in our Precast Chalk Talk series. Watch the videos to learn more about why precast concrete is a great choice for your next industrial project.

Precast Chalk Talk: Episode 36 >>

Precast Chalk Talk: Episode 37 >>

Mid-States Concrete's Mike Wolff Named 2023 PCI Fellow

Mid-States Concrete’s Vice President of Safety and Quality, Mike Wolff, was recently named a 2023 PCI Fellow.

The PCI Fellow award recognizes an individual who has embraced the values of the Institute and has provided continuous outstanding contributions to the precast concrete industry. Service to the industry may be considered in the areas of education, research, design, marketing, management, and operations. This individual will have also demonstrated exceptional service to PCI.

Wolff, who has been with Mid-States Concrete for 16 years, is humbled by being named a PCI Fellow.

“The Fellows that were up on that stage with me are incredible individuals who have contributed immensely to the precast industry,” Wolff said.

Over the years, Wolff has served on a number of PCI committees focused on quality and safety. He currently serves as Chair of the Plant Certification and QA Supplier Committees; as a member of the Erector Certification, Quality Activities Council (also Vice Chair), Quality Enhancement, Quality Personnel Training and Certification, Safeguarding Impartiality, and Tolerances Committees; and consulting member of the Architectural Certification and Plant Safety and Environmental Committees. He also currently serves as President of PCI of Illinois & Wisconsin. At the most recent PCI Convention, Wolff was also given a new appointment: Quality Activities Council Chair for PCI National.

Mid-States Concrete President Hagen Harker commends Wolff’s continuous learning and improvement and the impact he has had on our organization and the precast industry. He added that Wolff brings his best every day, crosses all lines to share information and genuinely wants to help everyone get better and improve.

“The only way it would be possible for me to be involved in PCI is because of everyone at Mid-States Concrete Industries,” Wolff said, crediting Harker for his encouragement to participate, and crediting the rest of the production team for covering him while on PCI business, keeping the ship in the right direction.

Within his work on various committees, Wolff is most proud of creating the Quality Assurance Supplier Committee and the work of that committee in creating documents that are truly life safety documents designed to prevent disasters and accidents.

He is also grateful for the relationships he has built within PCI as it has provided him with a network of experts within the field to work with and learn from.

“You don’t always have to be the smartest guy in the room, but you have to be willing to learn,” Wolff said.

Wolff is also grateful for the opportunity to impact the precast industry through his participation in PCI.

“Being on the committees, being on the councils, Mid-States has a voice and can impact the standards that are set forth for precast,” Wolff said. “That’s a big deal.”

Committed to Quality

When it comes to ensuring the quality of the products manufactured by Mid-States Concrete Industries, our team has 11 dedicated team members focused entirely on Quality Control.

Our quality program is based on PCI Certification AC, C3 and B3-IL, as a PCI Certified Producer. We are also an S2 Certified Erector through PCI.

For example, Mid-States Concrete Industries completes a 300% inspection on our beams and columns, which includes a rebar cage inspection, pre-pour quality inspection, and post-pour quality inspection.

“PCI requires we check all those things, but not to the detail Mid-States does,” said Jeff Morris, Quality Manager.

“Mid-States does quality by the book and that book is our Quality System Manual, based off of the PCI MNL 116 & MNL 117, and ACI and ASTM standards,” added Mike Wolff, Vice President of Safety and Quality.

Mid-States also boasts a comprehensive internal training program for Quality Control, with the ultimate goal that all QC Inspectors are at least PCI Level II certified, and all foremen are PCI Level III certified. Currently, almost all inspectors are ACI field testing technician grade I.

For a beam, our 300% inspection begins in Cage Tie. At that stage, our Cage Tie team members refer to prints and cut the steel and bend all the stirrups in house. Then, they lay out the components and build the actual cage. Following that, a QC technician comes over and double checks all measurements, stirrups, etc. for accuracy against the engineered drawings. All mill certs are tracked and stored electronically.

Then, the cage gets transported over to our Wet Cast facility and put into the formwork. Prior to the cage being placed in the formwork, a QC technician checks the form for cleanliness, oil, elements, etc. to make sure everything is where it belongs.

From there, the QC pre-pour check takes over. The QC technician verifies placement in the form and all other embed materials, checking all measurements and tolerance, that all grout tubes are in the correct locations, and check every dimension.

“This is ensuring both the engineer and the customer are getting exactly what was designed,” Wolff said.

Then, we pour the concrete, which goes through a fresh concrete test every day, testing for air content of the concrete, spread/slump, temperature, and VSI. It is important to note that ahead of batching, all components of the mix design are verified to meet quality standards and a batch test is completed.

Our Quality Control team member remains present during pouring to make sure it is done per standards and samples are made as we are pouring. Then, we let the piece cure.

The next day, the product is stripped from the bed and taken out to the berms where a third QC technician inspects the finished product, verifies all dimensions, and makes sure it looks aesthetically pleasing. Any cleanup work that needs to be completed is handled by the detail crew, inspected again, and then marked ready to go for the customer.

When issues are found, Mid-States Concrete knows just what to do. The team holds weekly meetings to discuss any quality issues in the field and find ways to rectify these in the plant - before they ever make it to the jobsite. And on an annual basis, our Quality System Manual is updated and approved by PCI.

“The PCI Certification Program is the gold standard in my opinion,” Wolff said. “With PCI, we get two unannounced audits every year which entails a comprehensive audit of all our systems and our products. This audit process ensures we are following all quality processes correctly (all the time). Even when no one is watching.”