Production & Quality School (PQS I) is NPCA’s flagship course and is the perfect starting point to provide plant personnel with the fundamentals of quality precast concrete manufacturing.
Designed for all production personnel and QC inspectors, this course covers all aspects of manufactured concrete production – from raw materials to post-pour inspection, with special emphasis on maintaining quality throughout the entire manufacturing process. This course satisfies the plant certification requirement of the current edition of the NPCA Quality Control Manual for Precast Concrete Plants.
Attendees who successfully complete PQS Level I will be able to:

• Identify the key components for making quality precast concrete and proper handling techniques for each.
• Describe in detail the entire manufacturing process of producing quality precast concrete from pre-production to post-production.
• Calculate the impact of temperature of aggregates, cement and water on concrete mixes.
• Convert metric reinforcement bar sizes to ASTM standard reinforcing bar sizes.
• Explain the fundamental elements of a quality concrete mix design and troubleshoot potential mix design flaws.
• Create a quality control manual specific to plant production practices while incorporating industry best practices.

PQS Level II – Production is designed for plant personnel who will benefit from a comprehensive understanding of precast-specific production practices in four key areas: lifting and handling, issues related to production practices, lean manufacturing, and patching and repair. This course goes beyond the fundamentals explored in PQS Level I to prepare students to think critically about the links between these
four areas and common plant production and safety issues. Course participants will go in-depth in exploring these topics, discussing best practices and learning to address production challenges in their plants. Shift supervisors, team leaders, production managers, batch plant operators, engineering and drafting personnel and those who aspire to these positions should attend.
Attendees who successfully complete PQS II – Production will be able to:

• Explain the key concepts of lean manufacturing and develop an action plan for implementing simple lean techniques.
• Identify the difference between structural and cosmetic repairs and employ the appropriate patching/repair techniques for each.
• Determine the most likely causes of cosmetic and/or structural concrete issues.
• Analyze the current lifting and handling techniques in your plant and assess these techniques to identify potential areas of improvement for plant safety.

Attendees of this workshop will learn what it means to be a leader – learning to lead themselves and influence others. The discussions, skits and activities presented will enhance the skills and knowledge necessary to become a person of influence. Attendees will learn key attributes required to build teams, select employees and motivate others to accomplish the goals of the organization. Anyone who wishes to be a person of influence in their company, their community or in any organization is encouraged to attend this course.
Attendees who successfully complete PQS III – Leadership will be able to:

• Lead by example, creating a vision that others will want to follow.
• Build teams of individuals with unique, complementary strengths.
• Identify effective methods to motivate others, increasing performance.
• Become a transformational change agent for their organizations.

The use of fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) continues to evolve and become more commonplace in everyday concrete and precast construction. Learn how the new ACI 544.4R document can help precast producers and engineers by providing a roadmap to designing FRC for many applications, including walls, tanks, and other precast elements. Mixture design impacts and expectations will be discussed along with improvements in ASTM and other test methods to verify correct fiber selection and quantities in concrete.

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Discover current industry resources and certifications available for fibers.
• Determine how and where to use FRC in precast concrete.
• Identify the differences between fiber types and limitations in precast concrete.
• Determine the cost benefits of using fibers in precast concrete.

With the precast concrete industry constantly growing and evolving, companies continually are hiring new employees. Ensuring those employees get up to speed swiftly can improve teamwork, reduce mistakes and help new hires quickly become integral team members. This course is intended for those who are new to the precast industry as well as those who may have been in the industry for some time but haven’t had a chance to learn about what happens in a precast plant and why. This course includes an introduction to basic concepts, including terminology, different types of concrete used in the precast industry and its uses, raw materials, different types and applications of reinforcement, typical production practices, common curing procedures, fresh and hardened concrete tests, safety and the importance of quality control and quality assurance.

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Define precast concrete terminology and processes, discuss the principles of QA/QC, and explain the benefits of precast.
• Differentiate between different types of concrete and their common applications.
• Explain the role of each raw material in a concrete mix.
• Explain typical production practices, curing procedures and the purposes behind them, and identify various fresh and hardened concrete tests.

Precast concrete production involves many materials, machines and employees. Inevitably, challenges can pop up on any given day. Wouldn’t it be great to have a group of people in the room who do what you do and have some advice to offer? This course provides that opportunity. Bring your questions and join the discussion with a panel of experienced precast concrete managers and supervisors from across the United States, representing a variety of precast products. These NPCA Master Precaster panelists will share some of their most challenging situations and how they handled them. This will be an interactive course where attendees can share their own experiences and ask for advice from others who have been there. This sharing of experiences and knowledge can provide valuable ideas to take back and use when the next challenge falls in your lap.

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe new ideas when dealing with plant employee issues.
• Identify innovative ways to deal with unexpected manufacturing challenges.
• Interpret challenges described by others and apply some of those solutions in your plant.

Proper lifting is paramount for every precaster. This course is intended to inform personnel in a precast plant at all levels, from engineering to the production floor, how to safely design, identify, place anchors and ultimately lift precast elements. A plant’s production team trusts its engineers to design a product with a certain type of lifter in a precise location with certain sling angles and designate what PSI concrete is to be used.

This course will go through almost every scenario of why it is done this way and will build awareness that you are dealing with lift safety products, which should eliminate complacency. At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Define different styles of lifting anchors.
• Recognize the effects of concrete strength on lifters.
• Differentiate between a safe working load and an ultimate load.
• Inspect clutches for bend or damage.

The versatility of precast concrete and the advancing technology of manufacturing have enabled producers to make aboveground structures resemble any material. With this array of finishes comes the challenge of repairing them when the unforeseen happens. Anyone who has done architectural concrete repair knows it is practically an art to make the repair look like it never happened. We will discuss best practices on material choice, repair preparation and repair procedures for architectural finishes. This is a must-attend for anyone involved in manufacturing of aboveground precast products with architectural finishes.

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Recognize best practices for material choice and repair preparation.
• Identify repair procedures for architectural finsishes.

There are many components to producing quality precast concrete products. Raw materials, mix design, reinforcing, consolidation and curing all play a part in achieving the final product. In this interactive class, attendees will learn from an expert and from each other. Mel Marshall will lead a discussion of best practices and solutions to production issues that precasters deal with every day. Bring your questions as we will address your production issues and discuss how to resolve them.

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify sources of common precast production challenges.
• Troubleshoot quality control issues.
• Take at least three new ideas back to your plant to help improve your production process.

How would your day-to-day change if you could use automation to reduce your time spent detailing projects by 30-40% while cutting your error rate in half? This could be your reality when you choose the right 3-D building information modeling (BIM) technology to streamline your workflow and automate labor-intensive and error-prone tasks. This course covers every step of a typical workflow with 3-D models: from generating concrete shapes and reinforcing them to producing automatic views, dimensions, rebar cut lists and bills of material (BOM). Our precast experts will share proven tips on using 3-D models to reduce the time you spend on detailing.

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Quickly generate and reinforce any product shape
• Automatically place lifters around the center of gravity of complex shapes.
• Generate automatic drawings, rebar bending tables and BOM and update them based on changes to the model schedules.
• Develop you own library of parametric products.

The Latest in Concrete and Ambient Temperature Measurement Technology

Temperature plays an important role in the development of concrete properties. Hydration will raise internal concrete temperature, and that evolution is related to strength development. The ambient temperature in the casting environment also has an impact on both fresh and hardened concrete properties. Concrete temperature during casting and curing can affect admixture performance, placement and setting of the product. During the curing of concrete, ambient temperature and internal concrete temperature influence the quality and durability of the hardened structure. Therefore, it is imperative to monitor both ambient and internal concrete temperatures as well as curing enclosures and testing ovens. During this course, we will first discuss the risks associated with poor temperature control. We then will examine the latest devices that are currently available to facilitate temperature measurement with sufficient accuracy. We briefly will talk about the benefits of using embedded temperature sensors to estimate concrete strength, otherwise referred to as the maturity method. Finally, we will review the latest applicable ASTM and AASHTO standards and their requirements for temperature control devices, valuable information for those involved in the quality control of concrete products.

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the potential concrete quality issues associated with poor temperature control and measurement.
• Describe newer technologies related to temperature measuring devices.
• Assess what temperature measuring devices best work for the specific manufacturing process and product.
• List recent changes to applicable standards related to temperature measuring devices.