Welcome to the 2010 SMRP Annual Conference

Dear SMRP Members,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to and introduce the largest independent global Maintenance and Reliability Conference supporting your industry! We encourage you and your colleagues to be a part of the 18th Annual SMRP Conference… held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this October
Our theme, “Driven by Performance, Powered by Professionals”, is reflective of this year’s energized agenda. The Conference Committee has worked with great diligence to meet your expectations of providing some immediate value to your own professional expertise, and to deliver broadened principles of Best Practices enabling gains for your organization’s continued reliability journey.

The conference has maintained and broadened our core educational offerings with a record number of papers submitted, making this a truly high-quality educational experience. Following on with many years of past successes, we will continue with: the Six Tracks of Practitioner Presentations, full and half-day Workshops (now Monday and Thursday), Plant Tours (Thursday), Exhibits, CMRP Exams, Networking Receptions, Committee Meetings, and the SMRP Annual Business Meeting. Our Exhibition Hall and educational sessions are located in the Frontier Airlines Center, conveniently located next to our conference hotels in downtown Milwaukee.

Based on feedback, we have implemented some additional conference enhancements. We will officially kickoff with Workshops on Monday, have a SMRP BoK Booth available throughout the conference for questions; offer panel discussions with subject matter experts; invite you to two off-site networking receptions in addition to the two receptions in the Exhibit Hall ; give you personal interaction time with the keynote speaker; and for the golfers- we’ve provided a chance to play one of the most challenging golf course layouts in the Midwest - now on Sunday afternoon so you don’t have to miss a second of the conference.

You won’t want to miss our keynote speaker, Clyde Fessler, former Vice President of Business Development for Harley-Davidson Motor Company for over 20 years. As always, the growing exhibition will be widely accessible from Monday evening through Wednesday morning. You will have the opportunity to dialogue with the industry professionals regarding the latest in their offerings and developments to help you in your day-to-day operations.

The Milwaukee area offers some great opportunities to out-of-town visitors. The SMRP Conference Committee has provided for the conference attendees opportunities to experience some of the best. Our Tuesday evening reception is at the Harley-Davidson Museum where you will get a feel for the freedom, camaraderie and pride that Harley-Davidson riders experience every time they fire up their motorcycles. Additionally, we have added a Wednesday evening plant tour and reception at the well known MillerCoors Brewery. This extensive tour will take you through various departments of the massive brewery, including the brew house, packaging center and historic underground caves. You will see the production lines in operation and get a real glimpse at how quickly and efficiently the macro-brewery lines operate. For those that might generate a thirst from the tour, a sampling will be available afterwards.

The creative energy that has been put forth by this year’s Conference Committee assures us of another successful event. I want to thank the dynamic conference team, our track leaders, the officers, directors and committee chairs who have all contributed to the conference.

For those regular attendees, I think you would agree that every year the annual SMRP conference only gets better! We are confident that this year’s conference has all the elements to continue this tradition. Join us as we carry on SMRP’s mission to “promote and advance Reliability Excellence worldwide.” I look forward to meeting each of you at the 2010 SMRP Annual Conference – see you in Milwaukee!

Be SAFE and Be RELIABLE,

Craig Seibold, CMRP, PE
2010 SMRP Conference Chair