The 2015 NFPA Annual Conference was a huge success. The record-breaking 198 attendees and 80 guests attended committee meetings, group discussions, networking activities, and speaker presentations, March 11-13, at San Diego’s Grand Del Mar Resort. While many of the attendees were interested to hear about how the NFPA has helped support fluid power education, the speakers also covered a variety of topics relevant to the fluid power industry:
- Jack Uldrich, a global futurist, shared technological trends that could completely transform industry, including wearable technology, additive manufacturing, and virtual reality.
- Alex Chausovsky, Senior Principal Analyst for Industrial Automation at IHS Technology, spoke about the impact of 3D printing on industry, including the new opportunities and challenges it brings to the table.
- Pam Henderson, Ph.D. and CEO of NewEdge, Inc., talked about opportunity thinking, citing a variety of examples that showed how it could be applied to industry.
- Bob Segal, Principal with Frank Lynn and Associates, Inc., spoke about the differences in how manufacturers and distributors think and operate differently. He also moderated a panel discussion that further elaborated on the issue. The panel included Mark Gilk of Eaton, Jim Kaas of Iowa Fluid Power, Kevin Kampe of Womack Machine Supply, and Scott Meldeau of Bimba Manufacturing Company.
- Jim Meil, Principal of Industry Analysis with ACT Research, shared insights and forecasted slow economic growth in 2015-16 during his presentation on how the U.S. economy stacks up globally.
You may find links to all these presentations on the Annual Conference follow-up page. Stay tuned to NFPA News for more perspectives from AC15.
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