FACE TO FACE
Delegates at the ICOSPA Congress . Stephen Morley introduces the ICOSPA Congress .
ISMR : Are there any specific targets or goals that you have pursued for the association during your tenure ?
SM : I have focused on encouraging interest from other national metalforming associations in ICOSPA membership . I will continue with those efforts in 2023 . We have also tried to increase the communication network and introduced an ICOSPA newsletter for the first time in 2022 . It includes , for example , an economic report and update from each country so it is an important knowledge-sharing tool for members .
Unfortunately , the outbreak of COVID-19 coincided with our Presidency of ICOSPA so it disrupted many of the activities that we had planned . Many meetings and events had to be cancelled , although we continued to run virtual meetings .
Our key achievement has been running the ICOSPA Congress , and the factory tours / social events around this , in October this year . We held it at the National Metalforming Centre ( home of the CBM ) in Birmingham , UK . It was a great success with over 100 attendees , many of whom went straight on to fly to the EuroBLECH exhibition in Germany after the Congress concluded .
Bringing the Congress back to the UK , after 18 years or so , was a great achievement for us . The content of the presentations at the Congress were industry-based , with updates on R & D , markets and future technologies . It was a great networking event , with just under 100 delegates .
We also ran a President ’ s Meeting the day after the Congress for ICOSPA members , which was a great opportunity to discuss global issues and common factors that are affecting many international sheet-metal markets . Sharing knowledge in a friendly and relaxed environment helps members and can often lead to common solutions .
Despite handing the ICOSPA Presidency over to Japan , we intend to keep the Secretariat in the UK to save costs for members as we have already done a lot of
ICOSPA offers information about international sheetmetal engineering and national market developments
work on the ICOSPA website , newsletters etc . during our tenure .
ISMR : What are your views on the current global business climate for sheet metal professionals ? What about the climate in 2023 ?
SM : The challenges are largely similar for UK and international markets . Energy prices are a huge concern globally . All of Europe has been impacted by the Ukraine and Russia war , and the subsequent cost increases . Supply-chain cost increases and skills shortages are global issues now ; the difference now is that it is not just skilled labour , but labour in general , that is scarce . In the UK , for example , 600,000 people aged over 50 years old have been added to the economically inactive . That is a huge loss of expertise and skills . Brexit and COVID-19 combined have also resulted in the loss of key labour , with many returning to their homeland .
Devalued currency issues have also impacted countries , as well as rising inflation levels and general costs . Lead times for car deliveries in some countries have climbed ( impacted by bottlenecks in supplychains for items such as semi-conductors ).
Pop-up stands at the ICOSPA Congress .
Moving forward , as far as energy costs are concerned for UK manufacturers , we are lobbying UK Government to extend the coverage of the EBRS ( energy business release scheme ). This is vital to stop the UK supply chain from collapsing . The scheme also only protects the wholesale price of energy ( which only makes up to 35 % of a total energy bill ). We raised concerns straight away that the other costs may be exploded by some providers , which has proven to be the case , and we ’ ve highlighted this to BEIS who need to protect our members .
Our members are looking at a 400- 600 % increase in energy costs , which is unsustainable . I know of one company whose gas costs increased by 1000 %. If you add these costs to those racked up by COVID-19 and Brexit , it is dire for UK manufacturing .
We also tried to get the structure of the Energy Intensive Industry scheme changed as many CBM members , despite being high energy users , do not qualify for help on the scheme under its terms of use .
We are also working hard lobbying the UK Government to bring down the high costs of energy . This is important for future energy security and self-sufficiency . We are pleased the UK Government imposed an increase to
ISMR December 2022 / January 2023 |
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