The Association for Manufacturing Excellence offers an exclusive club for corporate- and plant-level managers seeking information and resources to improve their company’s profitability.

Membership in AME’s Champions Club is expensive ($2,500), but it includes complimentary admission to most organization functions, including the AME annual conference. It also provides free access to members-only tours and roundtable discussions. These events target hot-button issues, such as Internet utilization, value stream mapping, leadership, strategic business planning and improvement tools (i.e. lean, agile, Six Sigma).

Club director Pat Carguello says the advantages are numerous.

"The best reason to join is to build an influence network of peers — people that shoulder similar responsibilities or who may have insight or experience with a problem or project you’re working on," he says. "Someone in the group may have the solution."

Or, a lesson to learn from.

"Members are willing to share their mistakes," he says. "They can tell you, ‘Here’s where we were going. We tried this and it failed. We dissected it, and here’s why it failed. Here’s what we learned.’" 

The club currently has more than 70 members, most with executive titles such as vice president of manufacturing, VP of operations and plant manager. 

They represent small-, medium- and large-sized companies from a wide range of industries.

To learn more about the club, visit www.ame.org or call .

• AME recently announced that Chicago, Toronto and Cincinnati would play host to the professional organization’s annual conferences in 2002, 2003 and 2004, respectively.

The 2002 event in Chicago will be Nov. 4-8. The 2003 event in Toronto will be Oct. 6-10. The 2004 event in Cincinnati will be Nov. 18-22.

Check out the AME Web site for more details as they become available.

For membership and general information, contact AME at:

Address: 380 W. Palatine Rd., Wheeling, IL
Phone number:
Fax number:
E-mail:
Web site: www.ame.org

Other professional organization news and notes:

American Society for Quality: America’s two leading organizations on quality – ASQ, and the Association for Quality and Participation (AQP) – recently finalized their agreement to affiliate. Plans of an affiliation were first announced at AQP’s spring conference.

The pact between the two groups will result in a broader array of products and services to members.

"It’s a win-win for the quality movement in the United States," says ASQ chairman Greg Watson.

For membership and general information, contact ASQ at:

Address: 600 N. Plankinton Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53203
Phone number:
Fax number:
E-mail:
Web site: www.asq.org

APICS — Educational Society for Resource Management: One of the highlight presentations at the APICS International Conference and Exposition – Oct. 28-31 in San Antonio – will center on methods to optimize global supply chains and e-business.

The presentation will include insights from R. David Nelson, VP of worldwide supply management, John Deere and Co.; Jeff Peterson, e-Business Center VP, Du Pont; Carl Curry, VP of global integrated purchasing and logistics, Quaker; and Joe Pyne, VP of corporate development, United Parcel Service.

For membership and general information, contact APICS at:

Address: 5301 Shawnee Rd., Alexandria, VA 22312
Phone number:
Fax number:
E-mail:
Web site: www.apics.org

Association for Facilities Engineering: AFE is seeking presenters for its 2002 conference, Sept. 21-25 in New Orleans. For consideration, submit your presentation to AFE by Dec. 31, 2001.

Presenters must have expertise and practical experience in one or more of the following areas: facilities/plant management, energy conservation and management, waste management, environmental initiatives, technology management, facility safety and security, professional development, and management of skilled trades.

Check out AFE’s Web site for details and contact information.

For membership and general information, contact AFE at:

Address: 8180 Corporate Park Dr., Suite 305, Cincinnati, OH 45242
Phone number:
Fax number:
E-mail:
Web site: www.afe.org

International Maintenance Institute: IMI members can now list job openings on the organization’s Web site, www.imionline.org, for free. By placing your openings on the IMI site, you can reach your ideal audience of maintenance professionals who visit the site on a regular basis.

For more information, or to send in plant or facilities maintenance-related "help wanted" postings, contact Barbara Walters, 730 W. Frances St., Appleton, WI 54914. 

You can also phone or fax Walters at . 

For membership and general information, contact IMI at:

Address: P.O. Box 751896, Houston, TX 77275
Phone number:
Fax number:
E-mail:
Web site: www.imionline.org

National Association of Purchasing Management — MRO Group: The MRO Group is sponsoring a three-day conference and workshop on integrated supply and supplier alliances. The event is Nov. 14-16 in New Orleans.

Among the case studies scheduled for the event are:

• "How Harley-Davidson Buys," presented by Albert Keal.

• "John Deere’s Seven Steps to Success," presented by Chris Gleason.

Workshops will be presented by Rich Weissman, Bob Segal and Tim Underhill.

For a copy of the brochure, call NAPM’s fax-on-demand service at and get document 13070. 

For membership and general information, contact NAPM — MRO Group at:

Address: 1021 Park Forest Place, Ellisville, MO 63021
Phone number:
Fax number:
E-mail:
Web site: www.napm.org

Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals: Maintenance and reliability pros look to SMRP for the comprehensive education and networking only a practitioner-run organization can provide. Please consider submitting an abstract for the group’s 10th annual conference. It’s easy – just visit www.smrp.org/events/index.html, where you can also get the latest on SMRP’s executive meetings, workshops and conference. While on the site, learn about the new professional certification sponsored by SMRP. 

For membership and general information, contact SMRP at:

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