Jim Mullin and John McComb had a good discussion about this Tuesday night. I wouldn't count out this article entirely.
Concrete piles wouldn't be needed for a simple replacement of the current bubble but would be needed for a structure to support an arch system such as the Univ. of Phoenix Stadium or the Retractable dome in Japan:
[url=http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_5f29b516-cb73c03a-1d7b2220-e3fdfed5]http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content ... 0-e3fdfed5[/url]
"28-02-2008: Cepco in talks on Winter Olympic indoor stadium
by Yantoultra Ngui Yichen
KUALA LUMPUR: Concrete Engineering Products Bhd (Cepco) is in talks with Canada on the development of the indoor stadium for the Winter Olympic 2010 in Vancouver , said its managing director Nelson Leong.
“It is still in the enquiring stage though, like how much it is to produce the piles, and how much it is to ship to Vancouver,? he told reporters after Cepco’s AGM here yesterday.
On the value of the contract, he said it would only be confirmed by the end of this month, adding that it would make the necessary announcement when the deal was finalised.
The pre-stressed spun concrete piles and poles manufacturer was currently focusing on the export market such as the Middle East especially Iran , said Leong.
Currently, its revenue contribution from exports was 15% and it expected export sales to increase in tandem with its overseas expansion plan, he added.
Leong said Cepco had an outstanding order book of RM80 million, which would keep the company busy until the end of this fiscal year ending Aug 31, 2008 (FY08).
On the local front, Leong said Cepco was confident of securing a RM150 million contract from UEM Builders Bhd to supply marine piles for the second Penang bridge project.
“Our marine piles were successfully tested for the second Penang bridge in July last year,? he said.
He added that three points along the site of the bridge were tested with its 1,000mm diameter marine piles and they all passed the respective tests.
Apart from the bridge project, Leong said Cepco was also bidding for contracts in the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) projects such as the electric double-tracking rail project.
There are only two players in the spun concrete pile industry locally, with its only competitor being Industrial Concrete Product Bhd (ICP).
Cepco has four plants located in Sungai Petani, Pasir Gudang, Rawang and Nilai, with an annual production capacity of 830,000 tonnes in total.
For its first quarter ended Nov 30, 2007, Cepco’s net profit surged 227.5% to RM1.41 million from RM433,000 a year earlier on the back of improved demand and delivery of its products."