Dear Members,

Since my first informal communication to you in December 2015, the Secretariat has been busy planning and setting up the infrastructure that will better help support the aims and needs of APLMF members.  This is the first of our newsletters which, in addition to our new refreshed website, will enable you to keep up-to-date with what is happening in the region and internationally on metrology issues. 

Training Courses

Under the auspices of the Metrology Enabling Developing Economies in Asia (MEDEA) project, APLMF and APMP have run a number of successful training programmes to support developing economies.  In 2015 five courses were delivered and this year APLMF and MEDEA are running three courses:

Course: Verification of Fuel Dispensers Workshop
Date: 11-13 July 2016
Host: Thailand

Applications for this workshop closed 10th April 2016.  We had a very good response with over 30 nominations.  MEDEA are finalising the participants list and will be contacting nominees directly


Course: Training Course on Mass Standards
Date: 30 August – 1 September 2016
Host: Indonesia

This course will be held in Jakarta, and an invitation brochure and nomination form has recently been circulated, and are now posted on the APLMF website.  Nominations for this course close on 31 May 2016.


Course: Verification of Non-automatic Weighing Instruments (NAWI): Supermarket Scales
Date: 28 November – 2 December 2016
Host: Malaysia

This course will be held in Kuala Lumpur.  The invitation brochure and nomination form will be circulated in August.

OIML Courses

In addition to these courses, the PR China have worked with the International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML) Advisory Group to deliver two events in 2016. These two events are available to all APLMF members:

Course: Training course on Non-automated Weighing Instruments (NAWI)
Date: 18 - 22 July 2016
Host: PR China

This five-day course will be held in Beijing.  Applications for this course close on 20 May 2016.  Details of the course and registration form are available on the APLMF website.

Course: Seminar on Legal Metrology Management System
Date: 9-11 August 2016
Host: PR China

This seminar will be held in Guangzhou.  Applications for this workshop close on 17 June 2016 and details of the course and registration form are available on the APLMF website.

APLMF - Instrument Bank - Call for applications by 31 May

NMIA Australia has agreed to donate some surplus equipment from one of their legal metrology standards laboratories.

Within the framework of the MEDEA: “Metrology – Enabling Developing Economies in Asia” project PTB is willing to support the transfer of this equipment if it is found to be useful to the developing economies.
You can find a detailed list of instruments available for donation and further information on the APLMF website

Please e-mail the completed “Instrument Request Form” to [email protected] by 31 May 2016.

The MEDEA coordination committee will then select the most appropriate recipients based on the application and the cost of transportation.

Other key events

2016 FLOMEKO Conference, September 2016, Australia

The 17th International Flow Measurement Conference will be held in Sydney, 26-29 September 2016.  The conference is being hosted by the Metrology Society of Australasia and will bring together experts in flow and volume measurements from industry, metrology laboratories and national measurement institutes from all over the world.  Registrations are open, with the earlybird rate applicable to registrations before 30 June 2016. 

If a letter of invitation is required for this event, please contact [email protected].

23rd APLMF Meeting, November 2016, Japan

This year’s meeting is being hosted by Japan at their AIST offices, Tokyo Waterfront, 23 – 25 November 2016.  Invitations will be sent out in early July 2016 and we will be providing you details and accepting registration for the meeting via our APLMF website.


Raising Awareness of Metrology

A joint work package between APMP and APLMF is being initiated as part of the MEDEA project to enhance the development, sharing and use of information resources to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of metrology systems.

There are large amounts of information resources published by various organisations that provide instructions on metrology infrastructure development.  These are, however, widely scattered and not easily accessed or used by economies.  The objective of this activity is to develop a webpage portal for consistent and effective collection, sorting and sharing of this information.

The work stream also aims to pull together and document case studies of metrology ‘best practice’ and to enhance the understanding of resources and activities that National Measurement Institutes and Legal Metrology Authorities can use to improve key stakeholder relationships and awareness of the importance of metrology.

We would be most interested in hearing from members if you have any examples/case studies or have promotional material that you think would be useful in raising awareness on metrology. Please forward any material to the Secretariat who is happy to support members develop any information or examples into a more detailed case study that can be shared with members. 

Metrology awareness raising activities within regional economies  were undertaken in support of World Metrology Day (20 May 2016). This year’s theme was: Measurements in a dynamic world.  If you undertook any activities to promote this day in your economies, please let us know and we can share the highlights of your activities through our website [World Metrology Day]

APEC Meeting

APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) Meeting
Peru, 21-22 February 2016

In 2016 APLMF has responsibility for co-ordinating the APEC Specialist Regional Bodies (SRBs)1 Forum.  This Forum works to support the work programme of APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance and to facilitate the development and implementation of standards and conformance infrastructures in each APEC member economy. 

In my role as president of APLMF, in February this year I attended the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance as well as the SRB Forum in Lima, Peru.  I presented a report on the proposed work of the APLMF for the upcoming year.  These meetings provided an opportunity to share information on the activities and strategic priorities of each SRB.  We are looking for ways to improve how the SRBs can more effectively collaborate on developing strategic work programmes and activities and looking at how we can better support the work of this APEC Sub-Committee.

Footnote
1. The Specialist Regional Bodies (SRB) Forum was established in 2007 to bring together the  five SRBs – APLAC, APLMF, APMP, PAC and PASC) - to support APEC and its goals, by building infrastructure and capacity building in the fields of standard and conformance.  The SRB Forum chair is rotated annually amongst the five SRBs and meets at least once a year,  usually at the margins of the APEC SCSC annual meeting.

Improving APLMF’s Infrastructure - Website, Google, Members directories

We have refreshed and updated the APLMF website, although the “Members Only” section of the website is still under construction.  We are working on this section and plan to have areas for the Working Groups, a section for the Executive Committee and also a space for members to work and share resources and feedback/insights on various topics as these are developed.  Once we have the Members Only section operational (in the not too distant future) we will send you logon details. 

We are looking at ways in which we can more efficiently support collaboration between members, and one approach we have started using is Googledocs, which we hope will allow the Secretariat to provide access to a range information for specific projects.  For example, we will be trialling the use of Googledocs for the next MEDEA training course in July 2016.  This will provide easy access to trainers to deposit training materials and update information, as well as allowing trainees to access all material before the course starts, enabling participants to be better prepared at the actual course. 

At the 22nd APLMF meeting (Hawaii, October 2015), it was agreed the member directories are a very useful source of information.  These can be found on the APLMF Website under the ‘About APLMF’ tab.  Most economy directories were last updated in 2003 or 2006.   The Secretariat wrote to all full members in early February 2016 requesting any updates to their directory.  Thank you to those who have completed and returned their directory information, and if you have not done so, please respond urgently. If you haven’t received our request with the template, this will be because we don’t have an up-to-date email address for your economy’s primary contact. Please contact us at [email protected]

Regards,

Stephen O’Brien
President, APLMF

​NMIA Australia has agreed to donate some surplus equipment from one of their legal metrology standards laboratories.

Within the framework of the MEDEA: “Metrology – Enabling Developing Economies in Asia” project PTB is willing to support the transfer of this equipment if it is found to be useful to the developing economies.

You can find a detailed list of instruments available for donation and further information in the documents attached.

Please e-mail the completed “Instrument Request Form” to [email protected] by 31 May.
The MEDEA coordination committee will then select the most appropriate recipients based on the application and the cost of transportation.

The Metrology Society of Australasia (MSA) held its biannual conference in Queenstown in October 2015.  The conference theme was ‘Good Measurement – Great Business’ and brought together like-minded business, scientific and technical practitioners for an opportunity to discuss the latest advances, trends and tools for those with an interest in business of metrology.
 
The conference provided a mix of case studies, presentations and workshops which showcased research, innovation and success in the world of calibration and measurement.  This event feedback indicated it was inspiring, thought provoking, highly relevant and practical for all levels of Metrologists.
 
The audience included businesses that use physical measurements, calibration and testing laboratories, national measurement institutes, and accrediting, compliance and government organisations.
 
The conference showcased how good measurement underpins great business, which can be seen in this short video titled ‘MSA conference highlights 2015’.
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