A Delicate Balance

8/1/2004

ACI's core purpose, as outlined in our current Strategic Plan, is "to provide knowledge and information for the best use of concrete." That same plan lists our core values as:

• Benefit to society;
• Credibility;
• Personal and professional growth;
• Consensus; and
• Camaraderie.

Our core purpose and values represent the reason for ACI's existence and provide the essential principles that guide our operations. In essence, they reflect the fundamental reasons that members support and participate in ACI.

Given our core purpose, it should not be surprising that credibility is identified as one of our core values. It is the primary reason that users value our codes, standards, publications, seminars, and certification and convention programs. In our plan, credibility is described by these key points:

• Unbiased information free of commercial or political influence;
• Meticulous technical review process;
• Trust, integrity; and
• Timeliness.

It should also not be surprising that we adhere to a formal review process for ACI's technical information, and that this process becomes more rigorous as we move from review of papers to review of codes and standards. Our Technical Activities Committee (TAC) is responsible for our technical committee operations, the technical content of the Institute's archival and special publications, and the technical content of our convention programs. It serves as the final authority on technical issues in all publications. TAC members have the tremendous responsibility of maintaining the credibility and integrity of our technical information.

At times, the rigor of our review process is challenged as old-fashioned or unnecessary. ACI is sometimes perceived as too academic, too slow and cumbersome, and lacking market focus. We hear anecdotes of documents mired down in our review process, and even threats of moving to other venues to publish.

Are we sacrificing market relevance for unnecessary purity of purpose? I don't believe we are. We must maintain the credibility of our technical information while expanding our service to the construction marketplace. We should do this by continually evaluating our processes and seeking opportunities to improve.

Recently our Strategic Development Council (SDC), under the leadership of Peter Emmons, reported on such a project to develop recommendations for improving technology acceptance. The SDC was formed in 1997 to bring together representatives from the concrete industry and its customers, along with key participants from government and academia, to focus on collaborative problem solving in concrete technology development. The SDC provides input from a broad cross section of ACI's industrial membership base-many of our Sustaining Members also participate in the SDC. It is fair to say that the SDC comments on technology acceptance and ACI's processes reflect what many in our industry are thinking.

The Accelerating Technology Acceptance (ATA) Project was commissioned by the SDC in May 2002 to address the following goal: "By 2030, the industry will reduce the time required for new technology acceptance to 2 years." The ATA report contains 59 recommendations for improving technical review, approval, and acceptance of new technologies. Many of these recommendations relate to ACI specifically, many relate to standards-developing organizations in general, and many impact more than new technology reviews. They range from specific changes to TAC's review process to the international acceptance of U.S. standards.

Interestingly, a number of the recommendations call for improvements to the quality of input rather than changes to the review process. We will give serious consideration to all the recommendations as they provide an opportunity to review and improve our processes. A Board Task Group will work with the SDC to prioritize and propose specific implementation actions.

The SDC recommendations illustrate the strength of ACI-dedicated members looking for opportunities to improve and proposed specific changes. SDC members want faster acceptance of new technology, but they also understand the need to maintain a rigorous review process to support such acceptance. Without credibility our review process is meaningless. It is a delicate balance.

Perhaps you have ideas for improvements to our review process. As always, your feedback is welcome.

Anthony E. Fiorato, President
American Concrete Institute
fiorato@CTLGroup.com

Back to Past-Presidents' Memo List