The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) announced that Ron Lowry, owner and president of Minneapolis-based Dayton Rogers, was elected 2016 chairman of the PMA Board of Directors during the annual meeting of members on March 12 in Palm Springs, CA. Dave Arndt, president of Pentaflex Inc. in Springfield, OH, will serve as PMA Board first vice chair, and Richard Sade, vice president of S & S Hinge Company in Bloomingdale, IL, will serve as second vice chair and treasurer.
Lowry pledged to use his PMA chairmanship to encourage manufacturers to join him in taking matters into their own hands in two key areas: closing the skills gap and helping elected officials and the general public understand the importance of manufacturing.
“Manufacturers need to educate our local communities, including educators and parents, as well as local and national leaders, about the critical role that manufacturing plays in the overall health of the US economy,” Lowry said. “We also need to better explain to our country’s young people how the success of US manufacturing will impact their future, and how they can contribute to that success.
“While manufacturers have gone to great lengths to improve our efficiency and safety and develop career opportunities for the next generation of workers,” Lowry continued, “our nation’s leaders continue to fail to recognize our industry’s value and need to do more to encourage our growth and prosperity. That’s the genesis of my theme, ‘Manufacturing Matters’—to do all I can, and make sure PMA does all it can, to raise awareness and plant the seeds of change.”