PEMAC EXPANDS, SEEKS DIRECTORS

The Plant Engineering and Maintenance Association of Canada is seeking nominees for the offices of president, vice-president, treasurer and four or more directors for the 2000-2001 term. Nomination and proxy voting forms are available on the PEMAC web site at www.pemac.org.

Elections take place at the annual general meeting on Oct. 11, 2000, at 6:00 p.m., at Giffels Associates Limited, 30 International Blvd., Toronto, Ont.

One of the association’s key goals is to bring professional recognition and status to maintenance managers, and to “market the concept of professional maintenance management in the corporate boardrooms of Canadian manufacturers,” says Bill Davison, president.

In July, PEMAC formed a Toronto chapter. The new chapter president, Simon Fridlayand, is emphasizing the goal of communicating with the membership in the Toronto region. “We have a number of opportunities for interesting tours, seminars and networking nights,” he said

The inaugural Toronto chapter meeting was followed by a tour of the huge Canadian Tire Distribution Centre in Brampton, Ont., led by the facility’s maintenance manager, Ken Desloges.

For information about the PEMAC in general, the Toronto and other chapters, or the professional designation of Maintenance Management Professional (MMP), visit the association’s web site or call its office at (905) 874-1154.

SMMA CONSIDERS STRATEGIC ISSUES, HONOURS FOUNDING MEMBERS

The Spring 2000 Management Conference of the Small Motors & Motion Association (SMMA), held at Amelia Island Plantation, Fla., attracted over 100 industry executives. Presentations at the conference included Strategic Issues for Motors and Drives in the Next Millennium, and The Future is Now–Management Strategies for the Information Age, which looked at emerging technologies and progressive management principles.

Also presented was The Street’s Perspective of the Motors and Drives Industry, including current market conditions, a macro-economic overview of the industrial economy (U.S. and global), consolidation trends within the industry and the impact of the Internet.

Honoured at the conference were the companies responsible for the founding of the association in 1975. The following founding companies were present at the Founders Recognition Dinner: Motors McMillan, formerly Brevel Motors, Carlstadt, N.J.; Fasco Motors Group, formerly ECM Motor, Schaumburg, Ill.; Emerson Specialty Motor Division, formerly Gearmaster Division, McHenry, Ill.; Gleason-Avery Division, John G. Rubino, Auburn, N.Y.; Merkle-Korff Industries, formerly Barber-Coleman, Rockford, Ill., and Merkle-Korff Gear, Franklin Park, Ill.; Motor Products – Owosso Corp., Owosso, Mich.; RAE Corp., McHenry, Ill.; and GS Electric, a unit of SPX Corp., formerly Voorlas Manufacturing, Racine, Wisc. Each company received an SMMA founders’ plaque.

PTDA DISCONTINUES TRAILBLAZER AWARD

The Power Transmission Distributors Association voted at its spring 2000 meeting to suspend the Trailblazer Award program due to diminishing member participation in the nomination/application process. That leaves Machinery & Equipment MRO’s Canadian Power Transmission Distributor of the Year Award as the only honour of its kind in North America. The 2000 award winner will be profiled in MRO’s December issue.

MEMAC MEMBERS HEAR ABOUT CONTROL ENGINEERING TRENDS

A tour of an innovative new facility and a discussion of controls were highlights of a recent meeting of the Machinery & Equipment Manufacturers Association of Canada (MEMAC). ABB Canada’s Body-in-White plant in Brampton, Ont., was the location for a joint meeting of the industrial automation, materials handling, and packaging and printing sections of the association.

About two dozen MEMAC members and guests attended as Steven Wodtke, business development manager, EDS Applied Engineering Solutions, Troy, Mich., talked about the controls engineering environment in industry today. He reviewed the progress of controls technology, discussed the trend to open controls, and analyzed the limitations of current control systems.

His presentation was followed by a tour of the 300,000 sq ft ABB facility, led by Lauri Asikainen, Director of Marketing for the Body-in-White division, part of ABB’s Automation Group. The $25-million facility opened in the spring.

Industrial automation section chairman Geoff Webb of Ingersoll Rand announced his retirement during the meeting (see photograph on page 35). Vice-chairman Bill Rickard takes over Webb’s role in MEMAC.