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January 2007 Issue Fluid Power Journal.

Robert Kraft, President

FLUID POWER, PNEUMATICS, HYDRAULICS, ELECTRONIC CONTROLS, MOTION CONTROL or AUTOMATION? 

After working over 40 years in our industry, I appreciate the opportunity to help lead and contribute to our Technical Society. As a Board member over the past three years, I have learned from the “inside” of the hours of volunteer service that Board members and other members have donated.

Like many, I found our industry by chance. Following engineering school at Ohio University and 3 ½ years in the Navy, in 1965 I answered a Paul-Munroe Hydraulics ad in the Los Angeles Times. I was fortunate that my first job was with a company committed to education, training and competency. One of my early tasks was assisting in the 1967 publication of the first edition of the Fluid Power Designers’ Lightning Reference Handbook, still a popular standard engineering data source (available from IFPS).

Throughout my career, technical, product and application knowledge have been of the highest importance to me and my business associates. Education, training and experience lead to learning and competency. I believe that it is in the best interests of everyone to work for, work with, sell to and sell against competent people. IFPS certifications are only one measure of professional competency, but they are accepted as the standard measure of competency for our industry.

Our changing industry will continue to challenge our companies and us personally, for we as groups of individuals make up our companies. The lines separating our traditional products from controls, complementary and competitive technologies are blurring, disappearing or have already disappeared. What is our business? fluid power, pneumatics hydraulics, electronic controls, motion control, automation or various combinations of all? Driven by customer demand and innovation, many of our companies are including electronic controls along with our traditional product offering. As a result of these trends and our market research, IFPS has committed to developing a new “Electronic Controls” Certification(s) to verify the higher competency skills required to design, apply and service this newer technology. We have organized a certification scope definition and development meeting of industry professionals at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, held in January 2007.

Your Society is committed to continuous improvement of both the quality and delivery of our certification materials and processes. During 2007 and 2008, the Society will be developing this new Controls certification and will require advisory and technical committee members. Also, we will reintroduce the C & C Certification developed in cooperation with the Society of Automotive Engineers.

We are excited and encouraged by the response we have had to our surveys and recent solicitation for members to serve on our Board of Directors. Eight of our twelve Directors-at-Large for 2007 are new and four of them have attended previous Board meetings. Please let us know your interests, concerns, suggestions and willingness to serve on Board and Certification committees!