Technology Puts Welded Wire Reinforcement On A More Equal Footing with Rebar.

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HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2002

While Welded Wire Reinforcement (WWR) has always offered significant cost and efficiency advantages over more traditional loose reinforcing bars (rebar), today's advanced manufacturing techniques have substantially increased the product's flexibility and its capacity to handle ever more demanding concrete structural reinforcement projects.

New computer controlled machines, such as the QC7 recently installed at Connecticut Steel and similar equipment at other manufacturers, allow producers to fabricate WWR to precise specifications. "We can put the reinforcement where you really want it," said V. Alan White, vice president, Sales and Marketing, at the Wallingford, CT, company.

These new machines, many of which are imported from Europe where WWR commands as much as 40 percent of the concrete reinforcement market, combine flexible welding heads with computer-aided design (CAD) controls. They produce structural (engineered) reinforcement with standard or custom cross wire spacing configurations that are accurate to 3/1000th of an inch, said White, a member and past president of the Wire Reinforcement Institute. WRI is the concrete construction industry's leading source for timely, objective and credible information on the uses and benefits of WWR and related products.

Spacing configurations also can easily be designed to include openings for such architectural elements as doors and windows. Moreover, with CAD controls, the mechanical changeover of the machines typically can be accomplished in 20 to 30 minutes, versus the two to six hours of manual labor required with the old style machines.

This speed, flexibility and precision, together with the machines' capacity to accept larger diameter wire (up to 3/4-inch at some manufacturers), is placing WWR on a more equal market footing with rebar in North America, where WWR market share hovers around two percent. Stronger. Lighter. Faster. Cheaper.

Once commonly known as wire mesh, mat or fabric, WWR is related to rebar in that it provides structural reinforcement in concrete. However, WWR is cold-worked, giving it higher yield strength, and is produced in preformed sheets that eliminate the time-consuming job-site layout and tying that is typical with rebar.

WWR's attributes offer clear benefits and advantages over rebar for most concrete reinforcement applications.

For instance, because it is stronger than rebar it is also lighter, requiring as much as 25 percent less material to achieve the same level of reinforcement. This means that, depending upon the region, the material costs for WWR can be comparable or often less than that of rebar for many applications, said Mark Marvin, president of The Marvin Group. A value-engineering firm headquartered in Burlington, KY, The Marvin Group distributes concrete reinforcement material throughout North America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Since WWR is produced in preformed sheets it also drastically reduces placement costs, leading to significantly lower overall concrete reinforcement costs, by compressing construction time, and cutting manpower and equipment requirements. "When there's a lot of repetition, WWR has great potential to slash installation time," said John Ortiz, PE, vice president, Forrest Consultants, of Sugarloaf, PA, a custom distributor of concrete reinforcement products in the eastern United States. "WWR can be two to four times faster than rebar."

The economic benefits of WWR extend well beyond significantly reduced placement and overall construction costs, agree Ortiz and Marvin, who is chairman of the ACI 439-A Committee. (ACI is the governing code authority for construction.) The faster a building is erected, the sooner it can start earning a return on its owner's investment.

"Speed is such a large issue in construction," Marvin explained. "If you can get into a building a month or even two weeks earlier, you can start generating revenue that much faster."

"Consider the case of a casino," said Ortiz, whose firm has provided WWR for a number of such properties. "If by using WWR, construction is shortened by 20 to 30 days, that's a lot of money."

For more information on WWR, call WRI at 800/552-4WRI (4974), or visit www.wirereinforcementinstitute.org. WRI works closely with government agencies, allied industries and organizations to ensure the most accurate, up-to-date codes, standards, specifications and regulatory requirements. WRI works to promote the superior performance attributes of WWR products across the full range of reinforcement applications.

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