The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) announced two new member-driven committees:  Emerging Technology and Industry Voice. The new committees support the organization's newly adopted strategic plan to ask the association to keep members updated on technologies impacting the industry, while also exploring new ways to align the industry via partnerships and communications.

The Emerging Technology Committee will be led by Chair Brian Schultz, president of Great Lakes Industry. The focus of the Emerging Technology Committee is to determine what technologies are expected to impact the industry and develop AGMA as a platform for delivering action-oriented information, communications and speakers.

"The Emerging Technology will be one of AGMA's most critically important committees because they will challenge industry by alerting industry to disruptive technologies and market opportunities that they believe will have a considerable impact on industry," notes Matthew E. Croson, AGMA president. "The information they share will come from both a technical and business perspective, allowing companies to understand, and take action on, the opportunities as we see them develop."

The Emerging Technology committee will be tracking four major technologies as they start efforts to add value to AGMA membership: additive manufacturing, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), robotics and new alloys.

"Members should expect to see provocative speakers, white papers, communications and outreach that can be considered internally as AGMA members wrestle with response strategies," notes Croson. "We see the association as serving as a change agent platform where members can get a handle on the emerging technologies from both a technical and business perspective, then do the work they need to respond."

The Industry Voice Committee will be led by Shawn O'Brien, vice president, marketing at McInnes Rolled Ring. The focus of the Industry Voice Committee is to bring the mechanical power transmission supply chain together and share how AGMA's members and the association provide innovation to the larger power transmission industry. Additionally, the Industry Voice Committee is tasked with exploring collaborations with organizations along the power transmission supply chain, and to effectively communicate what our industry is all about to the downstream customer. 

"AGMA's strategic plan asks for the association to develop what we're calling the Power Transmission Alliance, and figure out how we can best discuss who we are, what value we deliver, and how best to access the collective knowledge of the supply chain," notes Croson. "This strategy came from the acknowledgement of the customer trend for needing information that covers the full power transmission system, not just the components.  We have an opportunity to unite elements of our industry under an Alliance umbrella in order to communicate what we are all about at events such as Gear Expo, or the Fall Technical Meeting, where we bring industry together."

Committee Members for Emerging Technology include Committee Chair Brian Schultz, president - Great Lakes Industry and committee members Bill Bennett, metallurgical engineer - Corry Forge Company (Division of Ellwood City Forge); Teressa Conlan, assistant manager spare parts - Klingelnberg America, Inc.; Nitin Chaphalkar, product manager - DMG/Mori Seiki USA, Inc.; Joe Goral, Sr., technical support engineer - Bourn & Koch, Inc.; David Harroun, sales manager - Koepfer America, LLC; David Hegenbarth, president - Federal Gear; Will Li, VP - Li Gear; Thomas "Buzz" Maiuri, Sr. product manager - The Gleason Works; and Jack Masseth, director, advanced gear design and manufacturing - Meritor Heavy Vehicle Systems, LLC.

Committee Members for Industry Voice include Committee Chair Shawn O'Brien, VP, sales and marketing - McInnes Rolled Rings and Committee Members Darian Ditzler, sales manager - Luren Precision Chicago Co., Ltd; William Gornicki, VP, sales and marketing - ALD Vacuum Systems, Inc.; Matthew Johnston, VP - Croix Gear & Machining; Anne Miner, sales manager - Machine Tool Builders, Inc.; and Gregory Moreland, global manager, markets and products - Fairfield Manufacturing Co., Inc.

"AGMA looks forward to working with these industry leaders as we drive new value for AGMA members by bringing thought provoking insight about emerging technologies, and take a leadership position by bringing the industry together to talk about what we are all about," adds Croson. "AGMA is 100 percent focused on creating a bright future for members, and we encourage non-members to join us and be part of the next 100 years of AGMA."