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President's Message
Well, there is just the hint of fall in the air and I for one, can't wait. I love this time of year (mostly because it means the chances of weekly mowing start to become less likely). As we begin the final quarter of 2017 we are also beginning to plan for 2018 and beyond which gives you an opportunity to get involved volunteering on an FPCA committee. We'd love to have, and in fact, are absolutely reliant on your help.
Workforce development is a new long-term project identified locally and nationally in our industry, and we are looking for folks with passion and talents to develop a program envied by all. We will be leveraging our partnership with PCI National with the common goal of elevating various roles in prestressed concrete as technically challenging and rewarding, with bright long-term prospects.
There are reasons hard working individuals like us end up in this business for 20, 30, 40 years or more. Most of those reasons are seated behind the desks next to yours... great people who support each other and strive for excellence.
We will be looking for you to partner with us on this and many other exciting avenues in the coming months.
Lenny Salvo, President of the Board
Coreslab Structures (Orlando)
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I am pleased to inform our members that we recently had a very successful Strategic Planning Meeting with high-level representatives from Producer, Associate & Professional Members of the Florida precast/prestressed concrete industry.
FPCA Mission:
to expand the market for prestressed and precast concrete products, to create value for our customers, and to educate specifiers in the proper use of our products.
Several major areas that were identified for FPCA to focus on are;
- Market & Educate to Specifiers
- Educate Faculties & Students at Colleges & Universities
- Workforce Development
Specific activities will be flushed out by each standing Committee; Marketing, Education, Associate Member & FDOT Liaison at their upcoming meetings. Membership Committee changes its name to Associate Member Committee with additional responsibilities. Besides identifying potential new members, but they are also focusing on bringing more values to our Associate Members. A new Workforce Committee will be established with responsibility of creating a well-trained pipeline of future workforce for our industry. Please contact me or any of the Chairmen below if you are interested in getting involved with our Committees or taking charge of a new committee; Workforce Development.
- Marketing Committee Chairman, Vern Smith, Coreslab Structures (Tampa)
- Education Committee Chairman, Lloyd Kennedy, Finfrock Industries
- Associate Member Committee Chairman, Aaron Lamb, BASF
- FDOT Liaison Committee Chairman, Kurt Podoll, Standard Concrete Products
- Workforce Development Committee Chairman, vacant! (Searching for a Producer rep)
Visit our website (www.myFPCA.org) calendar to see upcoming meetings and events. Conference calling is available for members can't attend in person or simply want to "test the water" to see if the activities fit their expertise. Call in access will be posted in the calendar event.
- Education: Chair by Mr. Lloyd Kennedy, Finfrock Industries
- FIU - How Concrete Builds: Student Seminars & Networking event was held on Friday, Oct. 13th with over 50 engineering students in attendance. This event was co-sponsored by the FPCA & the ready-mixed concrete industry to showcase concrete and precast/prestressed concrete industries. Speakers were Mr. Nelson Hernandez with Lehigh Cement, Mr. Lee Holland with GCP Applied Technology and Mr. Lloyd Kennedy & Ms. Angela Kruth with Finfrock Industries. We also demo Self-Consolidated Concrete (SCC) at the FIU's Titan Lab. Thank you Titan America, Lehigh Cement & GCP Applied Technologies for providing materials and technical expertise. After the completion of all the presentations, speakers formed a discussion panel to share job opportunities within both industries and our interaction with the design community. Students were also asked to answer 2 questions from each presentation to be used for extra credit by professors and to raffle off gift cards at the end of the event. Snacks, pizzas and drinks were available for students and several professors whom had attended the event. The FPCA would also like to express a special thank you to Prof. David Garber, Ms. Nazanin Rezaei, president of FIU-ACI Student Chapter and the officers for their efforts on putting this successful event together for their peers.
- PCI Big Beam Competition - PCI Education Activities Council met recently at Committee Days in Chicago to discuss a barrage of issues, including ways to increase participation for the Competition. One of the option is to develop a mobile/static testing structure in a centrally located area of the Chapter, then invite all participants from the Chapter to gather to compete and interact; creating a competition atmosphere among teams and schools. We'll be working with Dr. Adel El-Safty with UNF and Dr. David Garber with FIU to design the testing structure, then we'll look for Producer Member in Central Florida who's willing to house and host the annual competition at their plant.
- This year USF entered 2 teams in the Big Beam Competition to represent Florida. Teams were placed 9th and 11th out of 32 entered. Congratulations to Dr. Rajan Sen and his Teams! Representatives of the Education Committee will meet with Dr. Sen and team members to hand them matching prizes from FPCA on Nov. 2nd at 2:00 PM on campus.
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 PCI's Update
- From PCI President's Office
2017 Committee Days Sees Record Attendance
Thanks to all the PCI members for the record attendance at this year's Committee Days; topping 500 with total registration of 537. PCI thanks all the sponsors and Premier Partners for their support in helping make the program happen. Thanks to all the volunteers and committee chairs who reported full meeting rooms; a lot of energy and enthusiasm for all the programs we have going on at PCI. Thanks also to JVI for hosting another successful Concrete Chefs event to benefit the PCI Foundation.
I'd especially like to thank the PCI staff for all their hard work and dedication, both leading up to the Committee Days and at the event itself. Despite being short-handed, the staff came together to present a great experience for all the attendees. Prior to the meeting, the staff went live with a new website and database, launching the "How Precast Builds" marketing campaign, and unveiled a new series of training videos for new plant employees in both English and Spanish. Congratulations on a job well done.
PCI Participates in White House Briefing on Infrastructure
On October 5, PCI Vice-Chairman Mason Lampton with Standard Concrete Products, PCI President Bob Risser, and members of the highway construction community participated in a White House briefing and discussion on the Administration's plans for increased infrastructure spending. The meeting included senior White House officials who outlined the President's plans for the months ahead. Top priorities include drastically reducing the time for permitting projects from an average of ten years to no more than two, and using additional spending to leverage state and local funding efforts.
New Requirements for the PCI Plant Certification Program
Beginning in 2018 all PCI Certified Plants will be required to include a Root-Cause Analysis (RCA) with their Corrective Action Response (CAR) for non-conformance. PCI is diligently working to create standard forms and guidelines to assist you in transitioning to this new requirement.
Stay tuned for more information in the next Quality Assurance Newsletter.
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Member Highlight
US Formliner
Freedom of design in forming concrete: US Formliner stands for years of architectural concrete with the highest demands on design and individuality. Precast concrete manufacturers and designers throughout the world trust US Formliner as the leader in design and production of reusable formliners.
With more than 300 standard textures and patterns, US Formliner provides the widest and most comprehensive range of formliners available in the market. Our North American manufacturing facility is located in Athens, Georgia, thereby providing our customers in Florida with the close proximity and attention they deserve.
US Formliner is a proud partner of RECKLI, the world leader in formliner and liquid elastomeric polyurethane production. RECKLI began in 1968 in Herne, Germany and has since spread to representation in more than sixty countries with production currently in four countries.
In addition to manufacturing the highest quality formliners, US Formliner also provides liquid polyurethane for those customers who wish to manufacture their own formliners or molds - and we provide the on-site training. Additionally, we have all the retarders, release agents, and sealers you need for producing architectural precast concrete.
We welcome you to visit us online at
www.usformliner.com
or contact us directly at 706-549-6787. Make sure to email us at
info@usformliner.com
for your free US Formliner Pattern Book. We look forward to helping you with your next project.
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Producer Members
(For contact information, click
here)
Cement Industries - Ft. Myers
Coreslab Structures - Orlando, Tampa, Miami
Colonial Precast Concrete - Placida
Dura-Stress - Leesburg
Finfrock Industries - Apopka
Gate Precast Co. - Jacksonville, Kissimmee
International Casting Corp. - Hialeah
Metromont Corp. - Bartow
Pre-Cast Specialties - Pompano Beach
Skanska Civil SE - Pensacola
Spancrete - Sebring
STABIL Precast Products - St. Petersburg
Standard Concrete Products - Tampa
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