East Coast Precast at NPCA Precast Show 2023 — Louisville, Kentucky
Three members of the East Coast Precast team attended the National Precast Concrete Association (NPCA) Precast Show in Louisville, Kentucky, held October 25 through 27 at the Kentucky International Convention Center. Attending: John Cotton (owner and estimating lead), Kevin Doyle (production manager), and Marcus Whitley (dispatch and logistics coordinator). This is our fourth NPCA show attendance since 2016.
Sessions worth the travel
The show floor is useful but the sessions are usually where the practical takeaways live. Notes on the three that were most relevant to our operation:
- Automation in panel casting. A session led by two Elematic representatives and a plant manager from a mid-sized Wisconsin producer covered practical automation retrofits for existing casting bays — automated pallet transport, remote vibrator control, and semi-automated bulkhead placement. The emphasis was on incremental automation of existing lines rather than full-line replacement, which is closer to how a plant our size can realistically upgrade.
- New form-liner technology for architectural finish. A joint session between two form-liner manufacturers on higher-durability elastomeric liners and new ledgestone patterns. The relevant point for us was reuse cycles — the newer polyurethane liners are hitting 100+ pours on a well-maintained form, versus the 30-40 pour range we currently plan around. Cost per pour has moved in a direction that changes our architectural-finish quoting.
- GPS-tagged panel logistics. A session on integrating GPS-tagged shipment tracking with panel-level QR code scanning at plant load-out and job site receiving. Value for a plant our size is the reduced phone traffic between dispatch and job sites during large-package deliveries. This is likely a 2024-2025 investment for us rather than immediate.
Vendor meetings
Off the session schedule, Cotton and Doyle met with representatives from three form and mold manufacturers, two batch plant equipment vendors, and one third-party QC testing lab that is expanding into the Mid-Atlantic. The vendor conversations were largely for future reference, but two led to follow-up quote requests that came in the week after the show.
NPCA committee discussions
Whitley sat in on a working session of the NPCA Transportation Committee where state DOT specification updates were compared across participating states. VDOT was represented indirectly through a Materials Division update circulated at the meeting. The main practical takeaway was an upcoming revision to VDOT specification section 231 (sound barriers) tightening the finish tolerance on architectural face panels. We will incorporate the revised tolerance into our shop drawings on VDOT work as soon as the revision is formally issued.
Planned equipment upgrade
Based on the automation session and follow-up vendor conversations, East Coast Precast has begun evaluating a partial retrofit of Bay 1 that would add semi-automated bulkhead placement and remote-control vibrator operation. Scope, timing, and vendor selection are in the early stages. If a decision is made, an announcement will follow on this page and we anticipate a summer 2024 install window.
Next year
The 2024 NPCA Precast Show is scheduled for Denver, Colorado in early October. Team attendance next year will be planned around the 2024 production calendar and the outcome of the Bay 1 retrofit timeline.