PSMA website
printing icon Click for easy-to-print version on 1 page
 
Report On PSMA 2010 Planning Meeting
T he 2010 PSMA Planning Meeting was held on September 18 at the Omni Hotel in Fort Worth, TX on Sept.18, 2010 with 14 attendees. The purpose of the planning meeting was to review where the association is today, discuss issues and to identify possible programs and projects that promise to bring value to the membership.


PSMA members enjoying themselves at the APEC Program Committee dinner

PSMA Chairman Dusty Becker led the meeting and provided an overview of the membership statistics and the changes since the last meeting and the accomplishments since the last planning meeting. He emphasized that the technical committees are the heart of the organization and it is in these committees that the real work of PSMA is done.

Michel Grenon, Secretary/Treasurer, prepared a 6-Quarter financial forecast that indicated that the levels of expenses are expected to increase moderately while income from membership dues will have modest growth and the APEC surpluses will continue at recent levels. He forecast the Association will remain in good financial position which will allow funding to support Special Projects that promise to bring value to the membership.


Dusty Becker gives the Chairman's Report at the 2010 PSMA Planning Meeting

There was a report from each of the technical committees which summarized their accomplishments in the past year and ongoing programs and projects. Four of the technical committees have submitted proposals for Special Presentation sessions at APEC 2011.

  • The newly reformed Capacitor Committee has organized a seven topic Special Presentation session the use of capacitors in power electronics giving an overview of the major dielectric capacitor roles in input and output filters.
  • The Packaging Committee has organized a seven topic Special Presentation session that addresses packaging issues in higher power electronic applications particularly system level issues such as thermal design and integration of the power electronics into the system using electric vechicles, particularly automobiles as the focus. In addition, PSMA is co-sponsoring the Second Power Supply on Chip Packaging Workshop which will be held at Tyndall National Institute, Cork, Ireland Oct 13th-15th, 2010.
  • The Nanotechnology Committee has organized a six topic Special Presentation session covering ongoing projects and recent advances in the use of nanotechnology materials and products in electronic designs.
  • The Alternate Energy Committee has organized a seven topic Special Presentation session on sustainable buildings, microgrids and solar powered dc charging projects.
Arnold Alderman provided a summary of activities in support of the Energy Efficiency Data Base over the past year. He reported that there are now 30 agencies on the data base representing 22 categories and 65 applications. There have been 33 Energy Efficiency Data Base Reviews with 22 generated this past year. The data base on the PSMA web site has been well received with over 200 registered users from around the world.


PSMA members are doing their part at the APEC Program Committee meeting

Carl Blake and Aung Tu Thet, Co-chairs of the Technology Roadmap Committee, reported the committee has been very active this past year and listed the 15 roadmap presentations that  have already been made with a 16th presentation scheduled by the Capacitor Committee in October. All of the presentations have been via teleconference (audio and web) and recorded. The presentations will be available shortly for review by the committee on the PSMA web site. The Power Technology Roadmap Report will be available to the membership prior to APEC 2011. A Plenary Presentation that will summarize and highlight some of the results from the Roadmap will be made at APEC 2011.

Dusty Becker reviewed the results of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis conducted at a special meeting of the Executive Committee held earlier this year. He suggested that the results of that exercise be the main inputs in developing suggested initiatives for the coming year.


Aung Thet Tu, Carl Blake and Doug Hopkins at the Technology Roadmap meeting

In discussing some of the areas of concern to the association, Dusty Becker highlighted the need to invest in projects that will bring value to our members, the need to develop more and deeper involvement within member companies and a commitment to bring more industry content to APEC. The group participated in a brainstorming session to list possible projects and activities to address these issues.

The group did not prioritize the items and identify those that should be included as recommended projects and goals for coming year. The prioritization will be done by the Executive Committee and discussed at the October and November Board meetings. In addition, the Marketing Committee was asked to prepare a questionnaire to survey the membership and solicit their inputs on projects that would benefit their company and the industry.


Chuck Mullett is happy to report on the activities of the Nanotechnology Committee 		 
Joe Horzepa takes notes during the meeting

PSMA members will soon be able to view the minutes of the Planning Meeting with the listing of suggested initiatives on the "Members Only" section of the PSMA web site.

Although a lot was accomplished during the busy weekend, it was not all work. Most of the participants took part in the APEC Technical Program on Sunday and enjoyed an excellent dinner that evening. The APEC Program Committee met the next day and based on the results of their work we can all look forward to a very interesting and a successful APEC 2011.


Happy Birthday Dusty Becker

<<-Contents | <-Previous | Page 3 | Next->

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.