SFA Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary

The Steel Framing Alliance (SFA) celebrated its 10th Anniversary on October 1 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore at a "10th Anniversary Dinner." The dinner was held in conjunction with METALCON International, an annual trade show that brings together professionals from all areas of the metal construction industry.

"The SFA had a big challenge in its early days," said Don Moody, SFA Board of Directors chairman. "But now 10 years later, a solid infrastructure of codes, standards, design guides, training resources and a common standard for specifying and identifying steel is firmly in place. And not only have nearly half a million homes been built throughout the United States and Canada with cold-formed steel, but the industry has realized a tremendous amount of progress in using cold-formed steel framing as the main load-bearing element for mid-rise and low-rise multifamily projects."

The SFA anniversary dinner featured Dr. Esmael Adibi, a renowned economist from Chapman University in California, who spoke about the economy and the outlook for the steel framing industry.

In addition, the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute, technical council to the SFA, presented the inaugural Award for Innovative Design to VLMK Consulting Engineers of Portland, Oregon, for a research wind tunnel in Swan Lake, Ore., that was designed for vehicle development for Freightliner Corporation. At 12,000 square feet, this project clearly demonstrates that applications for cold-formed steel framing can go well beyond office buildings. Sponsors for the event included Aerosmith, the Steel Stud Manufacturers Association and Dietrich Metal Framing. For more information, contact Laurie Farrell.