MPMA has made a significant change to its flagship Fall Technical Meeting (FTM). Set for October 5-7, 2026, in Rosemont, Illinois, this year’s meeting represents a significant evolution in the event’s history, introducing a dual-track format designed to broaden engagement and highlight both rigorous academic research and real-world innovation. With the merger of AGMA and ABMA last year, this meeting is changing to include bearing topics.
A New Dual-Track Format: Expanding Opportunities for Engagement
This dual-track conference structure will be the first of its kind in the meeting’s history. This new format is crafted to accommodate a wider variety of contributions and to support professionals at every stage of innovation and application:
Track 1: Classic Technical Papers
This track preserves the traditional FTM experience, where authors submit full technical papers that are peer reviewed and then published and indexed. These sessions focus on deep technical research, analytical advances, novel methodologies, and detailed engineering findings.
Track 2: Presentation-Only Sessions
This new track invites presentation-only submissions that spotlight cutting-edge developments, practical solutions to market challenges, and emerging technologies that may not yet be mature enough for peer-reviewed publication.
By blending these two tracks, MPMA seeks to create a richer, more dynamic conference that serves both foundational research and applied innovation within the motion and power manufacturing community.
Why You Should Participate
Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or a seasoned practitioner with a breakthrough company solution, the 2026 FTM offers a platform to elevate your work and influence the direction of the industry:
- Publish in Scopus-Indexed Proceedings: Accepted full technical papers from Track 1 will be indexed in Scopus, providing authors with academic recognition and lasting visibility.
- Showcase Innovation without Formal Papers: Track 2 allows presenters to share high-impact insights without the requirement of a full technical paper. This flexibility encourages participation from companies and individuals with timely case studies, proof-of-concept demonstrations, or experience-based presentations.
- Connect with Industry Leaders: The FTM draws engineers, researchers, and executives from around the world, making it a powerful networking event for collaboration, partnerships, and professional exposure.
- Bridge Theory and Practice: By integrating both rigorous research and real-world application, the new format ensures attendees gain a broad perspective on trends, challenges, and opportunities in the power transmission sector.
Submission Deadlines and Process
To participate in the 2026 MPMA Fall Technical Meeting, go to: tinyurl.com/MPMAFTM.
- For full technical papers: Abstracts must be submitted by January 16, 2026.
- For presentation-only track submissions: Abstracts are due by March 27, 2026.
All submissions are made through the new MPMA online portal, where contributors will create new accounts for abstract submission and review guidance for detailed requirements.
The 2026 MPMA Fall Technical Meeting represents an exciting shift in how the motion and power community shares knowledge. With its new dual-track format, the meeting invites broader participation from both traditional researchers and forward-thinking innovators. Whether you aim to publish highly technical work or to present bold new ideas that will influence the future of manufacturing, the 2026 FTM offers a powerful stage to make an impact.
Don’t miss your chance to contribute to this milestone event. Submit your abstract and be part of shaping the future of gears, bearings, and advanced motion technology.
Upcoming Courses
Gearbox CSI: Forensic Analysis of Gear & Bearing Failures – Useful Tools for Optimizing Gear Design
February 3-12 | Live Online
A good understanding of individual failure modes and the failure scenarios that led to the actual system failure is an essential skill to designing gear/bearing systems that will operate properly for their full design life. In this course, we will define and explain the nature of many gear and bearing failures, and we will also discuss and describe various actual failure scenarios. In addition, a detailed primer on bearing technology prefaces the failure scenario discussions. You will gain a better understanding of various types of gears and bearings. Learn about the limitation and capabilities of rolling element bearings and the gears they support. Grasp an understanding of how to properly apply the best gear-bearing combination to any gearbox from simple to complex.
Analytical Gear Chart Interpretation
February 24 | Live Online
This course is an introduction to the methodology of analytical gear inspection and the evaluation and interpretation of the resulting data. The application of this information to identify and correct manufacturing errors will begin to be explored. Additionally, it reviews chart interpretation and applies inspection data to understand the causes and cures of manufacturing errors. Many chart examples are used to understand cause and effect.
Design Basics of Spur and Helical Gears
February 25 | Live Online
Learn how to develop and understand customer gear drive application specifications and target performance expectations. Review, calculate, and select basic gear terminology variables and design parameters that define tooth bending and contact rating safety factors on two real-life examples. Learn how to optimize gear fatigue safety factors for a given target design life and fit new gear designs and ratios into existing center distance using profile shift. Use commercially available software to develop gear geometry factors, calculate and optimize gear set power density and performance. Review common gear failure modes if the design or final accuracy does not meet application requirements. Discuss time and cost of more than 20 other gear drive component functions and drive development steps through prototypes to shipment of compliant assembled production drives. There will be an opportunity to discuss gear design challenges that may be unique to participant industries.
Basic Loaded Tooth Contact Analysis Theory
February 26 | Live Online
Evaluation of loaded tooth contact and development of tooth modifications using commercially available software to improve and apply a realistic load distribution factor Km in gear rating calculations and reduce transmission error. Two real life gearing examples will be reviewed in the course, one will have a cantilever mounted pinion, the other a shaft pinion straddled non-symmetrically by bearings. Both examples demonstrate component deflections under load which significantly reduce tooth mesh contact which is then corrected with developed helix and profile modifications. Other gear performance optimization tools will also be presented, Material and Heat Treatment Selection, Profile Shift, Isotropic Finishing, Shot Peening, Accuracy. These design tools along with LTCA are commonly applied by gear designers to optimize design reliability and calculated rating safety factors.
Bevel Gear Systems Design
March 2-6 | Live Online
Learn how to design and apply bevel gears systems from the initial concept through manufacturing and quality control and on to assembly, installation, and maintenance. Engage in a practical hands-on guide to the bevel gear design, manufacture, quality control, assembly, installation rating, lubrication and, most especially, application.
High Profile Contact Ratio Gearing
March 24 | Live Online
High profile contact ratio (HCR) gears, both spur and helical, have been shown to provide significant reductions in gear mesh frequency noise and vibration levels and, depending on the specific configuration, improved load capacity as well. The design of HCR gears is, however, far from a simple task and must be carefully accomplished. In addition, HCR gears are not appropriate for every circumstance.
In this seminar, we will learn what HCR gears are and under what circumstances they can be used to advantage. Similarly, we will learn when HCR gears are not appropriate and why. We will cover the detailed tooth geometry changes required to effectively achieve optimum performance and benefit. We will learn how the load distribution along the involute profile changes when the contact ratio increases above two.
Because of the longer, more slender teeth on an HCR gear, the heat treatment and profile modifications required for good performance are distinctly different from those for a standard contact ratio gear. The load capacity rating of HCR gears requires the application of modified AGMA analyses as the AGMA standards specifically do NOT address gears with profile contact ratios greater than 2.0, thus we will also cover the changes required to successfully rate HCR gears.
Taming Tooth Deflection
March 26 | Live Online
Tooth deflections under load can cause involute interference, which leads to very high tooth surface loads in regions of high sliding and low tooth curvature radius. These conditions loads can produce scoring, spalling, and wear failures. Proper profile modifications applied to both members of the mesh eliminate the deleterious effects of the deflection induced involute interference and allow the gear set to yield its maximum inherent load carrying capacity. Proper profile modifications also allow a gear set to operate with lower noise and vibration levels.
Basic Training for Gear Manufacturing
April 13-17 | Chicago, Illinois
Learn the fundamentals of gear manufacturing in this hands-on course. Gain an understanding of gearing and nomenclature, principles of inspection, gear manufacturing methods, and hobbing and shaping. Using manual machines, develop a deeper breadth of perspective and understanding of the process and physics of making a gear as well as the ability to apply this knowledge in working with CNC equipment commonly in use.
