While MFN has already hosted 5 international workshops and trade shows in Singapore, 1 in the U.K. and 1 in Germany, it was the first time this event was organized in the U.S.A. Different global markets obey different rules. Therefore MFN was very pleased to see that the concept of providing FAA-accepted training, inviting international guest speakers and combining with a trade show seems to be a format that works also for America. The workshop took place at the Holiday Inn Clearwater in Florida from the 9th to the 11th of May 2006.

One of the real highlights of the  workshop was the keynote speech by Mr. Arshad Hafeez, Director of Global Business Operations for Nadcap. He spoke about "Industry Teaming Quality Initiatives", a topic which was well received by all the attendees. It was a great honour for MFN that Mr. Hafeez took time out of his busy schedule to join this event.
MFN is a partner in education in Nadcap, a relationship which started at the end of 2005. Out of a total of 11 Nadcap auditors for shot peening, regarded as a critical process, 3 are also MFN trainers.
Besides the FAA-accepted basic, intermediate and advanced shot peening courses, which were offered with an optional certificate of achievement, MFN invited interesting guest speakers from the industry. Guest speaker topics ranged from laser peening, media and processes to specialised equipment.
In order to make the official MFN training course as attractive as possible, the organiser came with a team of 6 trainers. An Ervin tester, a Rotap sieve analyser and flap peening equipment were shipped from Europe to the States, in order to carry out hands-on demonstrations for the participants.

Participants who needed help on a particular subject received one-to-one training during the breaks or during the trade show sessions.

This event attracted participants from 13 countries and some of the attendees came from as far as Ethiopia and India. This truly international crowd was the perfect surrounding to exchange knowledge and ideas.
The trade show area was sold out with 21 booths, including products displayed by 7 companies from outside of North America. Besides peening equipment, media and accessories manufacturers, job shops also offered services and products.
Special thanks from the organizers go to Saint-Gobain Zirpro in France, Frohn North America and Peening Technologies in the USA. They sponsored a gathering for all the participants during one evening of the workshop.

Due to the good feedback received in terms of choice of location, it was decided that in May 2007 Clearwater in Florida will again be chosen for MFN's International Workshop & Trade Show in North America. The venue will be the beautiful Hilton Hotel in Clearwater Beach.

For more information, please contact www.mfn.li/workshops.

"The MFN Workshop was excellent. The instruction provided was outstanding! It's advantageous to have so much knowledge in one location and have all your questions answered by the most experienced people in the field of shot peening. Thank you!"

Bradley William Trees, Process Engineer Airframe Component Group
Praxair Surface Technologies, Inc.

"This workshop was very informative. Excellent lectures with state-of-the-art information on residual stress measurement and peening media properties. I have already recommended it to my peers at work."

Paco Figuero, SSME Project Engineer, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc.

" This event was especially noteworthy in the shot peening industry. It speaks for itself that so many MFN trainers make their knowledge in different fields available to workshop participants."
 
Bernadette G. Recio, Quality Assurance Specialist, Corpus Christi Army Depot