Good afternoon. Welcome to PCI's webinar series. My name is Royce Covington, Manager of Member Services at PCI, and I'll be your moderator for this session, PCI President's Update. Before I turn the controls over to our presenter for today, I have a few introductory items to note. The handout for this webinar can be found in the handout section of your webinar pane. If you cannot download the handout, please email PCIMarketing at marketing at pci.org as shown on your screen. All attendee lines are muted. The GoToWebinar Toolbox has an area for you to raise your hand. If you raise your hand, you will receive a private chat message from me. If you have a question, please type it into the questions pane. We'll be keeping track of them to read during the Q&A period. This webinar is non-CEU. Today's presentation will be recorded and uploaded to PCI's member resources at pci.org. Our presenter for today is Bob Brisser, President and CEO of the Precast Pre-Stressed Concrete Institute. I'll now hand the controls over so that we can begin our presentation. Well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this update. It takes about 30 or 40 minutes to give you some high-level information about what's going on at PCI. Let's get started, and what I'd like to do first is introduce you to some new members of the PCI team since we did our last update back in June. We're very excited to have Shelley Ensher join the PCI staff as our new membership director. She comes to us with a lot of experience in the association world, and we're really excited to have her on board. Also, our newest member of the staff who just came on board a few weeks ago is Jacques Catan. Jacques is our new PCI Managing Director for Quality Programs. He will be overseeing all of our certification programs, both plant, erector, and personnel. He comes to us with a wealth of experience in the certification arena, in the association, and in the construction space. He managed the certification programs at AISC for many years. He's a structural engineer, and we're really excited to have him join the PCI team. He'll be replacing Mike Kesselmeier, who is going to be retiring at the end of this year. Mike's going to stay on in a limited capacity to help out, but we're really excited at this transition and looking forward to wishing Mike a very well-deserved retirement beginning in 2024. Well, the first thing I'd like to spend some time talking about is the enormous success we had in moving committee days out of Chicago for the first time ever. I hope many of you were able to join us. It was a fantastic meeting at a great location. I think we'll be heading back there someday in the future. We were at the JW Marriott right downtown Tampa. We had a big turnout. We had 627 registrants, which is 50 more than last year in Rosemont, and it was really, really exciting. Great spot and a lot of energy. Of course, the meeting ended with a board meeting, so I just wanted to give you a few highlights of that meeting that are of general interest to the membership. The board had several presentations on sustainability and EPDs. Many of our members over the last year have been getting requests for EPDs from some of their customers. This is not even across the country. It's concentrated in certain areas and with certain types of customers. We'll be talking a lot about that more in this update later on. The board is wrestling with that. It's a really big mega issue for the industry as we scramble to meet these requests. We also approved an update to policy 14, which is our membership policy for both plants and erectors. There used to be a one-year waiting period after you applied for certification or got certification before you could be a member. We are now allowing certified members to get involved with PCI right away after they get certified. We also approved a new Medal of Honor winner who will be acknowledged and celebrated at the convention in Denver in February. We welcome 10 new fellows to PCI. We also had a financial update for the board. I'm pleased to announce that PCI ended fiscal 2023 about $100,000 to the good in fiscal 2023, which ended at the end of June. Our reserves continue to be well above the target set by the board of directors. We're in pretty good shape from that standpoint. Also, more some things of general interest. At their meeting last summer, the board approved an updated code of conduct where we added off-site and after-hours to that policy to remind folks that it isn't just during meetings or in the facility that they need to observe our code of conduct. There have been a lot of interest around the country on a set of guidelines for creating PCI student chapter or club at local universities. Those guidelines have been approved and are available on the PCI website. You can contact the PCI education staff if you're interested and can't find it on the website. You may know that Sacramento State University started a PCI student chapter several years ago. There's been a continued interest in creating those at the universities, particularly where we've got PCI foundation programs at universities all across the country. I mentioned the presentations on sustainability at the board. The board has created a task group that crosses over many of the different councils to come up with a PCI sustainability plan. This has been drafted mainly by the marketing council but with the cooperation of several of the other councils. The purpose is to get a strategic direction for PCI in enhancing the awareness of sustainability throughout the industry and to develop some messaging for us in regard to how we fit in to this conversation. Obviously battling the misperceptions or the perceptions of cement in particular out there in the marketplace. We're looking forward to getting this plan finalized. Kim Wacker from Wells is heading this group up on behalf of the board. She's one of the at-large board members and heavily involving the other councils. So stay tuned for that and the progress we're going to be making on that and rolling out materials. As you can see our target audiences start with students and academics and then go into practicing designers, engineers, and architects. I mentioned the foundation. One of the highlights of the committee days was a benefit concert put on by The Concrete, the band that's headed up by AJ Ishikawa from Slice Leave. Him and his friends were kind enough to put on an incredible show. It was all meant as a PCI Foundation fundraiser. Since we were out of Chicago we were able to do Concrete Chefs like we normally would. So it was an enormous success. Almost 300 people signed up and we had a lot of fun. Here's AJ and his band and played a lot of great covers from the 80s and 90s. We had some special guest appearances as Brian Miller playing guitar and Dennis Fink singing. We also had some other extra special guests. Thanks to the folks from JVI for their appearance at this event. We had a lot of fun. It was very memorable but most importantly we raised more than $25,000 on behalf of the foundation. So I want to thank Jim Voss and JVI, AJ Ishikawa and Slice Leave, PCI Mid-Atlantic who made a contribution to the large check we're presenting there. And to thank Ray Clark. Ray Clark is now the executive director of foundation. He started in mid-September and we look forward to working very closely with him as we move forward to advance precast and pre-stressed education within the schools around the country. So wonderful event. People will be talking about it for many years and it was great. Just don't know how we're going to top it next year. So I mentioned sustainability and EPDs and as I said this emerged last year or earlier this year at the convention as a real need for our membership. So I just want to take a few minutes to talk about this and then what PCI is doing to to help our members and develop tools and and information that our members can use in in meeting the demand in the marketplace for EPDs for precast products. There's a lot of acronyms like a lot of things in our in our business. An EPD is an environmental product declaration and it's a it's used in a lifecycle assessment. EPDs are developed within PCR's product category rules which PCI has for structural precast. We are in the process right now of updating an industry-wide EPD for across the entire industry. So let's talk a little bit about this. It's all about the global warming potential or embodied carbon of certain products. That's that's what it's it's meant to measure. And I just wanted to talk a little bit about where you know where our concentration needs to be. As you can see on the left-hand side of this slide, materials make up 86% of the embodied carbon in in a precast element. And within those materials 75% of that of the embodied carbon comes from Portland cement. So Portland cement is is really the the area where the efforts go to try to reduce that that embodied carbon. The EPDs are used to compare the lifecycle assessment of different products. So it ultimately we're going to be being asked for our information as designers look at at different types of construction. So what are the market drivers behind this? There's a lot of things. Some codes are starting to do that. The advantages of the codes is that they're done technically accurately. We're seeing in some parts of the country agencies and even state legislatures putting out requirements for concrete or precast when they are taking bids for projects. And we are of course seeing architects and owners asking our members on the stakeholder side to produce EPDs. So all of this is putting pressure on the industry to produce this information. There is a lot of obvious interest around the world in the impact that the built environment has on carbon footprint and carbon emissions. A lot of different publications that you can look for out there that will tell you ways to try to reduce the footprint. So what are some of the things that we've got at PCI to help our members with this? These are all available on the website. Some of our existing resources as I mentioned we have an industry-wide EPD for structural precast and an industry-wide EPD for architectural and insulated wall panels. Again these are both available on the website in the members section. Just recently we've also produced some new resources. An EPD for GFRC was recently published. And then a rather extensive designers notebook publication on suitability of EPDs and material selection. So that second publication is really important because our members and chapters are reporting that a lot of designers are not following the proper procedures. Technically you're not supposed to compare apples to oranges you're only supposed to compare apples to apples. This designers notebook will give you the information that you need in maneuvering through the marketplace in these demands. Some other resources. I've mentioned the designers notebook already. We've got several articles already have been published in Ascent and Aspire. And just this month construction specifier. We got the cover story on sustainable building materials the case of precast concrete. Great article on that. So these are all available. A link to the construction specifier as well as these others are available on the PCI website. So what are we doing going forward? We've got some resources for external stakeholders. We continue to have Ascent and Aspire articles. We are going to have a webinar on the role of precast EPDs in projects and procurement. We're going to have an EPD or a webinar on what are EPDs and how to use them. And we've also reformed the sustainability committee in order to convene a group of members to give guidance on EPD requirements and what else we need to meet the needs of the marketplace. So as I mentioned we are right now in the process of trying to update our industry-wide EPD. We're starting data collection. We've made a tool available to PCI members to use to get this information and put it in one database. We have a webinar on data collection and a webinar on tool use of the tool for plant and product specific EPDs. The products for this specific EPDs are things that our members some of our members around the country are starting to have their customers ask them about. They don't want the industry-wide EPD. They want one that's specific to the product that that plant is producing. So I mentioned the tool. We have entered into an agreement with a group called WAP Sustainability Consulting and made this software Theta available to PCI members. The EPD follows a whole process. I won't go through every one of these but we're just kicking this off right now and we're encouraging PCI members to sign on and and use that tool to collect the information that's needed. So this is an example of some of the information that's required in terms of the mix components as well as reinforcing and other elements that go into the precast element as well as some other things on energy use and such. So what it all ends up with at the end is the ability to produce a product specific EPD. This is an example from one of our members that that developed these EPDs for at the request of their customers for different products that are coming out of their out of their plant. So you can see there the different types of beams, columns, spandrels, and hollow core, double T's with different assumed strengths, and then the global warning potential there on the right hand side. So that's an example of the of the output from it. This tool does have a cost. It's $3,000 per plant per year. That is significantly less than we've been told by a lot of our members who've spent well over $20,000 developing an EPD on their own without the tool. I also report that there is some new revenue available through the EPA for groups like PCI who are trying to work with their members to develop these EPDs. We intend to put in a proposal to try to get some funding from that EPA money that could offset the cost to PCI members to use this tool. We'll be doing that in the months ahead, and we'll see how successful we're going to be. Switching gears to the technical side of PCI, I'm very pleased to report that one of our big priorities of our strategic plan, as you may recall, is to produce a precast code in the form of ACI PCI 319. I'm very pleased to thank the efforts of the standards committee who have completed sending the first 10 items that you can see here on the screen, took those out of the design handbook, turned them into mandatory language, and then standards that will be published by PCI, and then over to the ACI PCI 319 committee. They will be meeting in a couple of weeks in Boston at ACI's convention, and they should be finalizing the first version of ACI PCI 319. It's due to be published next year. It's got to go out for TAC review and public comment, but all of this is out for the first version next year in 2024 with the goal of taking that first version together with ACI to IBC in early 2025 for the code hearings, and if all goes well, it will be referenced specifically in the 2027 building code. So, congratulations to Edith Gallendorm and the standards committee and all the members who worked so hard to get this to the last stages of the first version of 319. Committees are really hard at work on other standards. Two of these standards, 124 and 128, are actually already referenced in IBC, but they're five years old now, and by ANSI requirements, they need to be updated, so the committees are working on that. We have completed public comment on 150. We've got 135 specification of tolerances. Development is complete and should go out to public comment soon. Specification for piles, concrete piles, is really close to final publication, so look to PCI website and bookstore for those in the months ahead. We've already published several standards in 2023 on concrete piles, tolerances, and wall panels, and quality control of GFRC. So, TACC is hard at work. I mentioned some new committees. I mentioned the sustainability committee. This is where we're going to guide the industry efforts in regard to EPDs and embodied carbon, and TACC has also formed a structural design of UHPC committee. If any of you are interested in participating on either of those committees, you can see the link below from the PCI website to put in an application to serve on those committees. Also, at the committee days, the R&D committee is awarded a new group of fellowships. You can see that we had four Jennies and a Mertz. The Mertz fellowship is specifically dedicated to transportation arena. So, we're looking forward to getting started on these fellowships, and I just take this opportunity to sort of brag about the work that's been done on one of these fellowships, not on the screen here, but one from several years ago. It was a fellowship at the University of Cincinnati to develop guidelines on using 0.6 strand as lifting loops. That research is complete, and it will actually be incorporated into the new version of the design bridge design manual that's going to be out here at the end of the year. So, this research does pay off and show up in PCI's publications for members to use. So, it's great when R&D ends up with a practical application. Workforce development continues to be a big topic as I wanted to talk to people at the meeting in Tampa, still the number one priority. The Workforce Development Committee continues its work and has produced several webinars and other tools that are available on the website. Take a look at the work that those folks have been doing, but we also want to mention the fact that there's a lot of workforce development opportunities through activity in PCI. LPCI just went through there, Leadership PCI just went through there, or is going through their next class that will meet for the first time at the convention in Denver, and you can see some of the other opportunities there. I'm going to go into a little bit more detail. One of them is the Marketing and Sales School. We had a very successful school again back in June. A lot of members send folks who are new to the industry, and it's very, very well received. Going forward in 2024, the plan is to once again have a Marketing and Sales School in June here in Chicago, but by popular demand, they're putting together a Marketing and Sales School 2.0, which is scheduled for December of next year, meant as a follow-on course to people who've taken the Marketing and Sales School in the past, so look for information as that comes out. And as the other slide said, we are going forward with our second PCI student job fair at the convention in Denver. If you are interested in having a booth for your company, we had 147 students at the convention in Columbus. We're hoping that there'll be even more students in Denver, so if you're interested, information is on the website, or contact our membership staff, and they'll get you information on having a tabletop for your company at the second student job fair in Denver. Wanted to announce some recent improvements on the PCI website, particularly in the Members section. We've really tried to make it easier to navigate and find things across all the pages, and of course, always appreciate any input that we get from members on how we can make the website even easier to use and more useful to you as members. I hope that many of you are participating or plan to within the next week or so on precast days. We set October 9th through the 20th, together with our friends in Canada and NPCA, encouraging PCI members to have an open house where they can show off the precast industry either to students, high school students, specifiers, or just the community. What do the people do here that you drive past the plant every day? So I hope you'll participate in that, and if you do, please, if you can, let us know how it went and if there's anything else we can do to make that experience even more valuable for you as a company. I just want to remind everyone again of the tremendous amount of marketing resources. Just as an anecdote, when we have the Marketing and Sales School, even members who've been around for a while get surprised at how much information and tools and other things for PCI members to use in their marketing and sales are available on our website. So lots of things on market research and analytics of how our website is reaching out to the design community and all sorts of resources that members can use as they're doing their efforts out there. Just wanted to take one second to talk about a milestone. As you know, we renewed in June the certification program for plants, and we get sales declarations, and I'm very pleased to announce that in 2022 there was a almost 24 percent increase year over year, and the industry topped 7 billion in sales for the first time ever. So that's great. We want to keep going. If we could find more people, I think we could get that over 8 billion without even trying that hard. A lot of demand out there for precast. We are headed towards the 2024 Design Awards at the convention. We had 67 submissions this year. The winners will be announced at a special reception. I hope you'll join us at the convention in Denver on Friday, February 9th. And thanks to all the judges, and of course to Becky King and Nicole Clow and the rest of the marketing staff that worked so hard to put this great program together. And the submission site for PCI Design Awards for 2025 will be open in April. So we hope you'll put together an application. We wanted to talk about what we do with the Design Award winners. There's all sorts of publicity. You can see the list here of things that we put together. They're all listed on the website. They're featured in Ascent. Each project has a special video that is also posted on the website. So when you submit those, we do all sorts of things with those project profiles to highlight these special projects. As always, we continue to emphasize earned media where we're not having to pay for advertising. Here's some examples. I mentioned this earlier in this presentation that we got the cover of Construction Specifier talking about the sustainability of precast concrete. We're also going to be getting coverage on the 2023 Sidney Friedman Award that was recently presented at Committee Days. And as you can see, we're well on our way to having a lot of earned media features going forward this year. This is just an example. And to plug again, we have an extensive list of media coverage of precast members or projects. And we keep this on our website. So if a project of yours or if your company is in the news industry or regular news or newspapers, let us know on the staff and we'll include those items in our database of outreach on precast. Also on the marketing front, I'm really pleased and thank Jim Schneider, who is the Executive Director of PCM Mount & State Chapter, for his presentation at the NIBS Building Innovations Conference. That's the National Institute of Building Sciences. Very well received. And hats off to Becky King and the marketing staff, again, for working with NIBS to get PCI on the program. Remind you again about the Precast Protects Life program. If you have projects on storm shelters or projects that were designed against flooding or hurricanes or fires, please let our staff know. We're always looking for projects to showcase. This is our chance to show how Precast shines in resiliency against the things, the events that are because of climate change. The QC schools will continue here in 2023 and in 2024. So there's a list of the upcoming ones. There will also be on the website for their information on signing up for those. The Big Beam Student Competition. Results are due by next June. We have awarded or acknowledged the winners at committee days and they'll be presented their acknowledgement on stage at the member lunch in Denver at the convention. Just some stats on the PCI website. It continues to have a tremendous amount of page views and courses. We're at just 5,000 courses started and almost 3,000 courses completed. So the design community continues to go to PCI's website for their continuing education needs and that's a really great accomplishment. A little bit of update on some major things that the education council is working on. Pre-stress in a box. The next edition of it has been developed and it's now available for download for university professors. This is a set of materials that professors can use to teach pre-stress in the engineering arena. The education council is also working on a set of 13 weeks of materials which would be a complete semester. These have been drafted and are awaiting review by TAC. So we're hoping to have those published next year. And then finally we'll continue to cooperate or partner with PCI foundation and with the Canadian PCI in 2024 on the professor's seminar. A very successful event that we had last spring in Miami and we'll be having it again this spring as well. One of the developments that has been talked about for many, many years is making a version of this design handbook available to students. I'm very happy to say that we crossed the finish line earlier this year. This summer there is a student edition available for students and professors. Electronically free of charge. Can't be printed or shared. But it is available for free. It's got chapters 1 through 5, 9 and 15 from the 8th edition and it is available on the website. So if you're working with students, go ahead and let them know and they'll be able to get on the website and design or download their version of it. Since we opened it, we've had 127 copies downloaded from students. And as you can see from this breakout, almost 90% of those downloads were from students and 12 were from academic professionals. So I just want to remind everyone again of the education resources that are available. The PCI Online Academy. We continue to do monthly webinars. And we've got live and virtual Lunch and Learns that the chapters are doing. So lots of education resources that are available also on the website. So with that, I'll be happy to take any questions. I hope to see you in Denver. We're really looking forward to another successful convention and the precast show, which is now up over 83,000 square feet. We just had a meeting with NPCA last week. So with that, Royce, if anyone has any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them. Well, Bob, it looks like it was so great and informative of a presentation that we don't have any questions. I would like to thank you again for the great presentation. And if anyone has any further questions about today's webinar, please email marketing at PCI.org with the subject header President's Update Webinar. Thank you again. Have a great day and please stay safe.

PCI President's Update webinar

EPDs

precast code

workforce development

Design Awards program

education initiatives

PCI members