For years, erecting concrete wall panels has required a skilled crew, heavy-duty cranes and a flexible schedule for those construction companies that had to hire the work out.

With two new patents under his belt, Omega Concrete, Inc. President Joel Foderberg said he thinks he can make life easier for construction companies.

"This is a panel they can erect themselves," he said.

The two patents, which were approved in April and June, cover Omega's Nexwall™ 2-inch thick concrete panels and a partially embedded galvanized-steel rail that:

• Protects the panels from breaking, allowing Omega to cast a product that's thinner and lighter than traditional 6- inch and 8-inch panels.
• Provides anchoring points for affixing the panels to wall studs.
• Allows light-duty cranes to hook onto the panels for moving and loading.

"It really is unique," said Kameron Kelly, a patent lawyer for Hovey Williams LLP, an intellectual property law firm. "When they first came to me, it almost looked too simple. I thought, 'This could be tough.'"

But research revealed that the simple idea was new, Kelly said, and two more patents are pending. Omega has manufactured the products for about eight months, and one builder is working on a fifth structure, Foderberg said. "They don't have to tool up or rig up to hang this product, "said his dad, CEO Gary Foderberg.

The cost of the new product is about the same as the traditional panel, but savings come during the building process. Omega's 25-worker factory, in a 30,000 square-foot building in Kansas City, Kansas, cranks out about 40 projects a year, producing revenue of around $8 million and keeping three Omega construction crews busy erecting the older, thicker wall.

The company's customers have included several churches, including the massive Church of the Resurrection in Southern Johnson County. Although Foderberg began working on his invention two years ago with an eye to toward replacing other thin-wall products, he said he thinks the product will fit better in other parts of the construction market. Attached outside a metal building, the panels can dress up a structure that might otherwise be unwelcome in some zoning codes, he said.

Distant markets beckon, but the Foderbergs concede that even a 2-inch concrete panel is too heavy to ship everywhere buyers might found, so they're researching the possibility of licensing the technology to other manufacturers.

One local architect plans to use the new product on an addition to a historic building at Longview Farms. Shannon Pollard, project architect on the conversion of a horse arena to an elementary school, said she selected the panels for the addition of a kitchen and classrooms after determining that they could be coated with textures that nearly match the existing building.

The ease of construction also should help keep the project on schedule, she said."It should erect faster than masonry, especially if it gets into winter," Pollard said.