MBMA Recognizes Allen Harrold’s and Alan Blair’s Service with Awards

Allen Harrold, BlueScope Buildings North America Inc., and Alan Blair, Chief Industries Inc., were each honored for their service by the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA). Mr. Blair was presented with the Technical Committee Award of Excellence in recognition of 25 years of service on the technical committee, including 21 years as chairman of the manual subcommittee. Mr. Harrold was presented with the Norman W. Rimmer Technical Leadership Award in recognition of his 24 years of service on the technical committee and as an advocate of the spirit of discovery and sharing of knowledge within the metal building systems industry.

“The work that both of these men have undertaken with the technical committee has been invaluable to MBMA and the entire metal building industry,” comments Dr. W. Lee Shoemaker, director of research and engineering for MBMA. “Alan Blair has made his mark on our industry with his leadership of the manual subcommittee, putting in endless hours to produce our industry-standard reference book, the ‘Metal Building Systems Manual’. Al Harrold has contributed mightily to the industry with his tireless efforts on the committee and has served as a valuable resource for MBMA with his participation at AISI and ASTM standards development.”

As chairman of the manual subcommittee, Mr. Blair has been instrumental in producing a resource on metal building systems, MBMA’s “Metal Building Systems Manual”. During his time leading the subcommittee, the manual has been updated and reprinted multiple times. The most recent publication was in 2012 and it is currently being revised for a 2018 edition due out later this year. During his time on the technical committee, Mr. Harrold has represented the industry on various AISI specification committees for the past 20 years. He also served as chairman of the research council on structural connections (RCSC). He has been a liaison between MBMA and several ASTM Standards committees.

The Norman W. Rimmer Award is named for the former MBMA technical committee chairman who passed away in 2008. He was a leader in the metal building industry for many years and was elected to the Metal Construction Hall of Fame in 2014. He was acclaimed for establishing the culture of sharing engineering expertise for the benefit and growth of the metal building industry.

For more information about this award or the work of MBMA, please contact Tony Bouquot at [email protected] or (216) 241-7333.