Chapter Goals & Programs for 2012

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All Members of our PSME Batangas East Chapter ! It is this time of year when we reflect on what our PSME Batangas East Chapter has gone through and thank those of our members who have made significant contributions to its growth and would like to invite the general membership to help and support our plans and programs

FromInception to the Present

This year marks the beginning of active participationfor many of our young engineers in the Batangas East Chapter of our PhilippineSociety of Mechanical Engineers. Our chapter was conceived and its officersinducted into office on May 7^th of this year. The event, jointlyconducted with Makban chapter, was attended by all the officers and severalactive members of the chapter with Commissioner A. Y. Po as the guest speakerand graced by our PSME national officers and past presidents.

Since then, our group has grown from the original 11officers when the first meeting was held to 30 active members as of Octoberthis year. Strongest support for this growth had been the Nestlé Tanauanproject engineering management & staff.

Membership invitations have also been launched to otherNestlé sites, particularly our Cabuyao and Lipa factories. Though the majorityof the membership is from Nestlé Philippines, we have always envisioned thechapter to have a varied membership with multi-company affiliations. Effort wasmade to contact other establishments and companies with engineering operationsin the Batangas East area. Some of their mechanical engineers were convinced tojoin our cause. These companies now included Strategic Silicon Service, SPPS,DCCD Engineering, Sunpower Philippines and Airserv.

We have made modest positive earnings through our variousPSME efforts and activities. This is reflected in our present bank account andall income and expense entries open for review by the members.

We have organized two plant visits during the courseof the year. One was to the Makban Geothermal Power Plant and another one toCoca Cola Philippines, Inc. We have also concluded two product presentationsand seminars for the members using the current suppliers who wanted tointroduce new technological innovations in their products to the members.

We have supported activities and programs organized bythe PSME national office. This included the CPE program wherein we haveidentified two members to be lecturers for the chapter, whose names have beensubmitted and are now awaiting the trainors training to be able to develop andorganize CPE accredited training programs. We are also proud to have supportedthe PSME annual convention by sending 15 members and inviting exhibitors whoparticipated in the event. Nestlé, where the majority of the members areaffiliated, sponsored some of the giveaways like coffee, pens and paper andthrough the chapter made significant contributions to the success of the event

Plansand Programs for 2012

With the above accomplishments behind us, we lookforward to the next year with renewed optimism and confidence for even moresolid growth and development. We plan to continue with our push to increasemembership in terms of our numbers and in the diversity of establishmentsrepresented. This can be accomplished by generating more awareness of ouractivities and showing to mechanical engineers who have not joined, thebenefits our members have enjoyed in terms of trainings and plant visits inenhancing their knowledge, networking with those from other backgrounds and inthe renewal or upgrade of their individual licenses. These are enumerated on ourplans and programs for the coming year, as follows:

1)     Conduct Elections in early 2012 - several of our original group of officers are nolonger active in the organization. Some officers have left the company or transferred to other work sites far from Batangas East. In contrast, several ofthe new members show keen interest to lead the organization to greater heights.This will allow them to take over the positions currently left dormant  by the other officers

2)     Increase Membership by 50% - there are numerous mechanical engineers working in theBatangas East area. At the Nestlé factory in Lipa alone, there are 22registered mechanical engineers listed on the company records. However, so faronly 3 have joined the chapter’s membership. We intend to attract more membersthrough the very positive feedback of their colleagues who joined and enjoyed ourchapter activities and by informing them of the new requirements for licenserenewal like CPE and certificate of good standing.

3)     Diversify Membership to more than 10 companies – though the initial members are allpractically from Nestlé, our goal for organizing a PSME chapter is to have membershipfrom different companies to be able to consult each other on technicalproblems, benchmark with each other and generally interact and broaden our professionalknowledge. We have identified more than 20 factories in the area with asubstantial number of mechanical engineers. Our objective is to make contactwith them and convince them to become active members who can then cascade thebenefits to others in their organization.

4)     Initiate 3 Seminars with CPE Credits – Application for CPE provider will be filed uponapproval of the applications of our two lecturers and their attendance of thetrainer’s training. In anticipation, training programs are also being developedin simultaneity. Seminars and training activities will be consolidated with theother chapters near our vicinity to maximize the number of participants and sharecommon resources.

5)     Organize 5 Plant Tour or Factory Visits – we will concentrate on companies and establishmentsin our Batangas East area. This will also be an opportunity for us to attractnew members from the companies we visit.

With the infusion of more active membership fromdifferent establishments, we plan to enhance our services to our members by launchingthe following innovations:

6)     Developprograms for non-licensed ME graduates – unlicensed ME graduates and CPMworking in the various factories need assistance to develop their theoreticalknowledge in the various subjects. We plan to assist those who plan to take theexamination and become registered mechanical engineers by providing useful materialsand consultancy on engineering problems through E-mail and newsletters thatthey can enroll in.

7)     InvolveMechanical Engineering Students – We plan to visit nearby schools to explorepossibility of ME students living within our area to join our chapter asstudent units and joining in our other affairs like plant and factory visitsand trainings.

8)     InvestigatePossibility of Developing a chapter website – We will check the costs andbenefits of establishing a website where members can have technical discussionsand blog their latest activities and events.

9)     Conductnon-Engineering related activities – With the more varied membership, we can sponsorsports or social events to foster networking and more friendly gatherings amongmembers.

10)  Support implementation of RA 8495– we will identify engineers from the different companies who requireassistance in complying and will explore possible programs and avenues of assistance.

We are confident that with the joint effort and teamworkof the active members and officers, and the support from our PSME national, ourchapter will be able to achieve its commitment to growth, pull togethermechanical engineers in Eastern Batangas and then offer a comprehensive line ofvaluable services geared towards the professional development of its members.