News of people and events important to the maintenance and reliability community

TIMKEN'S SAMOLCZYK CHAIRS BEARING MANUFACTURERS
Mark Samolczyk, senior vice president of corporate planning and development for The Timken Company, has assumed the chairmanship of ABMA, the American Bearing Manufacturers Association (www.abma-dc.org). The fourth Timken executive to take on this role, his term will end in March 2009. Timken has been involved with ABMA since its inception in 1917. Throughout its 91 years of operation, the association has served as the collective voice of the American bearing industry, working on public policy and international trade matters, as well as to define international standards for bearing products. During his term, Samolczyk sees the promotion of the bearing industry as one of the organization's primary opportunities. As chairman, he also will be involved in the continued development of the World Bearing Association (WBA), a group formed in 2006 by ABMA, the Japanese Bearing Industrial Association and the Federation of European Bearing Manufacturers Association to address environmental, counterfeiting and trade issues that affect the bearing industry.

PDI APPOINTS CORTES AS NEW CTO & VP OF ENGINEERING
Virginia-based Power Distribution Inc. (PDI) has named Tim Cortes as Chief Technical Officer replacing John Kammeter. In his position as CTO, Cortes assumes responsibility for leading the R&D and product development organizations. Kammeter will continue to provide ongoing technical support to PDI in a new role as Senior Technical Consultant. Cortes comes to PDI with more than 18 years of power experience. As director of engineering at ESS Technologies, he successfully built and managed the company's product development organization. As part of his role, he was deeply involved in the implementation of the product development process, as well as the development of product and technology roadmaps. Before ESS, Cortes was at Exide Technologies where he led the product development for stationary, motive and next-generation large format lithium batteries for Exide's Industrial Energy Group. Prior to that, he also had managed product development organizations at GNB Technologies, Tyco/Lucent Power Systems and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Bob Asdal, executive director of the Hydraulic Institute (HI), visits with MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY editor Jane Alexander, in St. Paul, MN, at the recent Industrial Energy Efficiency Forum sponsored by Xcel Energy and Pump Systems Matter ™ (PSM). Launched in 2005 by 33 member companies of the Hydraulic Institute, PSM is a national educational initiative that works to help pump users gain competitive advantage through strategic, broad-based energy-management solutions. The St. Paul forum on May 6 offered multiple presentation tracks focusing on the importance of looking at efficiency from a systems perspective for Xcel Energy customers across a variety of industries. Incorporating countless real-world examples, the keynote presentations and nine workshops covered a range of issues related to business and reliability strategies, compressed air systems, motors and variable speed drives, life-cycle costing, pump system optimization, mechanical seals optimization, water and wastewater systems and more. Co-sponsors of the day-long, informationpacked event included some of the biggest names in the field of energy-efficient solutions for industry, including ITT Corporation, Baldor-Dodge-Reliance, Flowserve Corporation, Emerson Motors/US Motors, Emerson Control Techniques-Americas, John Crane International, Sundyne Corporation, AURORA Pump, Armstrong International, Inc. and Sullair Corporation, among others. For more information on Pump Systems Matter and upcoming educational opportunities for your organization's energy-efficiency team, visit www.pumpsystemsmatter.org

POWER TRANSMISSION INDUSTRY WILL RIDE THE WAVE IN MIAMI
In a play on its Miami Beach venue, the Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) presents "Ride the Wave to Success" as the theme for the PTDA 2008 Industry Summit on Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2008, at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel. According to PTDA, this year's summit combines targeted educational programming, innovative business development opportunities and unparalleled networking with all levels of corporate decision-makers to deliver real value. As an added benefit, most sessions will offer simultaneous translation into Spanish. Also new for 2008, guests of Industry Summit attendees have a chance to do their own networking while supporting a worthy cause as PTDA hosts "A Walk on the Beach Benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure®." Founded in 1960, the PTDA is the leading association for the industrial power transmission/motion control (PT/MC) distribution channel. A U.S.-based trade group, it represents 211 power transmission/motion control distributor firms with over 3500 locations throughout North America and 12 other countries, as well as 202 manufacturers that supply the PT/MC industry. PTDA is dedicated to providing exceptional networking, targeted education, relevant information and leading-edge business tools to help distributors and manufacturers meet marketplace demands competitively and profitably. For more information about the organization and its upcoming "Ride the Wave to Success" Industry Summit, visit www.ptda.org. The event is open to all employees of member companies and qualified prospects.