ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Independent Sealing Distributors will hold their 11th Annual Meeting & Convention in Ponte Vedra, Fla., October 9-13.

Most of the issues members will discuss at the meeting concern the economy and distribution problems in general, but many members are concerned about the machinery, automotive and energy segments that most affect their businesses. Discussing all of those issues is the paramount reason to get together, said Joe Thompson, executive director of ISD.

One major problem for discussion this year is the growing number of integrated supply contracts that include mechanical sealing devices, Thompson said.

"Materials and methods are changing rapidly and end users need specifically engineered sealing products," Thompson said. "ISD members need to communicate to customers not to include those products in integrated contracts."

Some members are also concerned with slowdowns in their regions. Another reason to get to the convention is to find new or emerging markets, Thompson said.

Some distributors are doing surprisingly well regionally selling to automotive, chemical, drug and food industries, said Thompson. In Texas, oil/gas and machinery are doing better than expected. However, in that same market, traditionally strong segments like pulp/paper and power generation are slow. Aerospace and commercial aircraft are slow in California. Foundry work and machine repair are slow segments in several regions, he added.

Educating salespeople in the more technical aspects of fluid sealing is one way to convince customers to keep independent distributors on their priority vendor lists. With that in mind, ISD will revamp its training regimen toward technical fluid sealing device education, Thompson said.

"We are working jointly with the Fluid Sealing Assn., whose members are seal manufacturers, for technical training," he said. More information will be available at the fall convention.