Masonry Magazine February 1970 Page. 6
Annual Convention Report
(Continued from page 5)
MCAA Management Institute, a panel discussion on "Prefabrication-Is It the Coming Thing?" Panelists included Paul (Coach) Thomas, Builders Equipment Corp., Phoenix, Ariz.; M. H. Allen, Director of Structural Research, Structural Clay Products Institute, McLean, Va.; Marlin Miller, Jr., Executive Vice President, Glen-Gery Corp., Reading, Pa.; Guy Apple, President, Guy Apple Masonry, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz., and Thomas F. Murphy, President, Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers International Union of America, Washington, D.C. Serving as moderator was Harry Strauss, Jr., President, Dixie Construction Co., Birmingham, Ala.
All of the panelists unanimously agreed that prefabrication of masonry panels is a major factor to be reckoned with in the building industry. "We must think in terms of industrialized building systems and how best our products and services can fit that concept of building," Mel Allen told the audience. "Prefabrication is only a part of the industrialized building system concept although, admittedly, it is a most important part. The construction industry generally and the masonry industry in particular have been slow to recognize and accept the need for being concerned with this trend in construction."
He did not believe, however, that panelization represented a significant cost savings factor. "One deterrent in the past to a more ready acceptance of industrialized construction has been the somewhat poor track record of prefabrication with respect to savings in cost," he said. "The savings that many feel are inherent in prefabricated housing, for example, have never been actually realized. Even today in such European countries as Denmark, where a high percentage of brick manufacturers have developed and are producing prefabricated wall panel systems, it is difficult to find one who can claim that his system can be put in place at less cost than a comparable wall laid by hand on the job.
"Even so," he concluded, "the industrialization of buildings in this country is the coming thing and is unavoidable. While it will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, we must concern ourselves with this trend and prepare to participate in it."
Paul Thomas related that his firm has engaged in large-scale research activities dealing with panelization for the past 10 years. They have never had a panel fail or break due to stress or in transit, he said. His firm now is producting panels as large as 10 feet high and 20 feet long. "A panel this size can be completely manufactured in only twenty-one or twenty-two minutes, untouched by anyone," he said. He told of putting up the masonry walls on one 1,700 square foot building with prefabricated panels in only two hours after the arrival of the crane on the job site. "Panelization is not coming, it's here!" he declared.
Marlin Miller, Jr. said that his firm is accelerating its experimentation of prefabricated brick panels for seven prime reasons: the growing shortage of qualified craftsmen; rising wages; increasing government interest and (Continued on page 8)