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2007 Annual Meeting!
September 9-11 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah,
Savannah, Georgia

April 11, 2007: Coatings, Civil Engineering and Flooring Committee conference call meeting at 2:30 p.m. Eastern

April 27, 2007: VOC Task Force conference call meeting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern

2007 Meeting Website Now Available!

Follow this link to learn more - and register now - for this important industry event. Review the growing list of technical papers, preview the Hyatt Regency Savannah (and make your room reservations!), and check out the beautiful Club at Savannah Harbor, site of the networking golf event. Most importantly, you can register now for the TRFA 2007 Annual Meeting.

If you haven't already done so, we urge you to mark your calendar for TRFA’s 2007 Annual Meeting September 9-11. We'll be meeting at the newly renovated Hyatt Regency Savannah in Savannah, Georgia. Thanks to an ideal location in downtown Savannah on the 12-block Riverfront Plaza, the scenic waterfront of the Savannah River, the Hyatt is the ideal base from which to explore the city. Founded in 1733, Savannah, Georgia, blends elegance and refinement with modern-day amenities. The city’s 21 historic squares, stunning architectural details and Low Country landscape, culture, shopping and recreational activities make Savannah one of the nation's top travel destinations.

McQuarrie to Serve as 2007 Meeting Chair

TRFA is pleased to announced that Terry S. McQuarrie, Ph.D. will serve as Chair of its 2007 Annual Meeting, September 9-11 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, Savannah, Georgia. A well-known industry leader, Dr. McQuarrie has held the position of Chairman of the Pultrusion Industry Council and Chairman of the Composites Institute of the Society of the Plastics Industry. He has received the Pultrusion Industry Council Award of Excellence, the Claire E. Bacon Composites Institute Man of the Year Award, the Composites Fabricators Distinguished Leadership Award and is a member of the American Composites Manufacturing Association Hall of Fame. At Glasforms since 1987, Dr. McQuarrie developed a full line of epoxy products for use in the non-ceramic insulator (NCI) market. He has published several articles on the subject of brittle fracture of NCI’s.

TRFA Continues to Grow

TRFA member and meeting participation continues to climb as evidenced by this graph reviewing the last three years of association revenue.

Have You Completed the TRFA Member Benefits Survey?

TRFA's mission is to serve the needs of thermoset resin formulators and suppliers and help them achieve their goals by providing a forum for sharing and interaction. Because TRFA would like to continue to make your association membership even more valuable to you and your company, we are continually reviewing additional products and services to make available as member benefits. We need your opinion on some additional services we are considering. Please follow this link to complete and submit the online survey as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your help. Your input is important to us.

TRFA Leader Promotes the Value of Participation

TRFA’s elected officers and members of the Board of Directors officially assumed their positions in January. TRFA president John Cech, who serves as General Manager, CVC Specialty Chemicals, recently described his role as promoting the organization’s mission to serve the needs of thermoset formulators and suppliers and its key objective to be the premier forum for members to interact and exchange knowledge. “CVC’s participation in TRFA,” he said, “is a very effective way for our company to pool resources with other industry organizations to achieve common objectives.” Cech believes benefits to the company include gaining guidance on pending regulations, access to technology updates via industry-specific programming and having a venue at conferences for meeting both current and potential customers. As a reminder, TRFA’s other elected officers are: Vice President: Vinay Mishra, ITW Devcon; and Immediate Past President: Jim Steever, Rebus, Inc.

TRFA Welcomes New Board Members & Committee Chair

TRFA is pleased to announce thatTim Atkinson, R&D Manager, Pro-Set, Inc., and Scott Harvey, V-P Sales, Chemroy Canada, Inc., have joined the association's Board of Directors. Dave Hill, Technical Sales & Marketing Manager, Emerald Performance Materials, LLC (formerly Noveon, Inc.), has agreed to chair the Adhesives & Sealants Committee. He replaces Darrel Bryant.

TRFA Trial Membership

Do you know a company that would benefit from membership in TRFA? The association's Board of Directors believes that once a company tries TRFA, it will want to stay. They have approved a new Trial membership inviting prospective members to pay the $150 application fee only and receive the value of membership for the remainder of 2007. This is a terrific value! Trial Membership benefits include a reduced registration fee for the 2007 Annual Meeting in Savannah for one person from the company and an invitation to participate as a member on TRFA committees!

Additional benefits include Internet visibility for member companies with links from the TRFA member list to the company's website; Quarterly newsletters; A Members-Only section on the TRFA website with access to a member address book, a list of Testing Standards for TRFA, minutes, technical papers and other TRFA-specific information; Regulatory and VOC updates when appropriate; and Reduced rates for credit card processing through Solveras Payment Systems. Please note that this offer is for new members only. No current or previous members may take advantage of the Trial Membership. After 2007, companies with Trial Memberships must pay regular dues or their membership will be cancelled. For more information, please see the website, www.trfa.org or contact the TRFA office, (630) 942-6596 or email info@trfa.org.

Existing Members: Earn a finder's Fee!
In addition to the Trial Membership for new members, the TRFA Board of Directors has approved an incentive program for existing members. Current TRFA members referring a company for full membership will receive a $25.00 Visa gift card as a finder’s fee when that company joins as a full member.

The incentive also applies to trial memberships. In this case, any existing member who refers a company for a trial membership will receive an entry to win a gift card for each trial member they bring in. A drawing for the gift card will be held during the membership luncheon at the annual meeting.

VOC Task Force: Update

TRFA's VOC Task Force has recently been working closely with the ASTM task group D01.21.24B that has proposed changes to ASTM 2369 for the testing of high (>90%) solids coatings. To continue, please follow this link.

Important! A request for Help from the VOC Task Force

To demonstrate that benzyl alcohol remains in coatings over time, we would like to test coatings that have been applied for a period of 5 to 10 years. We have assembled some samples, but would like to have three more for testing. If you have any examples of coatings that have been in place for more than five years please contact me or Jerilyn Church, TRFA Executive Director, to make arrangements for the task force to test your sample.

Also, please contact us if you have any information about enforcement of the new VOC requirements or have been contacted by a government agency about enforcement.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Lower VOC Limits for AIM Coatings Regulations Expected

According to a recent NPC Update, federal, state and local governments that have regulated architectural and industrial maintenance (AIM) coatings in the past are now considering further reductions. Several additional states are also working on regulations. To continue, please follow this link.

TRFA Issues Call for Papers for 2007

TRFA invites the submission of Technical Papers for presentation at the association's 2007 Annual Meeting to be held September 9-11 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, Savannah, Georgia. Technical Paper presentations are essential to meeting one of the association's key objectives, which is to be "the premier forum to interact and exchange knowledge among formulators and suppliers." The 2007 Annual Meeting schedule will include at least three technical paper presentations from each of TRFA's Market Focused Product Groups: Coatings, Civil Engineering and Floorings; Adhesives and Sealants; Composites and Tooling; and Potting, Encapsulation and Electrical. Each market focused committee has also been asked to identify an additional paper in a non-epoxy chemistry, underscoring its commitment to serving the needs and interests of all thermoset formulators. To continue, please follow this link.

Economic news

U.S. Census Bureau report January Advance Report on Durable Goods, released March 6, 2007, indicates that new orders for manufactured goods in January decreased $22.9 billion or 5.6 percent to $383.1 billion. This followed a 2.6 percent December increase. Shipments decreased $4.6 billion or 1.2 percent to $391.2 billion. This followed a 1.3 percent December increase. Unfilled orders, up twenty of the last twenty-one months, increased $0.6 billion or 0.1 percent to $695.2 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first stated on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 2.3 percent December increase. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 4.78, up from 4.71 in December. Inventories decreased $0.9 billion or 0.2 percent to $482.0 billion. This followed a 0.2 percent December increase. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.23, up from 1.22 in December. Follow this link to the complete report.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported on March 6 2006 Revised Fourth Quarter and Annual Average Productivity and Costs--as measured by output per hour of all persons--and revised changes for calendar year 2006. In both the business and nonfarm business sectors, productivity growth for the fourth quarter of 2006 was revised down by 1.4 percentage points from the estimates published February 7, due solely to downward revisions to output. Productivity growth during calendar year 2006 also was less than previously reported in both sectors, but the revisions to annual data were almost entirely explained by upward revisions to hours worked. For the complete report, follow this link.

The Conference Board reported on February 27 that the Consumer Confidence Index hit a five-and-a-half year high. The Index, which had marginally increased in January, improved in February. The Index now stands at 112.5 (1985=100), up from 110.2 in January. The Present Situation Index increased to 139.0 from 133.9. The Expectations Index edged up slightly to 94.8 from 94.4 last month. The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The cutoff date for February's preliminary results was February 20th. Next release is scheduled for March 27th. Follow this link for the complete report.

On March 15 th the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 1.3 percent in February, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.6-percent decline in January and a 0.9-percent rise in December. At the earlier stages of processing, the intermediate goods index turned up 1.1 percent after falling 0.7 percent in the previous month, and prices for crude goods climbed 8.9 percent following a 6.3-percent decrease in January. Follow this link for the complete release.

As reported in the January issue of Modern Distribution Management, which provided the economic analysis, product pricing trends for adhesives & sealants for 2005-2006 reflect a 2.3% increase.

The Composites Marketplace

According to “The U.S. Composites Outlook 2007 & Beyond,” in the January 2007 issue of ACMA’s Magazine, the U.S. Composites or Reinforced Plastics (RP) Industry shipped a record 4.5 billion pounds (estimate) of finished composites products to domestic customers in 2006, up 5.6 percent from 2005. this is appreciably higher than the gross domestic product (GDP) of the U.S. economy of 3.3 percent for the same period. To continue, please follow this link.

Small Business Support for TRI Reform

Small business supports the Environmental Protection Agency's recent reform of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) rule, according to testimony by Chief Counsel for Advocacy Thomas M. Sullivan. Sullivan delivered his testimony before the United States Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Sullivan testified that, "the TRI Burden Reduction rule will yield needed reductions in small business paperwork burdens while preserving the integrity of the TRI program and strengthening the protection of the environment." To continue, please follow this link.

Have You Joined a TRFA Committee?

Members of TRFA committees continue to enjoy the benefits of industry networking as they shape both the association and industry issues. TRFA committees continue to meet beyond the Annual Meeting via conference call. There is no cost to this participation, just the willingness to invest an hour or less on a conference call. All committee members find these to be important, additional opportunities to network with industry peers and impact industry initiatives. In addition, many find it makes the face-to-face meetings at the annual event even more valuable, thanks to the relationships that have been established throughout the year. TRFA's Adhesives and Sealants; Coatings, Civil Engineering and Flooring; Composites and Tooling; Potting, Encapsulation and Electrical Committee activities include - but are not limited to - the identification of Technical Papers for the next Annual Meeting. Your participation is always welcome. To access a Committee Participation Form, please follow this link.

TRFA Members Save Big on Financial Services

How important is it to your business to save money on essential business services? Your TRFA membership is worth thousands of dollars in real savings on credit card processing and related financial solutions. TRFA has teamed up with Solveras Payment Systems to provide members with the latest credit card processing technology. The program includes negotiated group discounts and a full range of processing options designed to meet your business’s unique payment needs, including a secure virtual terminal that allows you to manage transactions from any computer with Internet access. To continue, please follow this link.

International Opportunities

Trade Leads: The Commerce Department's Commercial Service offers a host of services to U.S. companies seeking to export their products. The Commercial Service collects export leads from its officers stationed overseas and posts them on the Export.gov Web site. These are requests from companies seeking to purchase U.S.-produced goods.

ChinaPlas2007, the 21st International Exhibition on Plastics and Rubber Industries, will be held May 21–24, 2007, at the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center. SPI is a co-sponsor of the USA Pavilion and is exploring a variety of programs for SPI members participating in the show. Potential activities include plant tours in the Guangzhou area and pre-arranged meetings with Chinese companies and U.S. government trade specialists serving in China. For more information, please contact SPI's Director, International Trade, Gennie Ross.

New Market Intelligence, Technical References Available at the Plastics Industry Store

Two important economic reports are now available that provide market intelligence and identify global trends for the plastics industry. SPI is the only source of this industry-wide data, covering all four segments of the plastics business.

• The Size & Impact of the Plastics Industry on the U.S. Economy...This comprehensive analysis of the size and scope of the U.S. plastics industry includes state and county data for each plastics sector.
  
• Global Business Trends, Partners, Hot Products...This international business study examines U.S. trade data by plastics industry sector.

Please follow this link for ordering instructions.

TRFA Invites Your Company News and Your Logo!

Is TRFA on your press list? If not, please add us, info@trfa.org. Also please add TRFA's logo, available at our members-only website, to your home page and literature. And while we are talking about logos, do we have yours? TRFA displays all member logos at its website and links to member websites from the "Members" page. Don't miss out on this opportunity to expand your web presence.

The following text continues features from above.

The Composites Marketplace

Composites have averaged 6.5 percent growth per year since 1960. The U.S. economy has grown at a compound average rate of 3.4 percent over the same period. Industry analysts credit this growth to material substitution, using composites or reinforced plastics to replace other traditional materials.

Looking ahead, however, and despite solid growth in 2006, shipments are expected to soften in 2007, along with the overall economy. This prospect is somewhat balanced by an overall lo9ok at cycles in the U.S. composites industry:

• The composites industry is cyclical and responds sharply to changes in the overall economy.
  
• Whereas annual changes to gross domestic product (GDP) are usually just a few percentage points, plus or minus, composites industry cycles can change demand as much as +/- 15-30 percent per year.
  
• Industry upturns are 3 times longer than the downturns; the rate of recovery in the first year is 1.5 times stronger than the rate of first-year decline; and the total growth in the expansion phase of the cycle is, on average, 8 times more than the amount of decline in the downturn.

To view the complete economic outlook, please follow this link.

VOC Task Force: Update and Request for Help

The Task Force was formed to address the new regulations in parts of the U.S. that are sharply reducing the levels of VOC’s that are acceptable in coatings formulations. We are happy to report that the EPA has issued a letter summarizing approved modifications to EPA Method 24 for determining the VOC content of surface coatings which the revised ASTM 2369 method incorporates:

• Using a larger sample size of 3.0 +/- 0.1 gram which allows test samples to be applied at the thickness of the product’s intended use.
• Eliminating the requirement to dilute the sample
• Up to 24-hour cure time

We expect that these changes will help allow coatings formulators to continue to use benzyl alcohol in some of their products, but the task force recognizes that the need to lower the required test temperature to something more appropriate for ambient-cured coatings continues.

Lower VOC Limits for AIM Coatings Regulations Expected

• EPA expects to revise the National AIM rule in 2007, possibly by adopting the volatile organic compound (VOC) limits in the North Eastern Ozone Transport Commission (OTC) states. This would make the federal AIM rule consistent with Canada’s plan to adopt the OTC limits.
  
• The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is revising its Suggested Control Measure for AIM coatings, by adopting limits similar to the South Coast Air Quality Management district (SCAQMD), where these limits make sense from a technology standpoint. CARB expects to complete its work in the fall of 2007.
  
• The OTC states are also expected to revise the OTS limits by adopting CARB VOC limits in 2007. Several states including Rhode Island and Massachusetts are in the process of adopting the current OTC rules.
  
• The Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO) ( Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio) expects to adopt the current OTC VOX limits or wait for EPA to revise the national AIM rule in 2007.

Please note that although EPA, CARB, OTC and LADCO AIM rules may be adopted in 2007, it is likely that the rules will have implementation dates of 2008 or 2009 and should include 2-3 year sell-through provisions.

Although strict SCAQMD VOC limits become effective in 2007 and 2008, SCAQMD is considering additional reductions for AIM coatings, as much as another 50-percent by 2015, either through mass-based VOC and/or reactivity-based limits.

NPCA is actively working on three important rulemakings. Please contact NPCA’s David Darling (ddarling@paint.org) or Jim Sell (jsell@paint.org) if you have any questions or if you would like to be added to NPCA’s AIM VOC Committee to ensure that you receive the most up-to-date information on AIM VOC regulatory activities.

TRFA Issues Call for Papers for 2007

Technical Papers are chosen based on their technical content, the timeliness of the subject, and relevance to TRFA members and the industry. Attendees at the 2006 Annual Meeting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, enjoyed sixteen technical paper presentations. Six of the sixteen presentations focused on non-epoxy chemistries. Persons interested in submitting a Technical Paper for consideration should contact the association at (630)942-6596 or info@trfa.org to request a Technical Paper Packet for the 2007 Annual Meeting.

Small Business Support for TRI Reform

The reform of the TRI rule is the result of a 15-year process, which included public comment, stakeholder meetings, expert testimony, and the notice and comment rulemaking process. According to Sullivan’s testimony, the reform is important because, "Small businesses have consistently voiced their concerns to Advocacy that the TRI program imposes substantial paperwork burdens with little corresponding environmental benefit, especially for thousands of businesses that have zero discharges or emissions to the environment."

Moreover, he said that "top environmental performers within industry will benefit by being able to use the short form (Form A). . . Most importantly, in order to use Form A, firms may not emit or discharge any PBT (Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic) chemicals into the environment."

For more information and a complete copy of the testimony, visit the Office of Advocacy website at www.sba.gov/advo.

TRFA Members Save Big on Business Services

Industry members can take advantage of a professional FREE savings analysis to see the program savings in writing with no obligation to enroll. For more information, please visit Solveras or call 1-800-613-0148 today.

New financial service: Deposit paper checks without leaving your office Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) technology makes it possible for you to securely deposit paper checks right from the comfort and convenience of your desktop. RDC is a complete and efficient check management system that radically improves the entire check deposit and storage process. It eliminates trips to the bank and the need to photocopy and store checks. With this user-friendly system, you’ll make deposits from your office whenever you want, get critical check information faster, pull activity reports, and search a digital archive for past check items with ease.

To learn more about Solveras programs, follow this link.