The European Power Supply Manufacturers Association (EPSMA) has announced a radical shake-up of its structure and membership rules. Effective May 1, 2005, a much wider spectrum of power supply producers will be eligible for full membership. At the same time, a new division of the association has been created specifically for major suppliers to the industry.
EPSMA Chairman Bernhard Erdl commented, “We are very excited about these changes. The more relaxed membership rules will enable us to attract more U.S.- and Asian-based power-supply producers into the association. In addition, the new supplier division will provide a mechanism for us to work much more closely with our key suppliers, particularly on technical matters of common interest.”
Historically the EPSMA limited full membership to those companies that had substantial design or production activity in Europe. However, the trend to outsource production to Asia has resulted in even European-based companies moving power supply production and design out of Europe, reflecting an industry that is increasingly global in nature. The changes in Full Membership rules will allow the association to continue to serve all power-supply companies that have an interest in offering good, direct support to European customers.
The EPSMA’s technical committee is involved in a wide range of technical work, examining issues such as power factor correction, CE Marking, reliability, and the WEEE and RoHS directives. Greater involvement from major suppliers to the power-supply industry will help further improve this work, which will benefit the entire power electronics industry.
Formed in 1995, the EPSMA is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to further the common aims of Europe’s power-supply industry. Today, the association has more than 25 power-supply companies as members. These members come from 12 different countries, employ more than 8000 people and account for over half of the European power-supply market. EPSMA actively monitors and participates in the formation of technical standards through the activities of its Technical Committee (TC), and the Cooperation Agreement signed with CENELEC (the European Electrotechnical Standards Agency) in January 2002.
For more information, visit www.epsma.org.