Mannheim, Germany was the host city for the 17th annual Euro PM Congress & Exhibition event, organised and sponsored by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA).
Euro PM2008 featured a high quality technical programme that attracted in excess of 200 Oral and Poster presentations and over 600 participants. In addition the exhibition area was sold out with more than 75 exhibiting companies from around the world. 'This year's turnout was very good and the exhibition has been a real success, and is one of the largest ever at a Euro PM event' said Jonathan Wroe, EPMA Executive Director.
During the Congress plenary session EPMA President Mr Ingo Cremer presented a 'Review of the PM Industry from a European Perspective'. The keynote plenary speaker was Dr Thomas Hamm from FEV Motorentechnik GmbH who gave an excellent paper on the “Future of the Combustion Engine”.
The three EPMA Distinguished Service Awards for 2008 were presented to Dr. Winfried Huppmann formerly of Hilti AG Lichtenstein, Dr Gerard Raisson from Aubert et Duval, France and Mr Rudolf Reinstadler from Stadler AS in Spain.
The event also saw the presentation of the biennial EPMA Thesis competition whose prizes were sponsored by Höganäs AB. The winner of the Masters category was Miss Nil Unal from Istanbul Technical University and the Phd/Doctorate Category was won by Dr Sastry Kandukuri from KU Leuven in Belgium.
The Euro PM2008 Congress Dinner was held at the "Landesmuseum", which provided a nostalgic and interesting venue for discussions in a relaxed atmosphere. “Mannheim has proved to be an excellent host city for our delegates” commented Jonathan Wroe who went on to add “We are already working on next year's Euro PM2009 which will be held in Copenhagen from 12-14th October.”