The International Thermal Spray Association (ITSA) and the ASM Thermal Spray Society (TSS) have announced a cooperative effort to aggressively promote the adoption of thermal spray technology throughout industry.
Both organizations include the promotion of thermal spray technology as a fundamental part of their respective missions, and both recognize the need for a significantly enhanced effort to spread the adoption of thermal spray to a broader range of industrial sectors.
By leveraging the unique strengths of each organization - TSS, with its extensive informational and educational resources, conferences, and publications, and ITSA, with its roots among thermal spray applicators - both groups believe that this new effort can result in a multi-faceted approach that will cultivate new ground in thermal spray applications.
"Right now, the turbine market stands alone in the depth and breadth of thermal spray applications, yet the technology has the potential to provide similar advantages to many other industries that have yet to effectively explore its potential," said ITSA President Daniel C. Hayden, president of Hayden Corporation and managing partner of Hayden Laser Services, LLC.
While continuing to show continuous growth in turbine technology and other main market segments, both ITSA and TSS recognize that there are additional opportunities for expanding thermal spray usage within existing industrial markets as well as through global expansion.
"Thermal spray has significant potential for the oil and gas industry and chemical applications, and we are seeing increased global usage particularly in Asia. Together, our two organizations are better positioned to identify these opportunities and encourage thermal spray use," said TSS President Mitch Dorfman, Sulzer Metco (US) Inc.
This effort brings together two organizations that have deep roots in the thermal spray community and many common members both in North America and abroad. "It makes sense for ITSA and TSS to address this challenge together, as the industry is changing, and the market needs support in order to grow," Hayden said.
Discussions between the ITSA and TSS Executive management teams have also led to an agreement in principal to explore potential win-win opportunities for both organizations. Regular meetings are underway in order to explore how both organizations can support each other in event planning and outreach to designers in order to grow new markets and applications.
"The key is to look forward and not backward," Dorfman said. "There are individuals and organizations active in ITSA and TSS that have the experience and knowledge needed to help move the industry forward, and we can accomplish more together than we can separately."
In addition to event planning, TSS management is also listening and soliciting ITSA representation regarding the society's first-ever certification program, Certified Thermal Spray Operators (CTSO), to be launched next year.
In the coming months, TSS and ITSA Steering Committees will reach out to members of both organizations to participate in cooperative efforts to grow the industry. "The survival and expansion of the thermal spray market is vital to the members of these organizations, and our goal is to be proactive in creating new ways to promote the technology, while remaining responsive to any and all opportunities suggested by our members," Hayden said.
Specific efforts, including joint seminars and educational resources, will be announced via each group's websites and trade publications: ITSA's quarterly SPRAYTIME, and the TSS International Thermal Spray & Surface Engineering (iTSSe), published quarterly within ASM's Advanced Materials and Processes magazine.