Document mmX5Zr7k3xj3zg650exaKnn5b

minutes PIPE INDUSTRY TASK FORCE Callaway Gardens Pine Mountain, Georgia Conr>rence Center Room 108 Monday May 8, 1989 1:00 p.m. Attendees: Michael Barish, Borden Chemicals & Plastics Sherry Carr, CertainTeed Corporation Rose Mary Clyburn, PPG Industries Inc. Fred Fisher, Air Products & Chemicals Don Goodman, Occidental Chemical Roy Gottesman, Vinyl Institute Walter Hermes, Borden Chemicals & Plastics Nora Jacobs, Edward Howard and Company Robert Kelly, CertainTeed Corporation Peter Lloyd, BFGoodrich Company Robert Novick, CertainTeed Corporation Dave Peters, Occidental Chemical Robert Petrich, Rohm and Haas Company Ray Pohlman, Shintech Inc. Gene Rabent, Akzo Chemicals Cal Rehfuss, Georgia Gulf Corporation A1 Reventas, Shintech Inc. Mickey Simmons, CertainTeed Corporation Tom Sommers, Sommers & Associates Dan Stanowick, Edward Howard and Company Robert Walker, Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association I. SELF-INTRODUCTIONS Following self-introductions, Roy Gottesman advised that because Bill Reading had left Occidental Chemical, the new chairman of this task force will be Dave Peters of Occidental Chemical. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minute of the March 31, 1989 meeting held in Nashville were approved as received. ^TI'027998 Tne Vinyl Institute. A D,.ision of Tne Society c "'e Plastics Industry. Inc. 2 III. PROGRAM REVIEWS A. Projects at IFT Technical Services 1. Cost/Benefit Study - Roy Gottesman reported that this program continues to be underway at IFT to establish the benefit economically that would result from the replacement of conventional building materials by PVC pipe in various types of buildings. Contact is being maintained with IFT and it is anticipated that the study will be completed before year end. 2. Publications on Fire Test Program - Mike Barish reported that agreement had been reached with Joe Zicherman to have publications prepared on the fire test program recently completed, which was jointly sponsored with PPFA. The cost for the total project of $6,000 will be split equally between PPFA, IFT and the Vinyl Institute. 3. Proposal for Fire Stop Development For Multi-Storv Piping - The proposal received from IFT for this program was briefly discussed and it does not appear to be one that has a strategic fit with the Vinyl Institute. 4. Other Programs with PPFA - Mike Barish indicated that he anticipates that the PVC Product Line Committee will be discussing projects that they are interested in that could be supported by the Vinyl Institute. Action Item: Mike Barish will talk with Dick Church so that some indication can be obtained regarding interest in such programs by the June PPFA Board Meeting. B. Uni-Bell Programs 1. Pivotal Cities - Status - Bob Walker, Executive Director of Uni-Bell reported on the history of the Pivotal Cities Program. Initially, this program, which began in the late 1970's was historically successful, but has now reached a point of marginal return. It has limited flexibility and member companies have become less involved, as the program has tended to focus on the toughest cities and jurisdictions. CTL027999 3 * He reported that Uni-Bell, through its Market Development Committee, has recommended, and its Board has approved a new approach that has the purpose of finding opportunity and capitalizing on it. They propose to build a database looking at all cities with a population of 10,000 or greater. Statistics indicate that there are some 3,500 cities having populations greater than 10,000 and 1,200 cities with populations greater than 25,000. The U.S. and Canada will be split up into a number of districts and member companies will be asked to provide data on collection forms of the water districts and cities within their areas that fall into these classifications. Bob Walker indicates that he expects that it will take approximately one year to collect the data, but it will provide a database that will be useful to members on a day-to-day basis. He noted that the Vinyl Institute would have an option of either continuing its program on pivotal cities, which involves trying to develop markets in 4 jurisdictions of its choosing, or it could decide to switch over to the new Uni-Bell program when that is ready to be instituted. Bob Walker provided the following update on the pivotal cities being supported by the Vinyl Institute funding as follows: a. Miami/Dade County While this program has been successful in opening up markets for PVC in sewer applica tions, the authorities seem to be ston walling in the area of water distribution. Uni-Bell has had some success in Hialeah and in North Miami Beach. As a result, they are expanding their efforts in Broward County and expect some success in Fort Lauderdale. b* Connecticut There are 4 major water districts involved and Uni-Bell has been able to meet with 3 of these districts. c. Colombus, Ohio While Uni-Bell has been able to break through using AWWA C-900, the project now appears to CTL028000 4 in jeopardy because of the anti-PVC bias of a city council member. d. Cleveland, Ohio A major seminar has been held in Cleveland, and a meeting is now set up with the chief engineer. Bill Haliscek on May 16, 1989. Roy Gottesman requested the representatives from Edward Howard and Company to be of any assistance that they can be to Uni-Bell in opening up this market possibility. Organizational Scope - Bob Walker reported that as a result of the request of one of Uni-Bell's Board members, an agenda item appeared at the Uni-Bell Annual Meeting that the organization consider broadening its scope to include plastics other than PVC. At its Executive Board Meeting, the decision was made not to change the scope of Uni-Bell. The interest apparently stemmed from reports that polypropylene appears to be gaining market acc ptance at the expense of PVC and Uni-Bell will consider a survey on competitive products to ass ss what is occurring in the marketplace. Peter Lloyd noted that the European PVC large diameter pipe market has been relatively flat over the past 9 years, but polyethylene appears to be increasing in use. PSI/Utah Seminar - Bob Walker indicated that he would be meeting with the program director at Utah on May 31st-June 1st to arrange for this program. The dates that have been proposed are either the weeks of December 4th or December 11th, so as not to conflict with either the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays. In consideration of the $25,000 grant that the vinyl Institute will provide to this program, Institute members will be able to recommend 12 people to be invited. Action Item: Bob Novick of CertainTeed will coordinate this effort and will provide Bob Walker with a list of suggested invitees from Vinyl Institute member companies by th end of June. This will enabl the initial mailing for the December CTL028001 6 E. California EXR Roy Gottesman provided a brief status report indicating that the Draft Worker Health Survey, plus comments from both the California Pipe Trades Union and the Plastics Industry had been submitted by the California Department of Housing and Community Development to SRI. The draft report from SRI is expected on May 15th. Separately, the old ad hoc committee is to be re activated and plans formulated for a possible public relations program in California. IV. BENCHMARK RESEARCH A. Status Report Tom Sommers of Sommers and Associates reported that this project is slightly past themidway point and expects that it will be completed by June 1st, if not sooner. He noted that it is too early to give a definitive look, but in terms of the process being utilized, the d cisionmakers are reachable and he appears to be g tting bonafide responses. There is apparently good recognition about increased use and acceptability of PVC in larger dimensions. He also noted that there is an understanding of tapping failures and dissatisfaction with large diameter pipe manufacturers in terms of their level of technical support. How manufacturers react to design flaw problems and the incompatibility of fittings were cited as two specific examples of the cause of dissatisfaction. He noted that in the past, PVC has been accustomed to sell on price and not on other criteria. V. PUBLIC RgLATIONS/COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM Dan Stanowick of Edward Howard and Company gave a presentation in which he shoved 4 different graphic design concepts that had been developed by the agency for a pocket folder that would be used in sending out the technical information and literature from the Pipe Industry Task Force. He indicated that the folder needs to be fairly generic in that the messag must not be dated. The agency aimed at a contemporary design and following its audit of literature from several producers, including PW Pipe, Scepter, and CertainTeed, it arrived at 4 different design formats. Various participants at the meeting offered their comments which generally were a strong approval for the various CttMSOO* 7 presentations with recommendations for incorporating the best features of some of th presentations into a final product. The key points to be made in the folder are the proven performance of the product, its features and benefits, its impact on water quality and the diversity of its uses as well as its low lifetime cost. Action Item: A small subcommittee of Peter Lloyd and Cal Rehfuss will consult with the agency to finalize a design. VI. NEXT MEETING DATE AND LOCATION The next meeting of the Pipe Industry Task Force will be held on June 28th in Atlanta. A notice giving further details and location of the meeting will be sent separately to members of the task force. The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Roy vT ZXjuAjll _ Gottesman CTL028003