New PMA Chairman Elected

We're pleased to announce that we've elected a new chairman for 2014!  Read the press release below to learn more about Chairman Jody Fledderman and the rest of the newly elected PMA leadership.


Batesville Tool & Die President and CEO Jody Fledderman Elected PMA Chairman of the Board

CLEVELAND, OHMarch 10, 2014—The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) announced today that Jody Fledderman, president and CEO of Batesville Tool & Die (BTD) in Batesville, IN, was elected 2014 chairman of the PMA Board of Directors.  PMA also announced that Bill Smith, president of Termax Corporation in Lake Zurich, IL, will serve as PMA Board first vice chair, and Ron Lowry, CEO and owner of Dayton Rogers in Minneapolis, MN, will serve as Board treasurer.

“I’m honored to be elected Board Chairman and thank 2013 PMA Chairman Bill Adler for his great leadership and all that he accomplished over the past year,” said Fledderman.

Fledderman announced that his theme of his one-year term as PMA chairman is Investing in the Future to Strengthen the Industry.

“PMA members are investing in new technologies such as new presses to replace older equipment not only for added capacity but to invest in the future,” Fledderman said. “We also are reaching out to the workforce of the future—our local high-school students—to show them the career opportunities manufacturing offers.  Even if a company doesn’t need new technology or a fresh pool of labor today, they will most likely need both soon, to fortify their companies.  You have to look ahead.”

Fledderman’s efforts to attract and develop the next-generation workforce have led to the creation of a new program for Batesville High School students that also encompasses the newly expanded local arm of Ivy Tech Community College.  Ivy Tech, with the generous financial support of the Batesville Community School Corp., BTD and other local businesses, moved into a new facility early in 2013.

“Ivy Tech has become a place where parents can be proud to send their kids,” says Fledderman.  “I believe kids need options other than a four-year college to further their education and career opportunities outside of high school, and the technical programs offered at Ivy Tech fit that bill.  Along with their high-school curriculum, our new co-op program becomes the proverbial third leg to the stool to provide support to kids as they look to begin careers in manufacturing.”

Fledderman seeks to spread the word about this program during his term as PMA chairman.

“I’ll work with PMA nationally to develop a template, conduct webinars and in other ways to help guide other companies should they wish to launch a similar co-op program in their community.  Such an orientation program from PMA will help companies recruit and develop the talent needed to provide for their future success.”

Learn more about Fledderman’s goals during his term as chairman in the April 2014 issue of MetalForming: www.metalformingmagazine.com.

PMA is the full-service trade association representing the $113-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 also include suppliers of equipment, materials and services to the industry. PMA leads innovative member companies toward superior competitiveness and profitability through advocacy, networking, statistics, the PMA Educational Foundation, FABTECH and METALFORM Mexico tradeshows, and MetalForming and Fabricating Product News magazines.

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