It is very encouraging for the association that we are gaining more members. This is the result of a number of activities we carry out to create interest in our operations and attract more members. The more members SFMA has, the broader our activities can be, and this also gives us a larger budget that contributes to more extensive initiatives.
One activity we will be working more on this spring is collecting information and statistics on how the industry works with sustainability issues. We hope to gather figures showing how large reductions in, for example, carbon emissions our members are achieving through different measures. It would be very valuable to have that documented and to be able to show how capable the industry is, not least because such information is requested at university career fairs. We will send out a simple survey for members to complete, and I hope as many as possible can help us with that.
During 2025, we have already participated in career fairs at both Luleå University of Technology and KTH. We see that interest is increasing year by year, which is very encouraging. This year, we received about 30 percent more quizzes completed by students at the stand, which we use as a measure of interest. That increase is proof that our efforts aimed at universities are having an effect. Another university activity we have started is Motion Race, where students in mechanical engineering at LTU receive an electronics box and then compete to design the best electronic control solution. That activity runs during February, and prizes will then be awarded at the Annual Meeting.
Within the Research Group, work continues on informing members about new calls for research projects. The first newsletter of the year has just been sent out, and we hope that one or several member companies will choose to apply. The group is also waiting for all the papers from the international research conference GFPS, which was held in Hudiksvall last summer, to be released. When that happens, the Research Group will compile them and write summaries that members can access.
The Knowledge Group is working on a webinar that will be held in March on the theme of legislation and permit procedures concerning the use of chromium. This is a major issue, especially in cylinder production. The EU has formulated tougher requirements, and the webinar will examine them in depth.
Within SFMA, we have now completed the new websites for SFMA, ITH and Fluid Scandinavia. The reason for redesigning the websites is that the old platform can no longer be maintained. We are also working on the programme for the Annual Meeting, where we already have several interesting points planned. Unfortunately, the idea of holding the Annual Meeting in Germany had to be abandoned because many member companies have travel restrictions due to the economic situation. We are therefore now looking for a new location in Sweden for the Annual Meeting and gladly welcome suggestions.
Finally, I would like to highlight the major hydraulics conference “Scandinavian International Conference on Fluid Power”, SICFP’25, on 2–4 June 2025. It will be held at Linköping University in June, and Liselott Ericson and her colleagues have already received more than 40 abstracts, with more on the way. I believe it will be a very exciting conference and hope that many members will attend; invitations will be sent out shortly.
SFMA will organise a joint activity for the members who are there, which will be a nice opportunity for enjoyable networking.
Jan Nilsson, Chairman of SFMA
