Take time to improve yourself and your manufacturing business

The 2021 FMA Virtual Annual Meeting on March 3-4 celebrates hundreds of leaders and manufacturing heroes in metals fabrication, processing, and distribution.

The past year has been a stressful one for all in the metal fabricating community. In spring 2020 shops were wondering where they fit into the overall economic discussion as the world tried to figure out what an essential and nonessential business was. Those who continued to work had to figure out how to do it safely.

Then as business began picking up from almost halting in the earlier part of the year, metal fabricating companies had to balance the normal chaos of job scheduling and tight lead times with the reality of people needing more flexible schedules and extended absences for those that may have gotten the COVID-19 or been exposed to someone who had. With all of that going on, people had to deal with the fact that they really couldn’t travel anywhere and enjoy a vacation like they had before the pandemic.

Might I suggest an educational diversion that might be good for you and your metal fabricating team? The Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA) Annual Meeting is an event that has always provided attendees with a chance to learn best practices from other metal fabricators, hear about the latest metal fabricating technology innovations, and discover what’s ahead as it relates to the global and North American manufacturing economy. Well, this year the FMA Annual Meeting, scheduled for March 3-4, is going virtual. You can sit in front of your computer or take some time with your smartphone or tablet to enjoy all that the event has to offer.

Recognizing that a virtual event might provide an opportunity for more people to participate, as opposed to taking time off and paying for travel arrangements, FMA officials created a team pass. For $495, a company can sign up the entire team, which includes an unlimited number of individual logins for the staff to access the annual meeting content. The individual registration fee for the event is $295.

What sort of content can fabricators expect to enjoy? Reflecting the conference theme, “Resilience in a World Redefined,” the first day of the annual meeting has a panel discussion with three metal fabricating companies that lived with the pressures and stresses of the pandemic and have come out stronger as we enter 2021. Daniel Cohen, managing director, Accurate Metal Fabricating, Chicago, and Jeff Kaminsky, national sales manager, Accurate Perforating, Chicago; Colin Cosgrove, president, Laystrom Manufacturing, Chicago (The FABRICATOR's Industry Award winner for 2021); and Henry Moss, president, Metalfx, Willits, Calif., provide accounts of how their companies dealt with the unknowns of last spring, how they assisted the fight against the coronavirus, and what the future looks like as the world adjusts to the new normal.

The first day also includes discussion of managing metal fabricating processes to determine what makes the most sense for certain applications and about new developments in mixing gases for high-powered laser cutting machines. Some of the breakout sessions include coverage of 3D printing for metal fabricating; sales in a virtual world; and effective metals pricing strategies, a timely learning opportunity for metal fabricators wrestling with steel prices that they haven’t seen since 2008.

On March 4 attendees will get to hear from the next generation of metal fabricators in a panel session called “Why are young professionals choosing manufacturing?” Seth Feldman, an intern, Wertzbaugher Services, West Liberty, Iowa; Lindsey Lawton, welder, Jones Metal Inc., Mankato, Minn.; and Evan Williams, manufacturing project engineer and sales, Jones Metal Inc., share their feelings on why they chose to join manufacturing companies instead of taking the much-hyped path of attending four-year universities. Sarah Sladek, CEO and founder, XYZ University, facilitates the panel and, in her keynote presentation immediately following, she provides tips for companies interested in attracting younger job applicants.

Later in the day, attendees have the chance to learn about the latest trends in the automotive manufacturing market and what the domestic and international economies hold for the rest of 2021. Additionally, an afternoon technology session covers the advancement of press brake technology and what that means to new and inexperienced operators, a situation that plenty of shops now find themselves in as seasoned workers are retiring from the work force.

That’s just part of the schedule for the FMA Annual Meeting. Also, attendees who are unable to log in on March 3 or 4 can access archived recordings of the presentations for several weeks after the event. That’s one of the perks of this virtual environment.

If you are interested in learning more about the FMA Annual Meeting, visit www.fmamfg.org/annualmeeting. You and your team deserve a break. What better way to step away from the grind and actually recharge without having to leave the facility? We hope to see you there.