It’s 2022! AGMA’s 106th year. Numbers are interesting things; here are a few pertinent ones for AGMA.

AGMA has 429 members.

Of that total, 326 are companies that manufacture gears, gearboxes and related components.

In 2022, 90 members are global — with operations completely outside of the United States. WE are part of a thriving global gear community.

AGMA promulgates 65 standards and 40 information sheets for the industry.

AGMA also publishes 37 ABMA standards for the bearings industry.

AGMA has 23 technical committees with more than 350 individuals from AGMA member companies guiding the standards development process. And we need more! We would love to get your people involved.

AGMA has 21 live education classes, with 11 instructors.

In 2021, whether online or in person, AGMA trained 347 engineers.

AGMA created a robust online webinar series to provide members with important information regarding trade, tariffs, emerging technology and marketing insights. More than 400 industry professionals participated in these webinars and AGMA will continue to offer top-quality content in 2022.

AGMA published four gear market reports, one Operating Ratio Report and the ongoing Monthly Market Trend Report for those that participated in 2021. We will continue to offer these products in 2022 and the gear market reports are now included in your membership!

AGMA has four emerging technology committees, with 85 members guiding the efforts to stay ahead of technology innovations that could disrupt the gear industry.

In 2021, these committees published an Electric Vehicle white paper from a gearing perspective.

In 2021, AGMA brought together an additional 221 leaders for learning and networking — the Annual Meeting was online, the SRN and FTM were face to face.

In 2021, MPT Expo brought together 1,000 industry professionals for a small, focused tradeshow. The first since the pandemic started.

In 2021, Gear Technology was read 8×, by 13,000 industry professionals. An additional 17,000 read Power Transmission Engineering 8×.

So many positive numbers, even with COVID-19, its Delta and Omicron variants — and even during a global supply chain crisis that I am sure everyone reading this column is experiencing in some way.

But what does it all mean?

These numbers mean one thing: AGMA delivers value — and this value is delivered with members leading the way on our committees and leadership positions.

As a Board of Directors, we identified four major strategic objectives, and new ways of delivering value.

1.    AGMA identified business connections as a strategic objective, and we deliver with publications, events and opportunities to connect online or in person.

2.    AGMA identified education as a strategic objective, and we deliver classes and training.

3.    AGMA identified emerging technology as a strategic objective, and we deliver speakers, white papers and opportunities to tour facilities.

4.    AGMA identified standards as a strategic objective, and we continue to deliver as a leading Standards Development Organization (SDO) at the national and global level.

Now the question is, what’s next? What does the next 10 years look like?

That is a challenging question, but one the Executive Committee is going to ask when we get together in February.

Some thoughts we are sure to touch on in 2022:

How will AGMA convene the industry over the next 10 years?

What will our events like MPT Expo, FTM, Annual Meeting and SRN look like?

How does the digital world intersect with AGMA by 2030 in terms of education, training, sharing of technical data?

Who will the leaders of tomorrow be, and how do we prepare them to guide an organization steeped in valuable history and experience, into a future where the past may not be a value?

We do not know the answers to any of these questions yet. And we may not know them in 2022 either!

But the show committee is already talking about MPT Expo 2023 and beyond….

The education committee is already talking about how its platform may need to adjust to a post COVID reality….

The emerging technology committee is developing two white papers in 2022…

The standards committees will continue to gather technical leaders together and to continue our focus on publishing relevant standards that define performance.

The market intelligence committee is already securing new data analysis companies to provide insights to our members….

The one thing I know is that PEOPLE will be driving our future — working together collaboratively, debating and having dialogue about the right steps to move us forward, together.

I encourage you to get involved, be an active part of your industry and join us as we figure out our future, before it figures it out for us.

If you are reading this and looking for how to get involved, drop Matt Croson an email at croson@agma.org (or scan the QR code). We will connect you immediately, and get the ball rolling.