What with globalisation, consolidation, competition, legislation, standardisation and the Internet Revolution, the pressure is now on industry associations to serve their members better than ever before. The Hydraulic Institute is under just such a weight of expectation, and is now more active than ever before, setting the pace for change and harmonisation within the pumps community. Michael Cotter asked HI executive director, Bob Asdal, about its latest ventures, which at the moment heavily involve the digital domain. (This article forms an abridged version of the full interview. For the entire version, which contains further information on the HI website's member services, Supplier Finder and e-Store sections, visit www.worldpumps.com.
Also visit the HI on-line at www.pumps.org)
Bob Asdal, executive director of the Hydraulic Institute.
Getting hold of the www.pumps.org address was quite a coup. When did you first register it?
I first registered the first domain name for the Hydraulic Institute nearly five years ago. It was at a meeting of the Association Council of National Association of Manufacturers that I first learned of the URL registration imperative. Domains were going fast. Immediately following the meeting, the first thing I did was to get on the phone and register several names that I thought were important to the Institute and www.pumps.org was the one that I thought would be most memorable for the Institute.