Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

PCI, originally established in 1954, is both a technical institute and a trade association that supports and represents the precast concrete structures industry serving the US, which I will refer to as simply “the US Precast Industry.” The US Precast Industry, and PCI’s membership, has traditionally been defined as the firms producing precast concrete structural elements; the firms supplying those producers with materials, technology, and services; and individual professionals, primarily engineers and academics, who are interested in the design of precast concrete structures. PCI requires that every production facility owned by its Producer Member firms be certified, and has operated the PCI Plant Certification Program for this purpose for nearly 40 years. As part of its quality assurance system, PCI trains and certifies individuals to serve as Quality Control Technicians (at three levels) and for several other quality-related functions. This paper shows that the communication and collaboration established by PCI’s present efforts lead to the adoption of a consistent, industry-independent set of quality standards.