2014 Structural Clay Products Division Meeting in conjunction with NBRC Meeting (Archive)

Meeting Summary

Update from the April 2014 Ceramic Bulletin

Despite inclement weather in and around Knoxville, Tennessee; 58 attended the 2014 ACerS Structural Clay Products Division Meeting March 3-5 at the Hilton Knoxville Hotel. This is the second consecutive year that the meeting was held in conjunction with The National Brick Research Center Meeting. The attendees, primarily manufacturers or suppliers to the brick and structural clay industries, enjoyed two receptions sponsored by industry suppliers; two plant tours – General Shale and Crossville, Inc.; and a morning technical session on a variety of topics – including updates on the EPA’s MACT Standards and OSHA’s PEL of respirable crystalline silica.

General Shale’s modern 150,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Spring City, TN opened in 2009 and produces a premier line of residential brick as well as their thin rock products. After the tour, attendees enjoyed a delicious barbeque lunch provided compliments of General Shale before traveling up to Crossville, Inc. for a tour of their porcelain tile plant. This modern and impressive plant boasts the largest dry press in the US and has the capability to decorate the tile with up to 20 applications – creating some stunning and unique finished floor and wall tile.

The 3-day event included presentations from these invited speakers:

• An Update: Brick MACT Effort and Projections, Terry Schimmel, Boral Bricks
• Coloring Brick – It’s OK to Play and Color Outside the Lines, John Dowdle, Prince Manufacturing
• Thermal Properties of Clay Brick, John Sanders, The National Brick Research Center
• Improved Particle Size Measurement Techniques for Brickmaking Raw Materials, Parker Stroble, The National Brick Research Center
• The New MACT from a Manufacturers Perspective, Davis Henry, Henry Brick
• Silica – What it Will Require and What the Brick Industry is Doing About It, Susan J. Miller, Brick Industry Association
• Case Study of an Arc Flash Hazard Analysis at Interstate Brick, John Hewitt, Interstate Brick Co.
• WikiBrick – A Web-based, Free-content Encyclopedia for the Brick Manufacturing Community, Don Denison, Encertec, Inc.

ACerS would like to thank these Clay 2014 Welcome Reception & Suppliers Mixer sponsors:

Basic Machinery Co., Inc.	Swindell Dressler International Company
Prince Minerals	MECO
Hellmich GmbH & Co. KG	STAR Engineering, Inc.
J. C. Steele & Sons, Inc.	Reymond Products International, Inc.
Southern Color N.A., Inc.	Harrop Industries, Inc.
Danser, Inc.	Lingl
Kercher Industries, Inc.	General Shale
Direxa Engineering, LLC	Resco Products, Inc.
Diversified Ceramic Services, Inc.	Signode Packaging Systems
Halbert Mill Company	LignoTech USA, Additive-A©