IISRP meeting held in Hawaii.

The 42nd Annual General Meeting of the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers will be held May 13-17 at The Orchid Hotel in Hawaii. "A tradition of excellence - a future of possibilities" is the theme of the meeting.

The Speakers Program will consist of three sessions and will feature Ralph Bergner, chief executive officer of CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, as the keynote speaker. He will discuss the newest trends in the global automotive supply chain at a luncheon on Tuesday, May 15.

Session I of the program, titled "Challenge of change," will begin the morning of May 15 with the following speakers: John Sampson, global supply. chain director for Dow Chemical, who will speak on "Six-sigma at Dow - a cultural transformation"; Steve Wood, executive vice president of Kraton Polymers, who will discuss the firm's new business in a speech titled "Free to grow"; and Gary Miller, executive vice president of purchasing for Goodyear Tire & Rubber, who will give an address titled "Some observations and comparisons of natural and synthetic rubber."

Session II on Wednesday, May 16, will be devoted to a panel discussion of e-commerce titled "Facing the future," in which the audience will be asked to participate. George Kwiatkowski, vice president of manufacturing and technology at Ameripol Synpol, will moderate this session. Panel members will include Gary Cofran, senior vice president of sales, Chemconnect.com; William Gaughn, vice president of e-business and information technology for Bayer; and the soon-to-be-appointed chief executive officer of ElastomerSolutions .com.

Session III on Thursday, May 17, will close the speakers program with the Section Business Review in which speakers will discuss the economic climate in their regions of the world. Speakers will include Katsumi Yuji, director, Synthetic Rubber Division, Asahi Chemical Industry and first vice president of the IISRP Far East Section, who will report on the economic climate in Asia; Wim Donners, president of DSM Elastomers Europe/Asia and first vice president of the European Section, will speak on the economic situation in Europe; and Art Sullivan, vice president of ExxonMobil Chemical and first vice president of the Americas Section, will focus on business in the Americas.

The IISRP is an international not-for-profit trade association. Its 50 corporate members, located in 21 countries, produce 95% of the world's supply of synthetic rubber.

Further information on this meeting is available from the IISRP [phone].