The challenges of today's marketplace and fickle economy have made association participation more important than ever when the association delivers value. For leaders within the bearing industry, the Bearing Specialists Assn. (BSA) delivers this value.

In distribution, we are fortunate to have many viable industry forums. Among them, only BSA merges the interests of distribution and manufacturing into a cohesive forum representing the interests of the bearing industry. Not surprisingly, BSA members and participating manufacturers belong to other organizations that provide additional educational and networking opportunities, but none of them offers BSA's tar-geted venue that delivers value through relationship building between distributors and manufacturers within the industry.

A few years ago, distributors and manufacturers developed the Product Price Information Format (PPIF) to establish a single format for suppliers to provide their information to all participating distributors. The result has been a tremendous saving in time and money.

In 1999, the Certified Bearing Specialist (CBS) program was developed to provide industry-specific training for service and applications. Industry professionals awarded the CBS designation offer the customer demonstrated industry knowledge, the distributor a marketable measure of competence, and the manufacturer the satisfaction that his product is professionally represented.

BSA recently launched a Distributor/ Manufacturer Relations Committee to explore additional opportunities to encourage the dialogue between these two supply chain participants, and, most importantly, to look for additional ways to develop the relationship among bearing distributors and manufacturers.

Earlier this year, BSA distributors and manufacturers joined forces to produce a special supplement in targeted issues of this publication and two others. Their purpose was to demonstrate how bearing end-users benefit from this distributor/manufacturer relationship. The supplement garnered participation from all corners of BSA.

BSA's Annual Convention provides the most visible and immediately gratifying opportunity for distributors and manufacturers to build on relationships with each other. Convention attendees immerse themselves in the bearing industry, soaking up the wisdom and experience of their peers. Attendees also set aside time for conference tables, pre-scheduled meetings between distributors and manufacturers that "zero in" on networking. When the association assembles for its Annual Convention, April 25-27, 2004, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., attendees will benefit once again from these increasingly productive, face-to-face meetings.

If your company distributes or manufactures bearings and related products and you aren't currently a BSA member or participating manufacturer, I encourage you to become an active participant in your industry's trade association, the Bearing Specialists Assn. It's the most effective way to learn best practices within the industry, pick up competitive insight, and see where the industry is going.