A Las Vegas investment strategy
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report November 2009
Put your money on STLE’s 2010 Annual Meeting program!
New on the STLE education schedule is an Automotive Tribology course focusing on current needs and issues for this important segment of the manufacturing community.
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Las Vegas might seem like a strange and perhaps even suspect place to make an investment, but don’t let the location of STLE’s 2010 Annual Meeting & Exhibition cause you and your employer to miss out on a superb technical education experience.
In January you’ll receive a digital brochure with complete details on the technical program for the meeting, which takes place May 16-20 at Bally’s Hotel and Conference Center. Two items ready for publication now give a sense of what the 2010 meeting is offering in terms of forward-looking practical information.
The first item is an outstanding keynote session highlighting the role technical professionals can play as the world rises to meet the challenges of harnessing technology for social and economic benefit.
The presenter is Dan Kapp, director of Ford Powertrain Research & Advanced Engineering. Kapp has devoted his 30-year career to engine and powertrain product development and has been at the center of the automotive industry’s efforts to improve fuel economy and reduce CO2 emissions. Kapp and his colleagues, like many other technical professionals, have applied their expertise in response to the need for an effective and affordable corporate blueprint in a business environment where valid concerns over climate change and energy security have led to stringent regulations and increased customer demand.
Kapp will discuss in detail how Ford’s technical team forged a technological pathway for an engine that responds to today’s performance demands and also can adapt to future challenges. The presentation in particular will explore the application of turbocharging and gasoline direct fuel injection to an advanced gasoline engine. He will examine how Ford’s technical team achieved a significant improvement in fuel economy via engine downsizing and a performance improvement via dynamic response.
The second annual meeting feature that is ready for immediate announcement is the technical education program. This year’s meeting combines eight new and revised STLE professional education courses with two courses presented in partnership with other technical organizations. The latter courses are the popular NLGI grease education course and the Bearings Technology course developed by the American Bearing Manufacturers Association.
New on the STLE education schedule is an Automotive Tribology course focusing on current needs and issues for this important segment of the manufacturing community. Course developers stress that the program covers design and lubrication considerations for the engine, transmission, final drive and wheel bearings on autos designed to meet future marketplace and regulatory demands.
With just these two elements of the meeting as examples, it is clear that the 2010 STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition is a practical and authoritative source of professional development. This is a great opportunity for individuals who recognize that reliable information and expertise are the keys to success in finding solutions to technical challenges facing their and their customers’ companies. It’s also the reason why 90% of participating industry professionals gave a positive rating to education courses at STLE’s 2009 Annual Meeting.
One of those satisfied attendees summed up the value of STLE’s Annual Meeting education in this concise thought: “Sometimes it is hard to justify the expense of attending an industry meeting. But with STLE the cost of not attending might be greater.”
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.