Purchasing and Negotiation Training

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

Editor’s Note:  This is the second in a six part series on how to succeed in the purchasing profession.  Part One  explores the overall view.  Part Two explains the legal requirements.  Part Three (link) focuses on negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills.  Part Four (link) plumbs the general business knowledge needed to excel, lead, and advance into executive management.  Part Five (link) explores the character traits and Part Six wraps up loose ends.(link)

With some exceptions, work-a-day purchasing pros are surprised to learn that knowledge of the law is a requirement of their job.  They are yet more surprised to learn that ethical behavior in purchase and sale transactions is the law.  This legal requirement stems mostly from the Uniform Commercial Code  (UCC), the governing authority for the purchase and sale of goods throughout nearly all of the United States.

For those who would like a short and entertaining quiz on purchasing law, click here

Purchasing Manager’s Desk Book of Purchasing Law

A great and essential addition to any professional buyer’s library is The Purchasing Manager’s Desk Book of Purchasing Law (Prentice Hall).  I commend you to a thorough study of this exhaustive tome that covers our profession’s legal landscape.  Among many other topics, it identifies the seven duties of an agent.  In short these are, loyalty, obedience, reasonable care, account (to the principal), inform (the principal), confidence, and necessary education, skills, & training.

Note the last duty, that of bringing the necessary education, skills, & training to the agency.  What is so stunning about this (aside from the fact that most buyers are ignorant all seven) duty is the wide-spread, almost universal lack of purchasing education and training.  In research for my first book, You’re the Buyer – You Negotiate It, I discovered that the average sales person receives more education & training in the first year than the average purchasing receives in a career!

Much has changed in the past 25 years in terms of recognition of purchasing as the most efficient profit center in business but ours is a work in progress.  Most influentially, the supply chain in general, and purchasing in particular is increasingly recognized as the single most efficient generator of profitability in all of business .  As purchasing increasingly seeks or is thrust into the forefront of business, professional buyers cease to become functionaries.  As leaders, it is incumbent on us to be conversant with a menu of competencies and purchasing law is high on the list.

Noted above is the requirement imposed by the UCC for ethical conduct in the purchase and sale of goods.  I contend that ethical behavior extends to the purchase and sale of services too, whether inscribed in statute or required by good business practice.

For a quiz on legal conduct, ethical behavior, contract law, please click here.

To conceptualize the difference between legal and ethical behavior, picture the politician in handcuffs mugging for the camera that, “I did nothing wrong”.  He probably means illegal but that is always in doubt.  I might cynically question if he did anything right but the better question is, “Did you violate any law or ethics?”  Illegal action cannot be ethical, by definition.  As the graphic show, legal conduct is the lowest form of ethics.  Ethics is a cut above, a higher standard. If we do not scrupulously observe the demarcation between ethical and illegal, we fall into the land mine.

There is so much more to learn about law.  In the interests of time and space, here are links to blog posts on the following topics.

Buyer/Seller Authority and types of purchasing authority in agency law

Oral Contracts

Reciprocity   

Negotiation and the law   

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

Steve Coscia  is a professional colleague and good friend in the speaking and training business.  He and I share a common background and experiences that has helped to grow and nurture our relationship over most of a decade.  Accordingly, we trust each other’s’ counsel.

Steve is an expert in Customer Service (C/S)  and Customer Relationship Management (CRM),  who has chosen to specialize in the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) industry  but any other construction industry in particular and most other businesses in general would benefit from Steve’s services.

How does C/S and CRM relate to purchasing?

In the same way that purchasing and sales are two sides of the same coin, CRM and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)  are two sides of another coin in the same currency.

CRM and SRM are not the same thing but at their core, they have the same principle.  That is, to improve and strengthen the relationship between buyer and seller.  The sales world may have the ulterior motive of increasing sales and profitability and bravo that!  Viva capitalism.

From the SRM side, we also share interest in improving sales and profitability. The fundamental difference is that the supply side is more interested in reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

C/S: Image and Reality

In the Business to Consumer (B2C)  world, consumers have been accustomed to little to no customer service.  Individual retail customers are largely intimidated by large bureaucratic business organizations.

Anyone who has ever dared to dent the C/S armor of business giants knows the frustration of C/S delivered via L/S, lip service.  The business model of B2C dictates the downgrade of C/S to L/S.  That is, the business tends to have very many customers for relatively few dollars per transaction.  It is possible to alienate small customers with negligible impact.

I cover this very topic in my book, You’re the Buyer – You Negotiate It  when I point out that one must never accept a “no” from a person who cannot say “yes”.  It can be as easy as asking for a supervisor or qualifying the C/S person before proceeding and wasting time.  Ask the C/S person about the extent of their ability to solve your problem of “X” dollars or “Y” conditions.

Many C/S organizations purposefully make the first line incapable of saying yes.  They act as a roadblock to the chiseler customers who want to pump up the problem in order to extort an unwarranted concession.  Recognize this possibility and move past the person if they have no authority.  This tactic is akin to the low skilled “Higher Authority” used so frequently.

Steve Coscia writes, speaks and consults about customer service

In the Business to Business (B2B)  realm however, no company can ever afford to be as cavalier with their customers.  The business model here is relatively few customers for relatively many dollars per exchange.  It should be obvious that no customer can be alienated, save for the rare exception when the customer must be fired.

Contact Steve Steve Coscia is certainly the most gifted advocate in customer service; he enjoys a peerless reputation amongst his clientele.  One piece of advice epitomizes Steve’s approach to B2B C/S/.  When the customer calls with a problem, that is your new top priority.   Steve may be reached at 610.853.9836 or steve@cosciacommunications.com.   His CDs and videos are available on his site.

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

Editor’s Note:  This is the first in a six part series on how to succeed in the purchasing profession.  Part One explores the overall view.  Part Two explains the legal requirements.  Part Three  focuses on negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills.  Part Four (link) plumbs the general business knowledge needed to excel, lead, and advance into executive management.  Part Five (link) explores the character traits and Part Six wraps up lose ends.(link)

Over the course of many years of training , consulting, writing, speaking and practicing in the purchasing profession, I have observed many oddities.  One of the most curious is the path that many folks have trodden to arrive at purchasing.

In some companies, including the unsophisticated to global operators, virtually everyone has purchasing authority; therefore, there is no maverick spend.  This sounds unbelievable, but it is true.  In others, accounts payable and inventory clerks, even volunteers are appointed to the purchasing department.  I used to joke in my public seminar days of the 1990s that most of us were promoted to purchasing because we succeeded at something else.  Expressed differently, “Your reward for prior success was a sentence to purchasing.”

Organizations that neglect purchasing’s contribution to profitability are bound and condemned to mediocrity or failure as they lack basic understanding of the enormous contribution (indeed, the largest single component) to profitability exercised by professional purchasing.  No more needs be said about this crowd.

Successful businesses are careful to select the best talent 

Top purchasing talent comprises a variety of traits.  When helping clients to select high level personnel, my interview follows the second round of HR screening.  My interests center on leadership, integrity, education, and training.  Accomplishments are a function of and depend upon these qualities.

Good management skills are necessary but not sufficient.  Being able to skillfully turn the same cranks is important.  Knowing where to look for new cranks is more important.

Top level purchasing personnel must be more than technocrats.  Mastery of the tools of the profession is again, necessary but not sufficient.  In general, purchasing pros tend to be left brained, logical, scientific, and more rational than emotional in decision making.  Call these process skills.  Those are good but they must be supplemented by the people skills of communication, personality management, even body language.  We all deal with other people.  Sales pros, which tend to be right brained, have excellent people skills.

The union of people and process skills is the single most essential quality for purchasing talent.  The epitome of people and process skills is one’s mastery of negotiation . If you are not superb at negotiation, your other efforts will always fall short.  We’ll address this vital requirement in more detail in Part Three (link)

How do you become the best talent, at any level of the purchasing profession? 

The answers are a matter of degree, not kind.  We must have a hunger for knowledge, a passion for excellence, and an unshakeable belief in hard work.  Advocates of this trite but true adage almost always rise to the top, not via bestowal of others, but by dint of your own force and presence.  Whether you are a junior buyer or Chief Purchasing Officer, it matters if you accept new assignments, volunteer for challenges, and demonstrate devotion to duty and profession.

So far, this is all about what to do.  Plenty of folks will tell you that.  Very few can or will tell you how.  Part Two (link) begins that examination with legal requirements.

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

We have cited the importance of online learning as an alternative to live instructor led training,  so when Tom Allen, Opango  CEO spoke to me about his plans for the future, I was intrigued.  In the words of its website, “Opango is training for the future, fueling interactive education… blazing the trail, offering a cloud-based training and e-learning platform that gives you a more cost-effective way to achieve instructor-led training results.”

Opango designed and developed to deliver a branded Learning Management System (LMS ). The LMS manages registrations, payments, course delivery, student tracking and transcripts.   Mentoray  uses the Opango LMS to deliver four e-learning marketplaces; health care, aviation, business and compliance. Educators who want to deliver and sell courseware but not have their own LMS can sell and deliver them thru the marketplace.  Think of Mentoray like a strip mall. It is a place where buyers and sellers of content come together. Mentoray sells content for educators and sells content development services.

For those skilled in content but not instructional design, Opango and Mentoray both have resources to help with content development for educators that need help with instructional design, writing, photography, videography, 2D and 3D Photo realistic line art and animations.  Mentoray helps students to reach the best online courses. Whether you want to get that new promotion, land that next opportunity, start a new venture, further a passion, or just accelerate your life, Mentoray helps you learn from the amazing instructors in the world, so that you can get there and get there faster.

E-learning has transformed from an innovative idea into a real change in the way companies do business today. With online learning and training comes access to greater connectivity, personalized features and Web 2.0 technology.

Opango offers a cloud-based training and e-learning platform that provide a more cost-effective way to achieve instructor-led training results — from anywhere and a full range of online learning tools and support to meet your knowledge management needs.

More of my courses will be available soon on the Mentoray site.

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

With the launch of the comprehensive online course, The Science and Art of Negotiation,  a demand has arisen for smaller more concentrated units on negotiation.  By the end of February, Mentoray, will offer two break out courses, The Science of Negotiation and The Art of Negotiation.

Pricing and convenience

While live instructor led onsite customized seminar training delivered by talented experts in their field is always best, online courses are a far more convenient and economical alternative.  These courses are far less expensive per person and allow the ultimate convenience of taking them on our schedule.

Watch a short video by Robert Menard on The Science and Art of Negotiation.

Since negotiation encompasses a comprehensive study of many disciplines and business interaction, it is sometimes easier for students to digest them in smaller bites.  Separating the Science of Negotiation from the Art of Negotiation accomplishes just that.  Buyers tend to be more left brained and prefer processes and systems.  Sellers tend to be more right brained and prefer interactions with people.  We must know both sides to be a great negotiator.

However, buyers may wish to study the Art of Negotiation while sellers may wish to study the Science of Negotiation, each perhaps with justification feeling that they only need the side in which they are weak.  Now, you have a choice.     Both Science and Art are self-contained and run about 3 hours.  Each has exercises, anecdotes, templates, and workplace examples as well as CEU credit.

The Science of Negotiation

The Science of Negotiation appeals to left brained types, generally buyers, who are more comfortable with processes than with people. It begins with the foundation of all business negotiation, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Upon this TCO foundation, the framework of research and planning follows. Concession behavior, Win-Win and other strategies used by the best negotiators are then built brick by brick to produce a complete structure.

Ample emphasis is placed on the research techniques required of both buyer and seller if they hope to arrive at a mutually beneficial outcome.  Some of these practices include supplier qualification and evaluation.  On the flip side, we have customer qualification and evaluation.

Science also explains the four possible strategies and sub strategies for concession planning.  The Negotiation Template allows collection of the entire negotiation plan on one sheet of paper.

The Art of Negotiation 

The Art of Negotiation draws upon our right brained capabilities.  It blends communication skills of speaking and listening with scenarios and demonstrates communication techniques and lays out a personality matrix of better recognize and manage personality issues. Attention is devoted to some legal issues and finishes with the ever popular subject of tactics and counter tactics.

If you have ever taken any of the personality instruments DiSC,  Myers Briggs, Kiersy , et al, you know that our complex personalities are composed of many different styles.  The good news for negotiation is that it is a stressful event for most people.  Ergo, they invoke their dominant personality style, which makes recognition of their style essential to negotiation success.

You will also find liberal demonstration of communication techniques and appreciation of how critical this skill is in being able to express oneself and understand the other side.

Appropriate resources are devoted to recognition of the most important laws affecting the purchase and sales transaction, most notably the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)  and the Robinson-Patman Act.

What is coming next? 

Folks have asked about even smaller units such as only supplier management or only communication, among others.  These are under development and will be available this winter at reduced price points.  Anyone with specific requests is urged to contact me at RobertMenard@ RobertMenard.com

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

Applied Cost and Price Analysis has been expanded and republished to meet the demand for a practical, user friendly, and powerful tool to meet the challenges of buyers and sellers who want quantifiable data upon which to make decisions.  It has modifiable templates, examples and, even anecdotes from personal experience all applied to negotiation, supplier management, and cost drivers.

It is published on the Mentoray site  for $177.  Use Coupon Code SSKFFYTF for a 25% discount.

Course Summary:  

A practical how-to online education and skills guide to one of the most vexing problems in the purchasing profession, how to manage, apply, and benefit from Cost and Price Analysis.  These skills are amongst the most effective purchasing management tools.  They reduce prices by eliminating unnecessary costs which leads to mutually beneficial results for supplier and customer.

Course Description: 

These are the three primary goals for this online course.

1. Identify, define, describe, and differentiate the constituent elements of  both Cost and Price Analysis
2. Provide step by step processes, lists, and actions that must be taken and/or avoided in selecting and managing suppliers and their      performance
3. Furnish specific tools and templates that make the Cost and Price Analysis decisions based on hard “Dollars and Numbers” criteria.

Some of the important skills you will learn are:

• The eight most common Pricing Strategies revealed and explained
• How prices are established
• Dozens of tools, techniques, and modifiable, reusable templates
• How to identify and apply Cost Drivers
• How to apply Cost and Price analysis to basic Spend  Analytics

In addition, the course will demonstrate with tables and templates how to use Cost and Price Analysis for better results in

• Supplier negotiation
• Bid analysis
• Supplier performance evaluation

Watch a short video on the Applied Cost and Price Analysis online course.

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

Last month, in collaboration with Mentoray , we launched one of the first courses, the expanded and more comprehensive version of The Science and Art of Negotiation .  The number one request from business professionals is to be more “comfortable, confident, and competent” in negotiation skills. This is exactly what this comprehensive course does.

Since that launch, requests have come in for smaller units so today, the Science of Negotiation  and the Art of Negotiation  are each available in separate, smaller units. 

Each course is a 3-4 hour online self-running course provides the skills, tools, and techniques to master the (Science or the Art) of Negotiation, the core competency of business.  The Science of Negotiation appeals to the left brain while the Art of Negotiation appeals to the right brain of business pros. Whether buyer or seller, we need strength in both Science and Art to succeed in negotiation. Ample demonstrations and step-by-step how-to instruction punctuates this course.

The Science of Negotiation is more buyer based as they tend to be more comfortable with processes than with people. It begins with the foundation of all business negotiation, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Upon this TCO foundation, the framework of research and planning follows. Concession behavior, Win-Win and other strategies used by the best negotiators are then built brick by brick to produce a complete structure.  Use this coupon code for a 20% discount.  TXBPVJYM

The Art of Negotiation  is more seller based as they tend to be more comfortable with people than with processes. It blends communication skills of speaking and listening with scenarios. The Art of Negotiation demonstrates communication techniques and lays out a personality matrix of better recognize and manage personality issues. Attention is devoted to some legal issues and finishes with the ever popular subject of tactics and counter tactics.  Use this coupon code for a 20% discount.  Use FZVUFULZ

Ample real life examples illustrate, punctuate, and reinforce the course’s messages of success. The material combines many business experiences with a knack for simple and effective instructional design.

If you are a buyer and comfortable with the Science, then take the Art.  Conversely, if you are a seller and comfortable with the Art, then learn how the other side thinks by taking the Science.

Still to come

Still smaller, individual negotiation study units are in the pipeline.  These mini courses will be available by the end of 1Q14

• Negotiation Tactics and Counter Tactics
• Negotiation Communication Skills
• Negotiation Personality Management
• Negotiation and Legal Considerations
• Negotiation and Total Cost of Ownership
• Negotiation Preparation
• Negotiation Strategies

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

What do these names in the news have in common – Fisker  and Solyndra?  Yes, they are all colossal blunders of a politically driven agenda that has no connection to sustainability.  The falsely stated premise of the so called “green and clean” $80 Billion initiative was incompetently mounted and managed by the Obama administration and its crony capitalism conspirators.

Solyndra’s collapse, which should have surprised no one, left American taxpayers holding the bag for a stunning $535 million in federal guarantees.  That is over a half a billion dollars for a thoroughly ill-conceived fanciful and foolish foray into solar power.  Solyndra is but one of many more quixotic dalliances committed thus far.

The Fisker folly, according to Associated Press  reports, will cost the American taxpayers $139 million.  Even so, the Solyndra and Fisker sins shrink to insignificance compared to the mind numbing $9B – $12B loss the American tax payers must pay for the GM fiasco.

It could be argued that Solyndra had a tangential, if ephemeral, contact with sustainability, there is absolutely no such argument for Fisker, the electric vehicle manufacturer.  The simple fact is that an all-electric vehicle is not sustainable by any measure.  Setting aside the environmental damage done by battery manufactures and the pollution created in the countries that disregard the planet’s future, the absolute inanity is that the vehicle is fueled by electricity, the least efficient of all major fuels.  For the most part, the electricity is created by high GHG emitting power generation plants, mostly coal (the bane of so-called “environmentalists) and natural gas, and then wastefully transformed to lower voltages.

And before we depart the world of the surreal, let’s give honorable mention to the incompetent martinets in the Justice Department’s  Environmental and Natural Resources Division ‎ that extorted a $1 million settlement from Duke Energy Renewables.    Duke was apparently responsible for the death of 14 eagles and 149 other birds between 2009 and 2013 at two of its windmill farms in Wyoming under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.  Well, very little has change in +/- one hundred years so why not penalize Duke Renewables for trying to do the Obama administration’s bidding.

Should the same bureaucrats also fine Sully Sullenberger and US Airways for chewing up waterfowl in the jet engines upon take off from La Guardia and then polluting the Hudson with their remains? 

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

The expanded and more comprehensive version than previously available is now live on Opango’s  site.  The Science and Art of Negotiation  satisfies the number one request from many thousands of business professionals at seminars, talks, and conventions, to be more “comfortable, confident, and competent” in negotiation skills. This is exactly what this comprehensive course does.

With this online course, you also receive the book, You’re the Buyer – You Negotiate It absolutely free! This offer is for a limited time until supplies run out.  What is more, for the first twenty registrants, use this coupon code for a 25% reduction in the registration price.  FVKRAERX

 Course Description 

This 5 -7 hour online self-running course provides the skills, tools, and techniques to master negotiation, core competency of business. Previously published in an abridged form, this version expands the course. It is broken into two parts to suit the right and left brained among business pros. Whether buyer or seller, we need strength in both Science and Art to succeed in negotiation. Ample demonstrations and step-by-step how-to instruction punctuates this course.

Part 1: The Science of Negotiation appeals left brained types, generally buyers, who are more comfortable with processes than with people. It begins with the foundation of all business negotiation, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Upon this TCO foundation, the framework of research and planning follows. Concession behavior, Win-Win and other strategies used by the best negotiators are then built brick by brick to produce a complete structure.

Part 2: The Art of Negotiation appeals right brained types, generally sellers, who are more comfortable with people than with processes. It blends communication skills of speaking and listening with scenarios. The Art of Negotiation demonstrates communication techniques and lays out a personality matrix of better recognize and manage personality issues. Attention is devoted to some legal issues and finishes with the ever popular subject of tactics and counter tactics.

Ample real life examples illustrate, punctuate, and reinforce the course’s messages of success. The material combines many business experiences with a knack for simple and effective instructional design.

Praise for this course

“I really enjoyed the discussion on listening…Both courses (The Science and Art of Negotiation) were informative and easy to navigate.” – Jamie Bailey, Purchasing Agent, Chicago Magnesium

“I thought the course was well laid out, built a base and kept adding to it until you had a complete picture.” Julie Schilling, CPP, Buyer

“I highly recommend to others to take both classes, the “Art” and “Science” of Negotiation. Both classes round out the entirety of the process of negotiation. Both philosophies go hand in hand. You cannot be a successful negotiator with just the skills from the science of negotiation; rather, you need to understand and practice the art of negotiation to be triumphant in your approach of buying or selling. This course has been helpful in supplying tools and techniques to effectively reach ones goals.” Ann Unsworth, Senior Buyer, Qualex, Inc.

Watch a short video by Robert Menard on The Science and Art of Negotiation.

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I was fortunate to serve the Portland Cement Association  by writing and delivering several multiple day seminars.  Having an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering and experience in the construction industry, as well as extensive practice in supply chain management, serving the PCA was a comfortable experience for both parties.  I had the good fortune to meet many cement company executives that resulted in service to many cement and concrete companies.     

Having enjoyed the learning experience of multiple visits to cement plants, distribution facilities, and logistics methods, I became thoroughly schooled in the chemical and physical processes need to transform raw limestone from the quarry to finished cement in the silos.  As a Certified Green Purchasing Professional, I remain very cognizant of the scream from so-called “environmentalists” that each ton of cement releases one ton of CO₂ into the atmosphere.  Therefore, my sensitivity to new technologies in cement production always grabs my attention.  

Of late, interest in carbon sequestration , particularly as it affects cement has risen in publicity.  For the sake of focus, we will not delve into the arguments of whether CO₂, necessary for life, is a pollutant or whether it contributes to global warming.  Neither of these arguments is resolvable.  Nor shall we drill too far down on the chemical processes involved in carbon sequestration.  Those with interest can research it independently.  

Another technology was highlighted in a November edition of ENR  “Materials” story.  It starts by downplaying the use of sequestration and fly ash  then introduces Solidia Technologies  a NJ based private company specializing in “green” concrete.  Solidia is partnering with France based Lafarge  the world’s largest cement producer to bring CO₂ cured cement to commercial scale.  

The processes involved CO₂ cured cement in differ significantly from traditional Portland cement production.  In terms of energy, the kilns need only to be fired to 1,200C, 20% less than Portland cement kilns.  The Solidia process uses CO₂ as a catalyst to produce calcium carbonate.  Solidia claims that its carbonization product is far more stable than the calcium hydration process of Portland cement.   

Other significant differences 

There are some great differences in composition.  Portland cement is composed of 80% limestone and 20% shale, along with traces of bauxite, gypsum, iron, and other minerals.  Solidia cement contains equal proportions of 50% limestone and shale.  The story is silent on other trace minerals.  Solidia claims that their CO₂ emissions are less than 550kg per ton of cement versus the 800kg for Portland cement.  Although the brief story does not elaborate, presumably the 31% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions  is attributable to both the reduced limestone content and lower kiln temperatures.  All this is good so far but isn’t there always a “but”? 

But what are the downsides 

For starters, nowhere on the web is any reference to the price per ton.  It is safe to assume that the price is higher, perhaps much higher, per ton than Portland cement.  

A larger issue though is the Solidia cement’s pH value.  The pH of about 12 for most Portland cements makes it a very base or alkaline material.  Although the ENR piece did not reveal the pH of Solidia cement, Solidia admits that its cement has a lower pH than traditional Portland, which contributes to the early oxidation of rebar the reinforcing steel used in reinforced concrete, by far the most widely used form of concrete.   

Steel is used in concrete because concrete is about ten times stronger in compressive strength than in tensile strength so steel carries the tensile stresses.   

A Solidia spokesperson, Dr. Richard Riman, distinguished professor of Rutger’s University’s dept. of Material Science and Engineering, and also a co-founder and chief scientist at Solidia calls the lower pH an “Achilles heel.”  Riman further added that “We’re not going to be telling people to put rebar in this material until we have a solution that we know works.  Plenty of products do not require rebar and we’re going there first.”  Solidia has agreements with the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement  (CRADA) with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to test non-reinforced structures such as curbs and barriers.  If these tests prove out, perhaps other markets such as agricultural, dams, landfills will become viable.   Although the ENR story was silent on other reinforcing material such as glass fibers, maybe this is already under consideration. 

Will Solidia cement succeed?   

“Quien sabe”, as we used to say in Latin class.  Every innovation is not recognized as a historic watershed until it succeeds.  Then, a long line forms of fathers claiming credit for the innovation.  Within a short time lapse thereafter, the innovation slips into the world of common achievement. 

Does Solidia cement have promise?  Yes.  Its success needs more time and experimentation.  A little information on its price and costs benefits would not hurt either.