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WORLD FOUNDRYMEN ORGANIZATION |
After 73 years of a successful history the CIATF passed away and the WFO - WORLD FOUNDRYMEN ORGANIZATION was born as the immediate successor during the 2000 World Foundry Congress. The 64th World Foundry Congress, organized by the French Technical Foundry Association (ATF) and chaired by the WFO President, Mr. F. DELACHAUX (France) was held in Paris from September 11 to 14, 2000. At the Opening Ceremony, Mr. H. THEVENIN, Chairman of the French Organizing Committee, Mr. S. JACOB, President of the French Technical Foundry Association, Mr. M. COTTE, Representa- tive of the State Secretary of the Industry and Mr. H. CURIEN, Professor and former Minister of Research and Honorary President of the Congress, welcomed the participants. The WFO President, Mr. F. DELACHAUX, officially opened the 64th World Foundry Congress. 784 participants and 114 accompanying persons from 35 countries attended the Congress. 328 participants came from abroad and 456 from France including 188 students from Technical and Foundry High Schools. 70 technical papers and 31 poster sessions were presented. The Technical Forum dealing with "Relationship between Customer and Supplier in the Foundry Market", moderated by the WFO Vice President, Mr. J. LECETA (E), was well attended and very lively with many questions answered by important customers who kindly accepted to participate. A number of foundries were visited on Friday, September 15, 2000 and during the Post Congress tours. The ladies visited among other fascinating sites the "Louvre", the Fashion and Textile Museum, the "Dali" Museum, the Wine Museum and they discovered "Montmartre". At the General Assembly, the delegates agreed to various amendments of the Bye-Laws. To- gether with the new name some further important changes were approved:
In addition to the routine statutory matters, the General Assembly voted into office for 2001: President: Mr. Juan J. LECETA from Spain Vice President: Mr. R. Conner WARREN from the USA Representatives of the Member Associations: Dr. P.N. BHAGWATI from India Mr. Alfred BUBERL from Austria Mr. Michael J. CLIFFORD from UK Prof. Keisaku OGI from Japan Mr. Per Rolf ROLAND from Norway Prof. Guoxiong SUN from China Dr. Gotthard WOLF from Germany Representatives of the Past Presidents' Council: Mr. Francois DELACHAUX from France Prof. Itsuo OHNAKA from Japan Prof. Josif SUCHY from Poland Treasurer: Mr. Robert Jordan from UK The dates and venues of the next World Foundry Congresses and WFO Technical Forums were confirmed as follows: WFO Technical Forum in Warsaw (Poland) - September 20 to 21, 2001 65th WFC in Kyongju (South of Korea) - October 20 to 24, 2002 WFO Technical Forum during GIFA (June 16-21, 2003) in Dusseldorf (Germany) 66th WFC in Istanbul (Turkey) - September 6 to 9, 2004 Further applications for organizing World Foundry Congresses and WFO Technical Forums have been received and the choice for 2005 and on will be made in due time. 13 International Commissions are active in various fields of foundry technology. 5 of them held meetings during the Congress in Paris. The three best papers presented at the 64th World Foundry Congress were awarded by WFO; (US$ 1OOO.- for the best and US$ 500.- each for the second and third best papers). The following papers were awarded: 1) Dr. J. RUHNAU (Germany) "Progressive pressure die-casting technology cleverly organized - how virtual cells produce dynamic loaded under carriage-components for automotive industry" 2) Mr. J. COLLOT (France) "Thixoforming of Magnesium and Aluminum Alloys in semi-solid or semi-liquid state, that is the question?" 3) Messrs. T. KANNO, H. KIMURA, H. NAKAE (Japan) "The relationship between the variation of eutectic temperature and melt quality in cast iron" The following 34 countries are members of the World Foundrymen Organization (WFO): A - Austria, B - Belgium, B+H - Bosnia/Herzegovina, BY - Belarus, CH - Switzerland, CN P.R. - China, CND - Canada, CRO - Croatia, CZ - Czech Republic, D - Germany, DK - Denmark, E - Spain, ET - Egypt, F - France, FIN - Finland, GB - Great Britain, H - Hungary, I - Italy, IND - India, J - Japan, KR - South Korea, N - Norway, NL - Netherlands, P - Portugal, PL - Poland, RO - Romania, RU - Russia, S - Sweden, SK - Slovakia, SLO - Slovenia, TR - Turkey, UA - Ukraine, USA - United States of America, YU - Yugoslavia. After 36 years at the helm as secretary general of World Foundrymen Organization (formerly known as CIATF), Dr. J. Gerster will step aside on January 1, 2002 and hand over the reins to Eur Ing Andrew Turner, FICME. Since 1998, Turner has served as Secretary of the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers in the UK. In parting remarks to WFO members and trade press Gerster said, "I always tried to think foundry and not politics. The changes that occurred in the last ten years give me hope that in the future WFO really thinks global." On his new role, Turner said, "Our industry has met with many technological and commercial changes over the years and has adapted to and accommodated them all with much determination. Technological advances in communication and information technology have resulted in a truly global community and the WFO is set to further build upon this with the launch of a website in the early part of 2002." (old WFO-PRESS RELEASE sent to CastingArea) Contact: THE WORLD FOUNDRYMEN ORGANIZATION Eur Ing Andrew Turner - Secretary General National Metalforming Centre 47 Birmingham Road, West Bromwich, West Midlands, B70 6PY, United Kingdom tel.: (++44 121) 601 6976, fax: (++44 1544) 340332 e-mail: secretary@thewfo.com website: www.worldfoundrymen.org |