Now in its 52nd year the Concrete Manufacturers Association (CMA) is in a good place. Despite being entirely self-funded, the association continues to
Now in its 52nd year the Concrete Manufacturers Association (CMA) is in a good place. Despite being entirely self-funded, the association continues to grow, belying the constrained environment in which it operates; so much so that membership, which now includes 40 precast concrete producers, is at an all-time high.
“It’s very encouraging to see the CMA brand on an upward trajectory. It is reminiscent of the days when cement producer sponsorship meant that funds were freely available to aid membership growth. Today’s membership growth is not inflated because of abundant funding but is purely organic and sustainably based,” says CMA general manager, Henry Cockcroft.
“A major contributing factor has been our subsidiary company, CMA Certification Services. Besides providing SANS accredited certification and auditing service to precast concrete producers it has enabled us to kick start other revenue streams such as consulting on and assisting with the implementation of quality management systems.
“Adopting modern media trends and methodologies was another significant contributor which allowed the CMA to improve brand awareness and to make the market aware of the very important role which the industry association plays. Our social media platforms have massively enhanced our ability to talk to engineers, architects, specifiers, developers and end users involved in the precast concrete industry and built environment and to enlighten a large pool of potential precast concrete users as to its advantages.
“It has also given our Awards for Excellence competition a far greater reach and relevance than it had during the print-media era. Moreover, we no longer spend a small fortune on black-tie gala events to announce the winners; rather, by using social media platforms, our focus is the creation of ongoing awareness of all award entries from the day we receive them until well after the results are announced. The Awards for Excellence porthole has become a very valuable source of information for any person seeking project related material as applicable to precast concrete.
“Social media publicity is measurable. It enables us to define demographic environment with accuracy, pinpoint our focus market and measure our hit rate in delivering content that draws attention to precast concrete and its numerous benefits. We see this clearly through the calls we receive daily, from consulting engineers, architects and other professionals. Besides advising them on the technical properties and application of precast concrete products, it gives us the opportunity of promoting our members and their products and bringing some of the precast concrete advantages they may not have known to their attention.
“The promotion of precast concrete always has been and continues to be the primary objective of the CMA. The CMA logo stands for quality, honesty, professionalism and proper code of conduct and member companies are obliged to subscribe to these values. However, membership is not open to all comers. Besides the criteria applicable to prospective members companies, new applicants must operate to recognised quality management systems. This ensures that CMA producer members commit to the supply of precast concrete units consistent in quality. It installs trust in the industry to support members of the CMA rather than procuring products from manufacturers who do not subscribe to an industry association.
“Our strongest membership base is in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape and then the Eastern Cape and we have members as far afield as Namibia. Industry association membership remains a very important aspect for any precast concrete producer to be considered,” concluded Cockcroft.
