You may or may not know that AGMA manages the American Bearing Manufacturers Association, ABMA, similarly to AGMA. Because gears and bearings go together like “peas and carrots!” to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite movies. I thought that the GT audience would like an update on what is going on in the technical division of ABMA.

If you are a true gear geek, you are probably aware of AGMA’s Fall Technical Meeting (FTM). However, we have true gear geeks attending the FTM for the first time each year, and we are thrilled to see that!

AGMA wants you to be involved in gear standards development. Committee meetings are a great place to network and collaborate with experts in the field, broaden your knowledge, capture technical expertise in writing, refine the standards you use, and see how your influence helps shape best practices throughout America and around the world. We are especially looking for experts to join four new standardization projects.

In 2023, the Technical Division Executive Committee (TDEC) worked on a technical committee restructuring that replaced the standing, topic-specific committees with working groups, which would focus only on an active project and fold when the project was completed. Due to feedback received on the change, the TDEC took a step back and re-evaluated the restructuring. This led to a new committee-based structure that takes the good parts of project working groups and merges them with the good parts of technical committees. The committees are consolidated and include sub-working groups to perform the work on information sheets and standards.

AGMA is pleased to announce the publication of two new revisions: ANSI/AGMA 2116-B24, Evaluation of Double Flank Testers for Radial Composite Measurement of Gears, written by the AGMA Gear Accuracy Committee, and ANSI/AGMA 6008-B24, Specifications for Powder Metallurgy Gears written by the AGMA Powder Metallurgy Committee.

The inaugural issue of Gear Technology marked a significant change in the industry. I was 13 years into my career, working at my third company and in my fifth year on AGMA’s Helical Gear Rating Committee. Back then, few engineers moved around; you started at a gear company, were indoctrinated in their way of doing things, and hoped to advance by making very incremental changes to the “old family recipe.”

AGMA hosted an EV Town Hall last month during their Motion + Power Technology Expo (MPT Expo). This event was planned to explicitly ask the question, “Is industry ready to roll up its sleeves and start the process of sharing common outcomes that will serve as the building blocks for standards for electric vehicle technology?” Spoiler Alert: The answer was a resounding, yes. And the discussion uncovered some key issues, and perhaps a surprise or two, that will help AGMA leverage its 107 years of experience in this space to start to frame future discussions for electric vehicle standards development.

Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instrument (SDP/SI), a Designatronics, Inc. company, completed and passed its recertification AS9100:D and ISO 9001:2015 quality system audit. The audit, conducted by Intertek over a 5-day period, certifies SDP/SI’s quality management system conforms to AS and ISO standards.

AGMA’s standards development process has been reorganized from a committee-based structure to a project-based format. This change means that AGMA will no longer have standing, topic-specific committees. Instead, project working groups will be formed to develop and deliver project-specific objectives. The group will be dissolved at the end of the project. The change will enable the AGMA’s Technical Division Executive Committee (TDEC) to pivot its resources in a timely manner to meet and address the ever-changing needs and challenges of the gearing industry.

The AGMA Technical Division informs of the publication of new documents by ISO Central: ISO 10300-1:2023, Calculation of load capacity of bevel gears — Part 1: Introduction and general influence factors; ISO 10300-2:2023, Calculation of load capacity of bevel gears — Part 2: Calculation of surface durability (macropitting); ISO 10300-3:2023, Calculation of load capacity of bevel gears — Part 3: Calculation of tooth root strength.