Section 3
- SERVICES AND STAFF. The society performs the following services for its members and the surface finishing industry, utilizing the following staff:
- Publication of Plating and Surface Finishing, and recently initiated the publication of The Journal of Applied Surface Finishing. These magazines publish articles by authors on non-proprietary research and developments.
- Production and publication of educational tapes and compact discs relating to surface finishing and compliance to environmental regulations.
- Conducts classes, nationally, leading to certification of students to higher levels of accomplishment in surface finishing technology and regulatory compliance.
- Until last year, produced conventions such as Sur/Fin, Airlines Forum, and EPA- AESF Week. The 2005 Sur/Fin was produced under SFIC.
- Provides services to the Branches such as collection of dues, maintenance of the Branch rosters, communications, publications, educational films, tapes and CD’s.
- Maintains a library of surface finishing books and magazines.
- Funds scholarships for students and research investigation at universities and technical institutes.
- Rebates a portion of membership dues to the Branches.
- Supports funding of the Government Relations (GR) to reduce the financial impact of new and tightened regulations on industry facilities.
- ALTERNATIVE AND SUPPLEMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS. Specialties in surface finishing in the United States have their own associations which compete for membership or joint membership. They include:
- Aluminum Anodizers Council
- Electrocoaters Association
- Chemical Coaters Association.
- National Paint and Coatings Association
- Powder Coating Institute
- Society of Vacuum Coaters
- National Assn. of Metal Finishers (NAMF) – Members are surface finishing job shops. Owners and employees, as individuals, may also be members of AESF. Some member companies of NAMF will support and encourage the individuals to join and participate in educational activities. One of the three contemplated entities to be consolidated into the SFIC and NASF.
- Metal Finishing Suppliers Association. Members are companies engaged in selling equipment, chemicals and supplies to the industry. Some member companies of MFSA will support and encourage the individuals to join and participate in educational activities. One of the three contemplated entities to be consolidated into the SFIC and NASF.
- STAFF FUNCTIONS. For many years the Society has been administered by an Executive Director and office staff. Recently, the administration has been delegated to professional association management companies with the Executive Director and staff members, including secretarial, accounting, branch liaison and related members being employed by the association management company. As part of the ongoing consolidation activities, the current administrative company (NAVISTA) serves the three organizations with the cost being shared by AESF, NAMF and MFSA (SFIC).
Under this business plan it is proposed that the current costly professional administration be terminated and the organization be managed by employees of AESF. This will reduce costs by eliminating the overhead charges of the separate association management company. As shown in Fig. 1, “Costs With the Proposed Business Plan”, costs will be significantly reduced by having an Executive Director and office staff employed by AESF.
3.3.1 STAFF REORGANIZATION
We believe that three (3) strategic employees and the necessary support staff, working directly for the AESF Board can implement a plan that will allow the AESF to grow and be more productive for its members. These key positions will be filled with very qualified professionals who are capable of performing the duties as described below and are necessary for the “AESF for the Future”. The AESF will review its existing staffing and immediately make the necessary changes in order to create a management group to resemble the following positions and job descriptions.
3.3.2 Executive Director The AESF Executive Director for the Future will work with the Board of the Future to be a team of equals. This person will spend 50-60% of their time traveling around the country to promote the mission of the AESF in a systematic and organized way. This person will be a dynamic, energetic representative of the AESF, who will tirelessly seek to improve membership and member benefits in their day to day activities. Other specific duties and responsibilities of the Executive Director of the future include:
- Encourage tier one manufacturers and suppliers in the Automotive, Aerospace, Architectural, Agriculture, Furniture, Electronics, PCB, and Hardware industries to sponsor AESF’s research, supervisory training, and educational programs through personal visits, presentations, and correspondence with key associates by the Executive Director.
- Seek out and submit to the members potential group benefit programs such as insurance programs for Health, Life, Automobile and Worker’s Comp. The Executive Director will continuously investigate and recommend other group benefits that could beneficial to the Society such as credit unions, financial planning, and legal aid among others.
- Attend and participate in 2-3 branch meetings around the country each month in an effort to inform and update the branches and their members of the ongoing activities to such as educational, activities and new member benefits.
- Assist each branch in finding a sponsor college, university, or technical school and insure that they host at least one meeting per season at or with this institution.
- Assist the board in the execution of new ideas and concepts that result in new opportunities and benefits to the AESF members.
3.3.3. Branch Services Manager AESF will create a new position of Branch Services Manager whose responsibility will be to assist branches in conducting an ongoing professional marketing campaign to promote branch events, activities, and new member recruitment. This branch “hand holding” is critical; the position must be exclusively dedicated to working with the branches in the form of developing and distributing marketing materials that have been designed to increase awareness of activities and membership benefits. Branch marketing will not be limited to members; anyone interested in metal finishing will be encouraged to attend. Special attention will be focused in recruiting ex-members, students, and those who have participated in AESF sanctioned events such as annual conventions, courses, classes and workshops over the last several years.
The person hired for the Branch Services position will be marketing savvy and capable of assisting branches on all of their marketing issues simultaneously. This position will answer directly to the Executive Director who in turn will answer to the Board. Some specific duties and responsibilities of the new Branch Services Manager will include:
- Assist each active branch in finding a sponsor college, university, or technical school and insure that they host at least one meeting per season at this institution.
- Assist branches with the advance planning of their annual meeting schedule by providing topics, technical speakers, and helping guide branch officers through a planning session to establish meeting days, times, and locations for the planned events.
- Execute regular marketing activities such as broadcast faxing, telemarketing, professional broadcast email messages on the behalf of branches that do not have these capabilities.
- Work in conjunction with the Branch Services Committee helping them develop and implement new ideas for membership growth and branch development throughout the year.
- Work with the Educational Director to host an annual branch training forum where branch officers are taught everything from Roberts Rules to leadership and time management skills.
3.3.4 Educational Director The AESF will create the new position of Educational Director whose responsibility will be to develop and maintain AESF alliances with the key colleges, universities, and technical schools around the country. The Educational Director will assist in all aspects of the Societies activities pertaining to educational programs from our new online courses to scholarships. This person also will work with the Branch Services Manager to make sure all branches understand and know how to take advantage of the new branch assistance programs.
- Work with the education and scholarship committees to help them accomplish their goals and objectives.
- Increase AESF exposure to students by assisting branch participation in science, career, and engineering exhibits, symposiums, and fairs on the college campuses throughout the country.
- Encourage and assist members and volunteers in applying for approved AESF instructor status.
- Enhance and maintain the AESF speaker directory with dozens of potential technical speaker candidates and make sure the branches use them as a resource.
- Assist regional conference committees with securing technical presenters for their associated technical sessions.
- Work with the Branch Services Manager to host an annual branch training forum where branch officers are taught everything from Roberts Rules to leadership and time management skills.
- Develop and institute programs in conjunction with related groups and organizations which provide education for legislatures that increase their understanding of the importance of the metal finishing industry.
3.3.5 Clerical and Accounting. Will consist of 3 employees to handle office functions such as bookkeeping, telephone, mail service and document production.
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