PMA/CUMA plan joint fall meeting. (Meetings).

The Polyurethane Manufacturers Association will host a joint fall meeting with the Canadian Urethane Manufacturers Association on November 4-6 at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

With the theme "Advancing international markets and technology," the meeting will assemble industry leaders from North America and beyond to focus on the growing role of cast urethanes in the global marketplace.

Donald Cooper will speak on "How to increase market share and profitability." Cooper is the developer of Human Marketing, defined as delivering value-added products and services to increase market share despite the competition, creating and communicating a compelling customer experience to differentiate your business, redefining and reinventing your business to achieve market domination, and attracting and keeping the best people at every level.

PMA's Marketing Division has also scheduled a panel discussion of PMA leaders to follow Cooper's presentation and present a follow-up view focused on the urethane industry.

Six technical paper presentations will include the following: "Surface-activated UHMWPE in PU," by Dr. Bernie Bauman, Fluoro-Seal; "Dimerized fatty acid technology in polyurethane," by Bryan Danek and Eric Appelman, Uniqema; "Low-hardness TDI systems using HER curative," by Joe d'Almeida, Indspec Chemical; "Replacement for mercury catalysts," by Ken Gay, Tosch; "Urethanes for impact/energy management," by Noel B. Campbell, consultant; and "Low cost tooling," by Valerie Walker, Cross-Link Technology.

PMA's Technology Division will also present a hands-on workshop, "Load deflection shape factor calculations." PMA's hands-on workshops are said to regularly provide productive problem solving thanks to the cooperative nature of these programs.

Additional programming of particular interest to CUMA attendees has been planned, including an analysis of the North American and global economic outlooks, presented by a representative from the Bank of Hong Kong; and international reports from Rudy School, president of the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society, and Ted Culver, president of the BRMA.

PMA's Regulatory Affairs Division will present an OSHA update from David Bryce, area director of the Buffalo area office of OSHA, as well as a presentation from Dr. Ted Hogan, a safety and health consultant.

In addition to these special fall meeting events, the association has planned for the regular meetings of its Marketing, Member Services, Regulatory Affairs and Technology Divisions. Fall meeting co-chairs are Eric Sheard, president of Lescon, and George A. Thomson, president and CEO of Thomson Gordon Group.

PMA is the trade association of the cast polyurethane processing industry, serving processors of polyurethane products, materials and equipment suppliers, and independent agents.

Registration costs range from $495 to $1,545. Further information on this meeting is available from the PMA [phone].