From his first meeting 23 years ago until now, TAPPI member Kerry Figiel says his active involvement in TAPPI activities – including Division, Committee and Common Interest Group Meetings – has enabled him to stay ahead of rapidly changing curves in the paper industry. And he credits his very first manager for giving him the sage advice to join.

Currently a Senior Staff Engineer with International Paper, he serves as Corporate Champion for Quality Control Systems. Now he too highly recommends membership to his fellow industry scientists and engineers. Find out the many reasons why by reading this month's Member Spotlight. 

Spotlight participants are recommended by fellow members and staff. If you would like to nominate a member (or even yourself!) just send their name (or names) to MemberSpotlight@tappi.org. We will forward a Spotlight Questionnaire to fill out and return.

We look forward to seeing you in the Spotlight!

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Brian Duff, chief engineer and acting deployment team leader for the Office of the Biomass Program at the U.S. Department of Energy in Golden, Colo., will deliver a keynote address at the combined BioPro Expo & Marketplace™ and the International Bioenergy and Bioproducts Conference (IBBC). The event will take place in Atlanta on March 14-16, 2011, at the Atlanta Hilton.

Duff is Chief Engineer and Acting Deployment Team Leader for the Office of the Biomass Program at the U.S. Department of Energy. A biochemical process engineer with 30 years of experience in biotechnology and renewable energy from biomass, he holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Lehigh University and a master of science degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University. His primary expertise is in microbial bioconversion processes and the production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass.

During his career, he has worked for two Fortune 500 companies, Procter & Gamble and Pfizer, as well as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At NREL, he was the Senior Pilot Plant Engineer responsible for the design, installation and startup of the lignocellulosic process development unit (PDU), as well as a 2-ton-per-day anaerobic digestion demonstration plant designed to recycle organic biomass into renewable energy. He is dedicated to improving the quality of life through biotechnology.

BioPro Expo is the largest conference and exhibition in the Southeastern United States, backed by 22 industry partners covering the full biomass processing spectrum for multiple industries, from supply through demand and utilization. In-depth educational sessions are coupled with a trade show focused on cutting-edge technology, products and services available today. This event examines practical methodologies for quickly transitioning products, residues and waste streams into energy and biofuels.

For information, visit www.bioproexpo.org.

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Connect directly with your prospects and customers in the polymers, laminations, adhesives, coating and extrusions industries by sponsoring or exhibiting at the 13th TAPPI European PLACE Conference,  30 May-1 June 2011 at the Festspielhaus on beautiful Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria.

Get direct access to your prospects. Reach the top minds in these industries as they seek the latest introductions of technology and applications. European PLACE Conference attendees are decision makers or influencers who are directly involved with flexible packaging and converting, product development, research, package engineering and consulting.

Make sure your prospects see what your company has to offer! View the prospectus.

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The preparations for the 15th edition of the SPCI World Pulp & Paper Week, held on May 17-19 2011 in Stockholm, Sweden, are now in full swing. The exhibition is almost fully booked and the conference programme will be announced shortly.

New for 2011 is that the conference is free to all visitors and is situated on three activity squares within the exhibition hall. The Magic Future Square in the middle highlights topics such as the World Market, Management and Innovations. The East and West squares will host more of a technical based type of presentations and seminars divided into five different subject areas; Pulp & Paper, Innovations, Energy, R&D and Raw Materials/Bioenergy.

SPCI 2011 provides you with first class business opportunities in an international environment and is a great source of inspiration for exhibitors and visitors alike. The online visitor registration is now open. To access the visitor registration form, please visit http://www.spcievent.com/en click on the Visitor Info Link and choose entrance card. To see the most up-to-date list of exhibitors, please click here. 

There is still some space available should you wish to sign up as an exhibitor or Event Partner. Event Partners are placed around the activity squares and have presentation slots already reserved. Please click here to see the latest exhibition floor plan.

For more information about this year's event, visit the website to find updated news and contact details.

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PaperCon 2011 will highlight this important and profitable industry segment during PaperCon's one-day Tissue Forum on May 3 to give you a perspective on business and market trends through peer-reviewed papers on the latest technical innovations, and safety and reliability best practices for yankee dryers.

Highlights include...

- Tissue Market Overview
- State of the Tissue Industry-2011 and Onwards with speakers from Poyry Management Consulting USA, Inc., Procter & Gamble, and Kimberly-Clark
- Modeling and Simulation of the Crepeing Process
- Paper Towel Absorptive Properties
- New Polymers for Wet Strength-An Academic Perspective
- Yankee Dryer Safety and Reliability-Panel Discussion
- TAPPI Subcommittees address steam and condensate systems, air systems, cast iron dryer maintenance and inspections, and reducing chatter.
- Tissue Forming Systems-Panel Discussion
- Consistency Measurement and Control in a Tissue Mill–The Often Neglected Parameter
- Modeling of Crescent Former Dewatering

Learn more about PaperCon, May 1-4, 2011 in Covington, Ky. (Greater Cincinnati area) and the one-day Tissue Forum.

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The 2011 TAPPI Best Practices on the Corrugator Course offers a unique opportunity to learn the operations of each component in the corrugator system and how to run each component with optimum settings for peak performance. This popular course is being held February 15-18 in Norcross, Ga.

By participating in this course you will develop an understanding of the critical properties of the raw materials that are vital to guarantee quality board. The industry veterans leading this course will teach you how the "Centerline Process" can be adopted in your plant and a how to achieve a product that is consistent every day and on all shifts.

Why You Should Attend

- Apply new know how to to increase productivity, improve quality, and minimize waste
- Share your specific problems and issues with the experts
- Find out how and where you can reduce excess waste
- Learn how you can maintain quality while reaching maximum corrugator speeds
- Find out how you can get the maximum yield of boxes from the paperboard consumed
- Take home new ideas and operational methods to improve production

After successfully completing this course, participants should be able to:

- Describe elements of the corrugating process.
- Troubleshoot most common operational problems.
- Recognize critical properties of paperboard, starch adhesive and how to control wrap.

Find out more about the skills and processes taught by leading industry experts.

Register now or download the registration form to secure your seat for this valuable training opportunity.

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The Gulf Coast Local Section of TAPPI invites you to attend its Annual Winter Meeting and Conference to be held at the RockTenn Demopolis, Ala., Training Center on February 17. The meeting will feature an informative conference entitled "Six Sigma Cost-Saving Projects Quality Management Systems."

Learn more about this event.

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TAPPI is pleased to announce the call for papers for the 2011 TAPPI PEERS conference (formerly the TAPPI EPE Conference). The TAPPI PEERS Conference is the perfect forum for paper industry professionals both to acquire practical operating insights and to network with industry peers in technical sessions, tutorials, round tables, new technology sessions and workshops. For a full list of topics please visit the full Call For Papers.

Authors interested in presenting a paper should upload their extended abstract to TAPPI's Speaker Management System by March 9, 2011. Abstracts should be 1-2 paragraphs in length. Authors will be notified of acceptance by April 15, 2011 and must provide a full text manuscript by July 15, 2011.

For more information please contact: Craig McKinney, TAPPI program manager, cmckinney@tappi.org or direct: 770-209-7294.

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