BFPA Directory 2019
The Ex-President memoirs It is surprising to reflect that it has been over a decade since I left the BFPA, but I still have fond memories of my period of membership spanning 1977 to 2008. After being in membership for over ten years I took over the Presidency from 1987 to 1989. One of the things I was heavily involved in during my Presidency was moving the BFPA from its original rented office in London to its present location in Chipping Norton. This was certainly a good decision because the Association now enjoys much larger premises, ideal for everything from meetings to storage and archiving. Another benefit is that the premises are actually owned by the Association, which affords it that extra layer of financial security. Membership diversity I started in the industry as a distributor for a company in the US. At that time, BFPA membership largely comprised the larger manufacturers rather than distributors and smaller manufacturers. However, once my company Integrated Hydraulics began manufacturing its own hydraulic cartridges I was keen to sign us up as a member. Once on the inside I then encouraged the Association to welcome both the smaller SME-level manufacturers as well as distributors as members. After all, we are all part of the fluid power industry and have common interests at heart. Once this idea was embraced – resulting in the establishment of the BFPDA among other things – it proved highly popular; securing a boost in both membership and revenue for the Association. Of course, the ideas I had personally during my period as BFPA President were all subject to the approval of the full board and were not necessarily by my decisions alone. This worked well because we had a very good team of industry experts on board with many years’ experience in the industry. So, when decisions were ratified they had been thoroughly thought through. When I was President, the BFPA continued to play a major part in developing industry standards in line with members’ and customers’ requirements. The technical committees were set up to invite member companies to send a senior member of their engineering department to attend and contribute to these meetings. I was also keen to encourage the further development of the statistics service the Association provides to its members. As well as keeping abreast of the technical developments in our industry these statistics also provide members with countrywide annual sales of the wide range hydraulic products, information. This information is also handed to CETOP, which in turn provides the BFPA with pan- European statistics. I can’t speak highly enough of this service; it is certainly very popular and highly valued by the BFPA membership. After having served as President of the BFPA I was asked to represent the BFPA in CETOP, the European fluid power association where I was subsequently invited to take over as President for three- years. Indeed, I was honoured to be presented with an OBE in recognition of my becoming the first Brit to take over the CETOP Presidency. During my Presidency of CETOP one of my principle aims was to harmonise many of the disparate standards that were established in different European countries and in so doing make us better able to compete against the US which had its own unified standard. We achieve considerable success in this regard. Common language I remember that in those days many of the presentations and question & answer sessions at CETOP were given in four or five different European languages. So, when I became President I began by telling a joke and most people seemed to laugh out loud. It was obvious that they understood what I said in my Scottish English, so at that point that I argued that proceedings could be undertaken so much quicker if English became the ‘go-to’ language for all concerned. The net result was that we were all able to conduct day- to-day business much quicker and more efficiently. We continued to have the interpreter in case in order to clear up any confusion over the fine detail when necessary but the move to English certainly improved the whole procedure. As President of CETOP I was invited by the Chinese to open one of the country’s very first fluid power exhibitions in Beijing. Although the standard and quality of Chinese equipment has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, it was quite an eye- opener to realise how far behind they were back in the early ’90s. I think fluid power industry has a great future going forward. Aside from all the developments regarding digital transformation I really don’t think there’s any way industry can really sideline fluid power systems. When it comes to power and flexibility and the ability to go around corners easily there’s nothing to replace it. Growth and consolidation 44 www.bfpa.co.uk By Malcolm Kelly. In line with the Association’s 60th Anniversary celebrations, the BFPA Yearbook invited four former Presidents to reminiscence about their time in the chair…
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