Foam Expo Conference North America has released its full agenda – a comprehensive schedule featuring industry experts who analyze and address an extensive range of issues and talking points. 

The three-day, two-track conference is the only free-to-attend event of its kind, covering market trends, manufacturing challenges, and opportunities for the full suite of technical foam applications. The agenda comprises trends and developments, expert insights, and leadership panels, where industry leaders gather to discuss topics in-depth. The conference creates a unique space for discussion, debate, and discovery.

This year will see the addition of brand new conference features to the agenda. Spotlight Sessions are an opportunity to learn from end-users in the automotive, aerospace, packaging, sports and leisure, medical, and construction industries about regulations, material requirements, and testing. Sessions deep-dive into specific areas, such as the growing application of foam in the medical industry and material innovations such as lightweighting and better energy absorption. Meanwhile, Material Jam Sessions seek to enhance delegates’ understanding of developments in specific innovative materials, such as PET foam, metal foam, syntactic foam, and spray foam, among others.

Speakers from some of the industry’s most prolific and successful companies will take the stage. Included in the line-up are Siemens’ Mathias Radziwill, who will participate in a live poll on improving the foam supply chain and discuss advanced technologies for foam processing. Avery Dennison Performance Tapes’ Scott Krusinski will cover requirements and developments in the transportation industry, while Sonoco’s Jim Lowry will explore what’s driving the sustainable revolution in the packaging industry. Elsewhere, NASA Johnson Space Center’s William Walker will examine the changing landscape in thermal insulation and conductivity requirements. 

Specialists from high-profile companies including Ford Motor Company, Arkema, and BASF Corporation are also among scores of other speakers discussing topics of particular current interest. They include achieving cost reduction for materials and equipment while improving foam capabilities, updates on fourth-generation blowing agents, where industry heavyweights consider the path taken from regulation to implementation, and the great VOC trade off – a session on requirements, cost, and performance. Other key sessions on the agenda relate technology development and updates regarding flame retardants and consider how to beat the end-of-life challenge, exploring recycling options for foam materials in an era increasingly concerned with the environmental impact of our products and activities.
The conference also addresses issues that are prevalent industry-wide, including sustainability, optimization, and difficulties arising in educating, hiring, and training the next-generation workforce. 
Over the three days, Foam Expo Conference seeks to overcome the hurdles which exist along the entire supply chain.
The conference marks a rare opportunity to engage in interactive, high-level discussions on the market trends, global influences, and end-user requirements affecting the foam industry. Plus, with so many experts from the industry’s most successful and influential organizations under one roof, the conference presents an unmissable chance to expand your business network. 

To sign up for your free pass today, click here.

Members of the SPFA Building Envelope Committee just completed a significant update of an existing TechDoc, SPFA-140 Spray Polyurethane Foam for Exterior Subgrade Thermal and Moisture. This document addresses the application of closed-cell SPF on the exterior side of below-grade walls. SPFA would like to acknowledge the help from the following volunteer members of the SPFA-140 task group: Mac Sheldon of Sheldon Consulting, Roger Morrison of Deer Ridge Consulting, Henri Fennell of HC Fennell Consulting, Jim Andersen of JA Consulting and Steve Loftis of NCFI.

The Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA), the educational and technical resource to the Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) industry, today announced the completion of a 5-year update to its ISO-compliant Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for three generic Spray Polyurethane Foam product formulations that include open-cell, closed-cell and roofing foams.

Members Span Contractor and Manufacturer Leadership Across Insulation and Roofing in the Rapidly Growing Energy-Efficiency Focused Spray Foam Construction Sector.

The SPFA Equipment Committee has completed the update of SPFA-137 TechDoc entitled "SPF High Pressure Equipment Guidelines." This is a substantial revision of the document, last published in 2005. It includes descriptions of all chemical handling equipment from the A- and B-component storage to the spray gun. Many thanks to the task group volunteers for this project including John Courier, Jake Jacobson, Nick Pagano, Joe Hearon and Tim Newmeyer. A free PDF copy of this document can be found here: http://www.sprayfoam.org/technical/spfa-technical-documents. Please send any questions to comments to Rick Duncan rickduncan@sprayfoam.org.

U.S. Government Affairs > ACEEE Releases 2018 Energy Efficiency Report Card > EPA Proposes Rule to Revise Section 608 Refrigerant Management Regulations GGAC Regional and Chapter Activities > New Mexico Governor Signs Executive Order on All Occupational Licenses

ASTM International has, under the leadership of SPFA's Dr. Duncan, SPFA members and SPF industry professionals, announced the completion and approval of a new standard entitled Standard Practice for Installation of High-Pressure Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation for the Building Enclosure. This practice covers the installation of high-pressure spray polyurethane foam (SPF) as an insulation for building enclosure assemblies including: walls, ceilings, attics, floors and crawl spaces. This practice does not apply to SPF used strictly as a component for an air barrier system or for SPF used in roofing applications. The Standard can be purchased by ASTM here. If you have any questions please direct them to Dr. Duncan.

See what's in store, as far as industry events, expos, training classes, online courses, certification programs and more.