On the Other Hand . . .

As Walt says about Chris Kuehl's somewhat sanguine report on the short-term economic future of American manufacturing, "from his mouth to God's ear." I hope he's right.

But meanwhile, another bit of fallout from the current situation has hit the wires. The following note from OMAC's Sid Ventakesh just popped up in my mailbox.

OMAC Members and Non-members:
After careful analysis, OMAC and WBF have mutually agreed to cancel our co-located May 2009 event-Expanding the Horizons of Manufacturing-in response to the current global economic situation.

We, OMAC, recognize that your training and travel dollars will be in short supply for 2009 and want to help stretch the value of your dollars by providing OMAC expertise at other industry events. As a result, OMAC will not host its 2009 Integration Symposium.

Though we will not be hosting an event of our own, we will still provide you various opportunities to learn from and about OMAC at other industry events through demonstrations, talks, roundtables, and Connect-and-Pack ™ seminars--saving you time and money, something we feel is critical in the current environment.

OMAC invites all interested parties to attend the OMAC sponsored activities and demonstrations at these 2009 industry events:
ARC's 13th Annual Manufacturing Forum: Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Sustainable Manufacturing, 2-5 February 2009, Orlando, FL
Packaging Automation Forum 2009, 30-31 March 2009, Chicago, IL
Pack Expo 2009, 5-7 October 2009, Las Vegas, NV

Learn more about OMAC's presence at these events online at www.omac.org. We look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,
Sid Venkatesh
OMAC Chair
Systems."

Expect to see a lot more such notices as companies cut back on their travel budgets for the year.

My question is whether the current situation will be the final kick-start needed to get remote meeting applications, such as Go to Meeting and WebEx, into the mainstream. Since there's never been a better time to find an alternative to jumping on a plane, these guys may be among the few winners in the months ahead.