The Maintenance Engineering Society’s 2016 SKF National Maintenance Engineering Conference is returning to Hamilton’s Claudelands Showgrounds this November with more new developments to add value to engineers assembling from all around the country.
For many years, the society has created a host of activities preceding the conference, designed to add value to the attendee’s experience. The annual field trip to local industry is a special opportunity enjoyed by all, taking place whist the public have a peek at the Trade Expo. The evening icebreaker cocktail evening is not to be missed too, for its fun, food and friendliness.
While engineers have come to enjoy the benefits of participation, the society has been quietly working away on one of its longer term goals; bringing training opportunities to the attendees.Organisers believe that engineers will appreciate linking their conference presence in with the opportunity to improve or refresh their technical skills with short course training. Minor options have been offered in previous years with encouraging support but the focus has been low key and the venues have tended to been offsite.
This year the organisers reckon they have it nailed, unveiling the first true Conference Training Village which will run on Tuesday November 8 at the conference venue. Purpose built as an adjunct to the Conference and Exhibition Hall, the concept is rapidly gathering favour as attendees and technical suppliers cotton on to the benefits of the concept. Already, the menu of available training is an attractive add-on to the Hamilton conference; asset management, materials, compressed air systems and health and safety are available to attendees and the general public, providing an opportunity to get alongside some of the main conference speakers:
Asset management is a feature topic of this year’s conference and the training village offers a brace of options for attendees. Society asset management spokesman Dr Steve Boshoff is offering a valuable “Introduction to Asset Management” session, while Guy Brandon is focusing on RCM for those wanting to concentrate on one topic. Conference international speaker and SKF Global Business Manager Egon Doyer will deliver a dedicated asset management workshop.
Kaeser Compressors offer an opportunity to attend their hugely popular session on compressed air fundamentals, terminology, control systems and troubleshooting specifically tailored to New Zealand industry.
Barry Robinson from SAFE Engineering is back with another of his technical training sessions on fundamental connections between material selection, manufacturing processes, and failure. Aimed at up skilling everybody in the organisation from apprentices to managers, the Training Village session will feature the latest technical tips on preventing common welding failures.
2016 has seen significant focus on health and safety and to help deliver their nationally acclaimed Health and Safety Made Simple and JSA Made Simple sessions, HasTraks Danica Wells will be assisting Craig Carlyle with a number of training slots.
Such a wide ranging choice of topics and presenters at an one-stop location has never been offered to engineers before and the society is excited about the opportunity to help engineers lift their game. MESNZ is acting as the facilitator for the Training Village and bookings are made directly with the training providers. A number of further opportunities in HVAC, infra red thermography and instrumentation are in the pipeline as we go to print so to stay up to play with the latest offerings, download flyers or book, readers should go to http://www.mesnz.org.nz/conference/training-village/
Meanwhile, the conference proper is swinging into full gear with an expanded Exhibition Hall, a full programme of national and international speakers and registrations filling up rapidly for the two day event on November 9,10 at Claudelands Event Centre in Hamilton. The 2016 SKF National Maintenance Engineering Conference is specifically designed to provide engineers a forum to explore solutions for their workplace from technical to preventative maintenance, health and safety and maintenance management. Delegates will hear from international and national experts as well as their own peers and spend a lot of time rubbing shoulders with those who share common solutions as well as exploring the latest technical solutions from the largest maintenance engineering focused exhibition in New Zealand.
Representing maintenance engineers, the non profit society strives to keep the entry cost as low as possible and has once again managed to provide the lowest cost opportunity in the Southern Hemisphere with entry fees as low as $495+GSTpp (subsequent delegate) and single day pass options available. RRP is $725+GSTpp. Pre-registration is essential and this can be done on line at http://www.mesnz.org.nz/conference/registration/ or by calling Leanne Powley at 09 296 1333
