When it comes to ensuring the quality of the products manufactured by Mid-States Concrete Industries, our team has 11 dedicated team members focused entirely on Quality Control.
Our quality program is based on PCI Certification AC, C3 and B3-IL, as a PCI Certified Producer. We are also an S2 Certified Erector through PCI.
For example, Mid-States Concrete Industries completes a 300% inspection on our beams and columns, which includes a rebar cage inspection, pre-pour quality inspection, and post-pour quality inspection.
“PCI requires we check all those things, but not to the detail Mid-States does,” said Jeff Morris, Quality Manager.
“Mid-States does quality by the book and that book is our Quality System Manual, based off of the PCI MNL 116 & MNL 117, and ACI and ASTM standards,” added Mike Wolff, Vice President of Safety and Quality.
Mid-States also boasts a comprehensive internal training program for Quality Control, with the ultimate goal that all QC Inspectors are at least PCI Level II certified, and all foremen are PCI Level III certified. Currently, almost all inspectors are ACI field testing technician grade I.
For a beam, our 300% inspection begins in Cage Tie. At that stage, our Cage Tie team members refer to prints and cut the steel and bend all the stirrups in house. Then, they lay out the components and build the actual cage. Following that, a QC technician comes over and double checks all measurements, stirrups, etc. for accuracy against the engineered drawings. All mill certs are tracked and stored electronically.
Then, the cage gets transported over to our Wet Cast facility and put into the formwork. Prior to the cage being placed in the formwork, a QC technician checks the form for cleanliness, oil, elements, etc. to make sure everything is where it belongs.
From there, the QC pre-pour check takes over. The QC technician verifies placement in the form and all other embed materials, checking all measurements and tolerance, that all grout tubes are in the correct locations, and check every dimension.
“This is ensuring both the engineer and the customer are getting exactly what was designed,” Wolff said.
Then, we pour the concrete, which goes through a fresh concrete test every day, testing for air content of the concrete, spread/slump, temperature, and VSI. It is important to note that ahead of batching, all components of the mix design are verified to meet quality standards and a batch test is completed.
Our Quality Control team member remains present during pouring to make sure it is done per standards and samples are made as we are pouring. Then, we let the piece cure.
The next day, the product is stripped from the bed and taken out to the berms where a third QC technician inspects the finished product, verifies all dimensions, and makes sure it looks aesthetically pleasing. Any cleanup work that needs to be completed is handled by the detail crew, inspected again, and then marked ready to go for the customer.
When issues are found, Mid-States Concrete knows just what to do. The team holds weekly meetings to discuss any quality issues in the field and find ways to rectify these in the plant - before they ever make it to the jobsite. And on an annual basis, our Quality System Manual is updated and approved by PCI.
“The PCI Certification Program is the gold standard in my opinion,” Wolff said. “With PCI, we get two unannounced audits every year which entails a comprehensive audit of all our systems and our products. This audit process ensures we are following all quality processes correctly (all the time). Even when no one is watching.”