Ann Arbor, MI – The Motion Control Association (MCA), the leading industry trade group for motion control companies, has elected its first permanent board of directors. Founded in 2006, the association was governed for its first three years by an interim board. The new board was elected by a vote of MCA’s 55 member companies.

Bill Allai of National Instruments was selected by the permanent board as its new Chair.

Andy Vogl of Kollmorgen, a Danaher Motion Company, was selected as Vice Chair. “In addition to the many current benefits of MCA membership we will be expanding our focus on motion control trends and technology advancements to help our members keep abreast of the industry. Look for future seminars, training, and other educational material in the months ahead,” said Allai.

Each of the following board members was elected to a two-year term:

Bill Allai, National Instruments
John Hegel, Minarik
Jesse Henson, Baldor Electric
Arun Jain, Siemens
Greg Johnston, Oriental Motor
Dan Jones, Incremotion Associates
John Mazurkiewicz, Consultant and Past MCA Chairman
John Payne, Yaskawa Electric America
Ray Siefert, Baumuller
Ken Sweet, Parker Hannifin
Andrew Vogl, Kollmorgen, a Danaher Motion Company

John Mazurkiewicz, formerly of Baldor Electric, served as the interim Chair since MCA’s founding. He hailed this first election as a major step forward for MCA. “The creation of a permanent board of directors elected by the members is strong evidence of the progress we have made as a trade group,” Mazurkiewicz said. “In fact, despite the tough year our industry faced in 2009, with sales down 30% or more, our membership actually increased by eight percent.”

One of MCA’s key initiatives in 2010 will be to expand the number of members in all categories, especially distributors. “Distributors play such an important role in the sales channel, they are so close to the end users, that it’s critical that we get them more actively involved with MCA,” said Jeffrey A. Burnstein, President of MCA.

Other key initiatives in 2010 include expanding MCA’s educational offerings, continued improvement of its Motion Control Online website and further enhancements to its quarterly statistics reports.

MCA also will play a major role in the expansion of the International Robots, Vision & Motion Control Show and Conference that will be held March 21-24, 2011, at McCormick Place in Chicago. The event will be collocated with ProMat, a major materials handling event that draws some 30,000 registrants.

“Exposing our members and their products to a larger audience of people interested in motion control and related factory automation technologies will greatly enhance the value of the show,” noted Burnstein.

MCA recently released its 2010 Membership Directory. To request a copy and for more information about MCA and its activities, visit Motion Control Online or contact MCA Headquarters at 734/994-6088.

Motion Control Association
www.motioncontrolonline.org