PMPA Announces New President Tom Bernstein

Tom Bernstein, president of TORIN Products, was installed as PMPA president at the association’s annual meeting in October. He will serve a 1-year term, and in that time, he hopes to meet with as many PMPA members as possible, re-ignite the passions within the membership, help grow the membership and aid in a smooth transition for the administration.

“I get to steer the boat for 1 year, during which I want to make progress and have the association enjoy calm waters,” says new PMPA President Tom Bernstein. 

TORIN
TORIN Products was founded in 1965 and provides quality screw machine components and turned parts for customers in a variety of markets, including aerospace, medical and dental. The company prides itself on its ability to manufacture precision parts to very tight tolerances.

Mr. Bernstein began working for his father, who founded TORIN, as a teenager. He left the company to earn his bachelor’s degree in industrial education from Iowa State University and worked as a Swiss department supervisor and manufacturing engineer before returning to TORIN in 1980 as quality manager. He became president of the company in 1994.

“I worked with my father to grow the company through feast and famine,” Mr. Bernstein says. “For a long time we were heavy in the computer market, then lost the business to overseas. We rebounded and grew again when we started making parts for the medical market.”

PMPA Membership
TORIN joined PMPA in 1979 and maintained consistent membership since.
“We also kept our membership through thick and thin,” Mr. Bernstein explains. “PMPA is great for networking and gaining valuable resources.”
Shortly after returning to the company, Mr. Bernstein attended a seminar in 1981 that focused on the second generation in businesses.

“Through that one seminar, I learned a lot about running the business. But I also was able to meet many members of what was then the ‘old guard,’ and I took away a lot of great advice,” Mr. Bernstein recalls. “I also got to meet the up and comers of the day, many of whom were PMPA past presidents, and I’ve had great relationships with all of them over the last 30 years.”

Steering the Boat
Mr. Bernstein explains that his lofty goal of visiting so many members is possible because of his son who is vice president of engineering at TORIN. 

“My son’s help will allow me to give 100 percent to PMPA when I am working on PMPA goals while TORIN continues to thrive,” Mr. Bernstein says. “I wrestled a bit with what I wanted to do with PMPA going forward. We were the only PMPA member in our region, so we never had the opportunity to participate on a local chapter level with meetings or visits.

“I want to spend my year trying to visit as many members as I can, especially the ones who have not been visited before or haven’t been for a long time,” Mr. Bernstein continues. “My first visit was to a member who had never been visited and was not active in their membership. They had tons of questions.”

Mr. Bernstein promised to send resources to the member and delivered on his promise immediately. His goal with these visits is to share the networking benefits of PMPA that his company has experienced with them and reignite their passion for the industry and the association. 

He continues to explain that PMPA has so much to offer its members, including listserves for technical items and other questions, and that there is always someone there to respond. 

“I want the members of this organization to be proud of what they built, and I want to know how they did it,” Mr. Bernstein says. “I want to show how accessible, familiar and personal PMPA officers and administration are. The face time is so important to accomplish that.”

Mr. Bernstein also plans to help steer the growing organization as it adds new members and on-boards a new executive director.

“Like I said, I get to steer the boat for a year, and I want to make progress and make for calm waters in the future,” Mr. Bernstein concludes.

PMPA President Tom Bernstein, can be contacted at: tomb@torin.com.