Keynote Speaker: Gene Kranz

Motivational speaker Gene Kranz was the leader of the “Tiger Team” of NASA flight directors who guided the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft safely back to Earth. His role in the crisis now legendary, Kranz was made famous by his oft-quoted phrase, “Failure is not an option.” Following the inspiring success of the Apollo 13 mission, Gene Kranz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his leadership, heroism, and steely resolve. In Ron Howard’s epic film, Apollo 13, he was portrayed by actor Ed Harris.

“Failure is not an option” is the enduring credo that has driven Gene Kranz’s career, and he reminds audiences that he had no such option in April 1970. A gripping motivational speaker, Kranz discusses the pride, determination, and passion that inspired and compelled the engineers and scientists who were responsible for the phenomenal success of the American space program.

SMRP is excited to have Mr. Kranz as this year's keynote speaker and feel he will bring a message to our attendees that will be motivational as well as practical. We are also happy to announce the Mr. Kranz will be available for a meet-and-greet with time for follow up questions after his speech.

This will be a keynote you won't want to miss!

Maureen Gribble
Certification and Education Manager, SMRP

Body of Knowledge highlights

Great news! This year’s conference is going to include track sessions hosted by the SMRP Body of Knowledge Committees (Best Practices, Benchmarking, M&R Knowledge & Standards). The BoK Directorate has committed itself this year to delivering tangible value to members.

The BoK Committee Chairs and members will be showcasing their latest valuable tangible intellectual property created for members and made available to you as an SMRP member. Come to these sessions to hear the volunteers present the latest status of committee activities, and more importantly, explain how you can access the intellectual property that has been created for you. Examples of these tangible products include Standard Metrics Definitions, the new and improved world-class Benchmarking process that will be launched at the annual conference, the new Guide to the Body of Knowledge and searchable access to SMRP Past Conference Proceedings, to name a few.

We hope to see you in these Track 6 sessions!

-Bob DiStefano, CMRP
Director, Body of Knowledge
MRG Inc.

Greetings from the 2009 Conference Committee Chair

Welcome to this exciting new feature for the 17th Annual SMRP Conference to be held in St. Louis, Missouri. There is an interesting line up of blog topics scheduled between now and the conference to provide you with an opportunity to interact with subject matter experts on a variety of events and topics that will be available for you to experience in person at the conference.

You will learn more about the receptions, keynote speaker, tours, workshops, and committees as well as some of the topics that will be the subject of the presentations within the six tracks. The track papers are in the relevant categories of 1) Business and Management, 2) Manufacturing Processes, 3) Equipment Reliability, 4) People Skills, 5) Work Management, and 6) SMRP Initiatives.

We hope you will agree that every year the annual SMRP conference continues to improve and that this year will be the “Gateway to Reliability Excellence" and will make "Maintenance Success within Reach!”

Please join us in this blog as we live out the SMRP’s mission to “promote and advance reliability excellence.”

Happy Blogging!

Nick Roberts, CMRP
SMRP 2009 Conference Committee Chair
DuPont

Welcome to the SMRP 17th Annual Conference Blog!

Welcome one and all to the first ever SMRP Annual Conference Blog! I hope everyone out there is getting geared up for what is sure to be an outstanding conference this October in the "Gateway City!"

We have decided to start this blog as a means for getting the excitement of the conference started early. With a little less than five months to go until the conference, this will be the forum for learning about all the hot topics that will be presented, the various networking activities we have planned, and of course a means for getting you connected with your peers before the planes start touching down in St. Louis.

Along with our great support group of SMRP volunteers, we've also snagged a great line-up of contributors. Blogging along with us will be John Watson, CMRP, of Owen's Corning, Ramon Diaz, CMRP, of Meridium, and Glenn Gardner, CMRP, of Seattle City Light.

We are still looking for a few more bloggers to join our group, so if you think you'd like to help tell the story of the SMRP Annual Conference over the next few months and, onsite during the show, please e-mail me at mgribble@smrp.org.

In the meantime, enjoy the blog and please share your thoughts on what we post, as well as what we should post. We want you to participate in this exciting conversation!

-Maureen Gribble
Certification and Education Manager, SMRP