Join us for a tour of Armstrong World Industries’ testing laboratories including the Acoustics Lab, Fire Lab, and Pilot Plant as well as lunch provided by Armstrong World Industries’ Café.

11:30 AM - Networking Lunch 

12:00 PM - Chapter Updates & Program 

Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (AWI) is a trusted leader in the design and manufacture of ceiling and wall system solutions in the Americas committed to building a better future. AWI’s broad product portfolio provides innovative solutions that leverage science, design, and sustainability to support industry needs.

AWI first started operations in Lancaster, PA in the early 1900s as the Armstrong Cork Company. The first building on the current AWI campus was built in 1950, with subsequent buildings constructed each decade through the early 2000s. The campus originally began as a research and development center. In addition to our corporate offices, product showroom, and customer meeting and training spaces, we have several test facilities and a pilot plant on site.

Pilot Plant

The Pilot Plant is a key component of AWI’s business, offering a substantial competitive advantage. This facility enables growth, research, and development (R&D), new product development (NPD), and supports capital improvements.

AWI’s spaces are designed to support both the Architectural Specialties (AS) and Mineral Fiber businesses. They provide prototyping capabilities and space that facilitate both fundamental science and NPD commercialization processes. Over the past six years, AWI has acquired multiple businesses, thereby enhancing their capabilities and the testing conducted at the Lancaster Pilot Plant and other lab spaces. As the business expands, so do the Pilot Plant’s capabilities.

The Pilot Plant also serves as a showcase for our products and processes. The Pilot Plant teams collaborate with various value streams and stakeholders to develop and support numerous business initiatives. Both capital and non-capital improvements are supported, including initiatives in energy-saving ceilings, healthy spaces, felt, wood, metal, radiant panels, and digitalization.

The Pilot Plant supports various value streams through development work, productivity, maintenance, quality assurance, and marketing functions. It also focuses on testing and developing products that meet or exceed our sustainability goals. Additionally, the Pilot Plant exclusively produces the painted scrim used to create soundscape shapes, blades, and canopies.

Acoustics Lab

AWI’s Acoustics Lab tour is a guided tour of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) testing facility. This lab is accredited for various American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) testing standards. Participants will experience their reverberation chamber, anechoic chamber, and Ceiling Attenuation Class test rooms. In each space, they will discuss 1) the physics you experience in each space, 2) how these affect the human experience in “real world rooms”, and 3) an overview of how various tests are conducted. Through the tour, groups will also learn how construction assemblies and material choices will affect the performance of a space, designing for optimum privacy or intelligibility, and a clear distinction between “in-room” sound quality and “room-to-room" sound isolation.

Fire Lab

The Fire Lab tour will include an explanation of reaction to fire vs. fire resistance testing.  This tour will include small scale reaction to fire tests and a tour and explanation to the fire resistance furnace.

 Address:

Armstrong World Industries

2500 Columbia Avenue

Lancaster, PA 17604

Please have your Driver’s License (or other valid form of ID) ready when you arrive at the security entrance to AWI.  The security attendant will direct you where to park and where to meet the group.