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he 2021 PSMA Planning Meeting was held virtually on October 19, 2021. The Annual PSMA Planning Meeting addresses the future direction of the organization and focuses on the current major issues in the industry. The objective is to identify programs for the next year that will continue to bring benefits to the membership. While it was disappointing not to be able to see everyone in person, the online format did create the opportunity for a strong showing with 40 attendees.
PSMA Chair Mike Hayes welcomed all attendees and briefly reviewed the mission of the Association, the Vision for 2020-2025 (and beyond). the progress to better define and strategically align the Executive Committee and the many activities to minimize the financial impact of the Covid storm to minimize the financial impacts. Mike summarized the general health and status of the organization and recognized the outstanding contributions by the Technical Committees, highlighting the newly formed Energy Storage Committee and the resurrection of the Industry-Education Committee. There have also been continued efforts to increase the relationships and cooperation with other key industry organizations – most notably with IPC, iNEMI, PELS, EPSMA and CPSS. Mike ended his presentation with a discussion of some next steps currently underway to maintain the momentum of the key activities to maintain the position and stature of the Association for the benefit of our member companies and the power industry. Following Mike's presentation, there were presentations from each of the other Executive Committee members. Financial Forecast
Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer, presented a 10-Quarter financial forecast for October 2021 – March 2024, including three scenarios – best case, nominal case, and worst case. The Financial Forecasts highlighted the need to identify New Revenue Opportunities as the Association works to maintain an acceptable financial position despite the lost revenue and financial obligations from events that were canceled or held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the new revenue opportunities being considered include Power Technology Roadmap Underwriting, increasing membership dues, and hosting paid webinars. In summary, the forecast supports that the Association will remain in good financial position assuming modest revenues from planned workshops and symposia in the coming year. Although the current financial position does limit available funding for Special Projects, through a combination of controlling expenditures and increasing revenues, the forecast projects that in the next 12-18 month timeframe there will be opportunities to fund a limited number of Projects that promise to bring value to the membership and the industry. KPIs-Metrics that Matter
Trifon Liakopoulos, PSMA Vice President, discussed the work underway to identify the KPIs – Key Performance Indicators - that are actionable and tied to the business and financial goals of the organization. KPIs are metrics that matter since they will provide information on the success of current activities, identify opportunities to improve the activities of the Technical Committees, improve the effectiveness of the website, workshops, special projects, and webinars, and enhance efforts to attract new membership. This is a work in process with the initial focus to identify and plan for the infrastructure (people, web management and responsibilities) that will enable us to gather the information to improve the performance and effectiveness of the organization. Power of the Pillars
Fred Weber briefly reviewed the Power of the Pillars and updates since the 2020 Planning Meeting. He highlighted the value of collaborations, including both committee collaboration within PSMA and collaborations with other organizations. Other themes discussed included increasing PSMA's visibility with companies in industries that are currently underrepresented, such as automotive; increasing member participation; and identifying revenue opportunities. Following each of the Executive Committee opening presentations there was a brief Q&A including questions and suggestions from attendees. To keep the meeting on schedule, Fred took notes on these discussions for inclusion in the Planning Session later in the agenda.
Committee Updates
There was a report from each of the PSMA committees that summarized their accomplishments over the past year and focused on ongoing programs and projects for 2022. Nine of the committees have submitted proposals to organize Industry Sessions at APEC 2022 and all technical committees are supporting the 2022 Power Technology Roadmap effort. The committee reports each included information on how their activities align with the Four Pillars and strategic focus on IoT, smart mobility and storage.
In addition: - Pierre Lohrber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the mission of the committee and highlighted the current activities to interact with other Technical Committees - specifically the Magnetics, Energy Management and Energy Storage Committees. Pierre recognized Wilmer Companioni who recently stepped down as Co-Chair and welcomed new Co-Chair Andrew Mikulski.
- Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chairs Mike Hayes and Brian Zahnstecher reviewed the mission and recent activities of the committee. The committee recently published and released a seminal White Paper which was authored by 28 experts from several countries reviewing the technology and challenges that will bring Energy Harvesting to a significant market presence. They are also planning EnerHarv 2022 to be held at North Carolina State University.
- David Chen, Energy Management Committee Chair, reported that the committee has grown to 32 people on the distribution list with 12 active members that participate in monthly meetings. David recognized Ed Herbert who has stepped down as committee Co-Chair. The committee is looking for a co-chair to assist in the planning and future activities. The committee continues to support the Energy Efficiency Data Base (EEDB) and the Safety and Compliance Data Base (SCDB).
- Energy Storage Committee Co-Chair Edward Schneider reported that the PSMA Board accepted the Energy Storage Subcommittee as a standalone Technical Committee earlier this year. The committee continues its cooperation with the Capacitor, Energy Management and other technical committees since energy storage is recognized as a critical technological focus for the overall power sources industry.
- John Horzepa presented a report prepared with Gerry Moschopoulos, Committee Co-Chair. The committee continues to support the student attendance program for APEC and the posting of Student Resumes on the PSMA website. In recent months, the committee membership and active participation have increased resulting in several new initiatives that are being considered. A Young Professionals Seminar Series is being planned together with IEEE PELS as a series of in-person, hybrid and virtual events that will focus on the needs of students and young professionals to help them develop the technical and interpersonal skills that will enable them to succeed in their careers. The committee is also planning a program providing an introduction to the PSMA Committees during APEC 2022.
- Magnetics Committee Co-Chair George Slama reported that the committee is planning its seventh annual workshop at APEC 2021. George recognized Steve Carlsen who recently stepped down as Co-Chair and welcomed new Co-Chair Matt Wilkowski.
- Ada Cheng, Marketing Committee Member, reviewed recent activities of the committee. The committee is again supporting the PSMA Passport Program at APEC 2022. The committee has also been active in identifying and supporting New Revenue options including reexamining increasing the levels of membership dues and identifying opportunities for attracting new membership. The committee is currently looking for new co-chairs to assist in the planning and future activities.
- Brian Narveson, Packaging and Manufacturing Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee has been very active in the past year, including supporting 3 workshops. The Covid-19 pandemic impacted the planning for all these events. The 3D-PEIM 2021 Symposium was held in Osaka Japan in June as a full virtual event and was both a technical and financial success. PwrSoC and IWIPP were both postponed from their originally scheduled dates and each held successful free corridor webinar series. PwrSoC 2021 is planned as a live hybrid event in late October.
- Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chairs Dhaval Dalal and Conor Quinn reviewed the timeline for the 2022 Roadmap and reviewed the webinars that have been held to date and those that are currently scheduled. He thanked the PSMA Technical committees for their contributions and asked that they continue their efforts to identify webinar topics and presenters for the remaining slots in November and December for the upcoming Roadmap. Dhaval also reviewed the PTR Webinar Underwriting effort to identify and signup underwriters for 2021-2022 to generate additional revenue for PSMA.
- Reliability Committee Chair Brian Zahnstecher reported that the continues to look for a co-chair to assist in the planning and future activities of the committee. He reviewed the growing relationship with IPC and the planned collaboration in the generation of a new software reliability standard. The committee is currently working with EPSMA to schedule a webinar on the EPSMA Component Lifetime Prediction White Paper.
- John Horzepa reported that the Safety and Compliance Committee continues to seek additional membership and volunteers to serve as co-Chairs and requested the group to suggest individuals from their organization that may be interested in contributing to the work of the committee. Committee members share information and updates through regular email blasts but has not been holding regular meetings due to lack of leadership and member participation. In the past year, the committee sponsored a very successful webinar on EMC Basics presented by RECOM Power and hosted by David Chen and has a second webinar planned later this year. Together with the Energy Management Committee, the Safety and Compliance committee has supported the Safety and Compliance Data Base available on the PSMA website.
- Co-Chair Tim McDonald reported the Semiconductor Committee continues to be very active. He recognized Tirthajyoti Sarkar who recently stepped down as Co-Chair and welcomed new Co-Chair, Jaume Roig. For APEC 2022, the committee has again proposed 4 Industry Sessions. The committee is working to further align its activities in support and collaboration with other PSMA Technical Committees, including identifying industry-relevant topics for a future tutorial.
- Fred Weber, Transportation Electronics Committee Co-Chair, reported that committee remains very active with 12-15 people attending the monthly meetings. The committee continues to seek additional members from companies in the Automotive industry segment and continues their interaction with National Labs and other organizations involved with R&D projects in support of vehicle and transportation technologies.
PLANNING EXERCISE
There was a short break after the Committee Reports, and when the meeting reconvened, Fred Weber, PSMA President, led the 2021 planning exercise. During the first half of the meeting, he tracked the ideas brought up in the reports and discussion and split them into quick "Tiger Team" actions and long-term strategic issues. He then opened the brainstorming session by reviewing the Four Pillars (Build on Strengths, Become more Applications Oriented, Integrate Metrics, Engage with Stakeholders) and inviting everyone at the meeting to suggest ideas for the coming year. Fred then briefly reviewed the completed and ongoing activities of the Tiger Teams over the past year. Building on the plans of the Technical Committees and Executive Committee as presented in the meeting and considering the comments by attendees, Fred identified and listed a number of new Tiger Team initiatives for the coming year. Each initiative was discussed to identify suggested champions, the support groups and target due dates.
Summary and Close
Mike Hayes thanked the attendees for their inputs and participation. PSMA members can view the minutes from the Planning Meeting in the Members Only section of the PSMA web site.
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