The American Concrete Pipe Assn. (ACPA) established its annual QCast Awards to recognize plants that demonstrate outstanding production quality.
The ACPA’s “Quality Cast” Plant Certification Program, commonly known as QCast, is the 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 2013 QCast Awards winners during a special ceremony at its annual Pipe School held in Houston last month. The overall winners are:
- • Cretex Concrete Products, Cedar Rapids, Iowa — Combined Sanitary & Storm Sewer
- • Hanson Pipe & Precast, Jersey Village, Texas — Storm Sewer
- • Johnson County Pipe, Alvarado, Texas — Box Culvert
- • Cretex Concrete Products, Shakopee, Minn. — Sanitary Manholes
- • Cretex Concrete Products, Elk River, Minn. — Manholes
- • Precast Concepts, Grand Junction, Colo. — Precast
“Engineers, specifiers, DOT officials and contractors have learned they can count on concrete pipe plants to meet the most rigorous quality criteria for every job, in every application, every day,” said Bill Adams, ACPA chairman of the board and chairman of Hancock Concrete Products. “Our QCast Awards single out the best of the best in terms of quality manufacturing, and this year’s winners are truly exceptional examples of the work being done in plants all across North America.”
Also during the 2014 Pipe School, the ACPA took the opportunity to recognize other important contributors to the industry. The following individuals were honored during the ceremony:
- • Jeff Hite of Rinker Materials received the Mel Marshall Award for contributions to education or quality;
- • Pat Liston of Hanson Pipe & Precast won the President’s Award for Marketing Excellence; and
- • Derek Light of Inland Pipe received the Richard C. Longfellow Award, which is presented to the author of the best Concrete Pipe News article of the year.
“Each of this year’s award recipients has made meaningful contributions to their own companies as well as to the entire industry,” said ACPA President Matt Childs. “Whether it’s innovative advances in quality, marketing, education or communications, each of them has earned our appreciation and we hold them up as examples for others to emulate.”
In addition, 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 Kelly Peterich and Brandy Lang, both from Rinker Materials – Concrete Pipe Division CEMEX, and Brandon Christiansen from Cretex Concrete Products.
Source: American Concrete Pipe Assn.
