Gulf South Precast/Prestressed Concrete Association
P R E S I D E N T ' S M E S S A G E
By Matt DeVoss
GSPCA 2010-2012 President
Jackson Precast, Inc.
Jackson, MS
www.jpi.ms
As I enter into my final year (June 2011-June 2012) as President of the GSPCA, the national economy is still struggling not to slip back into another recession. As the Great Recession technically ended, we find our industry continuing to suffer the same ill effects as most manufacturing companies in the United States. In response to such hard times, our Board has scheduled informative Market Outlook presentations at our quarterly meetings in each of the last three years.
As a regional trade association, there is little that we can do to control the national economy. However, keeping our Producer and Associate members informed about current trends and future market indicators has been well received, as the presentations offer sometimes discouraging but very helpful information about planning and making informed decisions.
Our June family-oriented convention continues to be our most successful quarterly meeting. Since revamping our convention agenda in 2010, our attendance numbers have increased and post convention survey results have been very favorable. Our 2012 convention is set for June 14-17 in Sandestin, FL.
At this year’s convention we were honored to have PCI President Jim Toscas (Chicago, IL) and PCI’s Managing Director of Transportation Systems William Nickas (Tallahassee, FL) in attendance. In addition, we welcomed Keith Carr as the new Mississippi Department of Transportation Bridge Engineer and thanked former Bridge Engineer Mitch Carr for his involvement in the GSPCA as he retired this summer. Furthermore, we heard informative presentations from MDOT, LaDOTD, and ALDOT Bridge Engineers. Such presentations concentrated on individual state bridge programs outlooks. While funding restraints for bridge programs are discouraging, a new energetic dialogue for standardization took place that will require GSPCA involvement over the next several years.
For those of our Producer and Associate members whose work involves primarily precast/prestressed concrete highway products, the ongoing standardization committee offers insight into the current changes in the gulf south highway departments. Dwain Hamby of Hanson Pipe & Precast, and Don Theobald of Gulf Coast Pre-Stress, co-chair the committee on standardization for GSPCA. I encourage our members primarily interested in highway products to get involved in this committee as LaDOTD is currently moving forward with the design of new girder sections that will affect the Louisiana highway market and could have some affect on the other states in our region (Alabama, Mississippi, Florida Panhandle).
One of our Associate Member directors, Greg Arwood of BASF, continues to head our Education Committee efforts. Most recently he orchestrated a plan to distribute PCI design guides to several local colleges and universities throughout the gulf south. I encourage other GSPCA members to get involved in our Education efforts. If you know of any professor or college curriculum in the gulf south that is currently not receiving such PCI information please contact GSPCA.
I also encourage all our Producer and Associate members to stay actively involved in an effort to strengthen our association, as well as our industry. We need new innovative ideas for the manufacturing process as well as continuing efforts to strengthen the quality of our products. Also, we need to continue to develop new precast/prestressed concrete products as our industry is LEED and environmentally friendly and we anticipate many opportunities for related enhancement and promotion in the near future.
Finally, I would like to thank Bob Molcany, who is completing his second year as our Marketing Director. Bob has been instrumental in keeping us organized on a day to day basis and our association has been strengthened by his involvement. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to our current Board members as their service is completely voluntary and involves a lot of after-hour time. As our industry has been hit with some hard times over the past couple of years, it would be easy for company sponsorships to cut back on trade association time and expenses. Thankfully, our board members and other members have continually stepped up to the challenge and understood how important our involvement is for the growth of our industry.
