News Detail

The Two Sides of a Coin

8/1/2023

I wrote the June memo 45 days before publication as required by the editorial timeline and I noted my “Mediterranean Outreach” travel plans. I am now reporting back the day after the last of these events on June 17, 2023.

It started in Morocco with an ACI delegation consisting of Bernie Pekor, Director, International Business Development; Ahmed Mhanna, Middle East Regional Director; and Randall Poston, ACI Past President. Thanks to the liaison efforts of Mohamed Idrissi, ACI Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Chapter President and a native of Morocco, we held meetings in Casablanca, Rabat, and Errachidia with several stakeholders from a trade organization (L’Association Marocaine de l’Industrie du Béton [AMIB]), the government (the Ministry of National Territory Planning, Land Planning, Housing and City Policy), and a university (École Hassania des Travaux Publics [EHTP]). We planted seeds for the creation of an ACI Morocco Chapter (and a Student Chapter) in addition to signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with AMIB.

We then traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, for a meeting with the officers of the ACI Turkey Chapter and the Turkish Ready Mixed Concrete Association. We also visited two local universities: Boğaziçi University and Istanbul Technical University (ITU). In particular, at ITU, we had a meeting with its Rector, İsmail Koyuncu, and the International Division Officers, thanks to the help of Mahmut Ekenel, ACI Conformity Assessment & Certification Engineer. In Istanbul, we participated in the 2023 Fédération Internationale du Béton (fib) Symposium and met with fibleadership, including the current President, Stephen Foster, Professor and Dean at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, and Secretary General David Fernández-Ordóñez, to reaffirm current activities and discuss new opportunities between the two organizations already bound by an existing Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC). Both Foster and Fernández-Ordóñez will join us at the ACI Concrete Convention – Fall 2023 in Boston, MA, USA, to continue the in-person conversation. While in Turkey, we also visited the new Binevir Composites factory for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement for concrete and were hosted by Zaur Ganiev, its Board Chair.

The “Mediterranean Outreach” travel ended in Assisi, Italy, where I attended the workshop on “Innovation in the Construction Industry,” organized by the ACI Italy Chapter and hosted by Manini Prefabbricati, one of the largest precasters in the country. Preceding the 1-day event that featured presentations by prominent academicians and practitioners, including ACI Italy Chapter President Luigi Coppola, was a visit to the precast concrete plant. It is truly remarkable to see the efficiency and effectiveness of a modern concrete precast plant. Bent-to-precision steel reinforcement is placed in forms with positioning guided by laser rays. Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) with optimized constituents, including rapid-setting admixtures, is placed and machine-finished so that the full production cycle only takes a day without the aid of steam or autoclave curing. Prefabrication is certainly an answer to the sustainability drive of our industry addressing the optimization of materials and quality of construction.

Reflecting on this trip, two major considerations come to my mind. First, I personally realized what ACI Past Presidents Cary Kopczynski and Charles Nmai had repeatedly told me, that is: the respect and admiration that ACI draws internationally. I would have never guessed the level of hospitality and recognition we received everywhere we went. It made me very proud but, more importantly, made me realize the importance and relevance of what our Institute is all about. It is the “knowledge” that we generate and make available to others for the benefit, welfare, and safety of the public. Everyone we met expressed a genuine desire to be involved and engaged with ACI, and the fact that we made the effort of visiting their places made the difference.

The second and equally important consideration is how much we can learn from others. It is truly a two-sided coin: we can offer a lot, but we can also receive a lot as well. It was remarkable to witness the eagerness of the practitioners, officials, academics, and students we met in sharing with us their activities, experiences, successes, dreams, and challenges. How can we capture it all and make it part of our body of knowledge is the question. As I write this memo, I am tempted to suggest a revision of our existing tagline from “Always advancing” to “Always learning.” I very much look forward to many other trips, domestically and internationally, to continue learning. It is undoubtedly the best part of the presidency.

Antonio Nanni