Small and medium-sized businesses will be in Chicago’s spotlight on Tuesday, June 28, at a lunch-hour event hosted by ASTM International, one of the world’s leading standards organizations. Small businesses, government agencies, and others interested in attending can register free on-site at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile (540 North Michigan Ave.).

The Tuesday panel session is part of ASTM’s “Committee Week” conference that attracts more than 1,000 experts and engineers in many industries from around the world.

“The ASTM process allows for participation by organizations of every size,” says Vince Diaz, president of Atlantic Thread & Supply, a supplier of sewing threads for flame resistant protective clothing, mattresses, furniture, and more. “As a result, there a variety of benefits for smaller companies, including the ability to show how their products have performance characteristics that can meet or exceed those of their larger competitors.”

Diaz is active in ASTM committees that create standards for textiles (Committee D13) and protective clothing (Committee F23), Those committees and several others will meet to develop standards at the Marriott.

Diaz will be featured on the June 28 panel in the Clark Room of the hotel along with leaders from other committees, including:
•    Mahir Al Nadaf, vice president, Humboldt Scientific Inc., a supplier of nuclear gauges (member of Committee D18 on Soil and Rock), and
•    James Stapleton, president and CEO, Habersham Metal Products Co., a manufacturer of custom steel products (member of Committee E54 on Homeland Security Applications).

The event will be moderated by Daniel Smith, vice president of technical committee operations for ASTM.

This event is part of ASTM International’s “Year of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME),” launched by the organization’s board chairman Ralph Paroli, Ph.D., director of R&D in Measurement Science and Standards at the National Research Council of Canada.

“Entrepreneurs, small manufacturers and other SMEs create the majority of private-sector jobs worldwide while accounting for more than half of global GDP,” Paroli said. “It’s time that more of them have opportunities to get involved in creating technical standards that will help them truly thrive.”

For more information about the June Committee Week in Chicago, go to: www.astm.org/MEETINGS. For success stories and other information on the Year of the SME, go to: www.astm.org/sme, and visit: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ9kbZ71CbEHGRyxxt7Tj1ZnJq0JKzQNG to see short small business spotlight videos.

More information: Brian Milewski, bmilewsi@astm.org
Media Inquiries: Dan Bergels, tel +1.610.761.9316; dbergels@astm.org

Release #10097