News

LAUNCHED!

May 10, 2008

PROSOCO launches first-ever Consolideck^® Academy

The secrets of long-lasting finished concrete flooring stood revealed to a select group of contractors, distributors and manufacturer's reps at PROSOCO's first-ever Consolideck Academy, held in Kansas City and Lawrence, April 14-16.

The academy gave the 23 attendees the full picture of finished concrete flooring, from chemistry and installation, to performance-testing and long-term maintenance.

"Most installers know little of what happens to their floors after putting them down," said one of the Academy's founders, PROSOCO President David W. Boyer. "And most maintenance technicians haven't got a clue about how the floor was made. The result? Floors aren't prepared to stand up to the kind of maintenance they get, and the maintenance isn't suited to the floor.

"A floor that should last 10 years shows deterioration after two," David said.

The Consolideck Academy helps fix that problem by giving installers the full story on the delivery, care and feeding of finished concrete floors. The course takes its name from PROSOCO's Consolideck line of finished concrete flooring products, and the procedures for using them.

Graduates of the academy are prepared to install Consolideck® floors, then brief facility managers and owners on how to take care of them. Even better, says Academy co-founder Van Crary, PROSOCO's concrete products group manager, the graduates can offer their own maintenance service program for the floors they install.

The Academy drew deeply from PROSOCO's well of professional expertise. Presenters came from the Lab, Production, Executive, Sales, Regulatory and Marketing departments.

Guest speakers from companies making associated equipment, such as grinders and polishers, and auto scrubbers rounded out the presentations.

Sessions included classroom seminars and discussions; hands-on products and procedures demonstrations on concrete slabs, and team-building exercises.

Forging Consolideck Teams was a main goal of the Academy, according to Concrete Products Group Manager Van Crary. When applicators who graduate from the academy go back into the business world, they're supported by their local Consolideck distributors and PROSOCO manufacturer's reps who went through the academy with them.

"That's going to give them marketplace traction that their competition, working alone, can't match," Van said.

"For instance, a Consolideck^® applicator, distributor, and manufacturer's representative all on a sales call together will be much more convincing to a potential client than a contractor alone," Van said.

"And with the advertising and marketing muscle that PROSOCO puts to work for its Consolideck^® Academy-trained applicators and distributors, there'll be a lot more sales calls – and a lot more sales, period," he added.

"The course was well worth the time," said Kevin Johnson, president of Polished Concrete Inc., Sauk Rapids, Minn. "With what we learned there, we'll be able to get jobs done faster, keep floors looking new longer, and do a better job for our customers."

Kevin said the hands-on ^LSGuard application demo was especially helpful. "It goes on thinner than I thought," he said.

I'm really excited about the help with sales leads and marketing, he said. "I really liked what I heard about support at tradeshows, and with architects and AIA presentations.

"We went to another manufacturer's three-day course, a few years ago," Kevin said. "They promised us sales leads, too, but we never got a single one from them. We haven't gotten any from PROSOCO yet, either, but it's only been a week. I'm confident they'll come through."

For more info on how to attend upcoming Consolideck^® Academies, contact Van Crary, Concrete Products Group Manager at 520-241-0089, or e-mail Van Crary

Consolideck^® concrete flooring products earn indoor air quality certification

Feb. 7, 2008

We got it!

Four of PROSOCO’s Consolideck^® high-performance concrete flooring products for sustainable building construction and renovation have earned one of the industry’s toughest certifications for indoor air quality.

PROSOCO, Lawrence, Kan., is a national manufacturer of products that clean, protect and maintain concrete, brick and stone architecture.

SCS Indoor Advantage^™ Gold certification is the highest SCS (Scientific Certification Systems) certification level available for indoor air quality. Certification includes building materials, office and classroom furniture systems and components, and paints and adhesives.

This level of certification meets North America’s strictest indoor air emission criteria including California Section 01350, which sets health-based exposure limits to indoor air emissions for school children, and CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) for Low-Emitting Products.

SCS, Emeryville, Calif., is a leading third-party provider of certification, auditing and testing services, and standards.

The newly certified goods are Consolideck^® LS, LS Guard, and LS/CS -- lithium-silicate hardeners, densifiers and sealers for concrete floors. Consolideck^® GemTone^™ color stains for concrete also earned SCS Indoor Advantage^™ Gold certification.

In attaining the certification, these four products meet the strict requirements of California Section 01350, which sets health-based exposure limits to indoor emissions for school children.

SCS, which has been certifying green building products since 1990, awarded the certification after a thorough audit of these products’ indoor air emissions. The detailed audit included small scale environmental chamber testing by independent laboratory Berkeley Analytical Associates, Richmond, Calif.

"SCS Indoor Advantage Gold is a health-based certification and sets the toughest limits on indoor air emissions in the building products industry," said Stowe Hartridge-Beam, SCS program manager for indoor air quality. "These four concrete flooring products have met a high bar for indoor air quality performance."

"Our products, from masonry and concrete cleaners and protective treatments to air barriers and our new Consolideck^® products for concrete floors, are meant for improving quality of life by improving and protecting the buildings we all live and work in," PROSOCO President David W. Boyer pointed out.

"These four just-certified Consolideck^® products in particular have great potential for schools, hospitals and other care facilities," he said. "With this certification, everyone who has anything to do with these products – specifiers to parents of school kids – can be confident as I am in their indoor air quality"

For more information, call Gary Henry at 785-830-7343 or e-mail Gary Henry