Michael Ference Fluid Power Marketing

When I was younger, I swore that I would never play Bingo like senior citizens did.  It just seemed like a very passive activity with little or no value to it. I must admit, my mind has changed and I actually like playing Bingo now.  It must be a sign of age... We played in interesting type of Bingo at the 2017 Fluid Power Technology Conference held last week at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.  We issued a sheet of paper to every attendee with a matrix of logos of all of our sponsors for the event.  They were asked to visit every booth and ask for a sticker with a corresponding logo from the sponsor. Every booth exhibitor was given stickers to hand out to anyone who visited their booth.  When the attendee's sheet was completely covered with stickers that matched every logo, that sheet was entered into a drawing for an iPad.   At the very end of the event, I had the honor of announcing our winner.  The winner didn't even have to shou...

The 2017 Fluid Power Technology Conference held at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and produced by Fluid Power World magazine was a big success.  Thank you to all of our sponsors for your support. A big thank you to MSOE and their staff for hosting the event and participating in a very big way with presentations from the FPTC stage! We look forward to our 2018 event at MSOE on May 15-16, 2018!

I invite you to visit our Fluid Power Technology Conference website .  There you will find the logos of all of our sponsors for this year's event.  We currently have 22 sponsors who will be participating at the 2017 Fluid Power Technology Conference being held at the Milwaukee School of Engineering on May 16-17, 2017. We also have listed our complete lineup of technical sessions taking place at the two-day event with speaker bios and explanations of what their sessions will cover.  You can plan your two days with our website. And, of course, you can register for the FPTC right on our website and we will have your badge ready for you onsite.  Here is the link  http://www.fluidpowertechconference.com/registration/ If you have any questions about our Conference, please contact me at any time.  I hope to see you there as our team has put together a fantastic program complete with breakfast and lunch included both days.   We are also planning...

Fluid Power World magazine continues to be an amazing resource of fluid power technical information sent out to engineers and mechanical people who design and operate machinery powered by hydraulic and pneumatic technology.  Here is our lasted issue: Click here to read the issue and when you do you will learn about a hydraulic hybrid material handler that our editors recently reviewed.  We feature an article on safe pneumatic system design and we preview the OTC Show held in Houston recently. If fluid power is your area of specialty, I recommend that you subscribe to Fluid Power World .  If you prefer the digital issue or the print issue, we have both.   Here is a link to our subscription page. The content is mostly evergreen meaning that even though this is our April issue, the information found inside is good for a long time.  Even though the technology changes and there are many innovations to improve fluid power, the basics stay the same. ...

At our Fluid Power Technology Conference next week, we will be depending heavily on the expertise provided by the fluid power experts at MSOE who will be doing presentations from the FPTC Stage. Thomas Wanke is the Director of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Fluid Power Industrial Consortium and Industry Relations. He’s one of the industry’s most popular trainers, with more than three decades of fluid power courses to his credit. Tom is a good friend of Fluid Power World and he was very instrumental in brining the Fluid Power Technology Conference to MSOE.  I am sure that our audience is looking forward to hearing Tom present at our event. Tim is the Director of the Fluid Power Institute at the MSOE University. He has more than 25 years’ experience in industrial and mobile hydraulic systems. Tim has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a Master’s degree in Engineering from MSOE, and is currently a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at...

As you know, our 2017 Fluid Power Technology Conference will be held in just one week, May 16-17, 2017 at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.   Here is a link to our website for more information. We welcome three more sponsors for the event including OEM Controls, Servo Kinetics, and Ultra Clean Technologies. OEM was a sponsor last year and we are very happy to have them sponsor the lanyards in 2017 and return as a member of our FPTC list of sponsors.   Here is some information about OEM Controls as seen on their website. OEM Controls  has been a leader in the design and development of  electrohydraulic controllers  and control systems for 50 years. We configure each product to individual customer specifications using field-proven components, a long list of available options, and  state-of-the-art  engineering expertise. Our core products include one, two, and three-axis joystick controllers, ergonomically designed multi-grip handles, ...

Our video and editorial team here at Fluid Power World did a great job of covering the recent IFPE Show held in Las Vegas in early March.  In addition to visiting and reporting on as many fluid power companies as possible, we did lots of video to capture the event. Here is a recap video of the event that will give you a minute-and-a-half review of what IFPE 2017 looked like. Click here.

One of our returning sponsors at the 2017 Fluid Power Technology Conference is Webtec. Here is their "About Us" taken from the Webtec website: We are specialist manufacturers of hydraulic measurement and control products helping to improve the productivity of heavy machinery. For 50 years we have been helping customers worldwide in the Industrial, Mobile, and Agricultural sectors to diagnose hydraulic faults, verify hydraulic conditions and achieve repeatable hydraulic control. Visit the 2017 FPTC in Milwaukee on May 16-17, 2017 and meet with Webtec for solutions to your fluid power designs and maintenance questions.   Click here to register. One of our new sponsors this year will be Thomas Magnete. From their homepage: Thomas  Employing nearly 650 people, our family-owned company develops and manufactures electromagnetic and fluid actuator systems for the automotive and mobile hydraulics industries as well as medical technology equipment ... ...

Even with the still fluctuating cost of a barrel of oil, the 2017 OTC Show in Houston went very well this week with hundreds and hundreds of exhibitors and thousands and thousands of attendees.  The event is held every May at NRG Park, itself an amazing place! While the mood was mixed by the exhibitors because of the oil pricing situation, there is much room for optimism in this very large market segment.  I had the chance to meet and speak with many fluid power companies, many existing customers and some new ones. After the show, my colleague Mary Gannon and I had the privilege of attending a wonderful hospitality event at  Hydraquip right in the Houston area.  They call it the Crawfish Boil and it is always a great time to network and enjoy the cuisine. Thank you so much Hydraquip for having us and we hope to see you next year.

Coming up very soon on May 16-17, 2017 at MSOE, we will be hosting our second annual Fluid Power Technology Conference.  I have been writing about our sponsors and I have more for whom I would like to share information. Returning from last year will be Price Engineering . We are very appreciative for the tremendous support that Price Engineering has shown for this event and I would like to share the "About Us" from their website: Price Engineering specializes in  engineered custom products and solutions  through engineering resource management, research, planning and development in the areas of  hydraulics, pneumatics, automation and electrical systems . We serve the following industries:  Mining, Construction, Marine, Wind Energy, Rail, Paper Conversion, Packaging, Food and Beverage, Metals, Extrusion, Pulp and Paper, Foundries, Food Processing  and more. You will be able to meet with their industry exports and solution providers at our eve...

If you have not yet registered to attend the 2017 Fluid Power Technology Conference in Milwaukee on May 16-17, 2017, you still have time to do so.  Please visit our website for registration information  http://www.fluidpowertechconference.com We welcome back an exhibitor and presenter from last year from the Milwaukee area, Milwaukee Cylinder.  They will be exhibiting and doing a seminar presentation titled Enhancing Productivity - Extending Cylinder Life and Reducing Cylinder Maintenance Cycles. Downtime, whether planned or un-planned can be costly.  What if downtime related to cylinder use could be reduced?  Cylinder life and maintenance cycles are a factor of many issues – operation, environment, and design.  This topic will explore various opportunities to increase the life and reduce the maintenance cycle of a cylinder, discussing all the factors noted as well as focusing on specific design and instrumentation possibilities.  They will be in...