FEM 2008 Congress in Cannes

The 32nd FEM Congress took place in Cannes from 18 to 20 September 2008, organised by the French National Committee of FEM, CISMA. The opening ceremony followed by a dinner was held on Thursday 18th September after a working afternoon for the FEM Product Groups, and the next morning was dedicated to the plenary meetings of the FEM Product Groups.

The highlight of this Congress was a “horizontal session” during the afternoon of Friday 19th September. It comprised 2 workshops followed by panel discussions.

The first workshop attempted to depict and identify economic opportunities offered by Eastern European countries and Russia.

The economic situation in Eastern Europe and Russia, by Nicolas Bouzou, Astères
Potential market Russia – Savoye's experience, by Jean-Michel Guarnieri, Savoye (IS)
Manufacturing in Eastern Europe: Why?, by Alexandre Saubot, Haulotte Group (MEWPS)
The second workshop took a more technical angle and tried to trigger discussions around CEN & ISO standards, FEM recommendations and their possible combined future.

CEN & ISO standards, by Danielle Koplewicz, UNM: Global relevance from European standardization to ISO standards; and WTO principles in the frame of global technical harmonisation
“FEM Recommendations” – Role of FEM for European Manufacturer strategy in the (standardized) global market, by Arnaud Miton – Manitowoc Cranes
Finally the afternoon ended with a special guest who gave us another view on how to “reach the top” in your respective businesses: the French alpinist Catherine Destivelle.

The Congress ended with a closing dinner at the invitation of Pierre Marol, CISMA's President, on the evening of Friday 19th September, and our traditional yet popular CEO breakfast, with a presentation by Denis Ferrand from Coe-Rexede on the World economic situation and economic forecast 2008-2009.

The General Assembly on Saturday 20th September concluded the 3-day Congress, and included an address by Adrian Harris, Secretary General of the European Engineering Industry Association (Orgalime) and an address by John Nofsinger, CEO of Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA).

The next FEM Congress will take place from 29 September to 2 October 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey

The FEM 2006-2008 is available here.
More information about FEM: www.fem-eur.com