Vancouver, British Columbia – The new president of the Polyurethane Manufacturers Association is Linda Katz, chief executive of Port Washington, Wisconsin-based custom moulder Molded Dimensions.
Katz took over from 2016-17 president Phil Green, of Michigan-based Mitsui subsidiary Anderson Development, at PMA’s 2017 annual meeting in Vancouver. Gilbert Ellerbe of Stepan becomes vice-president.
Departing directors Bob Adkins of Polymer Products and Kastalon’s Bruce DeMent, who have finished their terms of service, are replaced by Andy Clock of ADC Solutions and Jim Manore of Vail Rubber Works. The continuing directors are Jeremy Small of Covestro, Thombert’s Maureen Lockwood and Dipek Parekh of Crosslink Technology.
The association has welcomed several new members since last year’s meeting. The addition of Friction Coating, Globe Composite Solutions, Humanetics Innovative Solutions, Kimteks, Martin Sprocket & Gear, PAT Product, Sorbothane and Vibracoustics means the association now has 130 members.
“Reducing the cost for processing members to $750 has greatly encouraged membership,” said membership growth committee co-chair Jamie Schmidt of USA Drives. “There has been a lot of consolidation, but it still keeps going up.”
The technical committee’s biggest achievement in the past year was the publication of PMA’s ASTM reference guides, according to chair Scott Archibald of Coim USA. “Developed in conjunction with the ASTM international standards group, it is a targeted reference guide for the polyurethane industry that contains 61 ASTM tests that are regularly used in the cast elastomer urethane industry,” he said. Both hard copies and electronic versions are available for purchase.
The 2017 Polyurethane Manufacturers Association meeting is being held in Vancouver, British Columbia between 7-9 May 2017.
