Ecuadorian Cement and Concrete Institute– INECYC
In 2005 the cement industry decided that, as the majority of countries, it should create an organism for representing it. As result of this initiative the Ecuadorian Cement and Concrete Institute – INECYC was born; it began its operations in November of the same year.

The four cement companies are active partners of the institute, this is 100% of the cement industry and the biggest two pre-mixed concrete supplying companies of the country, which have presence in various cities, HOLCIM Ecuador and Hormigones Hércules.

The INECYC must fulfill, among others, the following activities:

  • To group the artificial persons who devote themselves to the elaboration, for selling to third parties, of cement, concrete, and/or related products; as well as the people who are devoted to its permanent distribution and commercialization;
  • To defend the legitimate interests of the cement, concrete, and/or related products manufacturers, which are Institute partners;
  • To serve as consulting organism to the public in matters related to the administration or use of cement and concrete, and to spread its use and applications;
  • To promote study and training programs, through conferences, courses, congresses, expositions, etc. related to research and technological development of cement and concrete.
  • To publish bulletins, books, and magazines of technical nature, as well as promoting or eventually awarding the people who execute works in notable manner, who divulge employment, properties, application, and advantages of not only the cement and concrete, but of products derived from these;

To maintain constant relations, not only with public and private organisms in our country, but also with Foreign Associations or Technical Institutions that are devoted to the research and promotion of cement and concrete;

Training

Since its creation, the INECYC has focused its efforts on the spreading of the concrete technology by presenting conferences for the civil engineering, architecture, and construction professional associations, in the main cities of the country, putting emphasis on the cities from provinces where it is more notable the lack of knowledge regarding the new and best constructive techniques with cement and concrete.

Thanks to the FICEM collaboration, today FICEM – APCAC, in May 2006 the first international pavement and concrete roads seminar was held in Quito; more than 250 experts attended the seminar, among who there were construction professionals, designers, scholars, contractors, and government, national, and regional representatives.

In January of the present year, with the collaboration of the Premixed Concrete Ibero-American Federation and in joint with the Ecuadorian Premixed Concrete Manufacturers’ Association, in this occasion it was organized in Guayaquil a course regarding industrial floors and concrete pavements’ design.

For the current year the Institute aims to hold new courses and seminars about diverse technical aspects related to cement and concrete.

Technical Publications

One of the most efficient ways of transmitting knowledge is through publications, reason for which the Institute has been interested in developing technical publications since its beginnings; until the end of last year three technical publications have been issued and there are two more scheduled.     

The first to be edited, prior agreement with the normalization government organism, was a compilation of the Ecuadorian norms that establish the technical requisites for cement production in Ecuador, the norms for elaborating premixed concrete and in work, as well as the Technical Regulations for Cement, Cal, and Plaster.  It was decided to issue this publication due to the scarce spreading and consequently to the lack of knowledge on the same by the professionals working with these materials.

Last year two publications were issued, one on cement ground and aggregate bases stabilized with cement, and a manual on practical tips for concrete, called “Concrete Pepe’s Manual” (El Manual de Pepe Hormigón) the latter being an adaptation, prior authorization, of previous publications developed by the Prepared Concrete Manufacturers Spanish National Association ANEFHOP and the Concrete Manufacturers Colombian Association, ASOCRECTO.     

The book, “The road of concrete” (La carretera de Hormigón), was of great help for spreading the concrete technique in road construction, which was its main purpose.

Normalization

         

Other of the aspects that has been somehow unattended in our country is the normalization, for cement as well as for concrete, reason for which after subscribing an inter-institutional cooperation agreement with the Ecuadorian Institute of Normalization INEN, the INECYC undertook the task of coordinating the updating and formulation of technical norms, which in some cases have not been revised in over 25 years.

         

This activity began in December last year with the revision of the norms for cement, and we hope that in 2008 at least 30 norms can be updated; we plan for this activity to be permanent aiming to keep updated the Ecuadorian regulation regarding cement as well as concrete.
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