Invitation to Serve on the 2023 NFPA Roadmap Committee

By Eric Lanke, NFPA President/CEO

NFPA is calling on all members to help populate the roster of the 2023 NFPA Roadmap Committee. We specifically need professionals from across the fluid power supply chain – including from our primary customer markets – to serve on next year’s committee and help us produce the 2023 NFPA Technology Roadmap.

The NFPA Technology Roadmap is the document that describes the areas of fluid power research and development that are needed to help our industry better meet the needs of its customers, to expand fluid power into new customer markets, and to attract the best and brightest young engineers to the field. It is updated every two years by the NFPA Roadmap Committee. If interested, you can download a copy of the 2021 NFPA Technology Roadmap at: https://www.nfpa.com/home/workforce/Fluid-Power-Industry-Roadmap.htm

All NFPA members – suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors – are welcome and encouraged to appoint a representative to the committee. Ideally, it should be an engineer or other technical professional who understands the needs of your company’s customers and the ways in which your products help meet those needs.

We’re also looking for any referrals you are willing to offer into your customer markets and/or technology partners. Previous Roadmap Committees have had good representation from OEMs in the mobile hydraulics space, and we will be seeking to renew those commitments for 2023. In order to ensure that the scope of the new Roadmap is well balanced across all fluid power markets and technology zones, our previous Committee recommended the inclusion of stakeholders from the following areas:

• Industrial Machine Builders
• Pneumatic Manufacturers and Machine Builders
• Surface Coatings/Treatments – alternatives to Hard Chrome
• Energy Efficient Fluids
• Hydrogen Fuel Cells
• Electric Batteries
• Industrial Networking (IoT) – ethernet, ethercat
• Precision Machining
• Noise Reduction

The Committee’s refresh cycle will be focused between December 2022 and July 2023, and will include several virtual meetings. Given the size and make-up of the Roadmap Committee, these events are not just sessions to work on the Roadmap, but also to network and connect with partners and potential customers across the fluid power supply chain. Past committee members have cited how informative and rewarding participating in our roadmapping process can be.

Many more details will be shared when the full roster of the committee has been confirmed.

To volunteer, refer a colleague, or learn more, please contact me at elanke@nfpa.com.