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P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E N A T I O N A L W O O D E N P A L L E T & C O N T A I N E R A S S O C I A T I O N NWPCA STAFF President/CEO Brent J. McClendon, CAE, brent@palletcentral.com @NWPCA Vice President, Advocacy and External Affairs Patrick S. Atagi, patagi@palletcentral.com @NWPCA_Policy PDS and Membership Services Manager Susan Cheney, scheney@palletcentral.com Communication and Education Director Annette Ferri, aferri@palletcentral.com @PalletCentral Technical and PDS Manager Brad Gething, PhD, bgething@palletcentral.com @NWPCATech Sales Director Joni Leonardo, jleonardo@palletcentral.com @NWPCA_Sales Director of The Pallet Design System™ John A. McLeod III, jmcleod@palletcentral.com Vice President of Operations and Events Isabel ("Mimi") Sullivan, msullivan@palletcentral.com PDS Software Engineer Curtis Wilkes, cwilkes@palletcentral.com Advertising: To advertise in PalletCentral, contact Joni Leonardo at 703-519-6104 or jleonardo@palletcentral.com Address changes and subscriptions: To update your mailing address or to subscribe to PalletCentral, call 703-519-6104 or email info@palletcentral.com. Reprints and back issues: To order article reprints or request reprint permission, please e-mail info@palletcentral.com. Order back issues by calling 703-519-6104. PALLETCENTRAL, Volume 15, Number 5. © Copyright 2015 by NWPCA. All rights reserved. The views expressed in all articles, editorials and advertisements appearing in PalletCentral are solely those of the author and advertiser, respectively, and do not necessarily represent the views of NWPCA. NWPCA Global Relationships NWPCA has members in 28 countries and, because of this international footprint, works closely with wood packaging associations across the globe. FEFPEB, the European Federation of Wooden Pallet and Packaging Manufacturers, represents 17 wood packaging associations in Europe, including TIMCON, a UK timber packaging and pallet confederation. TIMCON is host for FEFPEB's 2015 Congress held in Cork, Ireland, October 28-30, where NWPCA will be represented by Board Chair Jim Schwab, Chair- Elect Steve Mazza, and through a presentation by President/CEO Brent McClendon (for more information visit: www.fefpeb.eu.) In addition to European associations, the Congress draws pallet and packaging groups from Korea, China, South Africa and elsewhere for a productive summit and exchange on current pressing issues. University Relationships A new initiative with significant focus for NWPCA is on expanded outreach and collaboration with university packaging programs. At Virginia Tech, Dr. Brad Gething, NWPCA's technical and PDS manager, presented a seminar to undergraduate students and conducted a PDS short course with VT's Dr. Laszlo Horvath. NWPCA has also taken action to join VT's Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design as the largest contributing member, while The Pallet Foundation is funding a full-time graduate student and conducting proprietary research for the expansion of PDS. NWPCA's university outreach isn't limited to just VT. Dr. Gething has presented to three different groups of graduate and undergraduate students at Michigan State, met with Penn State professors to discuss past and potential future research projects, and prepared for a future presentation to their undergraduate students, while plans are also in the works for another visit to the University of Wisconsin-Stout to present to their packaging students. Much of this outreach is funded by The Pallet Foundation with plans to further expand this activity in 2016. Speaking of university outreach, NWPCA board member, and TIMCON's elected President John Dye, hosted a class of MBA students from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York to their brand new factory in Burntisland, Scotland. This is Le Moyne's second year visiting the University of Stirling in Scotland which has an affiliation through the International Summer Studies program. The students were on-site for approximately 2.5 hours for presentations on the Scott Group (presenter Karen Hunter, sales and marketing director), the UK and European pallet market, and a comprehensive site tour. PC palletcentral.com PalletCentral • September-October 2015 9 Le Moyne College students from Syracuse, New York visit the new TIMCON factory in Scotland.