CDA Councils

CDA’s product councils bring member company representatives together to advance copper products and technologies in everyday uses within various industries. The vast potential of copper creates an ongoing need for in-depth research, market advocacy and focus on specific product categories. Each program area is responsible for continuously building relationships with end-use customers to promote and support the use of copper and copper alloys through educational seminars and meetings, design and technical installation assistance, as well as targeted trade show participation.

Council Details

Brass Rod: Protecting market share for brass rod in precision machined product applications is the primary focus of this product council. Regulations around the world are placing increasing pressure on manufacturers to reduce or eliminate lead in their product designs, resulting in significant substitution losses for brass rod, even for alloys with only trace amounts of lead impurities. Active participation work alongside key stakeholder to ensure that brass interests are represented, and that brass rod producers are better prepared to address market challenges and opportunities as the world moves towards a lead-free future.

Electrical Products: Growing copper use and intensity in new and existing applications across electrical systems and equipment is the primary focus of this product council.  The group also advocates for policies that directly impact copper products across sustainable energy markets, including renewable energy, energy storage, electric transportation, and energy efficiency.

Flat Products: Influencing the specification of copper for architectural applications, green and healthy building, and flat electrical products like busbar are the focus of this council. The program also develops technical data and messaging to position copper building products within construction industry trends, such as the development of the copper transparency library to facilitates the use of copper in sustainable design and green building projects.

Government Affairs: officially created the Government Affairs Council in 2020 to provide a forum and process transform direct member feedback to into advocacy. As part of this, the committee oversees the Congressional Copper Caucus, a bipartisan group of congressional supporters who collaborate on advancing policy positions and legislation and work to improve congressional and public awareness of the benefits of copper and copper alloys. Additionally, members are provided with regular import/export reports on a variety of copper alloys as well as a quarterly briefing on international trade developments in the US and elsewhere that have the potential to impact the copper industry.

Health, Environment, Sustainability and Safety: CDA members come together in this council to address issues related to health, environment, sustainability, and safety. The committee provides support for environmental, health and safety matters that impact CDA member facilities; influences and facilitates member compliance with regulations and policies impacting copper’s access to markets; and positions copper as a solution to sustainable development.

Scrap: The journey from scrap generation and collection to sorting and separation to metallurgical recovery can be long and intricate, which presents numerous opportunities for the introduction of contaminants. There is a clear need for dialog between producers and users of scrap to protect the long-term viability of the recycling stream as market forces continue to add new complexity to product designs and material loops. CDA brings together industry leaders to collect industry-level data, advance the development of new scrap specifications and industry standards, and discuss technical challenges and solutions.

Tube and Fittings: Copper piping systems from underground water infrastructure to water distribution within buildings, to life-saving medical gas systems in healthcare facilities, to efficient HVAC&R systems are essential in creating safe, healthy, sustainable buildings and environments. This product council identifies market trends, drivers and threats to for copper products, and develops strategic programs to best position them to compete in this market. CDA works with members, OEMs, regulators, policy makers, end-users, and market decision makers to ensure that copper piping systems are well positioned to meet the demands of the building market today and tomorrow.