Smith-Midland Receives Accredited Certification

July 27, 2015 | Associate / Plant News

Smith-Midland continues to improve the service and quality at our Virginia plant. Through a recent certification that ensures continuing quality, coupled with the deployment of process control tablets to the shop floor, we are more responsive than ever to our customers’ needs. Smith-Midland supplies not only a solid product, but we supply the confidence that allows you to take the guesswork out of the quality of concrete employed in your construction projects.

At Smith-Midland, we attribute our enduring growth to our commitment to making great products the right way. This commitment includes taking full ownership over all aspects of manufacturing. Recently, a Smith-Midland project required an accredited laboratory to perform the testing of our manufacturing materials. Rather than hiring an outside lab to perform the one-time testing, we enhanced our own Quality Control Department facility to accommodate testing in-house. The project required accredited certification, a procedure that included extensive documentation and inspection of both our manufacturing process and our products. Extensive testing insured our products met the high expectations of our quality standards. Incorporating testing capabilities into our in-house operations enables us to insure continuity and quality of production across a range of related projects at Smith-Midland. The efficiency of our in-house testing process also allows us to pass the benefits of quality control to our customers. Our facility is now certified to standards established under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) by the Construction Materials Engineering Council (CMEC), an independent and non-profit organization.

In spirit with our commitment to safeguard the quality that has made us the supplier of choice for so many, we have also incorporated digital tablets onto our production floor. While we have been building precise products since before personal computing, new shop-floor tablets now empower Smith-Midland to ward off the rework and delays that can hamper traditional paper-based systems. It’s an effort that helps our customer’s when we pass our cost-savings and schedule improvements to them. And we aren’t done improving. Smith-Midland continues in ongoing development of integrating additional computerized data-capture from the production process to lock down even more of our recurring quality.

Contractors who aren’t yet Smith-Midland customers should consider how our ability to insure long-term continuity of quality production will improve their performance. Poured concrete is often only a fraction as strong as it could be: Those pouring concrete on-site lack the process control equipment necessary for best results. Pouring concrete is a process that, if done incorrectly, may yield unsatisfactory and even unsafe results. Inappropriate mixture ratios, curing temperatures, humidity, and finishing are all vital to creating a mix that meets the demands of rigorous applications. An unusually cold pouring day, a change in aggregate component supply, human error, or a rain shower can degrade or destroy the suitability of a pour. Smith-Midland’s certified process control at our Virginia facility not only provides tremendous operational security, confidence, and quality, but it also eliminates the inevitable risk presented when pouring concrete onsite. When you offer your bids to contracts with Smith-Midland in your corner, you offer a guarantee with precast products that your competitors who pour onsite do not match.