PMA Elects New Board Chairman

The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA; Independence, OH) has announced that Ron Lowry, the owner and president of Dayton Rogers (Minneapolis, MN), was elected the 2016 chairman of their board of directors during the annual meeting of members on March 12 in Palm Springs, CA.

“I’m honored to be elected chairman and I thank the 2015 chairman and Termax Corporation’s chief executive officer, Bill Smith, for his great leadership and all that he accomplished over the past year,” said Lowry. He announced that the theme of his one-year term as chairman is “Manufacturing Matters,” which is in line with his personal 2016 New Year’s resolution: “Complain less and do more, in every aspect of my life.”

Lowry pledged to use his chairmanship to encourage manufacturers to join him in taking matters into their own hands in two key areas: closing the skills gap and helping elected officials and the general public understand the importance of manufacturing. “Manufacturers need to educate our local communities, including educators and parents, as well as local and national leaders, about the critical role that manufacturing plays in the overall health of the U.S. economy,” he noted. “We also need to better explain to our country’s young people how the success of U.S. manufacturing will impact their future, and how they can contribute to that success.”

“While manufacturers have gone to great lengths to improve our efficiency and safety and develop career opportunities for the next generation of workers,” added Lowry. “Our nation’s leaders continue to fail to recognize our industry’s value and need to do more to encourage our growth and prosperity. That’s the genesis of my theme, ‘Manufacturing Matters’ — to do all I can and make sure that PMA does all it can, to raise awareness and plant the seeds of change. We need policies in place that create incentives and drive innovation, expansion and investment here in the U.S. That is critical to our long-term health. If we want to continue to be a first-class manufacturing country, our elected officials must support policies that help our sector.”

Dave Arndt, the president of Pentaflex Inc. (Springfield, OH), will serve as the board first vice chair and Richard Sade, the vice president of S & S Hinge Co. (Bloomingdale, IL), will serve as the second vice chair and treasurer.

PMA is the full-service trade association representing the $137 billion metalforming industry of North America, the industry that creates precision metal products using stamping, fabricating, spinning, slide forming and roll forming technologies, and other value-added processes. Its nearly 900 member companies include suppliers of equipment, materials and services to the industry.

www.pma.org