Phoenix—More than 240 manufacturers, distributors and industry participants attended the Fluid Power Distributors Assn.'s 2004 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, April 25–28, where they enjoyed food, drink, networking and educational and informative sessions.

"Our final attendance number was 244 delegates, which was above our expectations," said Kathleen DeMarco, executive director of FPDA. "We had planned very conservatively because of the last two years, and were delighted to have exceeded our expectations."

DeMarco attributes the increased attendance to the convention's programming and the more positive economic climate, as well as the convention's timing being shifted to the end of April, and making it one day shorter.

Monday morning's General Session was called to order by Bob Doig of Doig Corp., FPDA's convention chairman. In his opening comments, Doig stated that "business is up, and things are going well. Like the city we are in right now, the industry has been reborn, and is rising from the ashes of the last couple years."

In his welcome address, FPDA president Brian Kundinger of Kundinger Controls attributed the success of the association to the 86 members who initially met in Chicago in 1974. But while there have been a lot of changes in the industry, Kundinger said, "The initial aim of the association in 1974—to help educate members how to best buy and sell their products—is still [its] aim."

In response to the association's previous meetings and feedback the organization received from its attendees, FPDA compiled a team to monitor the industry as it moves forward. Tom Schneider, director of sales for Eaton Hydraulics, spoke of the teams, saying, "…We've looked at a lot of information, and have formulated a 'working model' to show what's going on in the industry…and have teed up four important issues in the industry."

Those four issues were the basis behind the formation of four teams of distributors and manufacturers, of which each would focus on one key issue. Those four teams each made their initial reports at the convention, covering the topics "Value-add," "New Applications/Growth," "Channel Management," and "Benchmarking."

Said DeMarco, "We've had some positive feedback on the reports, but most attendees thought that the teams should be creating solutions to the problems rather than just identifying them. Each team will be meeting more this year, and will be brainstorming those solutions for the next FPDA convention."

To offer perspectives on the states of industries outside of FPDA, Frank Hurtte, past president of the Assn. for High Technology Distribution, and Mary Sue Lyon, executive director of the Power Transmission Distributors Assn., spoke to the audience.

Stephen Gold, vice president of the National Assn. of Manufacturers and executive director of the Council of Manufacturing Assns., spoke to the gathering about raising awareness on a governmental level of the importance of manufacturing in the country, stating that the industries need to "get Americans to view manufacturing as the future, not the past."

Tuesday's General Session started with Dr. John Monoky of Monoky Associates giving a presentation on "Defining Your Market," which encouraged distributors to respect that profit is not a strategy, and to ask themselves who else can buy their products, where they focus their market sales, and if they can do it smarter.

After a presentation by Tom Janis from Dun & Bradstreet's Sales and Marketing Solutions on "Identifying Growth Industries" and a lunch break, attendees broke up into two focus groups, "Implementing Extended Value Selling" and "Managing Data with Technology," in the early afternoon, then attended either "Improving Distributor Profitability through Inside Sales" or "The Fluid Power in Transition" later that day.

"Dr. Monoky and Tom Janis received some strong, favorable reactions," said DeMarco. "But the overwhelming response from attendees has been positive for the timeliness of the speakers, as well as the industry-based speakers' sessions. Attendees liked that they weren't just 'talking heads.'"

Kundinger's closing remarks on Wednesday celebrated the 30 years of FPDA.