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"Excellent information on a wide variety of topics," per one attendee
The SMMA 2008 Fall Technical Conference, October 15-17 in St. Louis included record attendance as well as high marks for the technical quality and timeliness of the presentations. Over twenty presentations focusing on ?Energy Efficiency and Inflation ? The Motor Design Challenge,? garnered a score of 4.53 o(1 low, 5 high) from the participants For additional comments on the SMMA Fall Technical Conference, click here.
Several motor industry notables attended the SMMA 2008 Fall Technical Conference and are pictured to the right. Ron Bullock , longtime and active SMMA member, founder of EMERF, and Chairman, Bison Gear & Engineering Corp., is shown chatting with educators George McPherson and Earl F. Richards, PhD . Both George and Earl taught electrical machine courses for many years at the University of Missouri-Rolla, now the Missouri University of Science and Technology, http://www.mst.edu/.
Due to a conflict with CWIEME Chicago 2009, SMMA has changed the dates for their 2009 Fall Technical Conference. The new date is November 3-5, 2009. The location remains the same, the Sheraton Chicago Northwest Hotel in Arlington Heights, Ill.
The SMMA Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the following companies have joined SMMA since the August-September Newsletter.
 NAM Manufacturing Insitute's Cost Study Update Recently Released
NAM has provided SMMA with a link to the NAM Manufacturing Institute's 2008 update of their manufacturing ?cost study.? Released November 13, 2008, the study is available at www.nam.org/coststudy.
The study details how, over the past two years, a combination of the following factors has contributed to lowering the aggregate cost burden faced by U.S. manufacturers: 1) favorable U.S. policy changes advocated by NAM, 2) actions by manufacturers to innovate, and manage structural costs, and 3) rising costs among major international competitors. According to the vice president of the NAM Manufacturing Institute, Emily Stover DeRocco, ?Still an excessive cost of 17.6 percent is a serious impediment to our ability to compete,? pointing out that U.S. companies pay the second highest tax rate in the world. Continuing, she states, ?One of our first goals to get the our economy growing again must be to bring our corporate tax rates under control.?
SMMA is a member of the NAM Council of Manufacturing Associations.
Following much discussion by the SMMA Executive Committee with input from the Board, staff and a member survey, the SMMA website is undergoing changes in appearance, organization and content. A multi-phase project, the redesigned homepage, with enhanced organizational features, will debut in December.
 At their October 17, 2008 Board meeting in St. Louis, the EMERF Board of Directors discussed a number of new projects for 2009. The first is a motorized ability design competition for undergraduates. Announcement of the inaugural EMERF Collegiate Motorized Ability Design Awards coincided with Medtrade, an international trade show for the home medical equipment industry, held in late October. Entries are judged for innovation, utility, marketability and presentation. For additional details visit http://www.emerf.org/.
Other projects discussed by the EMERF Board include development of a wind energy kit and scheduling a pre-competitive motor research roundtable at the SMMA 2009 Spring Management Conference. Other projects under consideration include development of a motor technician certification program and the creation of a co-op student program template for use by member companies.
The Permanent Magnet Division (PMD) of SMMA has launched multiple initiatives based on discussion during their October 15, 2008 meeting prior to the SMMA Fall Technical Conference in St. Louis. Dr. Stan Trout, Spontaneous Materials, will develop a permanent magnet course for the SMMA Motor & Motion College which will include basic information about permanent magnets with emphasis on their application in permanent magnet motors. A second initiative is to compile a permanent magnet database in conjunction with EMERF. Other proposed initiatives include drafting a magnet industry benchmarking program, re-establishing the scholars program, forging alliances with ASTM and IEC, and revising and updating the old Magnet Material Producers Association (MMPA) Permanent Magnet Guidelines. Click here for more detail on the PMD initiatives.
The next meeting of the PMD of SMMA is Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, prior to the SMMA 2009 Spring Management Conference.
SMMA 2009 Spring Management Conference
May 6-8, 2009
Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego
SMMA 2009 Fall Technical Conference
November 3-5, 2009
Sheraton Chicago Northwest Hotel in Arlington Heights
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