Concrete Masonry And Its Golden Age Of Opportunity

The concrete block industry can trace its beginnings to the early 18th century when most of the experimental work was being carried out in England. In America, the concrete masonry industry got started shortly after the Civil War and has had sometimes a spectacular, but always a steady growth since then. From a few hundred thousand concrete masonry units made in the late 19th century, the industry today produces approximately 3.3 billion concrete masonry units making it the largest industry in the United States for masonry wall materials. There were 3500 concrete masonry plants manufacturing these units after World War II. This nwnber decreased to 1500 by 1970 although the production of concrete masonry units increased by over 100% in the last 25 years. One of the reasons for this increase in production by less than half of the plants which once existed, is the tremendous strides made in automation of production machinery. The concrete masonry plant of today is probably one of the most automated small businesses in existence. Within a few years it will be possible to push a button and the entire manufacturing process will begin with no human hands touching the units until they are laid up in a wall at the manufacturing plant and are trans-ported to the job site. No other concrete product has reached this state of manufacturing sophistication and it is one of the reasons why the price of a concrete masonry unit is not much different than it was 2S years ago. Because of automation, it is safe to say that concrete masonry will remain a highly competitive building material for many years to come. The problems that beset the continued use of this material are not related to the cost of manufacturing and delivering the product. What are some of the problems as well as some of the opportunities and is the golden age of opportunity knocking rather than a wolf in disguise? The use of concrete masonry has grown each year because a larger unit was provided at less cost than other competitive materials. Concrete masonry has had severe competition from the clay products industry as well as masons who laid the product in the wall and who resisted concrete masonry for many years. Even today