News Detail

Better Ideas through Interaction

2/1/2006

In an earlier memo, I mentioned that a plenary meeting of ISO/TC 71, the technical committee on Concrete, Reinforced Concrete, and Prestressed Concrete, was scheduled for Seoul, South Korea, in late November 2005. The attendance for this event was unbelievable with more than 100 delegates from 33 countries. This is just outstanding when you consider that approximately 10 years ago at our first U.S.-sponsored plenary meeting in San Francisco, CA, we had about 15 delegates representing six or seven countries. Since that time, we have had seven plenary meetings with each being larger than the previous one.

These meetings are a tremendous opportunity for concrete experts from around the world to get together and discuss not only the preparation of standards, but common issues involving concrete and the use of concrete. In Seoul, we had delegates from many countries who would not normally have the opportunity to sit down together and discuss issues. Their governments don't even have diplomatic relations with each other. This includes our own government. Because of this forum, we get a chance to interact with engineers from all parts of the world. You will find that engineers are the same everywhere. We can get along regardless of how our governments feel about each other. We owe a great deal to the staff of ACI and the dedicated members who have made this forum happen.

In Seoul, I also had an opportunity to meet with two officers of the Asian Concrete Federation. This is an organization that was started in 2001 and has representation from 10 countries in Southeast Asia, ranging from as far east as the Philippines to as far west as India and Nepal. We will be taking every opportunity to further develop a good relationship with this group. Many of them are active on ISO/TC 71 and also already participate in ACI activities. Their primary activities to date have been to hold a symposium in 2004 and to initiate the development of the Asian Concrete Model Code, which is an umbrella document for the development of national concrete design standards. We will encourage their continued involvement in ACI and also participate in their activities as appropriate.

Another activity that was a huge success was the International Chapter Roundtable held in Bangkok, Thailand, in early December 2005. We had representatives from the chapters in India, Hong Kong, Iran, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates attend this meeting. Chapter roundtables are unique experiences for chapter officers to discuss their mutual concerns, learn from each other, and just get to know each other. This particular roundtable brought together officers from chapters of all different sizes and structures. The ACI Iran Chapter, for example, has thousands of members, as does India. You might expect that in India but not necessarily in Iran. It was a wonderful learning experience for me, and I hope that it was for the other participants.

I also traveled to Hong Kong, where I was invited to give a lecture at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which is one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever visited. The laboratories at the university were some of the most complete that I have ever seen. They have more and better equipment than I have seen in any university laboratory in the U.S. The wind tunnel is as good as I have seen anywhere. Interestingly, all of the classes are taught in English. If I were a lot younger, I would probably try to go there.

While in Hong Kong, we also had an opportunity to attend part of the International Symposium on Bond Behavior of FRP in Structures. I was privileged to get an opportunity to address the attendees at their banquet. There were participants from all over the world, including several from North America.

My tour through this part of the world has convinced me once again that our world is shrinking everyday. We have to communicate with our counterparts in other countries on a regular basis. They know a lot more about what we are doing in concrete than we know about their activities.

This trip to the Far East was both enlightening and enjoyable. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

James R. Cagley, President
American Concrete Institute
jim@cagley.com

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