Greetings fellow AFS members,
I trust your holiday season is all that you cherish and hope for! I know it is a busy time of the year, but plans are in full swing to serve you in the New Year. I wanted to drop you a personal note concerning our upcoming SE Regional AFS Conference in Birmingham, March 28th through March 30th. Our Speaker program and other activities are shaping up well to offer you an informative, thought provoking and fun series of events you will not want to miss. Please mark your calendars and commit to joining many of your friends and co-workers in our great industry for this educational and enlightening experience. Below are links to the Registration Form for you to register for the regional. Please also note that page 2 of the Registration form contains an explanation of our Registration Recruiting CASH prize competition), to encourage your help in bringing others to the regional as well.
I hope you will join us in Birmingham for what is promised to be fun and educational time.
Best regards,
Tom Walton
AFS SE Regional Conference Chairman
twalton@grede.com
205-369-2462
Click here to download the updated list of speakers for the 2012 SE Regional
Click here to download the registration form for the 2012 SE Regional
Click here if you are interested in advertising at the SE Regional.
The February 2012 Newsletter is now available online.
Check out the Next Meeting Page for all the details about the upcoming meeting.
The 2012 AFS Birmingham Scholarship application is now available to download. Please note that the applications are due no later than March 1, 2012.
Click here to download the application.
Contact Ken Murphy at (205)-965-4225 or kmurphy@american_usa.com, if you have questions.
It was good to see so many students at the January meeting. We hope
they keep coming back and bring more students with them.
Dr. Fred Linebarger had an excellent presentation on the status of the rare earth ferro-alloy market. For those not dealing with ductile iron, the rare earth elements are usually combined in small percentages in the ferro-alloys used in the melting / pouring processes. Just a few years ago, the elements that make up the rare earth group were selling for approximately $2.00 / lb. adding a few cents to the overall cost of the ferro-alloy. Today, because of a combination of market manipulation, environmental regulations, domestic and foreign source closings, and emerging markets the cost has gone up 20 to 40 times that, with very little short term relief in sight.
Dr. Linebarger also gave some examples where reviewing the process with a focus on the overall cost combined with testing could achieve significant cost reductions while maintaining quality levels.
Including the students, we had 55 attend the meeting. As you can see from the graphic in the newsletter, 2011-2012 continues a negative trend in meeting attendance that started from the 2005-2006 Chapter year. Obviously the economy has had a major effect, but is there something else the Chapter needs to be doing? The board has created a committee to investigate and develop some tactics to stop the trend. If you have thoughts or ideas or want to participate with the committee, please contact Ed Boyd.
For February we are back on the road to Meridian Mississippi. We look forward to seeing all those who cannot usually make the long drive to Birmingham. And don’t forget the Regional is quickly coming. See you at both.
Dave Hughes
Chairman
Check out the photo gallery for several new pictures from the 2011 chapter meetings (including the Christmas Party).
Click here to go to the photo gallery page.
Are you interested in sponsoring one of the most active AFS Chapters in the country?
Click here to learn about sponsorship opportunities.
In order to reduce printing and postage costs, we are trying to reduce the number of hard copy newsletters that must be sent each month. If you currently receive the newsletter in hard copy form and would like to change to the email version, please click on the link below and fill out the form on page that the link will take you to.
Click here to visit the Email List Page
