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Power Transmission: PTDA 2004 Canadian Conference |
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| Education Initiative, Economic Outlook Announced |
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| Left to right: James Lamb, vice-president, marketing and sales, Drives Inc. and PTDA Manufacturer Council Chair; Mary Sue Lyon, executive vice-president, PTDA; and, Donald Latham, president, Canadian Bearings Ltd. and 2003-2004 PTDA president. "Many member PT specialists ñ the independent distributors ñ go to the OEM sector where they add value to product designers," said Latham.
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Close to 150 manufacturer and distributor power transmission and motion control delegates gathered at the 2004 PTDA Canadian Conference last month in Montreal to hear about issues affecting their industry.
Individuals with technical backgrounds can find rewarding careers in industrial distribution by upgrading their business skills at community colleges, the conference was told. According to Power Transmission Distributors' Association (ptda.org) executive vice-president Mary Sue Lyon, the PTDA Educational & Scholastic Foundation has developed industrial distribution curriculum endorsed by a wide range of industry associations, including the Fluid Power Distributors Association (fpda.org). "The PTDA is currently working with the Electro-Federation of Canada (electro-fed.com) and pilot site community colleges in Toronto and Vancouver. There has also been interest expressed in Montreal," Lyon added.
For the Industrial Distribution Sales Representative Program, the PTDA piggybacks its "Introduction to Distribution" course on curriculum available at the respective colleges in subjects such as marketing, business writing and math, principles of selling, and microcomputer fundamentals. For the student to complete a program certificate "we use the available course catalog wherever possible," said Lyon. Elective credits directly related to work needs, such as manufacturing systems, must also be obtained or transferred from recognized institutions.
China provided an area of focus for two of the speakers charting economic trends ñ Peter Andersen of Andersen Economic Research in Toronto and Canton, OH-based James Holderbaum of Timken Steel. Both noted China's insatiable appetite for raw materials, a factor that is pointing towards a boom in Canada's resource sectors such as timber, mining and fossil fuels.
Andersen noted that "China has matched the industrial development phase experienced by the U.S. from 1900 to 1950 in only 10 to 15 years." The Asian giant is currently clocking industrial production increases close to 20% year-to-year, with steel output reaching 26.4% in the first quarter of 2004. "China is now the largest consumer of copper," Anderson said.
Timken's Holderbaum said "macro economic factors have resulted in unprecedented price increases for steel direct materials. Strong world demand ñ led by China ñ is outstripping supply capacity. China is currently consuming three times the level of North America and worldwide order backlogs for steel are currently at record levels." Other factors, such as historically high prices for natural gas, are also causing metal material prices to rise.
He added that China "has no local nickel supply to speak of" while its "demand for stainless steel continues to grow," creating an opportunity for net nickel exporters like Canada.
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