Page 39 - MetalForming Magazine June/July 2022 80th Anniversary Issue
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  led to interest by membership and the association in forming its own net- working groups. This really took hold in the late-1990s through formation of the GADA and Naples executive-net- working groups, employing a model where about 20 people met three times per year with an independent facilita- tor, all administered through the asso- ciation. Back then, PMA managed just two such networking groups; now it manages five, with each serving specific member interests.
“We think we can add as many as five more in the next few years, each with 15 to 20 members,” says Klotz.
The industry continued growing through the 1960s, and so did AMSA’s presence—nationally and worldwide. In 1964, the first International Study Team of 47 AMSA representatives toured plants in Germany, France and England, and then attended the First International Stamping Conference in England. In 1965, AMSA established a precedent by cosponsoring a two-day conference of educators and industri- alists, at Kent State University. It estab- lished other precedents that same year when it participated in the National Safety Congress, and also marketed itself to potential members by reserving a booth for the first time at the ASTME (American Society of Tool and Manu- facturing Engineers, now known as SME) Tool Show. Also in 1965, AMSA took first place in the 1965 National Idea Fair of the American Society of Association Executives.
March 1967 saw the birth of AMSA’s industry publication, Metal Stamping magazine, which took the name Met- alForming in 1988. Over the years, Met- alForming has added digital compo- nents, including websites, enewsletters and mobile apps, as well as live and virtual events. 3D Metal Printing joined the PMA publication roster in 2016.
AMSA hosted the Third Internation- al Technical Conference of Sheet Metal Working in 1969, at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago. This meeting represented AMSA’s first attempt at multilingual, simultaneous translation as well as printing. Each program was presented
simultaneously in French, English, Ger- man and Japanese. Today, as a member of the International Council of Sheet Metal Presswork Associations (ICOSPA), PMA takes an active role in the ICOSPA Congress, held every three years. This year, ICOSPA will take place in the fall in Birmingham, England.
Birth of METALFORM
In 1981, at AMSA’s annual Spring Technical Conference in Cleveland, the association organized an exhibition in a hotel parking garage. That event marked the beginning of METALFORM, held every odd year until 1991 when it became an annual affair. In 2009, the METALFORM show became a pavilion in FABTECH as PMA partnered for the first time with other trade associations on that annual event. PMA also now partners on the FABTECH Mexico and FABTECH Canada exhibitions.
In September 2008, metal forming manufacturers from around the world gathered in Grand Rapids, MI, for the 16th ICOSPA Congress, hosted by PMA. Three-hundred metal forming-industry executives attended the event to dis- cuss key industry business issues,
review new technologies and share industry-specific management prac- tices. Highlights included well-known keynote speakers, reports from the six ICOSPA countries and plant tours of worldclass metal forming facilities.
OSHA Stirs Action; AMSA Becomes PMA
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970 propelled AMSA to focus intently on safety and gener- ated increased membership as the industry became concerned with the impact of OSHA regulations. The asso- ciation actively began educating mem- bers on OSHA regulations and stepped up its conversations with regulators. Association membership doubled in the early 1970s as a result.
AMSA also emphasized related training in 1971, with a series of two- day workshops held for key employees responsible for their companies’ com- pliance with the new safety regulations. In conjunction, AMSA compiled its first safety-compliance handbook.
In 1972, AMSA broke ground for a new headquarters building in the Cleve- land suburb of Richmond Heights, and
  36 MetalForming/June/July 2022
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Reflecting the commitment of PMA to the importance of manufacturing, the association and its members routinely plan special events around Manufacturing Day each year, as Automation Tool & Die did in 2018.


















































































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