ALAN YATES
So where does this leave the small to medium sized companies, who contribute significantly to what the pundits claim is pproximately 85 per cent of UK GDP? We certainly can not afford to employ Public Affairs departments. It is estimated that the UK’s mechanical engineering companies may be spending in excess of £430M a year on red tape. On average this is £33K per company, where the average turn-over is just £2.5M. Against this background it is all too tempting to lapse into a state of despondent cynicism and join that other famous character of British television comedy, Victor Meldrew in meeting each new piece of regulatory lunacy with that well known phrase “I simply don’t believe it!” But there is an alternative - and it works. We recognise that a vibrant
to compete in world markets where many of their competitors are almost free of any such burdens and in many cases are given significant government funding support!
CORPORATIONS VS. SME’S Larger corporations actually employ whole public affairs departments to help them to deal with this burden and to manage the alliimportant relationships with the regulators. Depending upon their political influence, they meet with varying degrees of success but not without considerable investment of time and money.
manufacturing sector will help put our economy onto a healthier footing so as we begin 2012, we must effectively communicate as an industry through that ‘one voice’. A fundamental obligation of the PPMA is to provide that said voice and represent member companies in the corridors of Government. The collective alliance which makes up the PPMA currently stands at over 360 companies who are estimated to be responsible for some 90 per cent of the processing and packaging machinery sold in the UK. Since its inception, significant progress has been made in many key areas of government policy and legislation which impact directly upon SME’s in both the packaging sector and beyond. In the early days they were particularly successful in delaying unwelcome revisions to the ubiquitous Machinery Directive and made great inroads in diluting the impact of the REACH regulations on the use of industrial chemicals. The PPMA were also active in getting capital equipment such as packaging machinery excluded from the first implementation of the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive, (WEEE). In recent years the focus has been on the desperate skills shortages within the industry and in securing dispensations for SME’s from the governments so called ‘family-friendly’ policies.
UNITED IN THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN Significantly it has been critical over the last few years to stand united due to the economic slump as well as now as we dust ourselves off and begin to make our way through the intricacies of the coalition government plans. Project Merlin was launched by the government, in part, due to small firms arguing collectively that they were being starved of finance since the start of the crisis. Increased lending, they say, is what's needed to really get the recovery going. However the small print of such agreements and how they can help SME’s individually need to be communicated via trade associations to deliver a complete understanding in order to be fully benefitted from. A benefit and opportunity for
many in the last couple of years has been the vast rise in the uptake of robotics and automation within the food industry. While this uptake has answered manpower and labour problems and often increased the speed of production, it has also brought with it new packaging legislation which needs to be adhered to. As a result, while automation becomes more of an essential tool within the industry packaging companies need an even higher level of care and accuracy to ensure their systems are compliant. Exporting too has been on the
increase within British manufacturers. However, despite all the negative media my company Endoline has never been busier and is proud to be doing what we can in enhancing a UK manufacturers reputation abroad. We also feel that there are further in-roads to be made within emerging markets such as China, India, and South America as the need for quality equipment becomes paramount. So faced with increased
pressure to keep up with these new compliances and with the ongoing uncertainty of increasing costs associated with recent and potential future legislation it serves to illustrate how, with the correct approach, government and industry can engage constructively in meeting common goals that are in the interests of all concerned. Like most things in life, it’s all about effective accredited communication.
PackagingGazette.co.uk | Packaging Gazette | 45
“Anyone who has ever tried to un-pick the complexities of the regulatory machine that is UK Parliament will know just how challenging it can be. Over the past century, UK governments have evolved into a complex network of different departments, sub-departments, agencies and committees each driven by their own political or private agendas”
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