Keynote Presentations

This symposium will feature five keynote presentations from different members of the aerospace supply chain. The goal of this session is to highlight critical issues and challenges facing the thermal spray industry today and in the years ahead. Key topics covered in this morning session will be Material, Equipment and Technology Development, Cost Reductions through Application Development Improvements, Operator Training and Education, Reliability and Robustness of Process and Globalization of R&D and Partnerships. The session will be co-chaired by Paul Zajchowski of PWA and Dr. YC Lau of GE.

"Role of Thermal Spray Coatings in Advancing Systems Approach to Turbine Airfoil Design for Gas Turbne Engines"
Dr. Sudha Bose, Fellow of High Temperature Materials & Coatings, Pratt & Whitney
Dr. Sudha Bose is a Fellow of High Temperature Materials and Coatings in Materials and Processes Engineering / Global Service Engineering at Pratt & Whitney, the manufacturer of gas turbine and rocket engines. He holds a Ph. D in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (1978). For the past thirty years at Pratt & Whitney and its sister divisions, Sudha has been involved in the development and production incorporation of advanced materials, processes, and repair technology. He has published over 22 original technical papers on topics of high temperature materials and has to his credit fifteen patents granted and several filed. Sudha is the author book titled “High Temperature Coatings” published by Elsevier in 2007. In addition to his technical work, Sudha teaches courses within Pratt & Whitney on coatings, superalloys, high temperature materials, oxidation and corrosion. Some of the awards received by Sudha over the years include UTC Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Product Design and Pratt and Whitney Leadership Award 2003. Outside of Pratt & Whitney, he teaches high temperature coatings, and Wear and Erosion coatings courses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hartford Campus, and Materials Science course at University of Hartford.

"Aerospace Standards for Thermal Spray Coatings:
20 years in review, are coatings better now?"
Marc Froning, Manager of Engineering and Development, BASF Surface Technologies
Marc received his BS in ‘84 and MS in ’86 in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1984. He completed his MS studies on Thermal Barrier Coatings in 1986. From 1986 to 1990, Marc worked at GE Aircraft Engine and received GEAE’s “Manufacturing Engineer Award” in 1989. Marc held Engineering position(s) at Plasma Technology Inc, and HC Starck.
Marc joined BASF (formerly Engelhard) in 1997 as Materials Manager responsible for new coating development. Marc is currently Manager of Engineering and Development at BASF Surface Technologies and oversees 13 engineers and technicians at the three sites. Focusing on formulations of new coating systems / applications and improving the reliability of existing industrial standards. Marc is an ambassador for BASF, participating in multiple industrial conferences, the Chairman for the International Thermal Spray Association, and is a sustaining member of the ASM/TSS Hartford, CT chapter.

"Role of Material and Equipment Thermal Spray Suppliers in the Aerospace Industry"
Markus Heusser, Executive Vice President Sulzer Metco
Thermal Spray
Dr. M. Heusser has executive and operational responsibility for Sulzer Metco Thermal Spray. He brings his extensive experience within Sulzer Metco and Sulzer, with his prior positions as Head of Global Business Processes for Sulzer Metco, Sulzer’s Chief of Staff and a member of Sulzer's Extended Executive Committee. Before joining Sulzer, he was an Associate Principal at the Zurich and Hong Kong offices of McKinsey & Company, serving clients in Europe, Asia and America. Mr. Heusser holds an MBA in economics from the University of St. Gallen and a PhD in Finance.

"Reliability and Consistency in Thermal Spray Processes"
Christian Moreau, Group Leader Surface Technologies,
NRC Canada
Christian Moreau is Group Leader – Surface Technologies at the Industrial Materials Institute of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). He obtained his M. Sc. degree in nuclear physics in 1981 and his Ph.D. in applied physics in 1985 from Université Laval, Québec, Canada. At NRC since 1987, he has been conducting research and development activities on coating processes and applications. His main interests are in the fields of coating structure/property relationships, diagnostics of sprayed particles and process control. He authored 130 papers and holds seven patents on optical sensing techniques for thermal spray processes. His work has led to the development and commercialisation of optical diagnostic systems for on-line monitoring of spray processes (DPV-2000, Accuraspray and LayerGauge). After leading the Optical Inspection Group for 5 years at NRC, Dr. Moreau became leader of the Surface Technologies Group in 2001. This group is actively involved in the development and optimization of thermally sprayed coatings used in numerous industrial applications. Dr. Moreau is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Thermal Spray Technology, the only international journal dedicated to the science and technology of thermal spraying. Dr. Moreau was elected Fellow of the ASM International in 2006.

"Human Factors"
Andrew Bordick, Manager, Continuous Improvement & Strategy Development, Pratt & Whitney ACE
Andy Bordick, Manager, Continuous Improvement & Strategy Development in the Pratt & Whitney ACE office joined the company in 2005. His current role involves ensuring that the continuous improvement system in Pratt is efficient and capable.
His prior role was as Quality Manager, Foreign Object Damage (FOD) and Human Factors where he was responsible for leading FOD reduction and human factors issues across the entire company. Along with some experts, he developed and implemented a Human Factors Initiative to improve Quality for P&W facilities worldwide. He has taken the Human Factors program with him in order to integrate into other continuous improvement initiatives.
Andy led the Pratt & Whitney FOD Council efforts in addition to benchmarking teams to ensure implementation of best practices throughout the company. He has also been delivering Human Factors courses around the globe.
Andy joins P&W from the U.S. Navy, where he served as Strike Operations Officer responsible for strategic planning of strike warfare operations for carrier air wings. Andy is also a seasoned F-14 pilot and T-45 instructor. His passion for aviation and his personal experiences as a skilled pilot serve as outstanding assets in his roles. Originally from New Jersey, Andy earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Carnegie Mellon University.