PTDA elects 2003 slate. The Power Transmission Distributors Assn. elected the following officers at its fall convention: president, Carlos Ingram, Kaman Industrial Technologies, Windsor, Ct.; first vice president, Don Latham, Canadian Bearings, Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario; second vice president, Jack Neal, Root, Neal & Co., Buffalo, N.Y.; treasurer, Andy Nations, Bearings & Drives, Inc., Macon, Ga.; allied chair, Barb Ross, Garlock Sealing Technologies, Palmyra, N.Y.; and vice chair, Jim Lamb, Drives, Inc., Fulton, Ill.

BSA annual convention is set. The Bearing Specialists Assn. will hold its annual convention April 14-17, 2003, at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. The convention is open to all members and invited manufacturers. Two programs highlight the meeting this year: All Business is Show Business and Value Added: Fact or Fiction? In the former, author and journalist Scott McKain helps attendees evaluate their business practices in light of today's image-conscious marketplace. In the latter, a customer panel will discuss "value-added" as a marketing tool and bankable commodity.

The afternoon of Tuesday, April 15, has been reserved for manufacturers and distributors to schedule individual or group meetings. Boards and committees meet throughout the event.

For more information, contact BSA at (630) 858-3838. NAED welcomes major league pitcher to conference. The National Assn. of Electrical Distributors announced that Jim Morris, the baseball pitcher who inspired the 2002 motion picture, The Rookie, is the keynote speaker for the Region 2 conference in Orlando, Fla. Morris, who was a high school baseball coach before becoming a pitcher at age 35, will open the general session at the Feb. 26-March 1 conference with his speech, Never Give Up on a Dream, about the ways that ordinary dedication achieves extraordinary success.

For information, contact NAED at (314) 991-9000.

NAW chooses consultant for report. The National Assn. of Wholesaler-Distributors selected Pembroke Consulting to conduct its next supply chain industry study, Facing the Forces of Change, to be published in the spring of 2004. According to NAW executive director Ron Schreibman, Pembroke and its president, Dr. Adam Fein, have extensive industry knowledge and experience.

Fein and other Pembroke personnel, and contributors, authored Facing the Forces of Change 2001 and Facing the Forces of Change OUTLOOK 2003.

AMTDA will host professional workshop. The American Machine Tool Distributors Assn. will host a Sales Engineer Technical Training workshop Feb. 19-20, 2003, in Chicago. The workshop has seven sessions and qualifies participants for two Professional Development Points for CMTSE re-certification.

Sessions include design, cutting tool technology, cutting operations, accuracy, manufacturing systems, value-based selling and CNC & machining control. The workshop is designed to help engineers maintain a working knowledge of machine tool technology but focuses on explanations of topics in non-engineering terms.

For more information, contact AMTDA at (301) 738-1200. FPDA will hold spring conference. The Fluid Power Distributors Assn. will hold its spring conference, Differentiation: Avoiding the Traps/Building the Future, at Disney's Yacht & Beach Club in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The program will focus on techniques to help companies avoid common traps while building for the future. FPDA also welcomed the following new members this fall: Distributors Northwest Pneumatics, Portland, Ore.; Dakota Fluid Power, Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Indumo, Inc., St. Laurent, Quebec.

For more information, contact FPDA at (856) 424-8998. AMTDA releases disappointing figures. The American Machine Tool Distributors Assn. and Assn. for Manufacturing Technology released their joint consumption figures recently. Through the third quarter of 2002, consumption was down 24.7 percent from a year ago. Manufacturing continues in a deep slump and lacks the near-term confidence to increase purchasing of machine tools, according to AMTDA president Ralph Nappi. Companies in the metalworking industry that participate in the United States Machine Tool Consumption report program report the data monthly.

Send Association News to associate editor Al Tuttle, 275 Washington St., Newton, Mass., 02458; call (617) 558-4770; fax to (617) 558-4327; or e-mail to atuttle@reedbusiness.com.