NFPA Preparing for Technology Roadmap Update in 2017

by Eric Lanke, NFPA President/CEO

The NFPA Technology Roadmap is a document that describes an industry-wide consensus regarding the pre-competitive research and development needs associated with improving the design and function of fluid power components and systems. It is used by the NFPA and the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP) to guide their research efforts, by NFPA members and other industry partners to inform decisions about research partnerships and product development, and by academic, government, and other organizations that wish to pursue research and development projects of importance to the fluid power industry.

The document is updated every two years by the NFPA Roadmap Committee. This cycle will be chaired by Jim Kaas of Iowa Fluid Power, who is also the chair of NFPA’s Distributor Council and member of the NFPA Board of Directors. The 2015 version of the Roadmap identified six broad areas of research challenges confronting the industry and 27 specific research targets and objectives designed to address those challenges. A schematic of those challenges and objectives, and how they could address the key performance drivers in fluid power’s customer markets, can be accessed on the NFPA website. A full copy of the 2015 Roadmap can be downloaded at http://www.nfpa.com/aboutnfpa/technology-roadmap_2015.aspx.

All donors in the NFPA Foundation’s Pascal Society are invited to appoint a representative to the NFPA Roadmap Committee and be part of the process that updates and publishes the 2017 version of the Roadmap. A list of Pascal Society donors can be found at http://www.nfpa.com/nfpafoundation/pascalsociety.aspx.

Please contact me at elanke@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3351 if you would like your company to get engaged in this process. In addition to helping the industry produce a document that shapes and advances its research agenda, the process itself is a great education and networking opportunity for engineers and technicians across the fluid power supply chain.