For more than 30 years, NPCA has been committed to ensuring precast concrete products meet the highest quality standards through its Plant Certification Program. To implement these standards fairly, all plants enrolled in the program are required to meet the same stringent requirements and inspection guidelines.
Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, NPCA postponed all plant certification audits in March 2020, pending a re-opening of states and municipalities, as well as access to travel.
With most of the country now reopening, NPCA plant certification audits are slated resume on July 6, 2020. NPCA’s QA/QC Committee temporarily has modified the Plant Certification Program to accommodate the shortened audit year, travel restrictions and other COVID-19-related constraints. These modifications are intended to underscore the integrity and oversight of NPCA’s Plant Certification Program, while ensuring the health and safety of our plant personnel, auditors and staff.
For the remainder of 2020, NPCA audits will be virtual or in-plant. All annual renewal audits, regardless of method, will be unannounced and scored against the current grading schedule in the NPCA Quality Control Manual for Plant Certification. All NPCA Certified plants should be prepared for an in-plant or virtual audit beginning July 6, 2020.
NPCA will be performing as many in-plant audits as possible for the remainder of 2020 with the remaining plants subject to virtual audits. Beginning Jan. 1, 2021, NPCA will return to standard operating procedures for our Plant Certification Program, unless otherwise approved by the NPCA QA/QC Committee and NPCA Board of Directors.
For more information about NPCA’s Plant Certification Program modifications, visit precast.org/2020-plant-certification. The landing page contains an FAQ and documentation explaining changes to the 2020 Plant Certification Program, as well as other resources.
We appreciate your continued support of the NPCA and commitment to quality. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email Phillip Cutler, P.E., director of quality assurance programs, or call him at (317) 582-2420.
Regards,
Jon Ohmes
Champion Precast
NPCA Chairman of the Board
Andrew Nashawaty
Scituate Concrete Products Corp.
NPCA QA/QC Committee Chairman
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