ACPA Recognizes Top Plants, Professionals

The American Concrete Pipe Assn. (ACPA) announced winners of its Qcast Awards, which are designed to recognize plants that stand above the rest on the most important measures of production quality.

The ACPA’s “Quality Cast” Plant Certification Program, commonly known as Qcast, is a recognized standard for quality assurance in the concrete pipe industry. The Qcast program covers the inspection of materials, finished products and handling/storage procedures, as well as performance testing and quality control documentation. Plants may be certified in storm sewer and culvert pipe, sanitary sewer, box culverts, three-sided structures, manholes and precast structures.

Plants in each of the certification categories that score 95% or better on their annual Qcast audit are recognized with the ACPA Qcast Awards.  From these honorees, one overall winner is selected in each category.

The ACPA recognized its 2014 Qcast Awards winners during a ceremony at its annual Pipe School held in Orlando.

The overall winners are:

• Cretex Concrete Products Inc. – Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Combined Sanitary & Storm;
• Cretex Concrete Products Inc. – Rapid City, S.D.  – Storm Sewer;
• Rinker Materials-Concrete Pipe Div. CEMEX – Littleton, Colo. – Storm Sewer;
• Cretex Concrete Products Inc. – Rapid City, S.D. – Box Culvert;
• Cretex Concrete Products Inc. – Shakopee, Minn. – Sanitary Manholes;
• Cretex Concrete Products Inc. – Rapid City, S.D. – Manholes; and
• Cretex Concrete Products Inc. – Rapid City, S.D. – Precast.

“When you visit virtually any concrete pipe plant in North America, you’re immediately struck by two things: an absolute dedication to worker safety and an unwavering focus on quality,” said Michael Kusch, 2015-16 ACPA chairman of the board and director of technical marketing for Sherman-Dixie Concrete Industries, Inc. “This year’s Qcast winners signify the best of the best in terms of quality, though dozens of other plants likewise achieved the 95% rating. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t tip my hat to our friends at Cretex, in particular, for their extraordinary showing.”

The ACPA also recognized the following professionals during the luncheon:

• Bill Washabaugh of Northern Concrete Pipe received the Mel Marshall Award for contributions to manufacturing and quality.
• Eric M. Yount of the Nevada Department of Transportation received the Richard C. Longfellow Award, which is presented to the author of the Concrete Pipe News article that most effectively demonstrates innovative and effective use of concrete pipe. His article, “Sustainable Precast Concrete Boxes for Resilient Infrastructure,” was published in the Spring 2014 issue.

“The concrete pipe industry has been blessed with some of the most talented and innovative professionals in any industry,” said ACPA President Matt Childs. “We’re all in their debt and America’s infrastructure is the envy of the world thanks to their contributions.”

Also during the Pipe School, the ACPA recognized the latest winners of its P3 Awards, which recognize successful completion of its Professional Pipe Promotion online training course. The P3 program offers advanced training in both the technical and sales and marketing attributes of reinforced concrete pipe (RCP), equipping participants with the tools and information necessary to provide a consistent message to customers, specifiers and rule-makers. By completing the various P3 training modules, pipe professionals can achieve a “Pipe Pro” and/or “RCP Master” level of knowledge.

This year’s P3 Awards were presented to the following individuals:

• Tyson Hicks – Rinker Materials-Concrete Pipe Div. CEMEX;
• Richard A. Hill – Rinker Materials-Concrete Pipe Div. CEMEX;
• Bryan Rempt – County Materials Corp.; and
• Brent Schofield – The Langley Concrete Group of Companies.

Link to article.