BLF & INDUSTRY NEWS ISSUE NO. 64 DECEMBER 2004 FORTHCOMING EVENTS


2004 Dec 2-3


2005 March 15-18


April 3-7


April 20-21 May 1-3


Sept 12-16


ILMA/ICIS-LOR 2004 Base Oil Conference. Ritz-Carlton, Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida. Contact: www.ilma.org


The 11th Annual Fuels & Lubes Asia Conference, Beijing, China. Register: www.flasia.info /email conference@flasia.ino


NACExpo/2005, Houston, Texas, USA. Contact: www.nace.org


FPS 2005, Telford, UK. Contact: Vanessa Cook email vc@fpsonline.co.uk


ELGI 17th AGM. Edinburgh, Scotland. Contact: carol@elgi.demon.nl


2005 World Tribology Conference. Washington Hilton and Towers, Washington D.C., U.S.A. Contact: Ed Salek, STLE, email: esalek@stle.org


PLIMSOLL


Plimsoll claim that a staggering 57% of the UK Lubricants industry will be unable to afford the 4.2% average wage increase estimated for next year. Salary negotiations are set to be fraught.


With the average salary next year set to rise from £27,116 to £28,255 the implications may seem trivial. However, research by Plimsoll has concluded that with profit margins at a record low and with a staggering 28% of the industry already loss making, any increase in salary costs would be foolhardy. The fact is that many of the industry’s Top 209 companies simply cannot afford this extra cost.


DO YOU RECOGNISE ANYONE?


The key issue for 57% of the industry is that they seem to be losing the productivity race: a simple calculation sums this up perfectly. The amount of sales these companies generate per employee is £110,173. The most productive companies generate almost twice this figure at £209,558 or around 23% of sales on salaries. For the unproductive this figure rises to nearly 13% of sales.


Compounding this issue, the analysis has also placed 39% of the 209 companies in “Financial Danger”. This situation means the se companies have severe financial constraints making extra costs simply unsustainable.


BLF Y&NE BRANCH MEETING PHOTO, SPRING 1939


BLF Yorkshire and North-East Branch Members and other Members may be able to recognise their former colleagues, relatives or employees, shown in the photo below. The photo was taken at the spring 1939 Yorkshire & North East Branch meeting of the National Lubricating Oil & Grease Association, the predecessor of the BLF.


I have been informed via a note written to David Margaroni 23 Sept 1994 by John Vickers of Benjn. R. Vickers & Sons Ltd, Leeds of two of the names of persons present. It was good to see John at the recent 2004 BLF Annual Dinner and John’s photo included in the centre page photos of the Annual Dinner, in this issue.


So far we have probably indentified 3 people, 2 are definites. W. Farrar Vickers of Benjn. R. Vickers & Sons Ltd, Leeds who hosted the meeting and Kenneth Thompson of J.C. Thompson & Co (Bradford), 1939 Chairman of Y&NE Branch (from bottom left) both are seated in the second row in positions 4 & 5 respectively). Plus in the third row position 4, it looks to me like Walter Rowlands of Spurrier, Galzebrook & Co Ltd, Bury, or some who looks remarkably like him, perhaps his father.


Rod Parker


David Pattison, Senior Analysis at Plimsoll Publishing said, “The productivity race has started. You only have to look at the USA where any increased sales have not lead to extra jobs. Companies have just got more productive by getting more sales and profit out of their existing employees simply to remain competitive. In the UK, companies must be aiming for at least £179,000 per person to even get in the race.


The latest Plimsoll Analysis - Lubricants is available for £305. Readers of this publication will receive a 5% discount when mentioning this article upon ordering.


LINK


Tel: 01642 626400 www.plimsoll.co.uk


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