What can a trade association do for me?
Despite the fact that there are nearly 100,000 trade and professional associations that represent millions of companies and individuals, it’s a common question because trade associations tend to remain under the radar.
Each one is different, but at the National Precast Concrete Association, we pride ourselves on our service to our members. We provide training, resources and educational opportunities; best practices for quality through our plant certification program; industry news; an annual trade show and convention; product-based committees; a national-level voice for the industry; and much more.
Membership means something different to everybody, but 14 of our members felt strongly enough about the benefits that they traveled to Indianapolis to spend the day calling their peers who are not members to tell them about the benefits and to ask them to join. Here are some reasons why they feel membership in the National Precast Concrete Association is important.
Dominic Girotti: Hy-Grade Precast Concrete, St. Catharines, Ontario
“The reason I came here is because my membership in the association has helped my company considerably over the years. I wanted to give back to the association and also help other precasters raise their business levels by being associated with this group. The biggest thing for me is networking opportunities. I’ve met people in the industry from across North America that are friends and colleagues who I see annually and can also go to with issues or questions. It’s just an invaluable resource.”
Sam Lines: Concrete Sealants Inc. (ConSeal), New Carlisle, Ohio
“I came here today because as an employee of a member company I felt it was important to participate so that we continue to grow and build the network of member companies. I think the National Precast Concrete Association is important for its members, as is the value that is derived by the services offered. One of the things that small producers don’t understand is the access to such high level technical talent and knowledge that they don’t have access to in their facilities. By having membership in an association, they share the resources with more than 1,000 other members.”
Bob May: Tricon Precast, Houston, Texas
“I’ve been involved in this organization for many, many years as a supplier to the industry and this organization, bar none, is the best focused industry organization that I’ve ever belonged to. I’ve now been a producer member for five years. The people are great and this organization just does so much for the industry – it’s just fantastic. One of the things I like to stress is the camaraderie. It’s like a fraternity or a family of precasters. We help each other, share best practices, tour each other’s plants and share successes. It’s just a very positive organization to be a part of.”
Leo Feurestein: Western Precast, El Paso, Texas
“I wanted to do this because NPCA is important to Western Precast. I think that the certification program is valuable to us as precasters. To get more people into NPCA and to bolster the certification program is important to me and to the association. The education programs – in fact we had a group at my company today taking the repairing concrete webinar back in the office – are tremendous and the technical expertise of the engineers when we run into problems is invaluable. The quality control that the association brings, safety, the whole entire package is really invaluable.”
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