Shortly before the 2006 Manufactured Concrete Products Exposition’s late-February opening in Anaheim, Calif., an arbitrator determined that the National
CP STAFF
Shortly before the 2006 Manufactured Concrete Products Exposition’s late-February opening in Anaheim, Calif., an arbitrator determined that the National Precast Concrete Association and National Concrete Masonry Association are contract bound to continue through 2008 their partnership in the show. The private, Washington, D.C.-based arbitrator was retained as NCMA challenged NPCA’s move to terminate the partnership this year. Following the decision, the associations announced that the 2007 and 2008 MCPX gatherings would take place, respectively, at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center and Denver’s Colorado Convention Center.
The groups teamed up five years ago so that their annual trade shows, NPCA’s Manufactured Concrete Exposition and NCMA’s Masonry Expo, would be combined into MCPX, beginning in 2003. The arrangement also called for NPCA and NCMA, along with lead sponsors, the American Concrete Pipe Association and Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute, to time their annual conventions around the trade exhibit.
During an August 2005 meeting, the NPCA board voted to terminate the partnership and bring the show management, which had been handled out of NCMA’s headquarters, back in house. NPCA notes that a decision on a 2009 and 2010 show Û potentially under the MCX banner, as the MCPX brand is owned by the NPCA-NCMA partnership Û will be made during its May board meeting.
Officials from both NPCA and NCMA indicate a desire to pursue partnerships aimed at promoting manufactured concrete.