The future direction of manufacturing will be the focus of the seventh annual Industries of the Future-West Virginia symposium and related activities Oct. 29-31 at Stonewall Resort in Roanoke.
The symposium, to be held Friday, Oct. 31, will assess the status, future needs and project co-funding possibilities for West Virginias aluminum, steel, metal casting, glass, chemicals, polymers, wood products, mining and cross-cut technology companies. U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has been invited to give the symposiums luncheon speech that day.
Also Friday, WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. will moderate a panel discussion, Forum on the Status and Future of Manufacturing in West Virginia. Five West Virginia company executives will share their views on challenges that are critical to the survival and future competitiveness of their industry sectors.
Industry panelists include Tim Duke, president and chief executive officer of Steel of West Virginia; Jim Mills, plant manager for AFG Industries; Barry Phillips, senior vice president for business development at Bayer Corp.; Jim Wadsworth, procurement manager at Weyerhaeuser OSB and Truss Joist McMillan; and Ric Love, technical director at Century Aluminum. Respondents include West Virginiia Development Office Executive Director David Satterfield, state Sens. Brooks McCabe and Walt Helmick, Delegate Sam Cann and Amy Barber of Rockefeller’s staff.
Preceding the symposium, on Thursday Oct. 30, the entire day will focus on developing co-funding opportunities for university-industry partnership projects with a variety of state, federal and private agencies. Programs and agencies to be represented include the Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Energys Office of Fossil Energy and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, National Academies, West Virginia Development Office, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, West Virginia University, NASA , U.S. Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Science Foundation and West Virginia EPSCoR. The purpose of the co-funded projects is to increase competitiveness of West Virginias energy-intensive manufacturing industries through energy and resource efficiency and development of new technologies.
Toni Marechaux will give Thursdays keynote address, New Directions and Developments in ManufacturingR&D Needs and Resources. Marechaux is director of the Board of Manufacturing and Engineering Design at the National Academies, a private, nonprofit organization that advises Congress about scientific and technical matters.
Other symposium preliminaries include three short courses to be offered Oct. 29: Compressed Air System Efficiency Enhancement by Brian Overton of Equipment and Controls Inc. and Pat Manning of Total Equipment Inc.; Principles of Lean Manufacturing with Hands-on Simulations by Jerry Biser, Tom Bailey, Dave Carrick and Ray Neupert of the WVU Manufacturing Extension Program; and Cost-saving Opportunities for Manufacturing Through Energy Efficiency, organized by Bhaskaran Gopolakrishnan of the WVU Industrial Assessment Center.
Industries of the Future-West Virginia is a state version of a national program developed through the U.S. Department of Energy. Its role is to promote projects, partnerships and programs that increase energy efficiency, reduce and use waste materials, and improve productivity in energy-intensive industries. The state program is a partnership involving WVU , the DOE s Office of Industrial Technologies, the West Virginia Development Office and state industry groups. Carl Irwin, director of market enhancement and program development at WVU s National Research Center for Coal and Energy, is director of IOF -WV.
For complete agendas and registration material, call IOF -WV program coordinator Kathleen Cullen at 304-293-7318 ext. 5426 or go online athttp://iofwv.nrcce.wvu.edu.