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Apple Rubber attends 2014 Pump & Turbo Symposia

The annual Pump & Turbomachinery Symposia features a world-class technical program combined with an international exhibition. The event features full-size equipment and hundreds of innovative, leading companies. In the tech industry, it’s an event you can’t afford to miss.

Luckily this year, Apple Rubber got to be in on the action.

What is a Pump/Turbo Symposia?

The 43rd Turbomachinery & 30th Pump Symposia took place from Sept. 22-25 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Posted up at Booth 223, materials manager John Tranquilli and account executive Dan Goehle exhibited Apple Rubber’s standard FKM, FFKM O-Rings and custom filter seals – while having the opportunity to also learn and network during the four-day event.

“What really drew us in to this event was the exposure to the oil and gas industry,” said Tranquilli. “We’d like to have more of a presence in this area and we are now getting back to focusing on our industrial product lines.”

The two annual symposia, sponsored by Turbomachinery Laboratory, aim to promote professional development, technology transfer, peer networking, and information exchange among industry professionals. Both events are led by engineers with vast experience in the petrochemical, process, chemical, utility, contractor, and consulting fields, along with manufacturers of rotating equipment and fluid-handling equipment from around the world.

Attendees can choose from an array of lectures, tutorials, case studies, discussion groups, short courses and exhibits of the latest machinery.

This year, the Symposia featured:

  • 5,857 attendees
  • 660 booths
  • 322 exhibiting companies
  • 90 technical sessions
  • 53 different countries represented

So why is this event so important to us? All of the international meetings focused on technology and troubleshooting that users face in today’s workplace. In fact, it is the only meeting recognized by users, for users.

“Aside from exhibits, the educational technical sessions allowed us to customize our experience to meet Apple’s needs,” said Tranquilli. “We could exhibit our products, but learn about customers in the industry at the same time.”

 “Being first-time attendees, it gave us a better understanding of the needs of the industry,” said Tranquilli. “Many customers were pleased to see our custom-molding capabilities. Apple was very well-received.”

From John and Dan’s takeaways, Apple Rubber’s capability for standard and metric O-Rings was a huge advantage in the eyes of attendees. But moving forward, they’re looking on what they need to improve.

“We will be looking to create a lower cost polymer for a high chemical resistance,” said Tranquilli. “In addition, explosive decompression is still a big problem in the industry. We will continue actively trying to meet the current ISO or NORSK standard for this.”

Did you attend the Pump & Turbo Symposia? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Connect with us on Twitter @AppleRubber.