Consultancy Types
Third Party Concrete Consultancy
Concrete Trouble shooting and Service life assessment
EPD
LCAs (Life Cycle Assessments) and develops EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) reports based on relevant PCR (Product Category Rule). Verification of EPD can also be conducted by a third party organization through Grey Matters Consultancy.
Dubai Municipality
RMC Production & Transport Facilites
Grey Matters Consultancy is an only Approved Inspection Body by Dubai Central Laboratory to conduct the inspection on ready-mixed concrete plants and trucks under the “Certification of Ready Mixed Concrete Production and Transport Facilities” program.
The program is developed by Dubai Municipality and mandates that all ready-mixed concrete companies operating in the Emirate of Dubai be certified. The program was implemented in Dubai starting 2013.
The program is based on Dubai Municipality Standard DMS 026 ‘Technical Requirements for the Operation of Ready Mixed Concrete Plants’. It applies to ready mixed concrete production facilities in addition to precast concrete facilities (concrete production only).
The program aims at ensuring that all ready mixed concrete facilities operating in the emirate of Dubai have their quality management system in place and implement and have the required set up (facilities and personnel) to produce quality concrete.
Quality Certification Program
As interest in performance-based specifications grows, companies in the ready mixed concrete industry must be able to provide confidence to design engineers that they have the proficiency and operate at a high level of quality to take on the responsibility to respond to these specifications. This certification has evolved from the NRMCA P2P Initiative. However, its use does not need restricted to this type of work. Establishing and following a well-defined Quality Management System improves the reputation of a concrete producer in the local market, improves its profitability by the ability to optimize concrete mixtures and deliver special types of concrete, and avoid quality and specification compliance problems on projects.
The NRMCA Quality Certification Program has been developed and will be maintained by the NRMCA's Research Engineering and Standards Committee. The Certification Criteria and overall Program has been reviewed and approved by the NRMCA Board of Directors. The development has followed an iterative process of discussions with producer members, auditors and through a pilot program with two companies. This program was first released in September 2013. It is expected that certification criteria for this Quality Certification Program will evolve with time.
The first requirement is for a company to develop and manage a Quality Manual. The NRMCA Quality Certification Program establishes minimum criteria that should be covered in a Company's Quality Manual. So producers seeking this certification should ensure that their Quality Manual covers the items in this Program. The Quality Manual typically describes procedures as general statements with general assignment of responsibilities to certain job functions.
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Sustainable Concrete Plant
Introduction:
As interest in sustainable development grows, the ready mixed concrete industry must be able to support sustainable development, balancing economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental responsibility. Moving towards a sustainable, environmentally conscious production model not only reduces environmental burdens, but also increases efficiency and places ready mixed concrete plants in a position of industry leadership in the growing green movement. When effectively communicated to consumers, a progressive stance on sustainability will allow the concrete industry and its constituents to remain responsibly competitive.
The NRMCA Sustainable Concrete Plant Certification (Certification) program provides a quantitative, performance-based metric, to allow ready mixed concrete producers to demonstrate excellence in sustainable development. The Certification provides ready mixed concrete plant personnel with specific guidance to assess their production practices and implement sustainability strategies that will ultimately lower their overall footprint.
To certify, plant personnel use the Sustainable Concrete Plant Guidelines (Guidelines) to rate a plant's level of sustainability within different credit categories. Plants can achieve between 0 and 100 points depending on how many sustainability credits are achieved and their level of performance within each credit. The Guidelines were developed through generous funding from the RMC Research & Education Foundation. The development process was managed by NRMCA.
How To Certify:
Plant personnel use the Guidelines to assess their plant and collect documentation for those credits for which they are claiming points and submit the documentation to NRMCA along with appropriate application forms and fees. NRMCA sends the application and documentation to a third-party auditor who reviews the application and documentation to determine if the plant meets the criteria described in the Guidelines for all the points being claimed by the plant. If the plant meets the Certification criteria NRMCA awards the plant with the appropriate NRMCA Sustainable Concrete Plant Certification level:
Bronze: 30-49 points
Silver: 50-69 points
Gold: 70-89 points
Platinum: 90-100 points
Green Star Certification
The Green-Star Program has been created to provide the ready mixed concrete industry with an "industry specific" program that focuses on the unique operational characteristics of the industry, and which may serve to fill the gap between industry efforts and other Environmental Management Systems (EMS)-based certification programs (e.g. ISO 14001, etc.). While it is not meant to take the place of such programs, it can serve as an effective alternative to these programs due to its enhanced accessibility to the concrete industry.
The Green-Star Program utilizes a company's existing EMS based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act model of continual improvement.
The Green-Star Program will recognize those facilities with an Environmental Management System. Some potential Green-Star benefits include:
Favored Status - Customers favor doing business with organizations that are known to be protective of the environment.
Increased Profits - Organizations will attain savings through its efforts in pollution prevention and waste reduction.
Improved Efficiency - Sound, consistent environmental management methods will improve profits.
Community Goodwill - An Organizations stand on environmental policy and action may be the most important factor in achieving and maintaining the community's goodwill.
Reduction of Liability and Risk - An Organization is less apt to have environmental problems by using a pro-active EMS that documents results and has continual improvement.
The NRMCA encourages all companies to take a closer look at the Green-Star Program and its existing Environmental Management System and start the process of becoming Green-Star Certified.
NRMCA PnT Certification
Industry Background
The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) is an internationally recognized trade association representing ready mixed concrete producers in the United States. The association was chartered on December 26, 1930. A cornerstone purpose of the initial charter was "to render services of an educational nature with respect to the use of ready-mixed concrete with a view to promoting and extending such use."
Plant Certification: Why?
Since concrete is a manufactured product, its quality and uniformity depends on the control over its manufacture. It must be produced with suitable ingredients accurately combined to specific proportions. These must be thoroughly blended and the finished product delivered according to the requirements of the purchaser. Although success depends upon several factors, a vital prerequisite is the availability of proper, well-maintained equipment and an efficient production facility.
NRMCA's Plant Certification Program has evolved over the years and has seen greater acceptance by concrete producers and specifying agencies.
Today, Plant Certification is widely recognized as an important part of comprehensive project specifications.
NRMCA certification of concrete production facilities provides a system for establishing that production facilities of ready mixed concrete plants are satisfactory. A certified plant is permitted to display a Certificate of Conformance that assures the purchaser that the facility is physically capable of furnishing good quality concrete.
The certification is recognized in reference specification documents published by the American Institute of Architects and the American Concrete Institute. Quality conscious concrete producers use certification as an audit of their concrete production facilities, even if specifications in that area do not need the certification.
APAVE
Associate Partnership with Apave in UAE. Apave group is an international organization serving industry, businesses and construction projects owners as well as government institutions. It offers its clients a full range of ''third party'' Technical Assistance services, backed by over 140 years of experience in this field. Through its highly skilled staff and most advanced equipment and laboratory facilities, the 8000 apave specialists and consultants working around the world guarantee an accurate assessment and the optimum remedial or ameliorative recommendations.
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS REVIEW Apave mission consists in insuring that the design documents and studies abide by internationally recognized standards and norms and that execution of works are also carried out in conformity with the adopted references. Apave engineers have different specialties required in the construction domain mainly in buildings’ structural solidity, fire safety, good functioning of electrical and mechanical systems, building envelop, architectural trades
INDUSTRIAL RISK MANAGEMENT As a third party and an independent inspection body, apave works with private and local administrators to have their equipment, product, installation or service conform to the different international standards in force today. apave engineers and inspectors guarantee threw their independent inspection that machines, products, equipment or systems are working according to standards requirements or are in acceptable functioning status with regard to a reference document or standard. apave can also conduct different tests and measurements related to safety such as Asbestos finding campaigns...
QUALITY CONSULTANCY Apave assists companies working in all sectors of activity, helping entities to develop their organization and management systems. Hundreds of companies were coached for ISO 9001certification, occupational health & safety, environment protection, ISO 14000, HACCP and GMP; others including hospitals, cement factories, ready mix plants, governmental agencies and Ministries were assisted for specific certification or accreditation
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
Increasing awareness of environmental issues in gulf area led to number of assignments in these markets which are carried out by apave group‘s local subsidiaries with the support of apave mother company. Relying on a team of specialized experts, apave provided concrete solutions with multiple implications
ICI RHEOCENTER
Innovation Center Iceland is a leading R&D and business support institute in Iceland. Acting in close cooperation with the industry, academia and national and international R&D partners, the Innovation Center focuses on R&D in diverse fields, technology transfer, education, support for entrepreneurs and SMEs and consulting.
ICI Rheocenter is a center of excellence in cement-based materials. Its focus is on rheology, cement admixture interactions and special concrete such as high performance concrete (Self-consolidating Concrete, High Strain Concrete, Ultra High Performance Concrete and Fiber Reinforced Concrete).
ICI Rheocenter solves problems for companies worldwide, including:
Cement producers
Ready-mixed Concrete Plants
Admixture producers
ICI Rheocenter services cover:
Concrete mix design optimization using a rheological approach
Measurement of cementitious suspension, from paste to concrete
Evaluation of the performance of admixtures
Investigating the compatibility and robustness of admixtures
Evaluate supplementary cementitious materials
Provide assistance in developing new cements
Design quality control procedures
Perform all standard cement and concrete tests