In late 2016 in Kuala Lumper, Malaysia the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC), and National Metrology Institute, Malaysia (NMIM) hosted a Train the Trainer Course on the Verification of Non-automatic Weighing Instruments. This course was run by the APLMF in conjunction with the PTB as part of the MEDEA Projet.
The final report from this course has now been published on the MEDEA page of our website. You can find the report under the "APLMF 1: 2016 Fundamental and Advances Courses in Legal Metrology" section of the page. Dear APMF Members and colleagues
On behalf of the Secretariat, I would like to wish you all greetings for the holiday season and best wishes for 2017. As 2016 draws to a close, I would like to reflect on New Zealand’s first year of responsibility for the APLMF Secretariat and Presidency. Top of mind is the recent 23rd Asia-Pacific Legal Metrology Forum and Working Group Meetings held in Tokyo, Japan 23-25 November. 23rd Asia-Pacific Legal Metrology Forum and Working Group Meetings This year’s meetings hosted by National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ) and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) were an outstanding success. We greatly appreciated our gracious hosts, whose preparation and thought into every detail made this Forum a memorable one. We were presented with beautiful bags and origami crane which is a bird of peace. The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) actively supports people with intellectual disabilities and pervasive developmental disorders and has formed a team with the important goal of promoting. This team made the bags we all received out of colourful newspapers which I think makes them all the more special. We were also presented with a gift of a traditional Tenugui, which is a piece of dyed cloth, which has many uses. The meetings were held in the AIST building on Tokyo’s Waterfront, set in a tree-lined avenue, affording stunning 360 degree views of Tokyo Harbour, the city scape and a peek at Mt Fuji, which were enjoyed by all during the refreshment breaks throughout the meetings. Tokyo put on a range of weather conditions from warm autumn sunshine to snow (a first in November for 54 years) and a 7.4 earthquake just to keep us on our toes. Having just suffered a spate of strong quakes in NZ we were impressed by Japan’s infrastructure which didn’t miss a beat. While we had a very full programme of presentations and discussions, it is always the opportunity to meet or reconnect with our colleagues from legal metrology organisations throughout the Asia-Pacific Region that provide such valuable networks. It was very pleasing to have 16 of our 19 Full Member Economies attend, along with our guests from APMP, BIML and PTB, corresponding members from Russia and observers from India. NMIJ and METI hosted a welcome dinner at the Observatory on the 21st floor of the Telecom Centre Building, just a short walk from the AIST offices. Again we enjoyed magnificent views and Chieko, Yuka and Noriko wore traditional Japanese kimono which was a treat for us all. The APLMF farewell dinner was held at Shoutoen-Sakura a 45 minute bus ride. The venue overlooked the grounds of an ancient monastery, over 700 years old. We were able to view the gardens which were beautifully lit up. The gardens are only opened to the public once a year in September, so a very special place. We were treated to traditional Japanese food and were entertained by two Japanese harpists. The Technical Tour of Tatsuno Corporation in Yokohama was well attended and was another highlight of the meeting. We thank the staff of Tatsuno Corporation who were so generous with their time and provided an interesting and informative tour of their facility. Some members also got to drive the Hydrogen powered car. Presentations and reports from the meeting are currently available on the meeting webpage. This webpage also has copies of draft documents discussed at the meeting including the draft APLMF Strategic plan and initial discussion papers on a potential new fee structure and new working group guidelines. The Economy and Working Group Reports and the agreed APLMF Secretariat 2017 Work Programme and APLMF 23rd Meeting Resolutions are also on this meeting webpage. If you weren’t able to attend the meeting, or haven’t yet had a chance to read the wealth of interesting information on the meeting webpage, we would encourage you to do so over the coming weeks. A video presentation, which will walk you through the highlights of the meeting will be available on our website at the end of January. This will be followed by the draft meeting minutes which we are aiming to get to you in February. A warm thanks to Yoshi and his team as well as the Secretariat team on the ground in Japan and those supporting us from home in NZ. 2016 Secretariat Activities Since formally taking over the responsibility for APLMF at the meeting in Hawaii in 2015, we have focussed our resources on setting up a Secretariat administrative base that is easily transferred to future economies and we have worked closely with MEDEA to fine tune our support for their training courses to ensure enduring benefits to the economies who attend. To read more about what we have been doing over the last 12 months go to our 2016 Secretariat Activity Report. Training for 2017 With MEDEA’s support we bring you a full programme of Training for 2017; details will be added to the website as they come to hand: Month: May Subject: Joint APMP/APLMF Workshop Benefits of Metrology Location: Malaysia Month: July Subject: Verification of Bulk Flow Meters for Petrol and Diesel Location: Thailand Month: September Subject: Verification of Weighbridges Location: China Month: TBC Subject: Verification and Pattern Approval of Water Meters Location: Malaysia Month: TBC Subject: Verification of Rice Moisture Measure Meters Location: TBC Month: TBC Subject: Online training based on survey results Location: Secretariat Invoices for APLMF Membership Fees For 2017 will be sent to the primary contact for each member economy in the coming days, before the end of 2016. Consultation Papers Following on from the 23rd APLMF, as detailed in the meeting resolutions, the Secretariat will be developing and sending to APLMF members a number of discussion documents for your consideration and comment. These documents will be staggered in timing and give members a 3 month time frame for response to facilitate your comment and input. You will be sent further information once it is available. Future Newsletters We would very much like to include articles of interest from our members in our newsletters so we are inviting members to submit short articles that we can include in our newsletters or post to our website. Please send any ideas or articles to the APLMF Secretariat. 24th Asia-Pacific Legal Metrology Forum and Working Group Meetings Exciting news! We have just been advised by our hosts in Cambodia, that our meeting in 2017 will be held in the beautiful and historic city of Siem Reap. We will keep you updated as details and dates are firmed up early in the New Year. As part of the MEDEA Project earlier this year the APLMF in conjunction with the PTB ran a training course on mass standards in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The final report from training course is now complete and is available for reading. You can download the report from the '2016 Fundamental and Advances Courses in Legal Metrology' section of our MEDEA page. Dear Members,
I am pleased to update you on APLMF activities since our last Newsletter (May 2016). 23rd APLMF Meeting, November 2016, Japan – Registrations open This year’s meeting is being hosted by Japan at their AIST offices, Tokyo Waterfront, 23 – 25 November 2016. Invitations have been sent to full members, corresponding members and related international and regional organisations on 20th July and the webpages for the meeting are now live www.aplmf.org/japan2016 Online registrations close 20th October. However, those economies requiring visa support will need to register before 31 August. A draft programme is also now posted on the website. Economy Reports - New approach We are trialling a new approach for Economy Reports for this year's APLMF meeting in Tokyo. The new report reflects the ideas you developed in Hawaii last year on how to improve processes for our annual meetings. We are asking all members to prepare their economy report and submit it to the Secretariat by 20 October 2016 (one month before we meet in Tokyo). This will enable members to review your economy report before the meeting and allow you to deliver a shorter presentation that focuses on the highlights in your report. We also hope that if members can review material early, we can have a more engaging discussion with the audience on the issues you raise in your presentation. We have developed a template for economy reports, which will be uploaded to the APLMF meeting website page, together with an example of the 2015 New Zealand economy report in the new format, so you can see the style of report we think would be useful to fellow members. Training Courses As part 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. This year APLMF and MEDEA are running three courses:
We would like to formally thank the course hosts from Thailand, Mr Sakchai Hasamin and Ms Khemsai Rahannok who were very professional and supportive throughout the event. The course was opened by Mr Sunchat Sinrat, Deputy Director General, from the Department of Internal Trade. The training was overseen by Brad Larter from Australia and he was supported by Mr Samrach Muy (Cambodia), Mr Jose Marco Latosa (Philippines) Mr Nopporn Choopol and Mr Pisakorn Pisankul from Thailand who were themselves students of a similar course conducted last year. Over 30 applications were received by PTB for this course and 19 participants were selected from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
APLMF - Instrument Bank Success – thanks to NMIA and MEDEA NMIA Australia donated surplus equipment from one of their legal metrology standards laboratories. Some 40 items including conical measures, mass standard sets, hydrometers and measuring cylinders were made available. Within the framework of the MEDEA (Metrology Enabling Developing Economies in Asia) project an instrument bank has been developed that supports the allocation and transfer of equipment to economies that could benefit from its use, providing financial assistance to transport the items. A good response was received and packages of equipment are being sent to Cambodia (NMC), Mongolia (MASM), Myanmar (DRI), Pakistan (PSQCA) and Papua New Guinea (NISIT). APLMF, NMIA and MEDEA are delighted that collectively we have been able to facilitate the transfer of these items which will significantly enhance these economies in their endeavours to improve their legal metrology activities. If in future your economy has excess equipment that is no longer required, please contact the APLMF Secretariat and we will consult with the MEDEA Co-ordination Committee to see if it is suitable for inclusion in the Instrument Bank. APLMF Survey on Test Procedures Five surveys were developed on test procedures covered in MEDEA training delivered in 2015 and were sent to full member economies in early June, with a follow up in July. Thanks to all those members who completed the surveys. Ideally, we would like closer to a 100% response rate to provide us with an accurate picture of the issues for our member economies, so we can plan to provide effective training resources in the future. We would greatly appreciate your support in completing the surveys in the next few weeks. The Secretariat will collate your responses to provide to the MEDEA project, managed by Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ). PTB will use the information to further the MEDEA project aims:
Survey on Medical Device Adverse Event Reports On behalf of the Working Group on Medical Measurements Chair, Ms Suh-chyin Chuang, the Secretariat sent out the survey on 13 July 2016. The survey is collecting information about medical device adverse event reports in your economy. If you have not already done so, can you please complete and return the survey to metrology@bsmi.gov.tw by 20th August. We encourage you to submit your completed survey as it will greatly assist in developing the future work programme of this APLMF Working Group. Raising Awareness of Metrology The work to develop a joint APMP and APLMF web-portal to support the development, sharing and use of information resources to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of metrology systems has begun. We have contracted a company who are framing up the design for the portal, which we will test with participants at this year’s meeting in Tokyo. As noted in the last newsletter, we are asking members to contribute information/resources you have developed which could be shared on this portal. This could include pamphlets you have developed to inform industry about weights and measures programmes, or information for consumers on measurement, or work that you have undertaken to estimate the economic value of your metrology programmes. It is expected that the portal will go live early in 2017, but we would like to start developing the content, as this will assist in ensuring we have the right design. The new Guide on National Metrological Infrastructure for Developing Economies (jointly being developed by APLMF/APMP/PBT) will form a key component for the portal, but we are looking to provide a wide variety and mix of information. Please forward to the Secretariat any information/material or resources which could be added to the portal. Our work on building awareness of metrology also aims to pull together and document case studies of metrology ‘best practice’ and we would be interested in hearing from any members that have undertaken work to promote better understanding of metrology (for example, a programme of increased inspection in a region, or a joint industry-government publicity campaign in an industry sector). APEC Specialist Regional Bodies (SRBs) Meeting Sydney 22 July The representatives from the five APEC Specialist Regional Bodies (APMP, APLMF, APLAC, PAC and PASC) came together last month to develop a strategic direction for the SRB Forum and to discuss the principles and procedures for how the SRB Forum will work. The SRB Forum was established in 2007 to bring together the five SRBs in order to work with the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance and other related bodies that help reduce the negative effects that differing standards and conformance arrangements have on trade and investment in the APEC region and promote alignment of member economies with international standards. The SRB Forum provides specialist and technical input to the Sub-committee and APEC’s projects on standards and conformance. All SRBs are committed to improving the way in which we work with one another in the SRB Forum so that we can better support the APEC goals in relation to standards and conformance. A key aspect for discussion was the role and responsibilities of the SRB Convenor (who liaises and coordinates the SRBs), the SRB Shepherd (who provides the linkage between the SRB Convenor and APEC fora) and the SRB members (who provide the specialist support and link into APEC projects). Good progress was made at the meeting, hosted by the current SRB Shepherd, Nicole Henry, Manager Trade Facilitation, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Australia. A better functioning SRB Forum will enhance how APLMF works with other SRBs as well as improving our interaction with APEC, and we hope that the procedures will be in place in the next few months. Improving APLMF’s Infrastructure - Website, Google, Member directories ‘Members Only’ section update The Members Only section of the APLMF website is still under construction, but we will shortly be adding content on which we are seeking feedback from members:
As soon as we have the Members Only section operational (in the not too distant future) we will send you logon details. Google Drive was used for the first time for at the recent Verification of Fuel Dispensers training course. A folder was set up for the course. Trainers were given access to upload training material and asked to do this two weeks prior to the course. PTB sent out their instructions to participants with a link to the training materials. This provided them with an opportunity to read material pre-course. Feedback indicates that most participants took advantage of this and found it beneficial. 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 and a number of you have provided updated directories which are available on the website. If you haven’t provided your updated directory yet, we would encourage you to do so at your earliest convenience. Please contact us if you have any questions about your directory. 2016 Member Fees A reminder that 2016 membership fees are due by 30th September. The Secretariat will be sending out a reminder to those economies who have not yet paid in early August. 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. If a letter of invitation is required for this event, please contact Khaled Chahine. OIML Pilot Training Centre In addition to the MEDEA training courses, the PR China have worked with the International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML) to develop an OIML Pilot Training Centre and organised two events in 2016 aimed at strengthening legal metrology capability:
Best regards, Stephen O’Brien President, APLMF The Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) has relaunched its website.
The new website and new logo has now been released and is live at: www.pascnet.org PASC welcomes you to take a look at the new site and provide any feedback that you may have. PASC is an independent and voluntary organisation of Pacific Rim National Standards Bodies. PASC's primary roles is to support the region's engagement in the international standardisation system for the advancements of economic, societal and environmental well-being.
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 kristin.kiesow@ptb.de 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 Khaled.Chahine@measurement.gov.au. 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 secretariat@aplmf.org 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 kristin.kiesow@ptb.de 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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