On November 11, 2024, the American Concrete Institute Singapore Chapter (hereinafter referred to as “ACI-SC”) proudly hosted its annual seminar at the prestigious Crowne Plaza Changi Airport. China Concrete and Cement-based Products Association (hereinafter referred to as “CCPA”) was invited as an important support unit of this meeting, actively organizing domestic industry experts and enterprise representatives to participate in the seminar, and organizing the “2024 Concrete Competition—Concrete Platform/Container”.

The meeting site

With the core theme of “Concrete Evolution: Transforming Productivity Through Innovation”, this year's seminar was supported by 34 co-organizers and sponsors, and featured 12 distinguished keynote speakers from around the globe, drew 240 participants from Southeast Asia, China, Europe and the United States. The scale of the conference and the participation of international delegates were both record-breaking.

In his opening speech, Mr. Lu Jinping, Chairman of ACI-SC, expressed his heartfelt thanks to all the participants, including VIPs, important guests, keynote speakers, sponsors and delegates. He emphasized the importance of innovative solutions to improve productivity and efficiency in the construction industry and presented ACI-SC's remarkable achievements over the past year. He especially thanked CCPA for its strong support for the seminar and said that ACI-SC will organize its members to participate in CCPA's annual conference and China Concrete Exhibition in September 2025 in Guangzhou.

Mr Lu Jinping, President of ACI-SC

The opening ceremony of the seminar was chaired by Dr Geng Guoqing, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, and Board Director of ACI-SC.

Dr Geng Guoqing, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, and Board Director of ACI-SC

Er. Kaliannan Thanabal, Commissioner of Building Control and Group Director of Building Resilience at the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), delivered the keynote address as the Guest of Honour. He emphasized the key role of concrete technology in promoting sustainable construction practices, sharing valuable insights on the challenges and opportunities in balancing technological advancements with climate resilience and sustainability goals.

Dr Geng Guoqing, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, and Board Director of ACI-SC

Liu Jiaping, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, made a keynote report on “Mitigation Strategies for Concrete Shrinkage Cracking”. He systematically introduced the assessment and design method of concrete crack resistance, analysed the mechanism and typical engineering demonstration application of new crack control technology based on dual regulation of hydration rate and expansion process, which provided scientific methods and effective ways to solve the problem of concrete cracking and leakage.

Liu Jiaping, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Wang Jun, Deputy General Manager of China West Construction Group Co., Ltd., was invited to share a report titled “Exploration and Thoughts on Concrete Intelligent Manufacturing Technology”. In his report, he focused on sharing the latest research progress and application achievements of China West Construction Group Co., Ltd. in the field of concrete intelligent manufacturing in recent years, and put forward suggestions and ideas on the future development direction it.

Wang Jun, Deputy General Manager of China West Construction Group Co., Ltd.

Many participants shared their reports: Dr Jeyatharan Kumarasamy, Director of Civil Design and Deputy Chief Specialist, Land Transport Authority, Singapore; Dr Du Hongjian, Lecturer, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS); Dr Justin Yeoh Ker Wei, Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS); Associate Prof. Muhd Norhasri Muhd Sidek, Principal Researcher, Institute for Infrastructure Engineering and Sustainable Management and School of Civil Engineering, University Technology MARA (UiTM), Malaysia; Dr Herbert Zheng, CEO of Glorious Concrete (H.K.) Ltd, Hong Kong SAR, China; Dr Tan Jun Yew, Assistant General Manager, Samwoh Ready Mix Pte Ltd; Dr Tamilselvan Thangyah, R&D Director, JOE Green Pte Ltd, Singapore; Associate Prof. Yang, En-Hua, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore; Mr Daryl Chew Kok Hoong, Chief Operating Officer, PylonAI Pte Ltd, Singapore; Ms Chang Qinyang, Co-founder and CEO, Concrete AI, Singapore.

In conjunction with the seminar, ACI-SC organized a concrete platform/container competition. The annual concrete competition aims to promote the advancement of the local concrete industry towards high-performance and sustainable technological innovations, and to create a positive research atmosphere for industry participants, academic researchers and students from higher education institutions. This year's competition required teams to use cement-based materials to create concrete containers with a maximum fixed size of 500mm (L) x 500mm (W) x 300mm (D), with design creativity and load-bearing capacity when floating on water as the evaluation indexes. A total of 9 teams was attracted to the competition, including 2 teams from China, 2 teams from Malaysia and the rest were local teams from Singapore. After a three-day on-site competition from November 7-9 and audience voting at the seminar on November 11, Sobute New Materials Co., Ltd. and Guangxi Beihai Jingyi Electric Power Equipment Co., Ltd. recommended by CCPA won the gold and silver awards respectively (there is only one winning entry for gold, silver and bronze awards in this competition).

Gold Award Winner: Sobute New Materials Co., Ltd.

Silver Award Winner: Guangxi Beihai Jingyi Electric Power Equipment Co., Ltd.

The 2024 ACI-SC Annual Seminar provided a platform for participants to collaborate, network and explore innovations, as well as a catalyst for new ideas and partnerships, further reinforcing ACI-SC’s commitment to advancing concrete technologies in Singapore and beyond. Dr Tan Jun Yew, Vice President of ACI-SC, commended the true spirit of collaboration and innovation displayed throughout the event and thanked all participants for their valuable contributions. He said that ACI-SC will continue to insist on innovation as the driving force to advance concrete technology globally in the future.

Dr Tan Jun Yew, Vice President of ACI-SC

Group photo of ACI-SC Annual Seminar 2024 organizing committee members (last row) and the helpers from the ACI-SC Student Chapter board members

Li Zhiling, Deputy Secretary General of CCPA and Director of International Cooperation Centre, led the delegation to the seminar. Sobute New Materials Co., Ltd., Shandong Longquan Pipe Industry Co., Ltd., Guangxi Beihai Jingyi Electric Power Equipment Co., Ltd., Xuzhou Mingrui Material Co., Ltd. supported the seminar in different forms and participated in the exhibition and promotion.

Before and after the ACI-SC Annual Seminar on November 11, International Cooperation Centre of CCPA also organized a trip for the delegation to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the government agency responsible for the planning, management and supervision of Singapore’s building and construction industry, Chinese Enterprises Association (Singapore), the only civil society organization for Chinese enterprises in Singapore, Greyform Pte Ltd, representative manufacturing plant of Integrated Construction and Prefabrication Hub (ICPH), Persatuan Pembina Johor, the voice of the construction industry and a leading advocate for sustainable construction in Johor, Austin Heights Sdn. Bhd., representative commercial real estate and residential developer and operator in Johor Bahru and Kom Technologies Pte Ltd, integrated precast concrete component company in Malaysia.

They carried out sufficient research and market investigation centring on the local strategic development planning of Singapore and Johor Bahru, Malaysia, the development of the construction and infrastructure industry, PPVC construction and related technologies, green building materials application and Green Mark assessment system, industry-related investment and business cooperation opportunities, as well as a variety of precast concrete component products, process technology, product standards, factory management, etc., which build bridges for the enterprises to develop the local market more vigorously and lay a good foundation for cooperation. CCPA and ACI-SC have also established a long-term communication mechanism to further strengthen the interaction and cooperation, and will jointly promote the innovation and sustainable development of the concrete industry in both countries.