Powder metallurgists gather in Rugby

An European Powder Metallurgy Association product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 28, 2004

The European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) held its 15th general assembly and management seminar at Dunchurch Park, Rugby, England, on 13th and 14th May.

The European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) held its 15th general assembly and management seminar at Dunchurch Park, Rugby England, on 13th and 14th May, when over 50 members from industry and academia met, and took advantage of the historic surroundings of the conference centre.

In his general assembly address to members, EPMA's President, Dr Cesar Molins, said that 2003 was at best a transition year for the European PM industry and that he expected the upturn in the US and Far East economies to feed through to Europe in 2004.

The powder metallurgy industry in particular was in a strong position, he said, as higher performance materials and new processes were evolved to meet customers' requirements.

There was no doubt, however, that raw material cost increases were putting pressure on many companies operating in Europe.

Executive Director, Jonathan Wroe, said that the overall association membership numbers fell slightly in 2003 although corporate members actually increased to a new record level.

He also outlined the range of activities that had been undertaken during the year including the very successful PM2003 conference and exhibition held in Valencia Spain.

EPMA's management seminar opened with a comprehensive overview of the PM industry in the UK by David Greaves from Hoganas UK which was followed by: a challenging keynote presentation on the topic of "PM - the user's view" from Kevin Johanson of Concentric Pumps; an insight by Dr Mike Hicks of Rolls Royce into the "Future requirements for PM in the aerospace industry"; and a paper from Prof Alan Cocks, University of Leicester, on "Powder die filling and transfer".

Members were also able to hear updates on the activities of the various working groups and committees of the association over the past 12 months.

The management seminar finished with an interesting tour of the Peugeot Citroen factory at Ryton Coventry where delegates were able to see the production of the 206 model.