The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) annual convention is wrapping up at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif. this week. The convention brings together more than 1,500 ABC members, chapter staff, craft competitors and college students enrolled in construction management programs with the goal of “educating and celebrating the merit shop construction industry.”

The annual event includes education sessions; a gala, where the ABC 2018 Contractor of the Year, National Safety Award winners, National Diversity Excellence Award winners and Excellence in Construction Award winners are announced; the Construction Management Competition; and the National Craft Championships.

今年为期五天的活动的亮点是国家手工艺锦标赛（NCC），该锦标赛带来了全国各地的工艺学员和学徒，以争取自己选择的手工艺品的最高荣誉。

NCC使竞争对手有机会展示他们的技能，培训和安全的工作实践。对于培训赞助商，雇主和ABC章节，比赛表明了对建筑行业提供的职业道路的坚定承诺。

为期两天的活动，有200名来自分会的工艺学员和成员培训计划参加了16场比赛，代表12架手工艺品。

“This competition is important because it showcases what merit shop training and education is all about,” says Tim Mongeau, director of workforce development, ABC National. “It shows that ABC is creating safe, quality, skilled professionals in the trades. And one of the things that is so critical about this is the fact that we are demonstrating that construction is a viable, family-sustaining career.”

每个NCC竞赛都由国家建筑教育与研究中心（NCCER）开发的书面考试。书面考试占总分数的25％。其他75％的分数来自六个小时的实践，实践性的测试技能测试。

The 2019 competition featured tests in crafts such as HVAC, plumbing, pipefitting, sheet metal, fire sprinkler, instrumentation fitting, insulation, millwright/ industrial maintenance mechanic, welding, power line worker, carpentry: residential-commercial, electrical: commercial-industrial, and electrical: residential-commercial

在商业团队比赛中，四名手工艺旅程级专业人士担任团队，完成了一系列针对电气，管道，钣金/HVAC和木工的特定于手工艺的任务。在入职培训期间，将提供工艺规格和图纸的受控副本，但不允许这些文件的副本离开竞争区域。

For the 2019 Industrial Team Competition a three-person team of craft journey-level professionals work to complete a series of craft-specific tasks focused on electrical, pipefitting and insulation in a six-hour period. Controlled copies of the craft specifications and drawings were also given to the teams.

NCC还举办了干墙演示，金属螺柱框架和干墙参与者使用商业建筑物的实践任务以及在墙壁和窗户系统的构造中执行了动手任务。

除NCC外，ABC大会上的另一场有趣的活动是建筑管理竞赛，该竞赛促进了建筑管理领域的职业。CMC由ABC成员赞助和支持，由四个大学生和大学生组成的团队，测试其项目管理，估计，安全，质量控制和演示技巧。

竞争旨在挑战建筑知识，组织，时间管理和演示技巧。它还使美国顶级的建筑管理学生了解了现实的建筑世界，并有机会展示他们的才华。

建筑管理竞赛为竞争团队提供了一个机会，可以体验一个展示独特特征和问题的实际项目。参与团队组装一家将代表其学校和ABC学生分会的总承包公司。每个参与的团队都会在比赛之前将电子访问获得对一组文档的访问。2019年的竞赛重点是根据价格和技术建议选择一个项目的总承包商。