| May 1, 2008 If you are not a current subscriber, subscribe here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MAIN EVENT Top story |
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METALFORM, FABTECH and AWS Welding Show Combine to Form One Must-Attend Event The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), American Welding Society (AWS), Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International (FMA) and Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) have formed an alliance to bring together their respective tradeshows beginning with the 2009 exhibition, November 15-18, 2009, at McCormick Place, Chicago, IL. As part of the transition, the metal-stamping pavilion at the 2008 FABTECH show, October 6-8, Las Vegas, will be rebranded as the METALFORM pavilion. The 2009 show is expected to cover 650,000 net square feet with 1300 exhibiting companies and more than 20,000 attendees, becoming the "one-stop shop" in North America where attendees can access the latest materials, equipment and services for all metalforming, fabricating, tube and pipe, welding, and cutting technologies. As the most comprehensive event in the industry, the FABTECH International & AWS Welding Show and METALFORM will be the Western Hemisphere’s single, must-see annual exhibition. Read PMA’s press release here. PMA Business Conditions Report: April 2008 Metalforming companies anticipate that business conditions will remain steady, though expectations are down slightly from last month’s report. When asked what they thought the general trend in economic activity will be over the next three months, 14 percent of respondents foresee an up-tick in activity (compared to 19 percent in the March report), 62 percent expect it to remain the same (60 percent in March) and 34 percent expect a decline (31 percent in March). When asked what they expect the trend to be in incoming orders over the next three months, 41 percent anticipate that they will remain the same (compared to 42 percent in the March report), 26 percent anticipate an increase (March: 30 percent) and 34 percent foresee a decline (March: 28 percent). View the complete report here. JABS A forum for marketing strategies Leveraging the Blogs Specific to Your industry The Wall Street Journal’s Raymund Flandez recently wrote about the growing clout of industry-specific bloggers and how businesses can court their attention for valuable coverage of their product or service in that industry. Among the tips offered: Identify all of the bloggers in your industry’s corner of the blogosphere using a tool like alltop.com, which aggregates headlines from news websites and blogs in several categories and subcategories. Find out if your product or company has already been blogged upon. Whether the coverage is favorable or not, you can use that opportunity to initiate a relationship with the blogger. Technorati.com, ask.com and Google Blogs are a few sites that enable you to search for a blurb on your company or product. Get to know the bloggers. Comb through their archived posts; research the companies they work for; read what they link to; review their profiles on any business or social networking site—such as LinkedIn or Facebook—where they may be active. Understanding the personality and background of a blogger often is a key ingredient for a fruitful marketing relationship. Read the full article here. Optimizing PDFs for Search Engines More and more, whitepapers are becoming integral to the marketing of technical products. If you offer a complex manufacturing solution, chances are you have a whitepaper as a PDF available to download on your website. While not quite as search-friendly as html, if formatted properly, PDFs can be picked up in a keyword search somewhat reliably. B2B search-engine-optimization expert Galen De Young offers 11 excellent tips for optimizing PDFs on searchengineland.com. 3D CAD Models as Sales Tools, Revisited March’s Punch mentioned the innovative use of 3D CAD models as sales tools by some manufacturing companies, as reported by Manufacturing Business Technology. Toolpax Corp., Boulder, CO, offers a good example of this for custom die components. You can see its online demo here.
KNOCKOUT! MetalForming delivers Enhance Your Brand In the Metalforming Market A sponsorship with the Precision Metalforming Association is a cost-effective way to strengthen your company’s image in the stamping, fabricating and forming markets. By supporting a PMA event, product or service, you’re positioned to gain immediate respect among your peers as a major contributor to the advancement of manufacturing. You have choices; from e-newsletters and important business reports to major industry events, there’s an opportunity that will fit your need. Each sponsorship includes its own package of promotional benefits, and is designed to reach a specific audience. Go to PMA’s sponsorship page for more information. |
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PMA Services, Inc., 6363 Oak Tree Blvd., Independence, Ohio 44131-2500 Phone: 216-901-8800 ---- Fax: 216-901-9669 ---- Send feedback © copyright 2008 Precision Metalforming Association All Rights Reserved Legal Page |
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