President's Memo

January 1998

ACI Certification - A Major Factor in Improving Quality

by Richard N. White

Building with concrete is a labor-intensive process, and the quality of the final product can be no better than the quality of the work that goes into the job, be it cast-in-place or precast construction. This point was made repeatedly at the recent "Concrete V" conference in Bahrain, where I had the privilege of presenting one of the keynote talks. In fact, one of the speakers stated that, before we expend more effort in producing even higher performance concretes, we should be upgrading the skills of the concrete industry work force so we can fully utilize what we already know about producing high quality concrete as a material. The same message came across at the recent Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute-Federal Highway Administration conference on high-performance concrete, held in October in New Orleans, La. The performance of in-place concrete is what determines the serviceability and usable lifetime of a concrete structure or facility, not the outstanding performance we can usually get in laboratory tests and experiments. Improvement of quality thus comes down to training individuals, followed by an evaluation of their skills.

Our ACI Certification programs provide the basis for training and follow-up certification of persons in the concrete industry -- on-site workers, individuals conducting tests in the field and in the laboratory, and the inspectors. The ACI Certification programs are managed at Institute headquarters by John W. Nehasil with guidance from the Certification Programs Committee, chaired by Dan Baker. John has been with the ACI Certification Department since 1989; he succeeded Rich Heitzmann, ACI's new Director of Business Development. The goal of ACI certification is to provide the concrete industry with knowledgeable people in specialized field work (such as floor finishing) and in concrete testing and quality control. Successful completion of a certification program is based on educational activities, either by self-teaching on the job site, or by attending training classes and sessions.

Currently, ACI has programs for the following specialties:

  • Concrete Field Testing Technician, Grade I
  • Concrete Strength Testing Technician
  • Concrete Laboratory Testing Technician, Grades I and II
  • Concrete Construction Inspector and Inspector
  • Concrete Transportation Construction Inspector and Inspector
  • Concrete Flatwork Finisher/Technician

Certification examinations and optional training courses are conducted through a network of over 100 local sponsoring groups operating both domestically and internationally. The majority of these sponsoring groups are made up of members of ACI local chapters. Since 1983, ACI has administered certification programs to over 100,000 individuals, with more than 30,000 individuals currently holding ACI certification. Over the past five years, the number of certification exams graded at Institute headquarters has had an annual growth rate of 14 percent.

A number of exciting new certification developments are underway or in the planning stages:

1) Several new ACI certifications programs are under development, including: Tilt-up Field Superintendent; Commercial/Industrial Floor Finisher; Aggregate Testing Technician; Plasterer; and Shotcrete Nozzleman.

2) The American Institute of Architects has drafted a revision of its Master Specification that includes language requiring ACI certification. The final version of the AIA MASTERSPEC® Specification System, a product of the American Institute of Architects, should be available concurrent with the publication of this issue of Concrete International.

3) More and more ACI technical committee documents are referring to Institute certification.

4) The processing and reporting of certification exam results were speeded up in early 1997 when examination processing was switched to ACI's mainframe computer.

5) ACI's Certification Program is on the ACI website; by early 1998, all ACI members as well as "Construction Supernetwork" subscribers will be able to view the complete roster of individuals certified by ACI. (This list is also available for purchase from ACI headquarters.) In addition, the website will allow any viewer access to listings of our entire network of local sponsoring groups and their training and testing schedules. To see these exciting new developments, simply make the hookup to the ACI website at http://www.aci-int.org

6) ACI Certification's sponsoring group in the Mideast (Advanced Construction Technology Services, or ACTS) is in the process of translating training and certification materials into Arabic so they may offer the ACI programs to individuals who are not proficient in English.

7) An entirely new program to certify contractors and construction firms is being studied by the Certification Programs Committee. The preliminary report on firm certification was presented and discussed at the fall 1997 convention in Atlanta, Ga., where the decision was made to proceed with development of a proposal to be submitted to the ACI Board of Direction.

All ACI certification activities share a critically important common goal -- to produce quality concrete construction through improved development and evaluation of the skills and talents of the many individuals involved in the construction process.

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

Back to Past-Presidents' Memo List