UKLA President’s Report
As this is my first report as President it would be remiss of me not to thank Hugh Dowding for his service as President during the last 12 months. He passes on the baton with the association in good order and the continued strong support of members.
In the last UKLA President’s report the outcome of the EU referendum was unknown and with the result now clear it seems that UK manufacturing will face a period of uncertainty until the terms of exit are finally negotiated.
Since the result the value of sterling has had a mixed impact: a positive effect for manufacturers in that it makes the UK more competitive; but at the same time exporters are increasing material prices. In our industry where more and more of our raw materials are now imported, there has been a greater influence by the exchange rate. So for those companies which only have a domestic market there will be inflationary pressure on material costs even though underlying prices are weak. This coming at a time where uncertainty is also influencing investment decisions. One point of note is that the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers Index [The Markit PMI™ (Purchasing Managers’ Index™) series are the most renown economic indicators in the world, tracking business conditions in over 30 countries
www.markit.com] for July posted the weakest manufacturing output and order levels since early 2013 which maybe an indicator of early sentiment
UEIL President’s Report
Mixed emotions arise whilst writing this President’s Report: • I am happy that we are now close to exciting Berlin for the 2016 UEIL Annual Congress!
• I am also deeply moved that this will be my last report as President of UEIL.
Lots of worldwide events happened during these four years, most of them very negative for our community: terrorism attacks; wars; earthquakes; financial and economic crisis; crude oil price dropped down into the lowest index of these last decades and; last but not least; the scepticism about the European Union finally resulted in BRexit. Our lives have had to face up to all these negative events but, on the other hand, I had the opportunity to spend four wonderful years at the helms of this ground-breaking and truly European association. I’ve worked with wonderful people, and attended superb talks during the many events I was able to join. I’ve helped with guiding activities that helped all of us in our industry, and I have faced and surmounted challenges I did not imagine I would encounter.
I am proud of my legacy. I know the incoming President will do a fantastic job, and I will be there as Member of the UEIL Board of Directors to continue helping our industry to the best of my capacities. I’m happy to leave the reins of this association with a healthy and positive balance and with positive feedback coming from most of the Members. This means that I’ve a lot of friends in the lubricant industry and that this quarter of century spent in this field has left a good memory.
I’ve started my mandate celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Association. I was then tasked with how to show the history of UEIL and all the past Presidents. I’m now happy to leave this to the next generation. Also my picture and I’m really proud
that we may face a short/medium term risk to the UK economic conditions.
Although we face some uncertainty there remains huge opportunity to grasp the changes that will come from Industry 4.0/ Smart Manufacturing (4th industrial revolution, smart manufacturing, digital factories
www.industry40summit.com) and keep UK industry innovating to remain successful in the world market.
I would also like to take this opportunity to communicate my choice of President’s Charity for my year of office which is Parkinson’s UK. I have seen the impact first hand this can have on people’s lives and careers, unfortunately it’s a misconception that this disease impacts people post retirement and one of my own team in Houghton Plc was forced to retire early on ill health grounds with Parkinson’s.
I look forward to seeing all those members who are able to attend the Annual Dinner in London on 2nd November and thereafter ensuring I continue the good work done by past Presidents.
Steve Mayo UKLA President
(but also embarrassed) to see my face along with that of the industry’s elite lubricants personalities. I want to thank all of you and I do not want to mention anyone specific because I am sure I’d forget someone; however a particular ‘thank you’ goes to the Board Members and GAIL/Federchimica for trusting me, and to Viscolube who allowed me to live this amazing experience.
Back to the congress: Two days of exhilarating talks and networking are ahead of us! From questions like: “How is shared economy impacting our industry?” to ‘addressing sustainability reporting requirements’, I think this will be the most interesting UEIL Annual Congress yet. If you did not register, you can still do it on
www.ueil.org or onsite. We count on the support of FUCHS as the main sponsor for our event, and I take this opportunity to address a strong ‘thank you’ for their trust!
Regular business has taken place since the last report: the UEIL Committees and Board of Directors have met in Brussels and Hamburg, to discuss the plans for 2017 as well as ongoing projects. On the latter, I am glad to report that we have reinforced activities related to the taxation campaign conducted with the help of Interel (see the UEIL report on page 57 for more details), and that UEIL has joined forces with AFCAR (the Alliance for the Freedom of Car Repair in the EU) in the fight for more transparent technical information from OEMs.
With this, I hand over the torch, and look forward to seeing you around in Berlin!
Fabio Dalla Giovanna UEIL President
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.135 OCTOBER 2016
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