By Mary Ellen Doran
The AGMA 2015 Fall Technical Meeting (FTM) kicked off a big week of AGMA events in Detroit this past October. More than 160 individuals gathered to learn about the latest applied research and development, happening across the globe in the gear industry. The 27 presentations were divided into five sessions: Materials & Heat Treatment; Manufacturing; Gear Application; Lubrication, Efficiency, and Noise & Vibration, and Gear Wear & Failure. Later in the week, attendees had the opportunity to attend the AGMA Centennial Kickoff Celebration and Gear Expo.
Did you know that the AGMA FTM is almost as old as the association itself? Members in our industry have been gathering annually for almost the last century to present applied research, and much of which has impacted our current shop floors and much that will dictate the future of our industry. All of this work is still available from AGMA — titles, authors, and abstract information — online in the AGMA store. Contact tech@agma.org for information on work presented prior to 1990.
The 2015 FTM not only afforded presenters and attendees an opportunity to preview new research that had not been published before, but it also provided ample time for group question-and-answer sessions where everyone was able to delve deeper into topics with the researchers and authors.
Presentations ran the gamut of the gear industry, from the discussions of Industry 4.0 and computerized influences that are changing the way we do business, to new materials, products, and perspectives on current processes. Other presentations provided a more detailed look at current standards in our industry. FTM presentations range from the in-depth, highly academic research to the practical guidance for manufacturing engineers and plant managers. This allows the organizers to appeal to a broad-based audience while meeting the high standards of research.
Some highlights include Maciej Korecki from Seco/Warwick who discussed a single-stream case hardening machine currently in development that will provide minimal distortion and maximum repeatability. There was also a lively discussion providing different perspectives on using ISO Technical Report 15144-1:2014, and Dr. Ing. Ulrich Kissling from KISSsoft presented his latest research on a new calculation method for gear wear that predicts the modification of the tooth contact area through wear and the consequences for the gear behavior. And noise reduction — one of the influences on the founding of the association — is still of major importance in our industry as witnessed by the strong presentations featured at the FTM.
On the heels of a successful 2015 event, AGMA recently announced the Call for Abstracts for the 2016 FTM, and the deadline for submission is January 15, 2016. The 2016 FTM in October will have the added significance of being the final notable event for AGMA’s centennial celebration, and AGMA will welcome registrants and presenters to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the site of the first meetings of the association exactly one century ago. We will celebrate the last hundred years, but we also look forward to the next hundred through presentations on new research and developments in our field.
The FTM affords authors the experience of presenting their work to their industry peers from around the world. Each session includes a question-and-answer period that provides engaging discussions and further exploration on topics of our industry. This is one of the few events that allow researchers to get feedback from their peers and from the industry. Consider submitting an abstract to this important event.
Again this year, the submission process will be entirely electronic. Submitted abstracts should be original to the AGMA audience (not a previously published paper), technically accurate, relevant, and free of commercialism. Complete information is available on the AGMA website at www.agma.org.
AGMA 2016 Fall Technical Meeting
October 2-4, 2016
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Deadline for Submissions: January 15, 2016
AGMA Kicks Off Centennial Celebration in Detroit
AGMA had a busy October — Gear Expo, the AGMA Fall Technical Meeting, and the AGMA Centennial Celebration all held in Detroit at Cobo Center. Several hundred AGMA members, both past and present, attended the kickoff event for AGMA’s centennial year, and the dinner was the first of four events celebrating AGMA’s 100th anniversary. The next event will be the AGMA/ABMA Annual Meeting on May 12-14, 2016, in Amelia Island, Florida. Here are a few photos from the centennial dinner.
