The Eighth Annual
EPICS User Conference
April 30 – May 2, 2006
Stratosphere Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
Other than the AEC, the EPICS User conference is the
largest annual gathering of extruders in North America.
Join us in April to see why so many industry leaders say
this is the most worthwhile conference they attend.
Conference Topics
Topics are still being added to the conference schedule, but here is a partial list of the items to be covered.
Review of Features Added in 2005
By the time the 2006 conference opens, there will have been
several dozen new features added to EPICS V8 since its introduction at the 2005
conference. This session will review the major additions, in case there were
some that you missed. 
Quotation Module
The Quotation Module has been near the top of the Wishlist for some time. Foy will introduce this new feature, and demonstrate how it can save you much time and effort in preparing and storing quotations, then turning them into sales orders.
Chemical Composition
See how you can work with your billet supplier to receive chemical composition data via email, link a cast number with a press run, and then print that data on your test cert forms.
EPICS/pVelocity Link for Profit Optimization
Some of you may have seen pVelocity Inc’s presentation to the AEC Management Meeting. They demonstrated their suite of profit optimization software tools that give aluminum extruders real-time profit visibility across your enterprise. Profit visibility empowers you to perform customer/product optimization resulting in the right value being delivered to the right customer. pVelocity has developed an EPICS interface, and will demonstrate various case studies that demonstrate profit optimization.
Traceability
Are more and more of your customers asking for better traceability? This session will examine how to create the system you need, by tying together lot numbering, the new EPICS “Stencil” field, lab test postings, rack tracking, chemical composition data, and test cert forms.
New Reports
Foy is always adding new reports to EPICS. This session will review these reports, as well as improvements that have been made to several standard reports.
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Forgotten
Features
EPICS contains literally hundreds of features that have been added over the years. How many of them do you use? How many of them are you even aware of? More than likely, there are some hidden treasures that could save you time and effort each day. This session will uncover those features.
Rack Tracking
At last year’s conference, we introduced the new EPICS V8 Rack Tracking feature. Many of you are now using this feature and reaping its benefits. We will review how Rack Tracking works, perhaps revealing features that you were not aware of. And if you are not using Rack Tracking, this session will show you why you should be.
Advantage Manufacturing Concepts
Gerry Leonard, President of Advantage Manufacturing Concepts, is well known to many of you. He has developed numerous EPICS extensions that provide solutions to some specific needs. Gerry will review his toolchest of “cybants” that are available to EPICS users.
Backup Management
If your system crashed tonight, how soon could you restore from backups? How many hours of data re-entry would your users have to do? Would they want to send you to Guantanamo? This session will review effective backup strategies that minimize system downtime in case of catastrophic failure.
Wishlist
One of the most popular EPICS User Conference sessions is the Wishlist workshop. Users develop a list of new features and changes they would like to see in EPICS. This list is then sent to all EPICS customers, who rank the proposals. The consolidated final rankings become the Foy priority list for the next year.
Networking
One of
the greatest values of the EPICS User Conference is the opportunity to network
with other EPICS users. You will almost certainly find someone who has already
solved the problem you have. Conference attendees always take home numerous
tips from the dozens of other EPICS users present.
Training Session
Many of you have requested that we add a training session to the conference schedule. So this year, we are adding an optional training day. On Wednesday, May 3, we will offer a training class. With several notebook computers available, the class will include hands-on training on the new features that will be introduced at the conference (such as the Quotation Module.) We will also cover many of the EPICS features that you may have overlooked. Fine-tuning EPICS using the configuration settings (over 100 of them) will be demo’ed in detail. While we will have certain topics to cover, much of the training will be driven by user requests.
The cost of the training session is $150. The charge includes breakfast and lunch.
This year’s conference starts on Sunday evening, rather than the normal Wednesday evening. This allows us to take advantage of the much lower weekday rates available in Las Vegas.
This year’s schedule is somewhat different than in prior years. We still have the same number of session hours each day, but we are starting earlier and shortening the lunch break. This will allow us to finish up at 2:00PM each day, giving you time to enjoy the sights and activities in the Las Vegas area.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
4:00 – 8:30 Registration Reception
Monday, May 1, 2006
7:00 – 8:00 Full Breakfast
8:00 – 11:30 Morning Session
11:30 – 12:30 Lunch Buffet
12:30 – 2:00 Afternoon Session
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
7:00 – 8:00 Full Breakfast
8:00 – 11:30 Morning Session
11:30 – 12:30 Lunch Buffet
12:30 – 2:00 Afternoon Session
Optional Training Session Schedule
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
8:00 – 9:00 Continental Breakfast
9:00 – 12:00 Morning Training Session
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch Buffet
1:00 – 3:00 Afternoon Training Session
The 2006 EPICS User Conference will be held at the landmark Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas Landmarks: Stratosphere Hotel Casino
2000 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, 89104, Nevada, USA
The Las Vegas Stratosphere
Hotel Casino towers high above Las Vegas, providing superb views across Las Vegas and beyond. There are many buildings in Las Vegas that exceed 20 stories, but the
Stratosphere tower exceeds 100 stories and this tall landmark is actually the
highest building in west America. At the base of the tower is a typical Las Vegas casino, full of the usual gambling facilities and some shops, but at the top of
the USD 550 million Las Vegas tower are the main attractions.
Opened in 1996, with
the fastest elevator in America, people travel from miles around to dine at the
Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower's revolving restaurant, enjoy the panoramic
views from the indoor and outdoor viewing decks, but most of all, to ride on
the world's highest roller coaster, just above the observation area. At 110
stories high, this roller coaster, known as the 'Big Shot', is a thrilling
ride, spiraling around the tower and shooting riders 160 feet / 49 meters into
the air in just a couple of seconds, reaching a G-force of around four.
We have a block of rooms reserved starting Sunday night, April 30. The block extends through Wednesday night, for those of you staying for the training session or who just want to spend an extra day or two in Las Vegas.
Room rates at $64 are dramatically lower than rates at the last few conferences (which usually run $190 or so.) Even with the usual tax and fees, the total will be under $80/night. We hope this, along with the normal low air fares to Las Vegas, will encourage your company to send several EPICS users to this year’s conference and training session.
Make your room reservations ASAP, and be sure to tell the hotel that you are attending the FOY EPICS USER CONFERENCE (Group Code C/FOY). Call the hotel’s group reservation line at 800-998-6937.
Check out the Stratosphere web site here,
Registration Reception
As usual, the conference will kick off at 4:00PM with an informal reception in the Foy Inc. suite. Stop in to receive your registration packet, and stay for the refreshments and great discussions.
Las Vegas
The Las Vegas area has numerous activities to more than fill your spare time. The Hoover Dam tour is a popular way to spend an afternoon. If you have a car, Red Rock Canyon is a great tour of the Western landscape. And we won’t even try to describe the myriad activities available in Las Vegas itself.
Editors
Note: Four years ago Cynthia and I took a nighttime helicopter
flight down the Las Vegas Strip. Although the trip was brief (maybe 20
minutes) and fairly expensive ($80 each,) it was truly spectacular. The flight
was up the Strip, over the downtown area, and back down the Strip. While the forests
of neon lights are impressive when viewed from the ground, they are stunning
from the air. We used Sundance Helicopter,
but there are several others.
You can register for the conference by clicking here, or by going to the Foy web site www.foyinc.com. Or you can call the Foy office and talk to Stacy at 972-782-7282.
This year’s registration fee includes the Sunday evening reception, and breakfast and lunch on both Monday and Tuesday.
The registration fee for the optional Training Session includes continental breakfast and lunch on Wednesday.
Be sure to make your reservations with Foy Inc before March 26 in order to get a major discount.
And be sure to make your hotel reservations ASAP.
Registration Fees prior to March 26, 2006:
Conference Registration $350
Optional Training Registration $150
Registration Fees after March 26, 2006:
Conference Registration $450
Optional Training Registration $200
Spouse registration
There will be no additional registration charge for spouses at this year’s conference. However, if your spouse would like to join us for one of the conference meals, there will be an extra charge. Please sign them up when you register on the Foy Inc web page.
Be sure to call the Stratosphere Hotel for your room reservations!!