Assembly of Committees Meeting Covers the Basics... and Beyond

IARW Cold Facts - Monday, October 01, 2007

When the Global Cold Chain Alliance chose “Back to Basics” as the theme for the 2007 Assembly of Committees meeting, it was only half right. That’s because while attendees were encouraged to shift their focus back to the fundamentals of best industry practice, the depth and diversity of content at this year’s Assembly meeting was stronger than ever before – a wide range of speakers addressed ten committees that spanned every aspect of the cold chain.

A better moniker might have been, “The basics and beyond,” since the content covered not only the basics, but many more advanced topics as well.

The beneficiaries were members of the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW), World Food Logistics Organization (WFLO), International Refrigerated Transportation Association (IRTA), and the International Association for Cold Storage Construction (IACSC) who attended the three-day Assembly meeting in Washington, DC in late July.

In addition to the committee meetings, political pundit Charlie Cook offered his insights and predictions on the 2008 U.S. presidential election (see article on page ----), and the Food Industry and Government Reception attracted a few dozen Washington, DC-area VIPs from Capitol Hill, regulatory agencies, and a range of food industry associations.

“This was our first Assembly meeting under the Alliance umbrella, and it couldn’t have gone better,” said Alliance President & CEO Bill Hudson. “We were thrilled with the participation and the con-tent, and I think everyone returned from the meeting with many new ideas and knowledge to improve their operations.”

Following is a review of highlights from each committee meeting.

Warehouse Operations Committee
Chairman Ken Johnson (Merchants Terminal Corporation) and Vice Chairman Tammy Pack (Richmond Cold Storage) presented a strong lineup of speakers to address several aspects of the “Back to Basics” theme, which Johnson emphasized in his opening remarks. Connie Phipps of The Lockton Companies, who provides the IARW-endorsed insurance program, highlighted the importance of best industry practice. Complete coverage of Phipps’ comments can be found on page 12 of this issue of Cold Facts.

IARW staff member Stephen Neel, Ph.D., led a discussion about the ongoing revisions of the IARW Operations Manual, which was last updated in 2002. The manual is a critical resource for PRWs in running their operations and is also vital to demonstrate to the insurance industry what IARW does to support best practices. Revisions to the manual – which will be renamed the Guide to Effective Warehouse Operations – are 90 percent complete.

IARW Warehouse Operations Committee Chairman Ken Johnson (Merchants Terminal Corporation), Nick Pednault (Congebec Logistics, Inc.) and Pat Floyd (Total Logistic Control) were part of a small committee that recently evaluated the existing manual and pro-posed a revised structure. “The theme of our discussions was, ‘How can we as an association produce a resource to help your operations and be safer and more successful?’” Johnson said. Neel also said, “We want to make sure the manual gets out of the front offices of PRWs and out into the ware-house where people can use it – we don’t want to go to a warehouse and find the manual on a shelf without a speck of grease on it.”

One committee member commented that the people who need the information are the employees on the floor. “Someone on the floor can create considerable loss and risk if they are not following procedures,” the member said, reflecting an overall view that this level of employee, along with their managers, are the target audience. A suggestion was also made to offer the manual in Spanish as well as English.

Neel invited members to continue offering input during the next several weeks as revisions are finalized – comments can be sent to him at sneel@gcca.org.

The new manual is expected to be published by the end of 2007.

Two speakers addressed the important topic of process safety management (PSM). The first was Max Lindsay of Comp PSM, who holds a degree in aero-space engineering and is skilled in developing PSM programs.

Sandie Hitchcock of Safetrax, a former police chief who professed to “love reading regulations,” gave further background on PSM and its importance to operations. Her company provides online regulatory compliance systems and consulting services and is endorsed by IARW as a service provider partner.

A complete report on their presentations will be featured in the November-December 2007 issue of Cold Facts.

Benjamin Milk, the semi-retired vice president of IARW, recently conducted a pallet survey that generated responses from 50 member companies representing a strong cross-section of the IARW membership.

“We asked for the most serious problems, and pallet quality is the number-one problem,” Milk reported. “Seventy-three percent said they are seeing more bad pallets coming through their ware-houses.”

Problems include bad wood, broken boards, and exposed nails.

Pallet management issues were also cited, including inventory that is too high and a need to maintain different inventories for different customers.

Many noted that the pallet exchange programs they offer could be improved – some members turn a profit on these programs, but many do not. “Pallet exchange programs are like the Wild West – there are no rules and no one is in charge,” Milk said.

Part of the problem is the lack of standards to classify used pallets. As automation increases, higher quality pal-lets are often required. Most PRWs are not buying the top-of-the-line pallets, and most members agreed that the quality of “B” pallets is decreasing, with lower-quality wood and more breakage.

“The bottom line is everyone is trying to cut down on costs but no one is trying to fix the problem,” Milk said. He added that the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association is willing to work with IARW to address some concerns and develop standards.

Government Affairs Committee

Chairman Jerome Scherer (U.S. Cold Storage) and Vice Chairman Anita Lydiard (SCS Refrigerated Services) brought in two prominent regulatory officials and several industry experts to address legislative and regulatory issues facing the PRW industry in the United States.

Tom Henry of ComPSM, a consulting company serving the industry, spoke about upcoming U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations dealing with ammonia storage, which has many PRW operators concerned. An article about his talk is featured on page 8 of this issue of Cold Facts. Concern over federal and state regulations and tax strategies dominated discussions at the Assembly of Committees Government Affairs session.

Isabel Walls, a senior scientist with the Office of Food Defense and Emergency Response, a unit of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), explained the difference between food safety and food defense in her presentation.

“Food safety is protection from unintentional contamination. Food defense is protection from intentional contamination,” Walls said.

A survey conducted by Walls’ office found that food production and storage facilities had actually done a considerable amount of work in this area. While just 44 percent of the businesses surveyed had food defense plans, 96 percent had emergency contact information, and the same percentage had outside surveillance systems.

In addition, 61 percent of those surveyed had inside surveillance and 90 percent had authorization policies in place that restricted access to sensitive areas. Fully 97 percent inspected their products for tampering.

Because the products they carry are almost always already packaged, PRWs are a low-risk area anyway. Still, Walls warned that many security agencies don’t seem to understand that and may try forcing stringent procedures onto the refrigerated transportation and storage world.

“We have to reach out to the FBI and intelligence communities. A lot of work that has to be done to show what threat really is,” Walls said.

A threat to the financial health of the PRW industry may come from cash hungry state governments, said John Stirrup of the Transportation Intermediaries Association. PRWs are especially vulnerable to one of the tools many states are exploring, gross receipts taxes, he said.

“States are looking for more and more revenue,” Stirrup said. Texas had a franchise tax in place for 15 years that was shot down by the courts. Looking to replace that revenue and fund its school system, the state implemented a gross receipts tax. The problem is that such taxes can be levied every time a transaction occurs.

“If you’re taxed 1 percent each time a transaction occurs, at end of day, you’re going to wind up passing on several percent to your customers,” Stirrup said. Intensive, highly focused lobbying efforts helped win a revision of the tax, but PRWs should be aware they neglect state governments at their own risk.

“You can’t lobby Austin, Texas, from Washington, D.C.,” Stirrup said, and PRWs should know who their state legislators are and be ready and willing to work with them.

In California, the big issue is clean air regulations. These could end up changing the way many refrigerated transportation companies and warehouse operate, as reefer trucks with self powered refrigeration units from are forced to meet exacting environmental standards.

“They’ve done pretty much all they can to deal with air quality emissions from vehicles,” said Patrick O’Connor of lobbying firm Kent and O’Connor. “Now they’re looking at where else they can find huge amounts of diesel fuel consumed and nitrogen oxides and particulates produced,” he said.

And that’s just the start. “The State of California is also trying to find the carbon footprint at third party warehouses. And they’re coming after warehouses to reduce idling time at docks.”

On the export front, warehouses need to take great care when their facilities are being used to send cargoes to other countries, said Karen Stuck of FSIS.

Minor mistakes in paperwork can lead some countries to ban an entire nation’s products in that category, Stuck warned. “Make sure if traders are exporting from your establishment that they know what they’re doing,” she said. “The same rules apply to exporting out of a warehouse that would apply to exporting out of any plant.”

Work is proceeding rapidly on electronic systems that will automate the export process. “This is a tremendous breakthrough for us. We’ve been talking about electronic certification for some time,” she said. “Another tremendous breakthrough is that we finally have access to Customs data,” she said.

John Satagaj of the Small Business Legislative Council discussed the lack of movement on immigration in Congress. Satagaj hopes some kind of guest worker program is created. But he warns that many facilities may find themselves “whipsawed” by conflicts between immigration rules and equal opportunity regulations.

Trends and Industry Relations Committee

Chairman Michael Black (VersaCold) and Vice Chairman Brenda Goble (ICS Logistics) presented a lineup of speakers who addressed several major trends affecting the PRW industry.

Speed, health, convenience, and variety are the most important factors driving consumer purchases of refrigerated food today – a fact that is great news for the refrigerated transportation and storage business.

That’s because the ability of manufacturers to keep coming up with products that fit those criteria is putting a steady stream of new products on the market and making refrigerated foods one of the fastest-growing categories in the grocery industry, said Jeff Plaster, Publisher of Refrigerated and Frozen Foods Magazine.

“It’s a glorious time to be in the refrigerated food business,” Plaster said. Although the overall market is becoming increasingly fractured, with super centers, dollar stores, convenience stores and specialty formats competing with conventional grocery stores, the explosion in venues is good news for the refrigerated transportation and storage business because each of the sectors is focusing on frozen foods. “They’re expanding refrigerated and frozen food space because these products move and bring higher return,” Plaster said.

Deeply rooted social trends are also accelerating the use of frozen foods.

One of the biggest shifts is the fact that the amount of time Americans devote to preparing and consuming their meals continues an enormous decline that began in the 1950s and is still going on today. “In 1960, the average time spent preparing an evening meal was 2.5 hours,” Plaster said. “Today, it takes a family less than 30 minutes to prepare and consume the meal.” Americans also want a degree of variety in the goods they buy, with ethnic dishes being one of the most rapidly expanding categories in the industry.

As with the declining meal preparation time, some deeper factors are driving the growth of ethnic foods. The mix of America’s population is fundamentally changing, Plaster pointed out. The country’s Hispanic population United States has grown by more than 15 million since 1996, to reach 41 million people. “Nearly half of the nation’s children under five are racial or ethnic minorities,” he said.

Even the rapid expansion of the fast food business is good news for refrigerated transportation and storage companies, Plaster said, since much of the product these facilities provide arrives at their outlets in frozen form.

However, serving those clienteles is getting increasingly difficult for members of the industry as labor problems increase. “The quality of labor has diminished greatly in the last few years,” said John Schrecongost of Henningsen Cold Storage. “New warehouses have to do a lot of training.”

Existing facilities have to do considerable training as well. “In 2006, refrigerated warehouses experienced a voluntary turnover rate of 24.9 percent,” said Hank Friedman, VersaCold’s human relations director, in a dynamic, energetic presentation that included using a dollar bill to slice a pencil in half.

“We don’t do enough to salt the mine to ensure the answer is what we need it to be,” Friedman said. At his company, turnover is down to 11 percent. “The fix includes encouraging the heart, inspiring a shared vision, and providing opportunities to challenge the status quo in a civil and constructive way,” he said.

Companies also need to track whether their workers are legally in the United States. “Between 15-20 percent of your current employees in warehouses do not have the right to work in the United States,” Friedman said. With enforcement efforts rising, the financial threat to PRWs is real.

Speakers also noted that regulatory pressures are on the increase in Europe. While most of the regulatory pressure in the United States comes from Homeland Security regulations, in Europe the over-whelming majority of regulations focus on three basic issues: pollution, green-house gas emissions and tracking and food quality.

While the idea of determining a company’s carbon footprint is a relatively new one in the United States, in Europe it is becoming a basic business reality.

European warehouses and transportation companies are predicting that the regulatory pressure will rise significantly in coming years as efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions gather momentum. The food quality regulations grew out of the Asian flu scare a few years ago and require intensive monitoring of products as they make their way through the supply chain.

Technology Committee

Chairman Ian Miller (Trenton Cold Storage) and Vice Chairman Joe Couto (Accellos) offered three presentations on technology innovations and metrics.

Ed Krupka of Burris Logistics gave an excellent case study presentation on voice picking technology, including videos that demonstrated how it operates in his 15 company facilities. A report on his presentation will appear in the November-December 2007 edition of Cold Facts.

Phil Obal of IDII gave a presentation on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how to make them valuable in improving company performance.

“We live in era where we have too much data and too many metrics,” Obal explained. “We need to focus on a small number of items, such as four to six. Set your key performance indicators to accomplishments. Then you can identify where you need to take action.”

He said that a “Challenge-Evaluate-For Accountability (CEFA)” process should be established for every key metric to be utilized. This involves asking the following two questions:
1. Will I ask myself and/or employees to change their thinking & processes, based on this measure?
2. Does the benefit gained from this metric exceed the cost of getting it?

“If the answer is ‘Yes’ to both questions, then you can proceed,” Obal said. “You also have to establish who is accountable if you achieve or don’t achieve something.”

He then showed several examples of KPIs and the metrics used to evaluate them and gave further advice on how to use the results to achieve continuous improvements in productivity.

Obal went on to describe financial indicators and how these can be used to determine the profitability of customers.

Ross Elliott of Accellos Inc. explained how executive dashboard technology can be used to analyze data and focus attention on key issues in a company.

He described what he called “data free discussions” that sometimes hap-pen, especially with customers. “Having access to data makes discussions a lot easier,” he said.

“We need to deliver the right information in the right format to the right people at the right time,” he explained. “We also want tools to give people information without having to use reams of green bar paper.”

In the past companies often had a “one size fits all” view of data and how it should be reported. But Elliott noted that managers need contextual information to improve performance, while executives are looking to see if their strategy works and see if they can drive profitability up to a certain level.

To meet these differing needs, he advocated using two types of dashboards.

One is a tactical dashboard, which looks at real-time operational information, provides supporting facts and options, and creates “action opportunities.”

The other is a strategic dashboard, which looks at historical information through dimensional filters (time, location, category, etc.), provides supporting facts and options, and creates “planning opportunities.”

Elliott went on to talk about performance management and how it differs from business strategy. “Performance management is a set of tools that allow you to build business plans around the data to reach the goals you establish.”

Goals are critical, he said, because “if we haven’t told people what we expect from them, how do we expect them to provide that performance?”

Elliott strongly encouraged attendees to develop their plans and strategy first, and then select dashboard technology that supports them.

Effective motivation for employees is also important to encourage desired behaviors.

“I have had people who have gone to their employees and rammed a plan down their throats,” he reported. “Others create incentive programs so that if the employees succeed there is something in it for them.

“You can expand your business with-out spending more – that is different than reducing costs. You don’t want to get rid of people – you want to redeploy your people around new opportunities. It is more important to look for differentiation than cost savings.

Insurance and Warehouse Law Committee

Chairman Brian Davis (Imperial Freezer Services LLC) and Vice Chairman Janice Scott (Commercial Cold Storage, Inc.) led a comprehensive meeting that focused on understanding and making the most of insurance policies, legal liabilities, and crisis management.

Connie Phipps of The Lockton Companies introduced the new changes to IARW Insurance program. For details, see the article on page 12 of this issue of Cold Facts.

Joe Howard of The Lockton Companies spoke on “Controlling Your Insurance Coverage and Cost in a Competitive Market.”

He showed a chart illustrating the rapid rate of inflation in health insurance costs compared to the much lower overall rate of inflation. The chart showed that if the inflation rate for health insurance costs continue, an average family making USD$86,000 will pay USD$55,000 for health insurance by 2022. These increases also have a major impact on the health insurance costs paid by PRWs. “

Companies need to have wellness initiatives to keep health insurance costs under control,” Howard said. “You need to take control of your employee population.

John Horvath reviewed the 21 claims filed between July 1, 2006 and June 30 2007 under the IARW warehouse legal liability program, noting that this number was slightly higher than average for the past five years, but that the severity of the claims was relatively low.

Temperature abuse claims accounted for 11 of the 21, and other claims were filed for ammonia leaks, mold, fire, rack collapse, water damage, misdelivery, theft, and improper storage.

Regarding ammonia leaks, Horvath emphasized, “You have to have a cri-sis management plan in place before a loss regarding what you will do to minimize an ammonia leak. You need a plan to get people there quickly with CO2. Don’t wait until a leak happens to begin calling around to see who’s got it. Have a supplier lined up in advance with emergency phone numbers, because leaks often happen at off hours and on weekends.”

He also noted that keeping humidity high in a room where CO2 is being used to get rid of an ammonia smell is essential.

Horvath described a misdelivery claim that came about when a meat broker brought a new meat processing company client to a PRW. The warehouse received product from the meat processing company customer and issued them an IARW warehouse receipt. The broker subsequently gave the PRW instructions on shipping product to a retail customer, which the warehouse did on several occasions in the ensuing months. Later, the PRW learned from the meat processing company that the broker was not authorized to make these shipments. The les-son here is that the company/person to whom the warehouse issues its warehouse receipt is the official customer, and all transactions should be approved by that company/person.

In another instance, an employee stole USD$75,000 of meat products from a PRW. Horvath explained that warehouse legal liability insurance does not cover this – the warehouse needs to obtain employee infidelity coverage.

Horvath also spoke briefly about a letter he drafted at the request of the committee last year that PRWs can send to customers reminding them that the warehouse is not an insurer of the goods, is only liable if the goods are lost or damaged due to the warehouse’s negligence, its liability is limited by a limitation of liability provision and the goods are not insured by the warehouse. The letter is available online under the “Fine Print” section on the Member Resources page.

The meeting concluded with an entertaining “Crisis Management Jeopardy.” presentation by Steve Bassett of The Communications Workshop, who offers a popular “Coping With Crisis 101” seminar to PRWs and was instrumental in updating the new IARW Crisis Management Manual.

IARW Chairman Ray Tarnowski (Philadelphia Warehousing & Cold Storage) and Bonnie Geise (SCS Refrigerated Services) squared off as contestants, and Bassett served as show host as the two took turns choosing crisis management questions to answer. Geise immediately jumped out to a big lead and went on to win the competition.

Tarnowski protested that Geise had an advantage since she had attended the Crisis Management 101 Seminar at her company, and he hadn’t.

“My point exactly,” Bassett replied. Two of the questions and answers included:
Q: What should an employee say if they are approached by a reporter?
A: I am not the designated company spokesperson but I can put you in touch with the spokesperson.

Q: How many spokespersons should your company have?
A: One.

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” Bassett explained, quoting a line used by Mike McClendon of Richmond Cold Storage emphasizing why it is important for warehouse executives to receive crisis management training. McClendon put his entire senior management through the course and serves on the newly formed PRW Crisis Management Advisory Board. Bassett also admonished the group to, “Read the manual, take the course, get prepared!”

Finance and Administration Committee

Chairman Jeff Allende (Richmond Cold Storage) and Vice Chairman Janice Scott (Commercial Cold Storage) assembled a lineup of speakers who reviewed results of the 2006 IARW Productivity and Benchmarking Survey, talked about how to save on cell phone costs, provided an economic overview, and described the IARW-WFLO investment strategies.

IARW Chairman Ray Tarnowski (Philadelphia Warehousing and Cold Storage) joined Joseph McCathran, CPA, of Linton Shafer Warfield & Garrett to review highlights of the Productivity and Benchmarking Survey.

They noted that 40 companies rep-resenting 108 warehouses participated, providing a strong basis for comparison of data to previous surveys conducted in 2003, 2001, and 1998. This survey also combined elements of previously published Operating Ratio and Wage & Benefits surveys. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) popped up again when members suggested that the survey could be an ideal tool for defining KPIs in the industry. IARW plans to include more questions to retrieve data for KPIs in the next survey.

Survey results are available for purchase at the IARW Web site under “Member Resources – Order Forms.” Participating members receive a complimentary report!

Kae Zulager of The Bill Police described how her company can save warehouses up to 25 percent on their cell phone bills.

“Wireless bills are one of the most complex bills businesses pay,” she said. “Over 40 percent of business communication expense is on wireless.” Zulager added that wireless voice rates decline about 6 percent each year, a savings that is not always reflected in cell phone bills.

She said the program her company offers provides a proven value and could offer discounts to members of the Global Cold Chain Alliance organizations.

J.J. King of Merrill Lynch provided the economic overview and Douglas Haws of Tom Johnson Investment Management spoke about IARW-WFLO investment strategies.

Refrigeration and Energy Committee

Chairman Bonnie Geise and Vice Chairman Sal LaBruno covered a range of topics in the Refrigeration and Energy Committee, including guest speakers on federal energy regulations, solar power, energy savings plans, refrigeration systems maintenance, refrigeration certification, and combining ammonia and CO2 in refrigeration systems.

The opening speaker was Commissioner Suedean Kelly, from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). She spoke about the role of FERC and its support of demand response programs that allow customers such as PRWs to modify their usage in order to save on energy costs. Commissioner Kelly presented several case studies to illustrate her points.

Jim Marella of United States Cold Storage spoke on employee training, explaining that it is a key part of dealing with security, energy safety, and all aspects of the regulatory environment. But he noted that facilities should beware that high-tech approaches may prove vulnerable to challenges by regulatory agencies.

On the job and verbal training along with paper-based tests are the best ways to go, Marella said. “If you only do on the job and verbal training, if they come back and challenge us, they’re going to have a fight on their hands,” he said. “I’m not particularly fond of Web-based documentation. Regulatory people like to see paper.”

Dealing with energy costs and greenhouse emissions were the other important topics on the agenda. Companies that pay attention to block loads can save tremendous amounts of money, said Mike Webster, president of Icetec. Companies should establish programs where they both bid for energy and set long term contracts for energy costs, he said. They should also establish efficiency programs and try and shift as much of their use as possible away from peak hours.

“IARW members can reduce costs dramatically by increasing their energy efficiency, funding improvements and reducing their carbon footprints. The cheapest kilowatts you’re going to use are the ones you never use,” Webster said, encouraging warehouses operators to project energy costs and purchase energy accordingly. As for reducing the carbon footprint, “this may seem like pie in the sky now, but in two or three years we’re going to be standing here talking about the urgency of reducing our carbon foot-prints,” he predicted.

One technology that could prove very useful in saving on energy costs is solar power, Webster said. “It’s a great opportunity for energy generation. Hall’s Warehousing has invested a lot of money in it, and it’s going to pay off for them. It’s a wonderful hedge, and hedges pay off.”

Tim Hunton of American Capital Energy gave a presentation on solar energy technology, which will be featured in the November-December 2007 issue of Cold Facts.

Chuck Toogood of United States Cold Storage spoke to the committee and explained that refrigeration equipment systems that combine ammonia and car-bon dioxide are migrating from Europe to the United States, and are proving an especially strong alternative for facilities that operate at lower temperatures.

“We’re really combining two of the best refrigerants that are available for the industrial refrigeration market,” Toogood said. His company became interested in CO2 because it was looking at ways to operate more efficiently at lower cost. He visited half a dozen plants in Europe and they seemed to be working very well.

Now his company has built a CO2 plant, and it has proven to be a success. Costs are lower, maintenance is easier, and the amount of ammonia the plant uses has been cut dramatically, Toogood said.

Education and Research Committee
Chairman Tammy Pack (Richmond Cold Storage) and Vice Chairman Ken Hudson (Inland Cold Storage) led a discussion of how IARW is using education to support its “Back to Basics” initiative.

A lengthy discussion was held about each of WFLO’s educational offerings and how they can be improved and taken to the facility level. Various subjects were discussed as well as expanded delivery vehicles such as webinars, top management seminars, on-line programs, and more. The training offered at the chapter level was also discussed.

“We need to take current issues and add them to the Institute,” another Committee member said, referring to the WFLO Institute. At the same time, the Committee is also looking to help insure that important information penetrates deeply into member facilities.

“We’re planning to drive education down into facilities,” a member said. Local educational sessions will be an important tool in this effort, with teachers holding regional meetings so that those who are most closely involved with sensitive activities can get the training they need.

Transportation Committee

Committee Chairman John LaRue (Port of Corpus Christi) and Vice Chairman Andy Jansen (Hanson Logistics) lined up speakers who gave talked about some major developments that will affect transportation logistics during the coming years.

A major concern discussed by the committee was the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), a U.S. Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard initiative that provides credentials to maritime workers requiring unescorted access to secure areas. Members of the refrigerated transportation and storage industry are awaiting the implementation of TWIC with serious trepidation. Although it is very popular with politicians, TWIC is deeply flawed and will prove enormously difficult for the refrigerated transportation industry to implement, Assembly meeting attendees said.

Speakers and association members predicted that the number of tangles and difficulties that the program will encounter will prove so great that it is likely that even a year from now the full TWIC pro-gram will not yet be implemented.

While they did not object to the shape or content of the TWIC program, committee members warned that as presently constituted it will prove burdensome and extraordinarily difficult to implement, in large part because TSA has apparently vastly underestimated the number of port employees who will need to have credentials.

Construction/Codes Committee

Committee Chairman Dick Dowdell (Richmond Cold Storage) and Vice Chairman Ron Vallort (Ron Vallort & Associates) lined up speakers to address refrigerated doors, insulation, sprinkler systems, concrete floors, and concrete floor repair.

Dwight Clark of Jamison/HCR explained how recirculatory airflow doors differ from downblast air curtains, offering an effective temperature barrier in many types of openings, including doors and conveyor openings. His company uses computational fluid dynamics software to model how the airflow operates in a given setting. He said that if a door is used more than 25 times per hour, an air door can be more economical than a hard door.

Herb Slone, a registered architect who is Technical Manager, Commercial Insulation for Owens Corning, gave a talk on “Foam Plastic Insulation Properties and Economics.”

“I’m always surprised how insulation is never viewed as an investment,” he said. “When I talk to architects about this it makes sense to them. I think you know what I am talking about because you are concerned with return on investment.”

He illustrated the differences between several types of insulation and provided excellent background on rigid board stock insulation such as extruded polystyrene, expanded (molded) polystyrene, and polyisocyandurate, including showing how different types of insulation are appropriate in different places.

Insulation properties to be concerned about include thermal, compressive strength, water absorption, and density.

Jennifer Faller of Vexcon spoke on “Concrete Floors Done Right,” and described the company’s StarSeal PS and CertiShine products and the advantages of densified versus coated concrete surfaces.

Doug Clasen of Caretech demonstrated structural concrete repairs using a new product called SubZero product, which after being mixed with water can be worked for 10-12 minutes and then hardens to a compressive strength of more than 3,000 pounds (1,361 kilo-grams) per square inch within four hours