My travels began with an invitation to be a Keynote speaker at the 27th Pulp and Paper Reliability & Maintenance Conference at IDCON, INC. The conference took place September 18-22, 2016 at the Durham Convention Center in the heart of Durham, NC. What a great location.

TAPPI has partnered with IDCON for over a decade on maintenance tracks at conferences, reselling their maintenance books as well as their maintenance courses and conference products. IDCON continues to be extremely valuable as Subject Matter Experts for TAPPI.

IDCON recently expanded its worldwide presence with new partners in Asia. We are proud of our relationship with Christer and Tor Idhammar and Robin Kent.

This conference brought together 115 corporate reliability, maintenance, operations and industry solution providers in a three-day conference with the focus on improving reliability and skills at pulp, paper and wood products mills.

Visitors from 10 countries attended this year, hearing topics ranging from building a business case for reliability to new techniques for condition monitoring. This unique conference boasts a loyal following of participants, many of whom have attended multiple times.

Their sponsors also provided some great networking times with two receptions and a Night at the Park, which included dinner and batting practice at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The next PPRM conference will take place in the spring of 2018. For more information contact IDCON at 919-847-8764.

For more information on TAPPI go to www.tappi.org

Remember, there are two types of people in this industry, TAPPI members, like 31 year TAPPI member Christer Idhammar, and those who should be.

Until next time…………… Larry

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