Solving Your Technical Problems

PMPA国家技术会议的目标

共享技术和商店信息，并与行业中的其他人合作解决这些领域的问题是参加这些领域的最大好处Precision Machined Products Association将于5月3日至5日在大哥伦布（俄亥俄州）会议中心举行的年度国家技术会议（NTC）。

以“倾向于盈利能力”的重点，今年的会议旨在帮助PMPA成员提高质量标准，以生产几乎没有浪费的零件。PMPA国家技术会议委员会主席David Sibinski说：“我们正在努力生产更好的产品，降低成本并为客户提供更好的零件价格。”

“We’re not talking about lean and mean, because that implies something completely different,” explains Dick Zahniser, PMPA’s technical director. “What we’re looking at is the idea of lean manufacturing, presenting ways of eliminating waste. We’re talking waste of time and waste of product, especially bad product.” Included in that theme will be case studies illustrating how a precision machined products company can become lean in its production processes.

The organizers are hoping this year’s conference theme will spur PMPA members and other attendees to once again share their ideas with each other on how they have improved their own operations. “It’s an amazing conference and an amazing organization,” says Mr. Sibinski, senior process engineer for Roberts Automatic Products. “If you go to the conference, it erases the mystique of joining up with your competitors. We help our fellow members enhance their businesses so that we can all be strong producers of precision machined products.”

Sharing Information And Ideas

Zahniser先生说：“发生了大量的分享。”“即使与会者是潜在的竞争对手，他们仍然共享技术信息，这使每个人都变得更好。它是在正式会议上，在圆桌会议和讨论会议期间完成的，并在晚上完成。您会看到人们在晚上喝一杯，他们不是在谈论运动，他们在谈论技术和购物地面问题。”

Many of the conference’s sessions are designed to permit and encourage companies to share problem-solving information. Indeed, on Sunday, May 4, organizers have blocked out more than 2 hours of time for a session called “Practical Approaches to Achieving Zero PPM.” Mr. Sibinski says the goal is for representatives of precision machining companies of all sizes to share their successes and problems in reaching zero-defect production. “We have such a vast mix and a different combination of shops that we can teach one another. And with this information coming from our own members, it’s not viewed as a sales pitch. This is real-life stuff,” he comments.

“I Have A Problem”

在三个工作计划圆桌会议之一中，有一个分手会议，称为“我有问题”，一个公开的论坛“由专家组成”，从工程师到运营商，旨在帮助解决生产和技术的问题Sibinski先生说，专业人士正在拥有。“遇到相同问题或类似事物的观众中的任何人都可以提供他们的解决方案。”

All of these sessions, however, also provide the machine tool builders–many of whom will be exhibitors at the Precision Machining Technology Show that follows the conference–with feedback on their products, how they are used and the problems shops encounter with them. “The machine tool builders listen very carefully to understand how we’re using their machines so they can identify future improvements,” Mr. Sibinski notes.

Sibinski先生解释说，工作规划圆桌会议是“吸引人们参加我们会议的主要支柱”。这三个圆桌会议提供了一些最开放的想法共享和解决问题的时期。它们旨在允许与会者共同解决生产或技术问题，并试图集体解决。每张桌子提供了一个解决方案，机床制造商描述了他们的最新机器将如何生产零件，然后邀请实际生产该零件的精确加工公司来描述其员工如何解决该问题。

将想法转换为利润

This year’s conference will be the 42nd such event organized by PMPA. Organizers are expecting about 450 attendees this year, down from the record set at NTC 2000. A big reason for the reduced attendance levels, of course, is the slow-growth economy in North America. That perplexes Mr. Sibinski, who notes that the value received from the conference outweighs the costs associated with it. “If you solve one problem out on the shop floor, that pays for the conference,” he says. “We send a number of shop people each year. They always come home with ideas that we can convert into profit.”

The conference, however, is not all technical problems and solutions. Michael Broome, a gifted speaker from Clover, South Carolina, who has addressed PMPA audiences in the past, will give this year’s keynote address. Mr. Zahniser says Mr. Broome will provide a humorous look at achieving a balance between professional and personal lives.

NTC 2003 wraps up the afternoon of Monday, May 5, when three concurrent sessions are offered. Two of the three are technical—Datum Point Tapping, presented by John Detterbeck of Lester G. Detterbeck Co., and Taps And Tooling, presented by Dave Miskinis of Kennametal Greenfield. However, the third session is in keeping with the Technical Conference Committee’s goal of providing one non-technical issue. This year, Roger Zimmerman of Polaris Business Resource Center will talk about “The Art and Magic of Listening.”