The second Managing Aging Plants USA Conference & Exhibition, powered by Stainless Steel World Americas, was held this past November 13th and 14th, 2018 at the Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria Hotel in Houston, Texas. There was a total of 530 people registered for the entire event, including 193 conference attendees and 234 exhibition visitors.
The successful two-day event was attended by professionals from all over the world including Egypt, France, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Sweden and of course the United States and Canada. These international delegates were a great mix of Principal Engineers, Materials Engineers, Corrosion Engineers, Metallurgists, Reliability Inspectors, Asset Integrity Managers and Maintenance Directors. Representatives were from such influential producing companies such as BASF, The Chemours Company, Chevron, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, Ecopetrol America, The Dow Chemical Company, LyondellBasell and Saudi Aramco just to name a few.
Held at the newly renovated Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria Hotel, the busy event was well-attended by visitors who enjoyed walking the spacious exhibition floor and speaking with knowledgeable exhibitors who were happy to discuss their various products and services. Visitors and exhibitors alike were able to network and obtain quality leads that could be followed up on in the days to come. In total, approximately 30 companies exhibited as part of the event including Ashland Inc., Emerson, Lloyd’s Register, Orbital Engineering and Stress Engineering Services among many others.
Also taking place on the first day in the heart of the expo floor during the Welcome Reception, sponsored by the International Titanium Association (ITA), was the interactive learning workshop Managing an Aging Workforce, which guided the audience through the different types of training methodologies required for training a constantly changing workforce.
The Managing Aging Plants USA team would like to thank the Conference Chairman, Mr. Kenneth Kirkham, A Principal Engineer with The Equity Engineering Group, as well as the steering committee and The Materials Technology Institute (MTI) for all their hard work in creating a relevant and educational conference program.
Managing Aging Plants USA would also like to take the opportunity to recognize the support of the main event sponsors: MRC Global, Ensitech, Stress Engineering Services Inc. and Versa Integrity Group, as well as the conference supporters: The Materials Technology Institute (MTI), The International Titanium Association, The Vibration Institute (VI) and The Steel Tank Institute/Steel Plate Fabricators Association (STI/SPFA); and the media sponsors: Inspectioneering and Chemical Engineering.