39th Plenary Meeting in Changwon, ROK
August 27-30, 2006
The 39th Plenary Meeting of the International Cold Forging Group (ICFG) was held from August 27 to 30, 2006 in Changwon (Korea), hosted by Prof. Yang from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). More than 80 participants (50 from industry and 30 from academia) from all over the world came to Changwon which is located in the south of Korea. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Karl Kuzman (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), the chairman of the ICFG.
Memberships
The ICFG delegates welcomed Mr. Nicolaisen (Steertec Raufoss AS), Norway as well as Mr. Önder (NORM Fasteners Co.), Turkey as new corresponding members. Mr. Önder replaces Mr. Pinar as representative from NORM Fasteners Co. as ICFG member. New full members are Mr. Stelljes (PWK) and Prof. Engel (LFT, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), both Germany. The membership status of Prof. Grzeskowiak (Poland) was changed to emeritus. The ICFG now consists of 92 personal members from 23 countries over the whole world.
In the ICFG Advisory Board Prof. Nakamura was replaced by Prof. Ishikawa, both Japan. The ICFG thanked Prof. Nakamura for his time in the Advisory Board in the general assembly.
Subgroup activities and publications
The ICFG has four working subgroups. The subgroup “Process Simulation“ has now a leadership group which consists of Dr. Mynors (UK), Dr. Zhao (China), Mr. Önder and Prof. Tekkaya (both Turkey). The results of the past four workshops shall be published in a new ICFG document.
The subgroup “Tool Life & Tool Quality“ is chaired by Dr. Hinsel (Hirschvogel, Germany). After the publication of the 3rd part of the ICFG document in spring 2006 the 4th part is planned to be published on the subject „surface finishing of tools“.
The new subgroup “Properties of Cold Forged Products“ had its first subgroup meeting at this conference. The chairmanship was given to Dr. Meidert (ThyssenKrupp Presta, Liechtenstein) and Prof. Ishikawa (University of Nagoya, Japan). Two workshops will be organized (one in Dortmund, Germany and one in Nagoya, Japan) in spring 2007.
The new subgroup „Incremental Bulk Forming“ had also its first meeting at this conference. The goals have been defined and further actions for the subgroup meeting next year have been planned. In addition, the subgroup members will collect examples for processes and products.
ICFG International Prizes – Paper Prize and Exchange Prize
The ICFG International Paper Prize 2006 was awarded to Dr.-Ing. Markus Meidert for his paper “Improvement of service life of cold forging tools – optimal tool steel selection and tool life prediction by FEM”. Dr. Meidert presented the paper to the delegates at the general session of the Plenary Meeting and received the prize by the chairman Prof. Kuzman and the vice-chairman Prof. Tekkaya. The prize paper will also be published in one of the coming WIRE issues. Prof. Kuzman asked all attendees to propose good candidates for the ICFG International Prize next year. Deadline for application will be on May 1st, 2007.
In 2007, the ICFG will also give out the ICFG International Exchange Prize again. This prize is established in order to support the understanding of young researchers of the importance of cold and warm forging production as it is carried out by world leading companies and also to give young researchers an understanding of social and cultural differences and challenges in overseas countries. The technical trip will cover visits to a light metal cold forging company, coating company, machine tool manufacturer, cold-warm-hot forger, cold forger as well as academic institutions in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. 4 to 6 young researchers will be granted with the prize. Deadline for young researchers for application will be in April 2007.
Change in secretariat
After 5 years as secretary Dr.-Ing. Alexander Putz will leave the Chair of Manufacturing Technology (LFT) in Erlangen and will take over a position in industry. The new ICFG secretary is Dipl.-Ing. Stephan Weidel, who is also an employee at the LFT in Erlangen of Prof. M. Geiger. The secretary is reachable under: icfg@lft.uni-erlangen.de.
Next Plenary Meeting
The coming Plenary Meeting 2007 will be held in Padua, Italy and will be organized by the ICFG member Prof. Bariani. He presented the preliminary program of the coming Plenary Meeting that will take place from September 16 to 19, 2007. More detailed information will be published on the ICFG website.