Concrete pipe and precast box producers work with suppliers to advance the technology of their products to maintain a competitive edge, while suppling rigid products for drainage systems and culverts considered to be critical infrastructure. One of the many advances in precast box and manhole production is self-consolidating concrete (SCC). Introduced to America in 2000, […]
ACPA President, Russell Tripp, P.E. comments on experiential learning and the role of concrete pipe plants in that learning model. Tripp notes that the editorial in the CPI 5-2017 (October) Issue described how concrete pipe producers are accommodating a need for educating specifiers, design engineers, regulators, elected representatives, contractors, and the public about the applied […]
America`s infrastructure owners continue to face challenging times when facing needs to expand and improve existing transportation modes, while maintaining elements of existing systems. Proper inspection, management, and maintenance of aging infrastructure seems to be consuming more resources, time, and money than ever before. The concrete pipe industry has been working with DOTs and municipalities for years to […]
Steel fiber reinforced concrete pipes are currently used as an alternative to conventional steel reinforced concrete pipes in some regions of the world, such as Europe and Australia. However, there are concerns with corrosion of the steel fibers as larger cracks develop in the pipes. An extensive five-year research program was carried out at the University of […]
The American Concrete Pipe Association introduced its Chairman’s Quality Award in 2015 to recognize member plants and/or companies that have implemented successful innovations resulting in higher quality products and more efficient production processes. At its annual meeting in 2016, the overall winner was Northern Concrete Pipe, Inc. – Bay City, MI for its “Surveyor’s Wheel” that safely […]
The North American concrete pipe industry is rapidly expanding its knowledge base of all materials, products, design and production technology for drainage pipeline systems. Driving this expansion is the globalization of major suppliers to the industry and key concrete pipe producers based in the USA and Canada. The concrete pipe and precast industry has witnessed the morphing […]
The concrete pipe industry takes its commitment to safe production so seriously that it established a national award to recognize plants that excel in safety, along with the companies that develop innovative approaches to improving worker safety. In addition to the award, the American Concrete Pipe Association (ACPA) introduced a course designed for workers, foremen, job supervisors […]
The need to improve quality and production of concrete pipe was formally recognized in 1907 when a group of 150 concrete pipe producers from the USA and Canada formed the Interstate Cement Tile Manufacturers Association (ICTMA). Two years earlier, Frank Wilson of Wilson Concrete Company, Red Oak, Iowa produced the first reinforced concrete culvert pipe. Organizers of […]
Concrete pipe associations and their corporate members understand that successful concrete pipe production facilities are largely dependent upon modern plants, products that can be easily specified in a highly competitive marketplace, and well-trained people who can produce pipe and other precast products to Standards that are accepted industry-wide. The staff complement consists of a range of professionals from […]
Automated and fully robotic concrete pipe plants, the Quality Cast certification program, a culture of plant safety, and continuous technical training combine to assure owners, contractors, specifiers and designers that they are working with a modern material and a variety of pipe and precast box products that will perform for the design life of projects. To strengthen […]
Over the 170-year plus history of the American concrete pipe industry, precast concrete pipe products have not been the only choice for specifiers. Alternative materials have ranged from wood to clay to steel and thermoplastics and now there are composites. However, there has never been a time as there is now when there have been as many […]
It would be ideal if underscoring the value of concrete pipe was as simple as pointing to legacy pipelines and culverts that have performed as designed for decades and even centuries. That is not the case, because new specifiers, designers, regulators and contractors are entering the market continuously while veterans in the industry leave, taking their […]