Anyone who has worn out some shoe leather at trade shows like Woodmex or Ligna will be aware that the wood machinery industry is one fast-moving competitive business. It’s high tech, it’s global and nobody takes any prisoners. Which is why, says the UK’s Woodworking Machinery Suppliers Association, its role has never been more vital and why, in recent years, it has honed its organisation and services to give its 80 or so member companies even more concrete assistance in the market place.
The organisation’s strategy, lucidly laid out in its revamped newsletters and literature, has been clear and clinical. It’s been to focus on the essentials that will help sharpen its membership’s long-term competitive edge. Simply put, that means ensuring the industry stays abreast of changes in standards and that its views and interests are taken into account as the new rules are formulated. Marketing and promotion are also key areas of activity. And arguably most important of all for the future of the sector, the WMSA has homed in on training.
The Association acknowledges that it had been hampered in developing its range of services until recently by a lack of cash. But since 1998 that has changed. Critically – in addition to its annual source of income, members’ subscriptions – it has generated more money from the Woodmex show, which it owns and organises. In fact, its revenue from the event last year was double the figure of the previous exhibition and a three-show deal secured with the NEC will guarantee funds for the next six years.
Woodmex 2000 managed to fill the NEC’s main hall for the first time, with a record area of stand space sold and, alongside its traditional machinery and ancillary product displays, it also staged a CNC routing competition for young machinists in the woodworking industry in the UK and Ireland. Sponsored by several member companies, each entrant had the duration of the show to produce an MDF shield. Despite many not having direct experience on the CNC machines used, or having worked with the software packages, the results were very impressive and a worthy showcase for the industry.
The WMSA’s management team has also clearly been instrumental in latest developments at the organisation – as has input from the board and membership. At his first meeting after being appointed chairman, Ian Croft asked all board members to present ideas to be considered. Of 22 submitted, 16 have been implemented during his two year tenure.
Setting standards
In the area of health, safety and technical standards, the Association’s long-standing technical director, Tony Kaye, plays a key role on behalf of WMSA members liaising with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), British Standards Institution and European Standards committees as well as advising members on the latest legislation and codes of practice. Mr Kaye also represents the industry at Eumabois meetings, held to co-ordinate the activities of Europe’s woodworking trade bodies.
New regulations, directives, health and safety codes and standards crop up daily and most have an impact on manufacturers and suppliers alike. Besides being a key player on the actual standards committees, the WMSA has been particularly useful in filtering and sorting information on rule changes and guiding companies through the detail.
The organisation’s Technical Members Group (TMG) also provides a vital forum on the development of industry standards. It held four meetings last year and published a braking and tooling leaflet. Joint co-operation exists between the WMSA and HSE with Edward Marshall, the HSE Woodnig leader, attending TMG meetings, and the WMSA attending the HSE’s Wood Forum.
Other recent initiatives include the Machinery Sold at Auction Campaign, launched to influence the HSE to bring auctioneers in line with the rest of industry to ensure that only safe machinery is sold at auction, and members are regularly updated about the proposed Machinery Directive 3rd Amendment which will bring changes to the Supply of Machinery Regulations. These were originally due to be introduced in 2002 but are now unlikely to take effect until 2006/2007.
On environmental issues, the Association aims to actively pursue projects and campaigns which promote the WMSA and its membership with a strong environmental direction and this year it announced that it was to sponsor the activities of the Wood Bureau. The latter’s stated aim is to create a climate of awareness and understanding that will increase the acceptance and use of all wood and wood-based products.
Taking the training initiative
Over the years a common complaint raised by WMSA members is that colleges in the UK offering woodworking or wood tech-nology courses do not have enough up-to-date machinery on which students can train. Indeed it has been said that many college wood machining shops look more like museums than modern training centres.
Many WMSA members already provide assistance directly and indirectly to colleges, often those in their own area, but the Association decided recently to get more closely involved by launching an exciting award scheme for industry training, with a single prize of £30,000 going to the winning establishment.
The award comes at a time when the HSE has publicised the results of a major research project into training for users of woodworking machinery. The report stated that there is a ‘demanding challenge for improvement (in training) as it shows a grim state of affairs across all woodworking industries’.
The WMSA Cutting Edge Award for Wood Machine Training aims to encourage new entrants into the woodworking industry to take up training in the safe and proper use of woodworking machinery via established training centres. Conscious that customers often have difficulty in attracting and locating trained machine operators, a situation which is obviously detrimental to machine suppliers, particularly in this safety conscious age, the WMSA is keen to ensure that a new award is in place that will encourage colleges around the country to give the subject greater consideration.
A large number of colleges have been invited to enter the award scheme in which they must demonstrate an overall improvement and future investment within woodworking training and technology.
The college’s performance over the last three years will also be taken into account:
A high profile award launch is set for June 21 in Northampton which, it is hoped, will be attended by representatives of the Department of Trade and Industry, Department for Education and Employment, HSE and the colleges, plus the trade and national press.
The successful college will be required to show that it will spend the award money on wood machining courses during the year in which it is received, either in terms of replacements or improvements to machinery and other related equipment and/or enlarging/improving facilities to enable a greater number of students to be accommodated. The award itself will be presented in September 2002.
At the recent AGM in March, Doug Shopland, managing director of Stenner Ltd, took over as WMSA chairman for the next two years from Ian Croft, managing director of Rotherwood Machinery. Chris Smith of Air Plants Dust Extraction Ltd has been appointed as the new vice-chairman.
The WMSA is now well placed to become an even more powerful force within the UK woodworking sector and, with an increasing portfolio of benefits available to its members, will inevitably grow in influence in Europe. Last autumn, the Association broke new ground by taking a stand at Eumabois in Paris, both to promote the WMSA itself and its member companies, an approach it repeated successfully at Ligna. Plans are now in hand for a similar British Pavilion at WoodMacAsia in Singapore and at Fimma in Spain later this year.
