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Solids Handling & Processing Supplement June-July 2017
CHANGING TIMES By Ian Birkinshaw, General Secretary – Solids Handling & Processing Association
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ith the General election behind us and a new stable government nearly in place for now the focus is again returning to the difficult negotiations ahead with the European Union on the terms of our future relationship with our closest neighbours. Whether we will be in the single market, the customs union or striking out on our own with no deal in place only time will tell, however, one thing that you can be certain of in these uncertain times is the help and assistance that SHAPA gives to its members and the wider solids handling community. There are signs that business is starting to bounce back from several years of slow growth especially for those exporting products and services throughout the world. New opportunities are opening for SHAPA members by being creative and flexible in searching out and responding to opportunities for trade. UK suppliers are quite rightly respected all over the world for the quality of their products and customer service, compared to the ‘low cost’ alternatives. While we can’t pretend, that price is not important, many surveys have shown that it is not the main criteria when customers are choosing their suppliers, relationships are still key to business success, whether this is just in the UK or throughout the world. To assist in this process SHAPA have recently launched a new paper on the cost of ownership which helps suppliers differentiate themselves from the low cost competition. This new paper is just one of the many technical papers which are available on the SHAPA website just visit www.shapa.co.uk for more detailed information.
engineering plant and systems. As we all know, engineers are in short supply these days and especially in the solids handling industry which is why SHAPA has joined forces with the Arkwright’s scholarships trust www. arkwright.org.uk to sponsor an engineering student through an Arkwright scholarship which aims to develop active future leaders within the engineering professions. The Arkwright foundation has been supporting students for over 25 years through their A Levels or Scottish Advanced Highers and encourages students to pursue engineering, computing or technical design at university or through a higher-level apprenticeship and to pursue careers in the field. successive year, the ever changing world of digital marketing coupled with the recent cyber-attacks ensure that this workshop is not to be missed. Next year will be our 10th consecutive year of the digital marketing workshop, where subjects including what’s new with Google and Bing along with LinkedIn and twitter will be discussed as well as new tools to ensure that your digital presence is attracting new and existing customers to your web site. Details will be available shortly on the SHAPA website so watch out for the announcements. Later this year in November SHAPA are planning to run a Bulk Handling Course for non-Engineers, this course will run through the basics of bulk material handling for those who are new to the industry or do not have day to day involvement in
WORKING TOGETHER As with a hive of bees in the pursuit of efficiency no single individual or even company for that matter can be expert at everything, which is why a collective approach is adopted and promoted by SHAPA and its member companies. In order to professionally design and manufacture solids handling systems and equipment, a vast range of expertise is needed, this can be located on the SHAPA website at www.shapa.co.uk. SHAPA offers valuable resources to enable all members to widen their knowledge and experience though the support of continue...
TRAINING & CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Once again SHAPA is helping its membership by running courses and seminars on subjects that are relevant to them. An Atex and DSEAR workshop was recently held where speakers from renowned experts in the industry provided the attendees with new information, changes in the legislation and up to date case studies. It’s still surprising how after more than ten years of the legislation being placed on the statute book, the subject of Atex and DSEAR and its implications to customers, end users and the wider industry who use potentially explosive powders is still attracting large audiences to the workshops. To keep up to date and continue the transfer of knowledge on Atex and DSEAR a follow up workshop on the subject is planned for late 2018. In addition to the Atex course the ever successful digital marketing workshop was held for the 9th
PROCESS INDUSTRY INFORMER June - July 2017 - SHAPA Supplement
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