The New England Chapter will hold an educational event that includes a Nov. 7 plant tour of Accel International’s wire drawing plant in Meriden, Connecticut, followed by a networking dinner in the surrounding area.

More details will follow, but from the “small world” files, this is not the first time that the New England Chapter has held such an event. In 2022, at a different plant located in Meriden—RFS Technologies, now owned by Amphenol—the plant tour followed by a networking dinner proved to be quite successful. That tour saw some 50 chapter members and guests see up close the operations of RFS, a global designer and manufacturer of total-package solutions for wireless and broadcast infrastructure. The tour started with a half-hour presentation on the markets that the company serves, followed by the tour, and then by dinner at a waterfront restaurant.

Accel International, Inc., manufactures silver and nickel plated, tin plated copper and copper alloys for the wire and cable market, serving markets such as aerospace, medical, telecommunications and industrial markets.

More details will follow about the event in future issues.

Ohio Valley Chapter (OVC) has a third confirmed speaker for their golf tournament & educational event to be held Aug. 22 at Kensington Golf Club in Canfield, Ohio, and it’s hard to think of one that will draw more attention.

Steve Lebischak of Polara Golf will be discussing the process of developing their scientifically driven, self-correcting golf ball technology. Go to the Polaris website and what words do you see? “Flies straight -- guaranteed.” Is this a golfer’s dream come true? It may or may not work, but it feels as if there is plenty of incentive for golfing enthusiasts to want to attend this OVC presentation. You can find out more about this at
www.polaragolf.com.

As noted above, the OHV event will again couple the golf outing with an educational seminar, where guest speakers speak on current topics and trends in the manufacturing industry. The combination has proved to be quite popular, as golfers have their day, but the educational program offers another dimension.

Joining Lebischak will be scheduled speakers Dave Brambert of Fifth Wire Manufacturing, and Tim Moury and Marco Degasperi of Vericheck

It’s never too early for a golfer to plan a tournament, so it’s time for members of WAI’s Southeast Chapter to get out their minders to mark in bold letters that the annual golf tournament will be held Oct. 10.

The chapter will return to the Rock Barn Country Club & Spa in Conover, North Carolina. Last year, a total of 83 players took part at the Sept. 12 event, called the Vannais Outing in memory of the late Stephen Vannais, a founding member and president of the chapter. The 2023 winning team was Travis Card, William Godwin, Andrew Godwin and Paul Godwin, all of Technical Development Corp., who finished 14 under par.

Who will win this year? All that is known for sure is that you can’t win if you aren’t there, so again, set aside Oct. 10. Start hitting a few baskets. Golf destiny may await.

The Wire Association International is seeking presentations for its return to the Georgia World Congress Center in 2025 for both Interwire as well as what will be the fourth staging of the Global Continuous Casting Forum (GCCF) to be held May 12-15, 2025.

Interwire is held every other year whereas the GCCF was on a four-year schedule (2011, 2015 and 2019) prior to Covid. Presenters are needed for both events.

Chris Tucker, Encore Wire, will head the GCCF organizing committee. He will be joined by Richard Baker, Cableforce Consulting; Kurt Breischaft, SDI LaFarga COPPERWORKS; John Hugens, Hugens Metallurgy & Combustion; Martin Lecours, Rio Tinto; Giuseppe Marcantoni, Properzi International; Juan Sanchez, Freeport McMoran; Janusz Sekunda, Prysmian; Patrick Slaughter, Southwire; Robert White, Hazelett; and Florin Teglas, Nexans.

Suggested topics for the 2025 event include: casting technologies, electrical energy, global copper and aluminum markets, cost-saving opportunities, filtration concepts, molten metal, combustion systems, furnaces, degassing, metal flow, refractories, aluminum and copper alloys and sustainability. The submission date is Oct. 2, and questions can be sent to WAI’s John Markowski at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Presentations for Interwire are also being sought. The organizing team is being led by Conference Co-Chairmen WAI President Daniel Blais and Eric Biebrerich. Preferred topics for Interwire will include topics that address key industry needs. Future articles will address the specific topics. At this point, companies are welcome to suggest presentations for the committee to consider. Those also can be sent to WAI’s John Markowski at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..