Plant & Works Engineering April 2022

I t’s wonderful to be back at Air-Tech again - our first in-person trade show since the start of the pandemic and a great opportunity to reconnect with our industry friends and colleagues! In our people-driven industry, the one-to-one contact has been missed greatly, and we are looking forward to meeting everyone again, and learning about the new innovations that will help our sector to deliver even greater efficiencies and performance. Unlike many sectors, which have seen a decline in sales, the compressed air and vacuum industrial sector has continued to thrive during the pandemic; a vital lifeline to those industries that are so dependent on compressed air. Sales volumes and values have both risen. Distribution has increased by 13% on 2020 figures, which in themselves were up by 6.3% on 2019 business revenues. Compressor sales also grew significantly, especially in the 90 kW range; up 29 per cent on 2020 and 18 per cent on 2019 figures. During this period, we have also navigated through the Brexit process and now we work in a new landscape. We have numerous development projects in the pipeline to help the industry understand its obligations. These include legislation tracking, to influencing the developing ErP legislation with our new 10% Taskforce campaign, plus ongoing consultations with the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) to support the legislative landscape into the future. The past year has also seen the compressed air industry come together to deliver our first, dedicated apprenticeship scheme. We are very proud to have now enrolled our first apprentice on the Compressed Air and Vacuum Technician Apprenticeship, and have our first training provider on board, - with more providers already showing interest. 2022 is already looking very positive and we can’t wait to share in the industry’s continued success. Here’s to a great show! Vanda Jones, Executive Director, BCAS It’s wonderful to be back at Air-Tech Unlike many sectors, which have seen a decline in sales, the compressed air and vacuum industrial sector has continued to thrive during the pandemic AIR-TECH 2022 73 www.airtech-expo.com Show Guide 2022