News Detail

Stimulating R&D in the Concrete Industry; ACI's Strategic Development Council

7/1/1997

ACI's new Strategic Development Council recently held a very successful inaugural meeting in Northbrook, Ill. The council, better known as SDC, is formally a part of ConREF, ACI's nonprofit Concrete Research and Education Foundation. ConREF was formed by ACI in 1989 to increase the understanding of concrete materials and to support programs that improve concrete design and construction. In other words, ConREF has the important mission of helping achieve the bottom line that I stressed in this column in the June 1997 issue of Concrete International—BETTER CONSTRUCTED FACILITIES.

It's no secret that the concrete industry (at least in North America) has less than a sterling reputation for internal R&D programs. Our industry is highly fragmented, with a large portion of the total work being done by many small firms which have not had a tradition of devoting a meaningful share of their net income to R&D, as is done in many industries. While most larger organizations in the materials side of the business do have substantial R&D programs, for the most part, our designers, concrete suppliers, and contractors are not into R&D. Concrete-related research in academic institutions is extensive, but much of it is not aimed at commercial applications or timetables.

In a concerted effort to create a new mode of R&D, many sectors of the concrete industry in the U.S. joined together about two years ago to propose a focused R&D program for high performance concrete. Along with similar programs for other materials, this program was to have operated under the overall umbrella of the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). But the requested federal support did not materialize.

Disappointed but undaunted, we (ACI and ConREF) decided to take a less government-dependent approach to facilitate applied R&D — industry-funded, user-focused research with direct commercial benefit. This new thrust made considerable headway during the past year under the leadership of Bill Plenge, ACI's director of Washington operations; the support of George F. Leyh, ACI's Executive Vice President; and assistance from key officers of ConREF and ACI.

The main structure and operational guidelines for SDC materialized during a series of seven formational roundtables involving representatives from 47 different organizations. The fundamental basis of SDC is simple and direct:

• The central focus of SDC will be the execution of collaborative, industry-driven research and development programs leading directly to commercialization
• The primary SDC thrusts will be in applied research and technology, supported as needed by elements of basic, exploratory research.
• The user community (customer) will be highly involved.
• R&D on selected topics will be done within consortia of suppliers and users, each of them members of the SDC
• Development time for necessary standards will be minimized
• The SDC will operate by principles and procedures as developed by the formational roundtable participants

We are working in ACI to develop effective, streamlined assessment and evaluation approaches that will contribute to various types of industry-recognized approval — guidelines, provisional standards, and standards of practice. The SDC will be active in the early formation of these assessment teams or groups, drawing on its close knowledge of the extensive and highly regarded technical committee structure of ACI.

The Strategic Development Council (SDC) thus provides an important new entity we have not had before—a neutral, one-stop meeting place where the concrete industry, representatives from government and academia, and our customers can come together in a new era of more aggressive and more successful technology development and application. The end result will be the movement of commercially meaningful new advancements expeditiously through the standardization process and into commercial use on the job site.

What does it take to become a member of SDC? The first step is to call or FAX ACI's director of Washington operations: William (Bill) Plenge, at (410) 255-0344. Or, contact George Leyh at ACI headquarters (248) 848-3700. Membership in SDC involves a modest annual fee, but actual R&D costs will be borne by those partners forming consortia for individual projects. We hope you will be attracted to SDC membership!

Address: Hollister Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., 14853; e-mail: RNW3@Cornell.edu; FAX: (607) 255-4828; telephone: (607) 255-6497.

Richard N. White
President
American Concrete Institute

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