Build Your Network & Learn with Others in the Industry

Annual Report Series

Message from the President/CEO |  Build Your Network & Learn with Others in the Industry | Chart Your Course with Market Insights | Reach More Customers While Keeping up with Trends | Influence the Future of Fluid Power

NFPA is committed to serving our member companies through a menu of services that fits a wide range of needs and interests. Through this variety of services, we continue to serve and enhance value for a diverse membership from across the industry.

Grow Your Network at an NFPA Event

Diversity in membership means better networking at our events. In the past year, all of our events and committee meetings have continued in a virtual format, each organized to maximize the networking potential of virtual platforms. Moving forward, in-person opportunities will return as it is safe to do so.

NFPA has continued to monitor developments and restrictions related to in-person gatherings and travel and will plan for a return to full in-person programming as soon as it is safe to do so. The first step back toward in-person programming took place in conjunction with the 2021 Annual Conference, which offered both a virtual and in-person experience and drew in 136 registrants from 86 companies across the industry.

After a very successful year of Quarterly Conferences (formerly: Regional Conferences), NFPA and FPIC have continued hosting the events virtually. Member attendance skyrocketed in the 2020/2021 program year due to increased accessibility coupled with the successful implementation of virtual networking via a comprehensive online platform. Moving forward, the events will continue to bring advanced fluid power intelligence to our members along with exclusive industry networking opportunities. With the uptick in attendance and the continued pursuit of the presentation content our members seek the most, there has never been a better time to start attending NFPA/FPIC Quarterly Conferences.

The next event will take place June 3 and will focus on innovative software and smart tools. Learn more and register here.

The first event planned to be fully in person is the Industry & Economic Outlook Conference (IEOC). Scheduled for August 16-18, 2021 at the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center, the IEOC is NFPA’s premier economic event that offers hard data and expert analysis for everyone in the fluid power supply chain. Delivering a wealth of conference content that examines industry economics, market forecasts, and technology breakthroughs all surrounding the fluid power supply-chain and all delivered by some of the most reputable experts in their fields, it attracts a vast number of supply chain partners both members and non-members alike. Attendees will get the market forecasts they’ve come to expect from the event as well as information about cybersecurity, IoT technology, and the 2021 NFPA Technology Roadmap.

Registration will open in early June. 

Upcoming Events

NFPA Economic Update Webinar
May 27, 2021
Featuring Jim Meil, ACT Research
Virtual Delivery

NFPA / FPIC Quarterly Conference
June 3, 2021
“Advanced Software and Smart Tools for Fluid Power Component and System Design and Optimization”
Virtual Delivery

2021 Industry & Economic Outlook Conference
August 16-18, 2021
Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center

NFPA / FPIC Quarterly Conference
September 2, 2021
“Advanced Software Solutions for Machine Control”
Virtual Delivery

NFPA / FPIC Quarterly Conference
December 2, 2021
“Advanced Technologies for Eco-Friendly Fluid Power Systems”
Virtual Delivery

Build and Share Your Expertise

In addition to networking and learning at events, members also get the opportunity to share and grow their expertise with other like-minded professionals through committees and special-interest groups.

The NFPA Future Leaders Network connects emerging leaders at NFPA member companies to the tools they need to better themselves and their companies, such as exclusive leadership education, targeted networking, and other association engagement opportunities. The Network has continued to be active over the past year through exclusive webinars and activities in conjunction with NFPA conferences.

The next Future Leaders learning opportunity is a webinar on Executive Presence, scheduled for June 10 via Zoom. Contact Katrina Schwarz at kschwarz@nfpa.com for more on the webinar and on Future Leaders Network eligibility.

Planning has begun on the 2022 NFPA Executive Leadership Program cohort, a program associated with the NFPA Future Leaders Network and conducted in partnership with the Kellogg School of Management. As with the current cohort, the program is designed to provide a fluid power industry-specific experience that accelerates leadership and fosters long-term connections, and session content will focus on both the hard and soft skills needed to create success for participants’ organizations and the fluid power industry as a whole. NFPA Future Leaders Network participants as well as other emerging leaders, directors, officers, and senior executives at NFPA member companies would benefit from taking part. 

More information will be released as we get closer to 2022. Learn more and reserve your spot here.

Standards development committees have also been particularly active. Due to the pandemic, ISO standards meetings will continue to be held virtually through at least the end of June. Working groups (representing over 100 fluid power engineers from Italy, Sweden, France, Germany, Turkey, United Kingdom, Japan, China, Portugal, and the United States) have been meeting this past year via Zoom to further the advancement of ISO standards projects focused on accumulators, sealing devices, contamination, hydraulic cylinders, product testing, and installations and systems.

One of the strengths of ISO standardization is that the standards are created by the people who need them. In the United States, 153 industry experts participate on 11 technical advisory groups (TAGs) to drive all aspects of the standards development process, from deciding whether a new standard is needed, to defining the technical content. NFPA members are invited to volunteer as experts on one or more of the TC 131 subcommittees at both the national and international level. Learn more here.

NFPA is looking for engineers interested in participating standards development activities to serve as experts in ISO/TC 131 and/or the U.S. TAG to TC 131.

To join or learn more about the U.S. TAG to TC 131, contact Denise Husenica at dhusenica@nfpa.com.

A number of other active committees and groups are available to members. Learn about these and other committee opportunities here.

Make the Most of Your Membership

1. Attend an event to connect with industry leaders
   Visit NFPAHub.com/events/ to learn more about upcoming connection opportunities.
2. Join a committee to impact the future of the industry
   Visit NFPA.com to learn more about association governance, standards development, and other engagement opportunities.
3. Use exclusive market information to make better business decisions
   Visit NFPAHub.com/stats/ to learn more about and access reports and data available to NFPA members.
4. Take advantage of tools to uncover data insights
   Visit NFPAHub.com/stats/ to learn more about and access the NFPA Stats Toolkit.
5. Reach customers and promote the industry as a whole
   Visit NFPAHub.com/events/ to learn more about upcoming trade show opportunities and NFPA.com to find fluid power industry information to share with your customers.
6. Help build the future workforce
   Visit NFPA.com to learn more about and make a donation to support our latest workforce development programs.