It was a sad to learn of the retirement of Robert Wood, now ex-general secretary of the International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering (IFHTSE). Mr. Wood served the organization for many long and faithful years. The newly elected secretary is Stefan Hock. We wish Mr. Hock success in his new position.

IFHTSE announced their conference, the 9^th International Specialised Exhibition of Heat Treatment 2015, will be held in Moscow Sept. 9-17. This will be followed by two additional conferences to be held in Germany. The first conference will be held Sept. 23-25 in Bremen and is the international conference on distortion engineering.

The next European conference will be held in the beautiful city of Cologne Oct. 28-30 and is titled HK 2015 in both German and English languages. It looks like there will be some very meaningful discussion, certainly on the subject of distortion. The two distortion-related conferences are pertinent because every heat treater knows of the pains of distortion, but we do not always know the root causes.

The National Metals Technical Centre still continues to promote and present its short-course classes for metallurgy and heat treatment. These are worthwhile educational courses that will provide individuals with a better understanding of the science of the heat treatment of metals.

A book titled Carburising Microstructures and Properties still continues to sell very well. The publication, written by British author Geoffrey Parrish, is a superbly written and, more importantly, easily understood text. Parrish had been a long-standing specialist in the field of carburizing and was employed by one of the largest manufacturers in Europe. The book contains a wealth of knowledge.

The British organization for heat treatment, CHTA, is presenting its Surface Engineering and Heat Treatment Industry Conference on Oct. 16 in the beautiful town of Stratford-upon-Avon (U.K.). The event is also co-sponsored by Wolfson Heat Treatment Centre and the Surface Engineering Association. The conference promises excellent surface-engineering presentations in the fields of carburizing, nitriding and other surface-modification techniques. CHTA, meanwhile, has a new chairman, Andy Borg, whose tenure is for two years. He brings a wealth of heat-treatment knowledge to the table of the organization.

Thermprocess 2015 was held in Düsseldorf, Germany, in June. If you have never had the opportunity to attend Thermprocess, plan to visit the next show in 2019. Without doubt, this exhibition must rank at the top of thermal-processing trade shows worldwide.

The exhibitions and conferences that are held internationally contribute to the education and understanding of metallurgical processing and methods of manufacture. They are greatly beneficial not only to metallurgists but to shop-floor operators as well.

Our growth in the field of thermal metal processing (heat treatment of metals) comes from observation, training and education. Education is perhaps one of the best tools available to our industry to better understand the mysteries of why things happen in the heat-treatment shop and furnace.

All of the major soccer teams here in Europe train on a daily basis to play one game per week. This training helps the clubs to win games. Heat treatment is not a game, and metallurgy touches the very fabric of our lives. One has only to consider medical instruments, surgical implants, automotive and, in particular, aerospace, where mistakes in heat treatment just cannot be tolerated. For this reason, the better educated we become, the more skillful we will be in thermal metal processing.